Carl T. Pfeufer (September 29, 1910 – May 5, 1980Carl Pfeufer

Social Security Number In the United States, a Social Security number (SSN) is a nine-digit number issued to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and temporary (working) residents under section 205(c)(2) of the Social Security Act, codified as . The number is issued to ...

123-20-9680, at the

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

via GenealogyBank.com, an
via FamilySearch.org
giving death date only as May 1980. Date of May 5 specifie
at Texas Death Index, 1903-2000
via Ancestry.com (subscription).) was an American

comic-book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

artist, magazine illustrator, painter, and

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

. He was an early contributor to

American comic books An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of ''Action Comics'', ...

; one of the primary early artists of the

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 ...

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

the Sub-Mariner; and the longtime artist of

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

hero

Tom Mix Thomas Edwin Mix (born Thomas Hezikiah Mix; January 6, 1880 – October 12, 1940) was an American film actor and the star of many early Western films between 1909 and 1935. He appeared in 291 films, all but nine of which were silent films. He w ...

's comic books. Additional, June 21, 2011.

Biography

Early life and career

Though raised in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, New York, Carl Pfeufer was born in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, as were his three older brothers, Herbert J., Alfred E., and Emil F. Pfeufer, while younger brothers James F. and William G. Pfeufer were born in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, respectively, and sister Ethel M. Pfeufer, the youngest child, and mother Anna (Mongold) Pfeufer, were born in

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

.Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930 - Population Schedule
Enumeration District 31-1097, Sheet #7A, April 8, 1930, line 40-47, at Ancestry.com (subscription) The family returned to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1913. His father, Alfred Pfeufer, born in

Comfort, Texas Comfort is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Kendall County, Texas, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 2,363. Comfort was founded by German emigrants on the western end of the Texas-German ...

, died in 1919 after the family settled in New York, where his mother had been born. Sources differ as to Pfeufer's later education. Either he attended the college

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

directly after high school,Carl Pfeufer
at the

Lambiek Comiclopedia Galerie Lambiek is a Dutch comic book store and art gallery in Amsterdam, founded on November 8, 1968 by Kees Kousemaker (, – Bussum, ), though since 2007, his son Boris Kousemaker is the current owner. From 1968 to 2015, it was located ...

or he attended Cooper Union at age 16 after attending a two-year

vocational school A vocational school is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational education or technical skills required to complete the tasks ...

for

commercial art Commercial art is the art of creative services, referring to art created for commercial purposes, primarily advertising. Commercial art uses a variety of platforms (magazines, websites, apps, television, etc.) for viewers with the intent of promo ...

. He won a Hors Concours award for his life drawings, and later attended the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...

, where he was compelled to turn down a

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

scholarship due to family obligations. He continued hus studyies at the

Grand Central School of Art The Grand Central School of Art was an American art school in New York City, founded in 1923 by the painters Edmund Greacen, Walter Leighton Clark and John Singer Sargent. The school was established and run by the Grand Central Art Galleries, an ...

, the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

, and privately with the American

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

painter

William Starkweather William Edward Bloomfield Starkweather (1879 - 1969) was a painter, teacher, and writer, known for impressionist landscape paintings and book illustrations. He is also known for his research and writings on other painters, and was at one time cons ...

. In the 1930s, Pfeufer found work as a staff artist for the newspaper then known as ''

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle :''This article covers both the historical newspaper (1841–1955, 1960–1963), as well as an unrelated new Brooklyn Daily Eagle starting 1996 published currently'' The ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (originally joint name ''The Brooklyn Eagle'' and ''King ...

''. He also did magazine illustration, both for

pulp magazine Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...

s and for glossy magazines such as

Macfadden Publications Macfadden Communications Group is a publisher of business magazines. It has a historical link with a company started in 1898 by Bernarr Macfadden that was one of the largest magazine publishers of the twentieth century. History Macfadden Publ ...

' ''

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

'', for which he painted covers.

Golden Age of Comic Books

In 1935, Pfeufer and writer Bob Moore created a science-fiction adventure comic strip titled either ''Don Dixon and the Lost Empire''Don Dixon and the Lost Empire
in

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on January 12, 2015. Some sources misspell the title of the accompanying strip as "Tad of the Tambark". As Markstein explains, tanbark "refers to bark used in tanning, which is also used to cover circus rings." or ' for the Brooklyn, New York, newspaper ''

'' and its syndicate, the Watkins Syndicate. Premiering as a Sunday page on either October 6 or October 20, 1935, it was accompanied by a "topper" strip, ''Tad of the Tanbark''. The following year, Pfeufer made his comic-book debut with reprints of the strips appearing as initially one- or two-page features 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"Wh ...

' ''Popular Comics'' #6-8 (

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 unusu ...

d July-Sept. 1936).Carl Pfeufer
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 ...

The two comic strips ran through 1942. The two features, published both in ''Popular Comics'' and Dell's ''

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 ...

'', grew to two pages each as of ''Popular Comics'' #28 (May 1938). Following the evolution of the nascent medium during the 1930s-1940s period known as the

Golden Age of Comic Books The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era of American comic books from 1938 to 1956. During this time, modern comic books were first published and rapidly increased in popularity. The superhero archetype was created and many well-known char ...

, "Don Dixon" had become a six-page comic-book feature by the time its creators switched publishers and it was appearing in

Centaur Comics Centaur Publications (also known as Centaur Comics) was one of the earliest American comic book publishers. During their short existence, they created several colorful characters, including Bill Everett's Amazing-Man. History Comics Magazine Co ...

' ''Amazing Mystery Funnies'' vol. 2, #-8-9 (Aug.-Sept. 1939). By then Pfeufer had succeeded John Hales as artist on another feature, "Gordon Fife and the Boy King", in Dell's ''The Comics'' and

Eastern Color The Eastern Color Printing Company was a company that published comic books, beginning in 1933. At first, it was only newspaper comic strip reprints, but later on, original material was published. Eastern Color Printing was incorporated in 19 ...

's ''Reg'lar Fellers Heroic Comics'', where all three of Pfeufer's features were appearing by 1941. ''Who's Who'' lists this as a Watkins Syndicate strip for which Pfeufer drew the daily from 1936 to 1942 and the Sunday strip from 1940 to 1942. That source additionally lists another early Pfeufer feature, "Scissor Sketches", drawn from 1935 to 1937. Pfeufer's first confirmed Sub-Mariner art, for

' 1940s forerunner,

Timely Comics Timely Comics is the common name for the group of corporations that was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics. "Timely Publications became the name ...

, was the 12-page story "Fingers of Death" in ''

Marvel Mystery Comics ''Marvel Mystery Comics'' (first issue titled simply ''Marvel Comics'') is an American comic book series published during the 1930s–1940s period known to fans and historians as the Golden Age of Comic Books. It was the first publication of Mar ...

'' #32 (June 1942), though Pfeufer may have inked over character-creator

Bill Everett William Blake Everett (; May 18, 1917 – February 27, 1973) was an American comic book writer-artist best known for creating Namor the Sub-Mariner as well as co-creating Zombie and Daredevil with writer Stan Lee for Marvel Comics. He was alle ...

's pencil art, or even supplied some penciling himself, as early as the Sub-Mariner story in '' The Human Torch'' #6 (Winter 1941). Working initially through the studio Funnies, Inc., one of the comic-book "packagers" of the time that supplied features and complete comic books to publishers testing the waters of the new medium, Pfeufer drew the aquatic

antihero An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero) or antiheroine is a main character in a story who may lack conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism, courage, and morality. Although antiheroes may sometimes perform actions ...

in ''Marvel Mystery Comics'', ''Sub-Mariner Comics'' (beginning with #6, Summer 1942), ''

All Winners Comics ''All Winners Comics'' was the name of two American comic book series of the 1940s, both published by Marvel Comics' predecessor, Timely Comics, during the period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. A superhero anthology comic i ...

'', '' All Select Comics'', and at least one issue of '' Captain America Comics''. He continued with the character though ''Marvel Mystery Comics'' #79 (Dec. 1946), with an additional, four-page Sub-Mariner story turning up two years later in '' Blonde Phantom Comics'' #20 (Nov. 1948). As comics historian and one-time Marvel editor-in-chief

Roy Thomas Roy William Thomas Jr."Roy Thomas Checklist" ''Alter Ego'' vol. 3, #50 (July 2005) p. 16 (born November 22, 1940) is an American comic book writer and editor, who was Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. He is possibl ...

described, "When Bill Everett joined the army in 1942, his major successor as Sub-Mariner artist was Carl Pfeufer. Pfeufer soon evolved Namor's musculature and vaguely triangular head to almost grotesque proportions, but basically filled Bill's shoes admirably." When work dissipated at Timely in 1946, Pfeufer began drawing for

Fawcett Comics Fawcett Comics, a division of Fawcett Publications, was one of several successful comic book publishers during the Golden Age of Comic Books in the 1940s. Its most popular character was Captain Marvel, the alter ego of radio reporter Billy Bats ...

, illustrating such features as "

Mr. Scarlet Mr. Scarlet and Pinky the Whiz Kid are two duo fictional character, fictional comic book superheroes connected to each other, and first introduced in ''Wow Comics''. The superheroes were originally published by Fawcett Comics and later by DC Comi ...

" and " Commando Yank" in ''Wow Comics''. Then, with inker John Jordan, Pfeufer began a four-and-a-half-year stint penciling the licensed

character

in ''Master Comics'' #97-122 and 124–133, the final issue (Nov. 1948 - April 1953), as well as very occasionally in other Fawcett titles. Comics historian

R. C. Harvey Robert C. Harvey (May 31, 1937 – July 7, 2022) was an American author, critic and cartoonist. He wrote a number of books on the history and theory of cartooning, with special focus on the comic strip. He also worked as a freelance cartoonist. ...

opined of Pfeufer's "Tom Mix" art, "For continuous, dynamic action sequences, Pfeufer simply cannot be surpassed." During this time, Pfeufer also drew three syndicated comic strips: '' Chisolm Kid'', which he also wrote (1950-1956); ''Alan O'Dare'' (1951-1954); and, for the ''

New York Herald-Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...

'', the daily and Sunday ''Bantam Prince'' (1951-1954).

Later life and career

In the 1950s and 1960s, Pfeufer continued to do syndicated comics features, drawing ''Our Faith'' (1955-1962), ''Thoughts'' (1958-1962), and ''Our Space Age'' (1960-1969). He drew unspecified "adaptations" for

, which often licensed film and television properties, from 1957 to 1959, and did illustrations for magazines including ''Off Beat Detective Stories'', from the

Holyoke Holyoke is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, that lies between the western bank of the Connecticut River and the Mount Tom Range. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 38,238. Located north of Springfield ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

-based Pontiac Publishing, as well as for ''

Outdoor Life ''Outdoor Life'' is an outdoors magazine about camping, fishing, hunting, and survival. It is a sister magazine of ''Field & Stream''. Together with ''Sports Afield'', they are considered the Big Three of American outdoor publishing by Money ...

'' and ''

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...

''. His next known comic-book work appears in a handful of superhero and

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 univers ...

stories published in 1966 and 1967 by

Harvey Comics Harvey Comics (also known as Harvey World Famous Comics, Harvey Publications, Harvey Comics Entertainment, Harvey Hits, Harvey Illustrated Humor, and Harvey Picture Magazines) was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alfr ...

, best known for such children's characters as Richie Rich and

Casper the Friendly Ghost Casper the Friendly Ghost is the protagonist of the Famous Studios theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name. He is a pleasant, personable and translucent ghost, but often criticized by his three wicked uncles, the Ghostly Trio. The ...

. With writer

Otto Binder Otto Oscar Binder (; August 26, 1911 – October 13, 1974) was an American author of science fiction and non-fiction books and stories, and comic books. He is best known as the co-creator of Supergirl and for his many scripts for '' Captain Ma ...

, Pfeuffer created the single-appearance features "Man from SRAM", starring an interplanetary policemen,"Description: Tony Tallarico and Carl Pfeufer, Original Art from ''Jigsaw'' #2 (Harvey, 1966)"
Heritage Auctions, auction ended January 4, 2004
WebCitation archive
in ''Jigsaw'' #2; "Robolink", in '' Spyman'' #2; "Alien Boy" in ''Thrill-O-Rama'' #3 (all cover-dated Dec. 1966); and "Campy Champ" in ''Spyman'' #3 (Feb. 1967). He also drew a pair of two-page

humor pieces in ''Unearthly Spectaculars'' #2-3 (Dec. 1966 - March 1967). Again with Binder, Pfeufer co-created the military superhero character Super Green Beret, which appeared in the two issues published of the namesake series (April–June 1967) from the short-lived Lightning Comics. He also drew

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 ...

in 1967 for

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

' ''Girls' Love Stories'' and ''Secret Hearts''. These were Pfeufer's last new comic-book works, although an evidently inventoried, five-page standalone horror story, "The House on Brook Street", appeared in

' ''Giant-Size Chillers'' #2 (May 1975), with no known previous publication. He also did a set of four GI Joe comics as text for Peter Pan's Book and Record series in 1973. His book-cover art includes the

Bantam Books Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. ...

paperbacks ''Tales from the Twilight Zone'' (1977) and ''Stories from the Twilight Zone'' (1979). Late in Pfeufer's life, the artist devoted himself to painting and sculpture. He was a resident of Kerr County,

, at the time of his death at age 69.

References

External links

Pfeufer, Carl
at The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
Carl Pfeufer Timely/Marvel/Atlas Credits
at AtlasTales.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Pfeufer, Carl American comics artists American illustrators 20th-century American sculptors Golden Age comics creators 1910 births 1980 deaths American expatriates in Mexico