Chuck Cuidera

"Charles Nicholas" is the pseudonymous house name of three early creators of American comic books for the Fox Feature Syndicate and Fox Comics: Chuck Cuidera (1915–2001), Jack Kirby (1917–1994), and Charles Wojtkoski (1921–1985). The name originated at Eisner & Iger, one of the first comic-book "packagers" that created comics on demand for publishers entering the new medium during the 1930s–1940s Golden Age of comic books. The three creators are listed in order of birth year, below.

Origin of name

Will Eisner, co-principal of the comic-book packager Eisner & Iger during the 1930s–1940s Golden Age of comic books, and himself a comics creator, recalled in 1999 that at his company,

Chuck Cuidera

Charles Nicholas Cuidera, also known as Chuck Cuidera (September 23, 1915 – August 25, 2001), was an American comic book artist best known as the first illustrator of the Quality Comics aviator character Blackhawk, in ''Military Comics'' #1–11 (Aug. 1941 – Aug. 1942). Cuidera was also an early artist of the superhero Blue Beetle, yet though he claimed, in his very late years, that he was the Charles Nicholas who created that character, comics historians credit Charles Wojtkowski, who also used the Charles Nicholas pseudonym.

Cuidera grew up in Newark, New Jersey in 1939. Breaking into comic books at Fox Feature Syndicate, where he drew Blue Beetle stories, he shortly afterward migrated to the Eisner & Iger shop.

There he drew the first 11 stories of Blackhawk, the creation of which is also vaguely recorded from the early days of comics, when proper writer-artist credits were not a standard feature. Though reference sources list Eisner as scripter of the first four Blackhawk stories and Dick French beginning with issue #5, Cuidera said he created the character, and that Bob Powell scripted the debut story before turning the feature over to him: "I never drew a script by French. Powell wrote the first one and I wrote the rest until I went into the service".Evanier, "POV Online", included full name. Eisner, who has also said he was involved in Blackhawk's initial writing, hedged the issue, saying, "Whether or not Chuck Cuidera created or thought of Blackhawk to begin with is unimportant ndthe fact that Chuck Cuidera made Blackhawk what it was is the important thing, and therefore, he should get the credit". As the debut artist who designed the characters, Cuidera is confirmably at least the co-creator.

During Cuidera's absence, Reed Crandall had become established on ''Blackhawk'', which would become one of Crandall's signature features. Cuidera segued to work primarily on the Quality character Captain Triumph and later became the company's art director. When Quality sold DC Comics the rights of Blackhawk in 1956, the penciler by then, Dick Dillin