He was DC's primary inker on the Superman titles in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and inked penciler Herb Trimpe's introduction of the popular superhero Wolverine in The Incredible Hulk #181 (Nov. 1974).

Abel's published work stretches to 1951, when he penciled and inked horror stories for such anthology series as Mr. Publications' (Mike Esposito and Ross Andru's company)[3] Mister Mystery, and Atlas Comics'—the 1950s forerunner of Marvel Comics—Journey into Unknown Worlds, and Western tales in Prize Comics' aptly title Prize Comics Western.

He had already inked Gene Colan there on a long stretch of Iron Man stories beginning with Tales of Suspense #73 (Jan. 1966), under the pseudonym "Gary Michaels".

[6] Later, under his own name, he would embellish Colan on some issues of Daredevil and The Tomb of Dracula (including the introduction of Blade, in #10); Trimpe on The Incredible Hulk; George Tuska on Iron Man; and Paul Gulacy on Master of Kung Fu, among other work.

[8] After suffering a serious stroke in 1981, Abel rehabilitated his paralyzed right hand to the extent that he was able to ink and draw again[9]—which he did through the rest of the 1980s, primarily for Marvel.