Marcus Desha Swayze, known as Marc Swayze (July 17, 1913 – October 14, 2012), 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 ...

from 1941 to 1953 for Fawcett Comics of

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 ...

. He is best known for his work on Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family during 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 ...

for Fawcett Comics. He was the co-creator of Mary Marvel, along with writer Otto Binder. The first Mary Marvel character sketches came from Swayze's drawing table, and he illustrated her earliest adventures, including the classic origin story, "Captain Marvel Introduces Mary Marvel" (''

Captain Marvel Adventures ''Captain Marvel Adventures'' was a long running comic book anthology series by Fawcett Comics, starring Captain Marvel during the Golden Age of Comic Books. Publication history The series was the first solo series starring the superhero after he ...

'' #18, Dec. 1942).

Biography

Swayze was born to Louis Herbert and Mildred (née Turner) Swayze. He graduated from Neville High School in his native

Monroe, Louisiana Monroe (historically french: Poste-du-Ouachita) is the eighth-largest city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and parish seat of Ouachita Parish. With a 2020 census-tabulated population of 47,702, it is the principal city of the Monroe metropolita ...

. He attended the Northeast Center of LSU (now University of Louisiana at Monroe) before receiving his degree from

Louisiana Tech University Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activ ...

Ruston Ruston may refer to: Place names ;United States * Ruston, Louisiana * Ruston, Washington ;United Kingdom * East Ruston, Norfolk, England * Ruston, North Yorkshire, England * Ruston Parva, East Riding of Yorkshire, England Companies * Ruston (engi ...

. He subsequently procured a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

degree from Northeast Louisiana University (now ULM) where he also taught art. Swayze was hired primarily by Fawcett to illustrate Captain Marvel stories and covers for '' Whiz Comics'' and ''

''. He wrote many Captain Marvel scripts and continued to do so while he served in the

United States 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, cla ...

, which he entered at Fort Oglethorpe in north Georgia during

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 opposin ...

. He played guitar and performed twice with

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

entertaining troops. After leaving the military in 1944, he made an arrangement with Fawcett to produce art and stories on a freelance basis from his home in Monroe, where he created both art and storylines for ''

The Phantom Eagle Phantom Eagle is the name used by two fictional aviator heroes appearing in American comic books. The first character to use the name was teenaged Mickey Malone, a young aviator who appeared in the 1940s in Fawcett Comics publications depicting ...

'' ( Wow Comics), as well as drawing the "

Flyin' Jenny ''Flyin' Jenny'' was an aviation adventure comic strip created by illustrator Russell Keaton and distributed to newspapers by Bell Syndicate from October 2, 1939, to July 20, 1946. Publication history Launched in October 1939, ''Flyin' Jenny'' ...

" newspaper strip for Bell Syndicate (created by

Russell Keaton Russell may refer to: People * Russell (given name) * Russell (surname) * Lady Russell (disambiguation) * Lord Russell (disambiguation) Places Australia *Russell, Australian Capital Territory *Russell Island, Queensland (disambiguation) **Ru ...

). After Wow Comics ceased publication, Swayze produced artwork for Fawcett's top-selling line of romance comics, including '' Sweethearts'' and ''

Life Story Life story work is a social work intervention with children and adults designed to recognise their past, present, and future. It is prominently used with children who will be adopted, and older adults as part of reminiscence therapies. Life stor ...

''. After the company ceased publishing comics, Swayze switched to

Charlton Publications Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1945 to 1986, having begun under a different name: T.W.O. Charles Company, in 1940. It was based in Derby, Connecticut. The comic-book line was a division of Charlton ...

, from which he ended his comics career in the middle 1950s. He was then hired by Olin Mathieson to establish the art department for the company's packaging division. In an interview in 2000 with the '' Monroe News Star'', Swayze describes his philosophy of developing comics as the utilization of "art in storytelling so that even a child who couldn't yet read could get a story out of it." An oil painter and former semi-professional league baseball player, Swayze wrote a column containing his memoirs, carried in ''

Alter Ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I", " doppelgänger") means an alternate self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other self, one with a differen ...

'' magazine, from 1996 until his death, under the title, ''We Didn't Know It Was the Golden Age!''

Family and death

Swayze and his wife, the former June Bloomer, reared five children in Monroe. He was elected to the

Ouachita Parish School Board Ouachita Parish School Board is a school district headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana, United States. The district serves Ouachita Parish except for areas within the City of Monroe; those areas are instead served by the Monroe City School System. ...

, and was vice commander of the

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...

. He died October 14, 2012, in Monroe at age 99. In addition to his wife of 66 years, he was survived by his three daughters, a son, and four grandchildren. The fifth child is not mentioned by name in the obituary, presumably having predeceased his or her parents. Services were held on October 17, 2012, at the First

United Methodist The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelic ...

Church of Monroe. Interment was at Riverview Cemetery in Monroe.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Swayze, Marc 1913 births 2012 deaths 20th-century American painters 20th-century Methodists 21st-century American painters 21st-century male artists 21st-century Methodists American comics artists American male painters American pop guitarists American United Methodists Artists from Louisiana Painters from New York City Louisiana Tech University alumni People from Monroe, Louisiana School board members in Louisiana Semi-professional baseball players United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army soldiers University of Louisiana at Monroe alumni University of Louisiana at Monroe faculty Writers from Louisiana