Creig Valentine Flessel (February 2, 1912 – July 17, 2008)Creig Valentine Flessel
at the United States

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

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. Retrieved on November 5, 2015. Als
Creig Valentine Flessel
at the United States Social Security Death Index via GenealogyBank.com. Retrieved February 6, 2013. was an American

comic book artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

and an

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

and

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

for magazines ranging from ''

Boys' Life ''Scout Life'' (formerly ''Boys' Life'') is the monthly magazine of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Its target readers are boys and girls between the ages of 6 and 18. The magazine‘s headquarters are in Irving, Texas. ''Scout Life'' is pu ...

'' to ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

''. One of the earliest comic book illustrators, he was a 2006 nominee for induction into the comics industry's Will Eisner Hall of Fame.

Biography

Early life and career

The son of Frank John Flessel, a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

, and his wife Ida Hawkins Bunce, Flessel was born in Huntington,

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. He was the youngest of two boys and two girls, with siblings Frank Bunce Flessel, Laura E. Flessel, and Elizabeth Flessel. Flessel graduated high school in 1930 then attended Grand Central Art School, at

Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, working as a door monitor in exchange for art lessons from instructors including the painter

Harvey Dunn Harvey Thomas Dunn NA (March 8, 1884 – October 29, 1952) was an American painter and teacher. He is best known for his prairie-intimate masterpiece, ''The Prairie is My Garden'' (1950). In this painting, a mother and her two children ar ...

. He studied there for two years, with cartoonist

Charles Addams Charles Samuel Addams (January 7, 1912 – September 29, 1988) was an American cartoonist known for his darkly humorous and macabre characters, signing the cartoons as Chas Addams. Some of his recurring characters became known as the Addams Fa ...

a classmate and casual acquaintance. Afterward, he worked one summer as a gardener on

William K. Vanderbilt William Kissam "Willie" Vanderbilt I (December 12, 1849 – July 22, 1920) was an American heir, businessman, philanthropist and horsebreeder. Born into the Vanderbilt family, he managed his family's railroad investments. Early life William Kiss ...

's estate, earning $25 a week. Flessel began drawing for the

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 of the time, including

Street & Smith Street & Smith or Street & Smith Publications, Inc. was a New York City publisher specializing in inexpensive paperbacks and magazines referred to as dime novels and pulp fiction. They also published comic books and sporting yearbooks. Among t ...

's ''

The Shadow The Shadow is a fictional character created by magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator, and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by writer Walter ...

''. "They would give you a copy of a story and the space. Double spread would be $15; single would be seven, sometimes ten," Flessel recalled in 2001."The Creig Flessel Interview" (2001), p
2Archived
from the original on February 6, 2013. He broke into comics after answering an ad in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' by Major

Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson (January 7, 1890 – September 21, 1965) was an American pulp magazine writer and entrepreneur who pioneered the American comic book, publishing the first such periodical consisting solely of original material r ...

, whose National Allied Publications would eventually become

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 ...

, and began freelancing there. His first known work for the publisher appeared in ''

More Fun Comics ''More Fun Comics'', originally titled ''New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine'' a.k.a. ''New Fun Comics'',''N ...

'' #10 (

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 May 1936),

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 Inking may refer to: *Inking (attack), act of throwing ink on other person *Inking, a defensive activity of certain cephalopods and sea hares * Inking (comic book production) *Pen computing Pen computing refers to any computer user-interface using ...

the two-page

sword-and-sorcery Sword and sorcery (S&S) is a subgenre of fantasy characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent adventures. Elements of romance, magic, and the supernatural are also often present. Unlike works of high fantasy, the tal ...

feature "Don Drake" and the two-page humor strip "Fishy Frolics".Creig Flessel
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 ...

Flessel recalled, In 1936, Flessel applied for a position with the

advertising agency An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generally ...

Johnstone and Cushing, and the firm, feeling he needed more experience, recommended him as an assistant to cartoonist

John H. Striebel John H. Striebel (September 14, 1891 - May 22, 1962) was an American illustrator and comic strip artist who was best known for the newspaper strip '' Dixie Dugan'', which was scripted by J. P. McEvoy. The two met when they were college freshme ...

on the

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

Dixie Dugan ''Dixie Dugan'' is best known as a long-running syndicated newspaper comic strip published from October 21, 1929 to October 8, 1966. The title character was originally modeled after 1920s film actress Louise Brooks and early stories followed Dix ...

''. He worked for Striebel " lf a day for a year, while I was doing pulps and of course keeping my contact with Johnstone and Cushing, maybe picking up a job," while also continuing to work for Wheeler-Nicholson. Flessel also assisted Streibel with advertising art featuring the humorous

radio program A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode. Radio networ ...

characters ''

Vic and Sade ''Vic and Sade'' was an American radio program created and written by Paul Rhymer. It was regularly broadcast on radio from 1932 to 1944, then intermittently until 1946, and was briefly adapted to television in 1949 and again in 1957. During its ...

'', who appeared in Farina Wheat cereal print ads. Flessel next found work with the major

Johnstone and Cushing, illustrating ads for Nestle Toll House cookies,

General Foods General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by Charles William Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, after several corporate ...

Raisin Bran Raisin bran (sultana bran in some countries; see sultana grape) is a breakfast cereal containing raisins and bran flakes. Raisin bran is manufactured by several companies under a variety of brand names, including the popularly known Kellogg's R ...

, Eveready batteries, the

Nehi Nehi (pronounced "knee high") is a flavored soft drink that originated in the United States. It was introduced in 1924 by Chero-Cola/Union Bottle Works and founded by Claud A. Hatcher, a Columbus, Georgia grocer who began bottling ginger ale a ...

Beverage Company's

R.C. Cola RC Cola (short for Royal Crown Cola) is an American brand of cola invented by Claud A. Hatcher in 1905. Royal Crown Ginger Ale was the first product of the RC Cola line, and it referred to the original ingredient: ginger. More ingredients w ...

(with the characters R.C. and Quickie) and other brands and products. On November 20, 1937, Flessel and Marie G. Marino were married in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

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 ...

Golden Age of comic books

Concentrating his attention on the fledgling comics medium, Flessel drew the covers of many of the first

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'', ...

, including the pre-

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

Detective Comics ''Detective Comics'' is an American comic book series published by Detective Comics, later shortened to DC Comics. The first volume, published from 1937 to 2011 (and later continued in 2016), is best known for introducing the superhero Batman i ...

'' #2-19 (April 1937 - Sept. 1938). He both wrote and drew the two-page "Steve Conrad, Adventurer", premiering in ''New Comics'' #5 (June 1936); the two-page

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

feature "Pep Morgan", premiering ''More Fun'' #12 (Aug. 1936); "Bret Lawton" and "Speed Saunders" (the latter with writer E. C. Stoner and later

Gardner Fox Gardner Francis Cooper Fox (May 20, 1911 – December 24, 1986) was an American writer known best for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. He is estimated to have written more than 4,000 comics stories, including 1,500 for DC ...

), both premiering in ''Detective Comics'' #1; "Bradley Boys", premiering in ''More Fun'' #13; "Hanko the Cowhand", premiering in "More Fun" #25 (Oct. 1937); "Buzz Brown", premiering in ''More Fun'' #30 (March 1938); and at least drew and possibly wrote "Red Coat Patrol" also known as "Sgt. O'Malley", premiering in "More Fun" #39 (Jan. 1939). As writer-artist, Flessel created the DC character the

Shining Knight Shining Knight ( cy, Marchog Disglair) is the name of multiple fictional superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original version was created by Creig Flessel and first appeared in ''Adventure Comics'' #66 (Sep ...

, in ''Adventure Comics'' #66 (Sept. 1941). Flessel drew the cover of ''Action Comics #1 Ashcan''. Flessel, who drew many early adventures of the Golden Age

Sandman The Sandman is a mythical character in European folklore who puts people to sleep and encourages and inspires beautiful dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto their eyes. Representation in traditional folklore The Sandman is a traditional charact ...

and is closely associated with that character, has sometimes been credited as the character's co-creator. While Flessel drew the ''Sandman'' cover of ''

Adventure Comics ''Adventure Comics'' is an American comic book series published by DC Comics from 1938 to 1983 and revived from 2009 to 2011. In its first era, the series ran for 503 issues (472 of those after the title changed from ''New Adventure Comics''), ...

'' #40, generally considered the character's first appearance, the character was created by writer

and artist

Bert Christman Allen Bert Christman (May 31, 1915 – January 23, 1942) was an American cartoonist and naval aviator. He is best known as artist of the newspaper comic strip '' Scorchy Smith'', about a pilot-adventurer in the inter-war years. He was also cred ...

. When DC Comics editor

Vin Sullivan Vincent Sullivan (June 5, 1911 – February 3, 1999Vincent Sullivan
at the

...

left the company in 1940 to work for

Columbia Comics Columbia Comics Corporation was a comic book publisher active in the 1940s whose best-known title was ''Big Shot Comics''. Comics creators who worked for Columbia included Fred Guardineer, on ''Marvelo, the Monarch of Magicians''; and Ogden Whitne ...

, Flessel, Fox and others freelanced for his ''Big Shot Comics''. In 1943, when Sullivan formed his own comic book publishing company,

Magazine Enterprises Magazine Enterprises was an American comic book company lasting from 1943 to 1958, which published primarily Western comics, Western, humor, crime comics, crime, adventure, and children's literature, children's comics, with virtually no superhero ...

, Flessel signed on as associate editor. Among its other publications, the firm produced at least three issues of the highly violent, wartime

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

comic ''The United States Marines'', which presented "Authentic U.S. Marine Corps Picture Stories" as well as graphic government photographs of such subjects as burned and bayoneted Japanese soldiers. Flessel drew illustrations for several issues of the

''Clues Detective Stories'' in 1939 and 1940. During the late 1950s he also provided uncredited artwork for

Al Capp Alfred Gerald Caplin (September 28, 1909 – November 5, 1979), better known as Al Capp, was an American cartoonist and humorist best known for the satirical comic strip ''Li'l Abner'', which he created in 1934 and continued writing and (wi ...

's ''

Li'l Abner ''Li'l Abner'' is a satirical American comic strip that appeared in many newspapers in the United States, Canada and Europe. It featured a fictional clan of hillbillies in the impoverished mountain village of Dogpatch, USA. Written and drawn ...

'' comic strip..

Later life and career

Flessel continued to draw comics, often uncredited, through the 1950s, including

Superboy Superboy is the name of several fictional superheroes appearing in American comicbooks published by DC Comics. These characters have been featured in several eponymous comic series, in addition to ''Adventure Comics'' and other series featuring ...

stories in both that character's namesake title and in ''Adventure Comics''; and anthological

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' Films * ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film * ''Mystery'' ( ...

and suspense tales in

American Comics Group American Comics Group (ACG) was an American comic book publisher started in 1939 and existing under the ACG name from 1943 to 1967. It published the medium's first ongoing horror-comics title, ''Adventures into the Unknown''. ACG's best-known ch ...

(AGC's) ''Adventures into the Unknown''. Flessel's final regular comic-book work was penciling and inking the 6-page story "The Flying Girl of Smallville" in ''Superboy'' #72 (April 1959). He returned in the 1970s to do occasional inking for writer-penciler

Joe Simon Joseph Henry Simon (October 11, 1913 – December 14, 2011) was an American comic book writer, artist, editor, and publisher. Simon created or co-created many important characters in the 1930s–1940s Golden Age of Comic Books and served as the ...

, as on '' Prez'' #4 (March 1973). Beginning in 1960, Flessel drew a

Hall Syndicate Publishers-Hall Syndicate was a newspaper syndicate founded by Robert M. Hall in 1944. Hall served as the company's president and general manager. Over the course of its operations, the company was known as, sequentially, the Hall Syndicate (1944 ...

comic strip about a young minister, ''David Crane'', created by

Ed Dodd Edward Benton Dodd (November 7, 1902 – May 27, 1991) was a 20th-century American cartoonist known for his '' Mark Trail'' comic strip. Early years Born in Lafayette, Georgia to Reverend Jesse Mercer Dodd and Effie Cook Dodd (the artist Lamar D ...

in 1956 and originally produced by artist

Win Mortimer James Winslow Mortimer (May 1, 1919 – January 11, 1998) Note: The Marvel Comics 1978 Calendar merchandise lists Mortimer's birth date as June 23 and ''Comics Buyer's Guide'' lists it as May 23 per was a Canadian comic book and comic strip arti ...

and writer Hart Spence. In 1993, Flessel donated the original art for 2,677 strips to the

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

Cartoon, Graphic and Photographic Arts Research Library. After ''David Crane'' ceased publication in 1971, Flessel unsuccessfully attempted several other strips, including ''Cy Poppins'', about the owner of a country store; ''Willie Wildwood'', an environmentally aware strip; and ''The Other Foot.'' Like his friend Jack Cole, creator of ''

Plastic Man Plastic Man (Patrick "Eel" O'Brian) is a superhero first appearing in ''Police Comics'' #1, originally published by Quality Comics and later acquired by DC Comics. Created by cartoonist Jack Cole, Plastic Man was one of the first superheroes to ...

'', Flessel also regularly contributed cartoons to ''Playboy'' magazine, including a series titled "The Adventures of Baron Furstinbed". Many of these cartoons were reprinted in the one-shot ''Sex and Other Late Night Laughs'' (1990), collecting the work of 26 ''Playboy'' cartoonists. In 2000, Flessel and his wife Marie moved from the East Coast to

Mill Valley Mill Valley is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located about north of San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge and from Napa Valley. The population was 14,231 at the 2020 census. Mill Valley is located on the western and ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, where he continued to create art for local events and talent shows. Their son, Peter Flessel, is an

environmental engineer Environmental engineering is a professional engineering discipline that encompasses broad scientific topics like chemistry, biology, ecology, geology, hydraulics, hydrology, microbiology, and mathematics to create solutions that will protect and a ...

, and their daughter, Eugenie Fernandes, is a book illustrator and author in Ontario. In his final years, Flessel was rediscovered by comic fandom and was the recipient of many honors. He was a guest of honor at the

fan convention Fan convention (also known as con or fan meeting), a term that predates 1942, is an event in which fans of a particular topic gather to participate and hold programs and other events, and to meet experts, famous personalities, and each other. Some ...

Wondercon in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, in February 2005, speaking on the Golden/Silver Age Panel. Flessel is also mentioned in

Michael Chabon Michael Chabon ( ; born May 24, 1963) is an American novelist, screenwriter, columnist, and short story writer. Born in Washington, DC, he spent a year studying at Carnegie Mellon University before transferring to the University of Pittsburgh, gr ...

's 2000 novel ''

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay ''The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay'' is a 2000 novel by American author Michael Chabon that won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2001. The novel follows the lives of two Jewish cousins, Czech artist Joe Kavalier and Brooklyn-born write ...

'' (though his name is misspelled "Craig" in early editions). Flessel suffered a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

and shortly afterward died at his home in

, on July 17, 2008.

Awards and nominations

*1991

Comic-Con International San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is c ...

Inkpot Award The Inkpot Award is an honor bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International. It is given to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of popular culture, at CCI's annual c ...

*1992

National Cartoonists Society The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...

Silver T-Square Extraordinary Service Award *2006 nominee for induction, Will Eisner Hall of Fame. *2007 ''The Sparky Award'' given by Jeannie Schulz and the Cartoon Art Museum, San Francisco

Books

*''Along the Shore'' by Elizabeth F. Weidner, illustrated by Creig Flessel (Behrman House, 1985) *''Draw 50 People'' by Lee J. Ames with Creig Flessel (Doubleday, 1993; Sagebrush reissue, 1994) (reissue)

References

External links

Creig Flessel
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 ...

Archived
October 18, 2011.
Creig Flessel
at Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics database

The Comic Strip Project, "Who's Who of Comic Strip Producers", F-Part 1
WebCitation archive