Alden Spurr McWilliams generally credited as Al McWilliams and A. McWilliams (February 2, 1916 – March 19, 1993),Alden S. Mcwilliams
at the

Social Security Death Index The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) was a database of death records created from the United States Social Security Administration's Death Master File until 2014. Since 2014, public access to the updated Death Master File has been via the Limit ...

. Retrieved on 2014-04-12
Archived
from the original on April 12, 2014. was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

comics artist who co-created the first African-American lead character of a comic strip. He won the National Cartoonists Society's 1978 award for Comic Book: Story.

Early life and career

McWillams was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, the son of chauffeur John and piano teacher Florence L. McWilliams. His sister Faith was born in 1921. By 1929, the family, of Irish ancestry, had moved to

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich (, ) is a town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast, Greenwich is home to many hedge funds and other ...

, where John McWilliams became a radio-company chemist's laboratory assistant. Al McWilliams graduated from Greenwich High School in 1934, and that September began attending the

New York School of Fine and Applied Arts Parsons School of Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is a private art and design college located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhatt ...

, which later became the Parsons School for Design. Circa 1935, he worked as an art assistant on

Lyman Young Lyman W. Young (October 20, 1893 – February 12, 1984) was an American cartoonist who created the strip ''Tim Tyler's Luck''. His younger brother, Chic Young, was the creator of '' Blondie''. Like his brother, Lyman Young was encouraged to do ar ...

's newspaper comic strip ''

Tim Tyler's Luck ''Tim Tyler's Luck'' is an adventure comic strip created by Lyman Young, elder brother of '' Blondie'' creator Chic Young. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, the strip ran from August 13, 1928, until August 24, 1996. Characters and story ...

''. In 1938, he began illustrating for such pulp magazines as ''Clues Detective Stories'' and ''Flying Aces'', where for three years he wrote and drew biographies of famed flyers in a single-page comic strip, ''They Had What It Takes''. He entered comic books as the fledgling medium began, with his earliest confirmed credit the four-page feature "Capt. Frank Hawks — Air Ace" in

Dell Comics Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1974. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark" ...

' ''Crackajack Funnies'' #7 (

cover-date The cover date of a periodical publication is the date displayed on the cover, which is not necessarily the true date of publication (the on-sale date or release date); later cover dates are common in magazine and comic book publishing. More unu ...

d Dec. 1938).Al McWilliams
at the

Grand Comics Database The Grand Comics Database (GCD) is an Internet-based project to build a database of comic book information through user contributions. The GCD project catalogues information on creator credits, story details, reprints, and other information useful ...

. Other early credits, all for Dell, include the feature "Crime Busters" a.k.a. "The Crime Busters with Al Brady", in ''

The Funnies ''The Funnies'' was the name of two American publications from Dell Publishing (Dell Comics), the first of these a seminal 1920s precursor of comic books, and the second a standard 1930s comic book. ''The Funnies'' (1929–1930) In 1929, George ...

''; "Speed Bolton: Air Ace" and "Stratosphere Jim” a.k.a. "Stratosphere Jim and his Flying Fortress" in ''Crackajack Funnies''; and the radio-show spinoff "

Gang Busters ''Gang Busters'' is an American dramatic radio program heralded as "the only national program that brings you authentic police case histories." It premiered on January 15, 1936, and was broadcast over 21 years through November 27, 1957. Histo ...

" in ''Popular Comics'' and ''

Four Color ''Four Color'', also known as ''Four Color Comics'' and ''Dell Four Color'', was an American comic book anthology series published by Dell Comics between 1939 and 1962. The title is a reference to the four basic colors used when printing comic ...

''. He enlisted in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

on October 1, 1942, fighting in such

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

battles as D-Day, for which he was awarded the

Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

and France's Croix de Guerre. Either having stockpiled stories prior or finding time during his service, he both wrote and drew the

Quality Comics Quality Comics was an American comic book publishing company which operated from 1937 to 1956 and was a creative, influential force in what historians and fans call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Notable, long-running titles published by Qualit ...

war-comics War comics is a genre of comic books that gained popularity in English-speaking countries following World War II. History American war comics Shortly after the birth of the modern comic book in the mid- to late 1930s, comics publishers began incl ...

features "Spitfire" in ''Crack Comics'' and "Atlantic Patrol", "Pacific Patrol", and "Secret War News" in '' Military Comics'', as well as simply drawing other features. He was discharged in 1945, and upon returning to the US in 1946 began drawing the detective feature "Steve Wood" in Quality's '' National Comics''. Through the remainder of the decade, he also drew comics for companies including D.S. Publishing,

Novelty Press Novelty Press (a.k.a. Premium Service Co., Inc.; a.k.a. Novelty Publications; a.k.a. Premier Group) was an American Golden Age comic-book publisher that operated from 1940 to 1949. It was the comic book imprint of Curtis Publishing Company, publ ...

Hillman Periodicals Hillman Periodicals, Inc., was an American magazine and comic book publishing company founded in 1938 by Alex L. Hillman, a former New York City book publisher. It is best known for its true confession and true crime magazines; for the long-runni ...

, and Star Publications, with at least one

romance comics Romance comics is a comics genre depicting strong and close romantic love and its attendant complications such as jealousy, marriage, divorce, betrayal, and heartache. The term is generally associated with an American comic books genre published t ...

story for Archie Comics, and did interior art and covers, variously, for such pulps as the

Westerns The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...

''All Western Magazine'', ''Exciting Western'', ''Rodeo Romances'', ''Texas Rangers'' and ''

Zane Grey Pearl Zane Grey (January 31, 1872 – October 23, 1939) was an American author and dentist. He is known for his popular adventure novels and stories associated with the Western genre in literature and the arts; he idealized the American fronti ...

's Western Magazine'', the

science-fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

''Planet Stories'', the sports-oriented ''

Fight Stories ''Fight Stories'' was a pulp magazine devoted to stories of boxing. Published by Fiction House, it ran 47 issues cover-date The cover date of a periodical publication is the date displayed on the cover, which is not necessarily the true date of ...

'', and the aviation-adventure ''Wings''.

Later career

From 1950 to 1952, McWilliams primarily drew

and

crime comics Crime comics is a genre of American comic books and format of crime fiction. The genre was originally popular in the late 1940s and early 1950s and is marked by a moralistic editorial tone and graphic depictions of violence and criminal activity ...

for

Lev Gleason Publications Lev Gleason Publications, founded by Leverett Stone Gleason (1898–1971), was the publisher of a number of popular comic books during the 1940s and early 1950s, including '' Daredevil Comics'', '' Crime Does Not Pay'', and '' Boy Comics''. Backg ...

. Then in 1952, he and writer

Oskar Lebeck Oskar Lebeck (August 30, 1903 – December 20, 1966) was a Scenic design, stage designer and an illustrator, writer and editor (mostly of children's literature) who is best known for his role in establishing Dell Comics during the 1930s and 1940s ...

created the

comic strip "

Twin Earths ''Twin Earths'' is an American science fiction comic strip written by Oskar Lebeck and drawn by Alden McWilliams that ran in Sunday strip, Sunday and daily strip, daily newspapers from 1952 until 1963.Ron Goulart, ''The Funnies : 100 years of Amer ...

", which ran through 1963. From 1966 to 1968, he drew the sea-adventure strip ''Davy Jones'', a spinoff of Sam Leff's ''Curley Kayoe''. McWilliams and writer John Saunders' '' Dateline: Danger!'', which ran from 1968 to 1974, introduced the first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

lead character of a comic strip, Danny Raven, co-star of this adventure series about two intelligence agents working undercover as reporters. Other comic-strip work includes the '' Star Trek'' and ''

Buck Rogers Buck Rogers is a science fiction adventure hero and feature comic strip created by Philip Francis Nowlan first appearing in daily US newspapers on January 7, 1929, and subsequently appearing in Sunday newspapers, international newspapers, books ...

'' strips. He worked as an assistant on John Prentice's ''

Rip Kirby ''Rip Kirby'' is an American comic strip created by Alex Raymond and Ward Greene featuring the adventures of private detective Rip Kirby. The strip ran from 1946 to 1999 and was in the hands of artist John Prentice for more than 40 years. Pub ...

'' in 1964 and 1965; on Don Sherwood's U.S. Marine strip '' Dan Flagg'' from 1965 to 1967; and on

Leonard Starr Leonard Starr (October 28, 1925 – June 30, 2015) was an American cartoonist, comic book artist, and advertising artist, best known for creating the newspaper comic strip '' On Stage'' and reviving ''Little Orphan Annie''. Early life Born Octob ...

's '' On Stage'' in 1969 and 1970. McWilliams also illustrated for advertising. He drew no confirmed comic-book stories from 1952 through 1965, when he illustrated two tales in

Warren Publishing Warren Publishing was an American magazine company founded by James Warren, who published his first magazines in 1957 and continued in the business for decades. Magazines published by Warren include '' After Hours'', '' Creepy'', '' Eerie'', '' F ...

's black-and-white

horror comics Horror comics are comic books, graphic novels, black-and-white comics magazines, and manga focusing on horror fiction. In the US market, horror comic books reached a peak in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, when concern over content and the ...

magazine ''

Creepy Creepiness is the state of being wikt:creepy, creepy, or causing an unpleasant feeling of fear or wikt:unease, unease. A person who exhibits creepy behaviour is called a creep. Certain traits or hobbies may make people seem creepy to others. The ...

''. He went on to draw stories in the supernatural/mystery anthology comics ''

Boris Karloff William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), better known by his stage name Boris Karloff (), was an English actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film '' Frankenstein'' (1931) (his 82nd film) established ...

Tales of Mystery'' and '' Twilight Zone'', two TV-series spinoffs published by

Western Publishing Western Publishing, also known as Western Printing and Lithographing Company, was a Racine, Wisconsin, firm responsible for publishing the Little Golden Books. Its Golden Books Family Entertainment division also produced children's books and ...

Gold Key Comics Gold Key Comics was originally an imprint of American company Western Publishing, created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated this way from 1962 to 1984. Currently, Gold Key Comics is owned b ...

, along with a smattering of other stories for that imprint — including some issues of the superhero series '' Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom'' — as well as for Warren and

Tower Comics Tower Comics was an American comic book publishing company that operated from 1965 to 1969, best known for Wally Wood's ''T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents'', a strange combination of secret agents and superheroes; and Samm Schwartz's ''Tippy Teen'', an Archi ...

. McWilliams magnificently illustrated the first

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

version of Dracula, based very closely on Bram Stoker's book, for

Russ Jones Russ Jones (born July 16, 1942 in Ontario) is a Canadian novelist, illustrator, and magazine editor, active in the publishing and entertainment industries over a half-century, best known as the creator of the magazine ''Creepy'' for Warren Publis ...

Productions. It was published initially as an Ace Books paperback in 1966, and most recently has had a deluxe larger-size reprinting as a

Vanguard Productions Vanguard Films, Inc. was an American film production company, established by producer David O. Selznick in 1943, after the dissolution of Selznick International Pictures. The company's president was Daniel T. O'Shea; Dore Schary was the head of pr ...

hardcover in 2021. Concentrating on ''Dateline: Danger!'', he drew no comic books from 1968 to 1974. That year he did three supernatural stories for ''Red Circle Sorcery'' and ''Mad House'', from Archie Comics'

Red Circle Comics Dark Circle Comics is an imprint of Archie Comics Publications, Inc. Under its previous name, Red Circle Comics, it published non-humor characters, particularly superheroes in the 1970s and 1980s, and was a digital imprint from 2012 to 2014. In ...

imprint, along with a handful of stories for

Atlas/Seaboard Comics Atlas/Seaboard is the term comic book historians and collectors use to refer to the 1970s line of comics published as Atlas Comics by the American company Seaboard Periodicals, to differentiate from the 1950s' Atlas Comics, a predecessor of Marvel ...

. He inked roughly a half-dozen

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

stories in 1975 and illustrated the first issue of DC Comics's ''Justice Inc.'' before returning to Gold Key, where he drew and

lettered Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

stories through 1982. His work there included issues of '' Flash Gordon'' and the TV-spinoff comic '' Buck Rogers in the 25th Century''. His last known comics work is

penciling A penciller (or penciler) is an artist who works on the creation of comic books, graphic novels, and similar visual art forms, with a focus on the initial pencil illustrations, usually in collaboration with other artists, who provide inks, colors ...

and inking two short stories published in the May 1984 issues of two comics in Archie's Archie Adventure Series imprint, ''Blue Ribbon Comics'' #8 and ''Steel Sterling'' #6.

Personal life

McWilliams married Ruth Jensen in 1946, and the couple moved to

Darien, Connecticut Darien ( ) is a coastal town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. With a population of 21,499 and a land area of just under 13 square miles, it is the smallest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast. It has the youngest population of any ...

, where they raised sons Chris Jensen McWilliams and Alden Richards McWilliams. The couple, who also had a home in

Eastham, Massachusetts Eastham () is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, Barnstable County being coextensive with Cape Cod. The population was 5,752 at the 2020 census. For geographic and demographic information about the village of North Eastha ...

, was married 46 years at the time of McWilliams' death from respiratory failure at a hospital in Stamford, Connecticut.

Awards

In 1979 McWilliams won the National Cartoonists Society's 1978 award for Comic Book: Story.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McWilliams, Al 1916 births 1993 deaths American comics artists American comic strip cartoonists Golden Age comics creators People from Eastham, Massachusetts Silver Age comics creators People from New York City 20th-century American artists 20th-century male artists