Salvatore A. "Sal" Trapani (April 30, 1927—July 14, 1999)
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 ...
. was an American
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 active from the 1940s
Golden Age of comics
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 chara ...
through the 1960s
Silver Age and into the 1980s. He is best known as a journeyman
inker
The inker (sometimes credited as the finisher or embellisher) is one of the two line artists in traditional comic book production.
The penciller creates a drawing, the inker outlines, interprets, finalizes, retraces this drawing by using a pencil ...
and occasional
penciller
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 a variety of comics publishers.
Biography
Early life and comics career
Sal Trapani was born 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 in 1927. He attended the
School of Visual Arts
The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design.
History
This school was started by ...
and counted school co-founder
Burne Hogarth
Burne Hogarth (born Spinoza Bernard Ginsburg, December 25, 1911 – January 28, 1996) was an American artist and educator, best known for his work on the ''Tarzan'' newspaper comic strip and his series of anatomy books for artists.
Early life
...
among his early influences. His earliest recorded comic book credits include short filler pieces in
Airboy
Airboy is a fictional aviator hero of an American comic book series initially published by Hillman Periodicals during the World War II-era time period fans and historians call the Golden Age of comic books. He was created by writers Charles Biro ...
Comics in 1949.
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 ...
.
Through the following decades, Trapani racked up credits on hundreds of comic book stories for
Gillmor Gillmor may refer to: People
*Arthur Hill Gillmor (1824–1903), Canadian farmer, lumberman and politician
*Dan Gillmor, American technology writer
* Daniel Gillmor (1849–1918), Canadian merchant and politician
* Helen W. Gillmor (born 1942), Uni ...
,
Charlton,
Dell
Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies.
Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...
,
Gold Key,
ACG and others. His most notable credit is as co-creator of the character
Nukla
Nukla is a fictional character published by Dell Comics in the mid-1960s. He was created by writer Joe Gill and artist Sal Trapani (with uncredited assistance from others artists, including Dick Giordano). The character made his debut in ''Nukla' ...
. Trapani replaced character co-creator
Ramona Fradon
Ramona Fradon (born October 2, 1926) is an American comics artist known for her work illustrating Aquaman and Brenda Starr, and co-creating the superhero Metamorpho. Her career began in 1950.
Early life
Ramona Fradon was born in Chicago and mov ...
for an extended run on the superhero title
Metamorpho
Metamorpho (real name Rex Mason, also called The Element Man) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He was created in 1965 by writer Bob Haney and artist Ramona Fradon.
Metamorpho is a founding member of the Out ...
at
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 ...
, beginning in 1966. Trapani also provided inks for many
Steve Ditko
Stephen John Ditko Page contains two reproductions from school yearbooks. A 1943 Garfield Junior High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen Ditko". A 1945 Johnstown High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen J. Ditko" under extracurricular act ...
-illustrated stories published by Charlton, ACG, and Dell, and regularly used Ditko as one of his many
ghost artists.
Trapani was also a prolific inker 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 ...
in the 1970s, providing embellishments for The Incredible Hulk, The Defenders, Ghost Rider, Man-Thing, and many others. Trapani provided the inks on the Man-Thing story that first introduced
Howard the Duck
Howard the Duck is a fictional Character (arts), character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Steve Gerber and artist Val Mayerik. Howard the Duck first appeared in ''Adventure into F ...
, in
Adventure into Fear
''Adventure into Fear'' is an American horror comic book series published by Marvel Comics from cover dates November 1970 through December 1975, for 31 issues. This is its trademarked cover title for all but its first nine issues, though the ser ...
#19, written by
Steve Gerber
Stephen Ross Gerber (; September 20, 1947 – February 10, 2008) was an American comic book writer and creator of the satiric Marvel Comics character Howard the Duck. Other works include ''Man-Thing'', ''Omega the Unknown,'' ''Marvel Spotlight:' ...
and pencilled by
Val Mayerik
Val Mayerik (born March 29, 1950) is an American comic book and commercial artist, best known as co-creator of the satiric character '' Howard the Duck'' for ''Marvel Comics''.
Biography
Early life and career
Val Mayerik was born in Youngstow ...
.
Animation
Trapani also worked as a designer and storyboard artist for animated cartoons. In the 1960s he was employed by
Cambria Productions in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. From 1962 to 1964 he is credited as art director on 29 episodes of Cambria's
Space Angel TV show. The famously low-budget animation process patented by Cambria was basically an animated comic strip with film of actors’ mouths speaking their lines superimposed over the still images. The images were largely created by cartoonist
Alex Toth
Alexander Toth (June 25, 1928 – May 27, 2006) was an American cartoonist active from the 1940s through the 1980s. Toth's work began in the American comic book industry, but he is also known for his animation designs for Hanna-Barbera throughout ...
and inked by Trapani.
Involvement in Old Time Radio Fandom
Trapani was a lifelong enthusiast of the
Golden Age of Radio
The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment, entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcastin ...
and as a fan and collector of radio dramas he was instrumental in kickstarting the organized fandom for so-called Old Time Radio. He helped to organize one of the first OTR conventions
and gifting 100 radio shows to convention organizer Jay Hickerson: "In 1970, at one of the parties, a guest told me of a friend, Sal Trapani, who had recordings of those radio shows, which intrigued me. I contacted Sal, and we subsequently met. After that initial meeting, Sal gave me 100 shows on 4-1/4 track reels. Thus, my collection of old-time radio shows began."
According to brother-in-law
Dick Giordano
Richard Joseph Giordano (; July 20, 1932 – March 27, 2010) was an American comics artist and editor whose career included introducing Charlton Comics' "Action Heroes" stable of superheroes and serving as executive editor of DC Comics.
Early li ...
, Trapani also created a radio studio in his garage and produced programs with friends.
[The Thunder Agents Companion, Jon B. Cooke, TwoMorrows Publishing, 2005, pgs. 99–100.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trapani, Sal
American comics artists
American comics writers
American writers of Italian descent
Golden Age comics creators
Silver Age comics creators
1927 births
1999 deaths
Marvel Comics people