Neal Adams

Neal Adams (June 15, 1941 – April 28, 2022) was an American comic book artist. He was the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates, and was a creators-rights advocate who helped secure a pension and recognition for Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. During his career, Adams co-created the characters Ra's al Ghul, Man-Bat, and John Stewart for DC Comics.

After drawing the comic strip based on the television drama ''Ben Casey'' in the early 1960s, Adams was hired as a freelancer by DC Comics in 1967. Later that year, he became the artist for the superhero character Deadman in the science fiction comic book '' Strange Adventures''. Adams and writer Dennis O'Neil collaborated on influential runs on ''Batman'' and '' Green Lantern/Green Arrow'' in the early 1970s. For ''Batman'', the duo returned the Batman character to his gothic roots as a contrast to the ''Batman'' television series of the 1960s. During their ''Green Lantern/Green Arrow'' run, O'Neil and Adams introduced a mature, realistic tone through stories such as "Snowbirds Don't Fly", in which Green Arrow's young ward Roy "Speedy" Harper is revealed to have become addicted to drugs. The duo created and introduced the Green Lantern character John Stewart in 1971.

Following his runs on ''Batman'' and ''Green Lantern'', Adams drew other books for DC such as ''Superman vs. Muhammad Ali'' in 1978. In addition to his work with DC, Adams simultaneously freelanced for Marvel Comics on books such as ''Uncanny X-Men'' and '' The Avengers''. In 1971, Adams established the art and illustration studio Continuity Associates with Dick Giordano. In 1984, Adams founded his own comic book company Continuity Comics, which was in business until 1994.

Adams was inducted into the Eisner Awards' Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1998, the Harvey Awards' Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1999, and the Inkwell Awards Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame in 2019.

Early life

Neal Adams was born June 15, 1941 on Governors Island, New York City, to Frank Adams, a writer for the military, and Lilian, who ran a boardinghouse. Raised in a military family, he grew up in a series of army bases, ranging from Brooklyn to Germany. with his father largely absent from his life. Adams attended the School of Industrial Art high school in Manhattan, graduating in 1959.

Career

Early work

After graduation in 1959, he unsuccessfully attempted to find freelance work at DC Comics, and turned then to Archie Comics, where he wanted to work on the publisher's fledgling superhero line, edited by Joe Simon. At the suggestion of staffers, Adams drew "three or four pages of he superherothe Fly", but did not receive encouragement from Simon. Sympathetic staffers nonetheless asked Adams to draw samples for the Archie teen-humor comics themselves. While he did so, Adams said in a 2000s interview, he unknowingly broke into comics:

That panel ran in ''Adventures of the Fly'' #4 (Jan. 1960). Afterward, Adams began writing, penciling, inking, and lettering humorous full-page and half-page gag fillers for ''Archie's Joke Book Magazine''. In a 1976 interview, he recalled earning " out $16.00 per half-page and $32.00 for a full page. That may not seem like a great deal of money, but at the time it meant a great deal to myself as well as my mothers ... as we were not in a wealthy state. It was manna from heaven, so to speak." A recommendation led him to artist Howard Nostrand'' syndicated newspaper comic strip, and he worked as Nostrand's assistant for three months, primarily drawing backgrounds at what Adams recalled as $9 a week and "a great experience".

Having "not left Archie Comics under the best of circumstances", Adams turned to commercial art for the advertising industry. After a rocky start freelancing, he began landing regular work at the Johnstone and Cushing agency, which specialized in comic-book styled advertising. Helped by artist Elmer Wexler, who critiqued the young Adams' samples, Adams brought his portfolio to the agency, which initially "didn't believe I had done those particular samples since they looked so much like Elmer Wexler's work. But they gave me a chance and ... I stayed there for about a year".

''Ben Casey''

In 1962, Adams began his comics career in earnest at the Newspaper Enterprise Association syndicate. From a recommendation, writer Jerry Caplin, a.k.a. Jerry Capp, brother of ''Li'l Abner'' creator Al Capp, invited Adams to draw samples for Capp's proposed ''Ben Casey'' comic strip, based on the popular television medical-drama series. On the strength of his samples and of his "Chip Martin, College Reporter" AT&T advertising comic-strip pages in ''Boys' Life'' magazine, and of his similar Goodyear Tire ads, Adams landed the assignment. The first daily strip, which carried Adams' signature, appeared November 26, 1962; a color Sunday strip was added September 20, 1964. Adams continued to do Johnston & Cushing assignments during ''Ben Casey'''s -year run. Additional, November 16, 2009.

Comics historian Maurice Horn said the strip "did not shrink from tackling controversial problems, such as heroin addiction, illegitimate pregnancy, and attempted suicide. These were usually treated in soap opera fashion ... but there was also a touch of toughness to the proceedings, well rendered by Adams in a forceful, direct style that exuded realism and tension and accorded well with the overall tone of the strip".

In addition to Capp, Jerry Brondfield also wrote for the strip, with Adams stepping in occasionally.Mendez, . Archived from th
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November 13, 2006. Additional, November 16, 2009.

The ABC series, which ran five seasons, ended March 21, 1966, with the final comic strip appearing Sunday, July 31, 1966. Despite the end of the series, Adams has said the strip, which he claimed at different points to have appeared in 365 newspapers, 265 newspapers, and 165 newspapers, ended "for no other reason that it was an unhappy situation":

Adams' goal at this point was to be a commercial illustrator. While drawing ''Ben Casey'', he had continued to do storyboards and other work for ad agencies, and said in 1976 that after leaving the strip he had shopped around a portfolio for agencies and for men's magazines, "but my material was a little too realistic and not exactly right for most. I left my portfolio in an advertising agency promising they were going to hold on to it. In the meantime I needed to make some money ... and I thought, 'Why don't I do some comics?'" In a 2000s interview, he remembered the events slightly differently, saying "I took y portfolioto various advertising people. I left it at one place overnight and when I came back to get it the next morning it was gone. So six months worth of work down the drain. ... "

He worked as a ghost artist for a few weeks in 1966 on the comic strip '' Peter Scratch'' (1965–1967), a Hardboiled detective serial created by writer Elliot Caplin, brother of Al Capp and Jerry Capp, and artist Lou Fine