Jay Scott Pike (September 6, 1924 – September 13, 2015) was an American comic book artist and commercial illustrator known for his 1950s and 1960s work for

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 ...

and

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 ...

, advertising art, and as a

good girl art Good Girl Art (GGA) is a style of artwork depicting women primarily featured in comic books, comic strips, and pulp magazines. The term was coined by the American Comic Book Company, appearing in its mail order catalogs from the 1930s to the 1970 ...

ist. He created the DC character

Dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the ...

and co-created the Marvel character

Jann of the Jungle ''Jungle Tales'' (later called ''Jann of the Jungle'') was an American comic book title published by Atlas Comics, the 1950s predecessor to Marvel Comics. It was an anthology title of stories set in an African jungle. Publication history Jungl ...

Biography

Early life and career

Born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, Pennsylvania, on September 6, 1924, Jay Scott Pike enrolled at the

Art Students League 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 ...

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 ...

, New York City at what he said was age 15 or 16: "I know I was partway into high school. I wasn't a junior or senior yet."Pike in After military service in the

United States Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through com ...

from 1942 to 1946, he went on to study at the Parsons School of Design on GI Bill for one year, then Syracuse University for a semester, and, after his marriage in 1948, the

Ringling School of Art Ringling College of Art and Design (RCAD) is a private art and design school in Sarasota, Florida. It was founded by Ludd M. Spivey as an art school in 1931 as a remote branch of Southern College but separated by 1933. History The origins of ...

Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sou ...

, for a year-and-a-half. Afterward, he and his wife moved to northern

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 ...

. After meeting

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, Al Hartley, "I went into drawing comics with Al, but we just didn't get along, so by the time we decided to split I'd gotten to know ditor Stan Lee" at

' 1950s precursor, Atlas Comics, "and Stan said that he would give me work of my own." His earliest confirmed comic book art is the five-page story "The Living Dead", by an unknown writer, in ''

Adventures into Terror An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...

'' #3 (April 1951), from Atlas Comics, the 1950s forerunner of

. Tentative earlier credits exist,Jay Scott Pike
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 ...

Jay Scott Pike
at AtlasTales.com
Archived
from the original on January 10, 2011.. but because it was not standard practice during this period to list complete writer/artist comic-book credits, confirmation is difficult. The interior art to "Captain Chaos" in the November 1952 issue of the magazine "Planet Stories" is credited to "J.S. Pike".

Comic books

Pike quickly became a regular Atlas Comics contributor, drawing in a variety of genres for such titles 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 ...

'' Black Rider'', '' Red Warrior'', ''

Texas Kid 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 ''

Wild Western ''Wild Western'' (originally titled ''Wild West'') was a Western comic book series published by Atlas Comics, the 1950s forerunner of Marvel Comics. The omnibus series published 57 issues from 1948 to 1957. Kid Colt stories were usually the lead ...

''; such

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 ...

as ''All True Crime Cases Comics'', ''Amazing Detective Cases'', ''Crime Must Lose'', and ''Justice'';

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 ...

, including ''

Girl Confessions A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. When a girl becomes an adult, she is accurately described as a ''woman''. However, the term ''girl'' is also used for other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.co ...

'', ''

Love Romances ''Love Romances'' is a comic book title originally published by Atlas Comics beginning in 1948 and later by Marvel Comics until 1963. Publication history The title began publication as ''Ideal'' #1–5 (July 1948 - March 1949) until issue #6 (Ma ...

'', ''Love Tales'', ''My Own Romance'', ''Secret Story Romance'', and ''True Secrets'';

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 ...

such as ''Battle'', ''Battlefield'', ''Battlefront'', '' Combat Casey'', ''Men's Adventures'', ''Men in Action'', and ''War Action''; and

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 ...

including ''Adventures into Weird Worlds'', ''

Journey into Mystery ''Journey into Mystery'' is an American comic book series initially published by Atlas Comics, then by its successor, Marvel Comics. Initially a horror comics anthology, it changed to giant-monster and science fiction stories in the late 1950s. ...

'', '' Mystic'', and '' Uncanny Tales''; and

jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''ja� ...

adventure such as ''

Jungle Tales ''Jungle Tales'' (later called ''Jann of the Jungle'') was an American comic book title published by Atlas Comics, the 1950s predecessor to Marvel Comics. It was an anthology title of stories set in an African jungle. Publication history Jungl ...

'', and ''

Lorna, the Jungle Girl Lorna the Jungle Girl, initially called Lorna the Jungle Queen, is a comic book jungle girl protagonist created by writer Don Rico and artist Werner Roth (comics), Werner Roth. She debuted in ''Lorna the Jungle Queen'' #1 (July 1953), published by ...

'', among other comics. With writer

Don Rico Donato Francisco Rico II (September 26, 1912 – March 27, 1985) was an American paperback novelist, screenwriter, wood engraver and comic book writer-artist, who co-created the Marvel Comics characters the Black Widow (Natasha Romanova) with plot ...

, he co-created the character

in ''Jungle Tales'' #1 (Sept. 1954), and drew her adventures in numerous issues of that title and her own series. He recalled that soon after entering comics, the self-censorship

Comics Code Authority The Comics Code Authority (CCA) was formed in 1954 by the Comics Magazine Association of America as an alternative to government regulation. The CCA allowed the comic publishers to self-regulate the content of comic books in the United States. ...

impacted on his art. "I was drawing jungle girl comics: ''Jann of the Jungle'' and ''Lorna the Jungle Queen'' and it seems like another one, too, and I can remember I got a whole book back and had to make the bosoms smaller on the jungle girl, whichever one it was, and when she was flying through the trees on a vine or something her skirt couldn't go above her knees. I can remember having to go over the whole book and having to fix those things." His final Atlas/Marvel works were the six-page story "When a Romance Ends" in ''

'' #87 (May 1960), and the five-page "Love or Infatuation?", written by Stan Lee, years later in issue #105 (May 1963). Many of Pike's 1950s Atlas stories were reprinted by Marvel Comics in the 1970s. Pike began drawing for rival

in the mid-1960s, beginning with the 12-page story "In the Name of Love", starring Wendy Winthrop, Television Model, by an unknown writer, in ''Girls' Romances'' #99 (March 1964). He primarily drew for the publisher's romance comics, including ''

Heart Throbs ''Heart Throbs'' was a romance comic published by Quality Comics and DC Comics from 1949 to 1972. Quality published the book from 1949–1957, when it was acquired by DC. Most issues featured a number of short comics stories, as well advice colum ...

'', ''Our Love Story'', ''Secret Hearts'', and ''Young Love''. For ''Heart Throbs'', Pike and inker

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 ...

illustrated the feature "3 Girls—Their Lives—Their Loves," which ran from 1966–1970. In addition to his DC romance work, Pike as both writer and artist created the undersea superheroine

in ''

Showcase Showcase or vitrine may refer to: *Cabinet (furniture) *Display case Music * ''Showcase'' (Bill Anderson album), 1964 * ''Showcase'' (Patsy Cline album), 1961 * ''Showcase'' (Buddy Holly album), 1964 * ''Showcase'' (Philly Joe Jones album), 1959 ...

'' #79 (Dec. 1968). His stories continued to appear in DC Comics through ''Girls' Love Stories'' #180 (Dec. 1973).

Later career

By the early 1960s, Pike was drawing covers for such magazines as ''Master Detective''. He also is known for his

pinup A pin-up model (known as a pin-up girl for a female and less commonly male pin-up for a male) is a model whose mass-produced pictures see widespread appeal as part of popular culture. Pin-up models were variously glamour models, fashion models ...

work, including for the A. Fox calendar company. As an advertising artist, he worked on campaigns for clients including Borden,

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

General Mills General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, the company orig ...

Pepsi Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961. History Pepsi wa ...

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer he ...

, and Trans World Airlines. As well, he said in 2010, "I did do some aintednudes that

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, 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 H ...

had in their resorts and those were sold for me for a while. It didn't last too long because it came down from Playboy headquarters in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

that they didn't want any more artwork. Only photographs of the Playmates." After a long hiatus from comic books, Pike returned in 1993 to draw layouts for two issues and then do full

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 ...

for an issue on the

series '' Scarlett'' #12–14 (Dec. 1993 – Feb. 1994). He also penciled the 58-page story "All Good Things" in DC's one-shot comic '' Star Trek: The Next Generation The Series Finale'' (1994)

Personal life

Pike was living in

, and married 67 years to his wife Margi at the time of his death on September 13, 2015. The couple had six children.

References

External links

Lambiek Comiclopedia article.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pike, Jay Scott 1924 births 2015 deaths American advertising people American cartoonists American comics artists Artists from Philadelphia Silver Age comics creators DC Comics people Atlas Comics