Allen Bert Christman (May 31, 1915 – January 23, 1942) was an American

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 g ...

and naval aviator. He is best known as artist of the newspaper

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics ter ...

Scorchy Smith ''Scorchy Smith'' is an American adventure comic strip created by artist John Terry that ran from March 17, 1930 to December 30, 1961. Scorchy Smith was a pilot-for-hire whose initial adventures took him across America, fighting criminals and aid ...

'', about a pilot-adventurer in the inter-war years. He was also credited with co-creating the original, Wesley Dodds version of the

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 the ...

character the Sandman.

Biography

Artist Bert Christman and writer

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 ...

are generally credited as having co-created the original Wesley Dodd version of the

character the Sandman. While the character's

first appearance In American comic books and other stories with a long history, first appearance refers to the first issue to feature a fictional character. These issues are often highly valued by collectors due to their rarity and iconic status. Reader interes ...

is usually given as ''

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 (

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 unu ...

d July 1939), he also appeared in DC Comics' 1939 '' New York World's Fair Comics'' omnibus, which historians believe appeared on newsstands one to two weeks earlier, while also believing the ''Adventure Comics'' story was written and drawn first.The Sandman
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

: "''Adventure Comics'' #40 wasn't quite the character's first appearance, though. The 1939 issue of ''New York World's Fair Comics'', an extra-big anthology DC put out to capitalize on the eponymous event, contained a Sandman story, and probably hit the stands a week or two before his first ''Adventure'' story (though the one in ''Adventure'' is believed to have been written and drawn earlier)." from the original December 5, 2011.''New York World's Fair'' #1 (1939), DC, Detective Comics, Inc. imprint
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 ...

: "First Sandman story to appear in print (before ''Adventure'' #40)." Each of the two stories' scripts were credited to the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individu ...

"Larry Dean"; Fox wrote the untitled, 10-page story in ''New York World's Fair'' #1, while he simply plotted, and Christman scripted, the untitled, six-page story, generally known as "The Tarantula Strikes", in ''Adventure'' #40.''Adventure Comics'' #40
at the Grand Comics Database Creig Flessel, who drew many early Sandman adventures, has sometimes been credited as co-creator on the basis of drawing the Sandman cover of ''Adventure'' #40, but no other evidence has surfaced. Christman gave up his career as an artist, and joined the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

in June 1938 as a pilot cadet. He was serving on the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

''Ranger'' in 1941 when he was recruited to join the

American Volunteer Group The American Volunteer Groups were volunteer air units organized by the United States government to aid the Nationalist government of China against Japan in the Second Sino-Japanese War. The only unit to actually see combat was the 1st AVG, po ...

to fight the invading Japanese in the skies over China and Burma. The AVG was later famous as the “

Flying Tigers The First American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Republic of China Air Force, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was formed to help oppose the Japanese invasion of China. Operating in 1941–1942, it was composed of pilots from the United States ...

.” During his time with the Tigers, Bert made many friends by using his artistic talents to personalize the noses of the

P-40B The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk was a WWII fighter aircraft that was developed from the P-36 Hawk, via the P-37. Many variants were built, some in large numbers, under names including the Hawk, Tomahawk and Kittyhawk. Allison-engined Model 75 X ...

s of the “Panda Bear” squadron of the AVG with cartoons and caricatures for the pilots. Christman's plane was shot down and he was killed in 1942 while parachuting by the Japanese Army Air Force while flying in defense of the

Burma Road The Burma Road () was a road linking Burma (now known as Myanmar) with southwest China. Its terminals were Kunming, Yunnan, and Lashio, Burma. It was built while Burma was a British colony to convey supplies to China during the Second S ...

. He was buried with the full military honors due to a colonel in the Chinese Air Force.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Christman, Allen Bert American comics artists 1915 births 1942 deaths United States Navy officers Flying Tigers Aviators killed by being shot down Shot-down aviators People from Fort Collins, Colorado United States Navy personnel killed in World War II Military personnel from Colorado