Charles Biro (May 12, 1911 – March 4, 1972) 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 ...

creator and

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 ...

. He is today chiefly known for creating the comic book characters

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 Bi ...

and Steel Sterling, and for his work at

Lev Gleason Publications Lev Gleason Publications, founded by Leverett Stone Gleason (1898–1971), was the publisher of a number of popular comic books during the 1940s and early 1950s, including '' Daredevil Comics'', '' Crime Does Not Pay'', and '' Boy Comics''. Backg ...

on '' Daredevil Comics and Crime Does Not Pay.''

Biography

A New York native, Charles Biro graduated from

Stuyvesant High School , motto_translation = For knowledge and wisdom , address = 345 Chambers Street , city = New York , state = New York , zipcode = 10282 , country ...

before studying art at the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Cro ...

School of Art and the

Grand Central School of Art The Grand Central School of Art was an American art school in New York City, founded in 1923 by the painters Edmund Greacen, Walter Leighton Clark and John Singer Sargent. The school was established and run by the Grand Central Art Galleries, an ...

. He joined the

Harry "A" Chesler Harry Chesler (January 12, 1897, or January 12, 1898 (sources differ) – December 1981),Harr ...

Shop c. 1936. Bails, Jerry G. and Hames Ware (ed.s), ''The Who's Who of American Comic Books'': Volume One, p. 31 (Bails,

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

) Working in the multiple roles of writer, artist and later supervisor at one of the earliest comics packaging art studios, Biro moved from the Chesler Shop in 1939 to take up similar roles at

MLJ Comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc., is an American comic book publisher headquartered in Pelham, New York. Biro worked as artistic supervisor (as well as writer and artist) for MLJ until 1941, writing and drawing such characters as Steel Sterling (a character he created)Brancatelli, Joe "Biro, Charles (1911-1972)" in

Maurice Horn Maurice Horn (born 1931) is a French-American comics historian, author, and editor, considered to be one of the first serious academics to study comics. He is the editor of ''The World Encyclopedia of Comics'', ''The World Encyclopedia of Cartoon ...

(ed.), ''The World Encyclopedia of Comics'' (Chelsea House Publishers, 2nd ed., 1999) , pp. 134-135 and Sgt. Boyle, before moving to

, for whom he would work for the next 15 years. While working for Gleason, Biro held the roles of editorial director, head writer and cover artist. According to comics historians

Jerry Bails Jerry Gwin Bails (June 26, 1933 – November 23, 2006) was an American popular culturist. Known as the "Father of Comic Book Fandom," he was one of the first to approach the comic book field as a subject worthy of academic study, and was a primar ...

and Hames Ware, Biro did not do much, if any, interior artwork after 1942, focusing solely on covers. For Gleason, he produced a number of titles, among them (with Bob Wood) Chuck " Crimebuster" Chandler, who appeared in ''Boy Comics'' (1942–1956). Chandler is described by Joe Brancatelli as "a hero, yes, but first a boy... arguably the best-handled boy's adventure feature ever to appear in comics." Later, he marketed "the first full adult comic book, ''Tops'', a 1949 experiment in full color and standard magazine size" (which lasted two issues, July and September 1949).

Daredevil

Although Biro's most important work for Gleason was arguably in the nascent genre of crime comics (below), he is perhaps more widely known, however, for his lengthy work on one of Gleason's longest-running titles, producing a landmark run on the first hero to take the name ''

Daredevil Daredevil may refer to: * A stunt performer Arts and media Comics * Daredevil (Lev Gleason Publications), a fictional 1940s superhero popularized by writer-artist Charles Biro * Daredevil (Marvel Comics character), a Marvel comic book superhero ...

'' (no relation to the

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book 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 Comics'' in ...

character of the same name). Although primarily by this point in his career a writer and cover artist, Biro drew much of the first issue of ''Daredevil Comics'' (the character had launched in the pages of ''Silver Streak'' #6 (September 1940)) titled ''Daredevil Battles

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

'' #1 (July 1941). Biro would stay with the title for the rest of his time working for Gleason, and make the character one of the most acclaimed of the Golden Age. The title is described as: Joe Brancatelli, in

's ''The World Encyclopedia of Comics'' (2nd ed.) described the pre-Biro ''Daredevil'' as "Gleason's top seller and a fine superhero concept in its own right... created by Don Rico and

Jack Binder Jack Binder is an American film producer (''The Upside of Anger'', ''First Reformed'', ''Reign Over Me'') and television producer (''The Mind of the Married Man'', HBO) and second unit director active since 1985. With older brother Mike Binder, ...

", swiftly taken over by Biro, who then performed a "miraculous job" with the title, through which his "real talent became known." The Lambiek ''Comiclopedia'' similarly calls Biro's "guiding of '''Daredevil'''" " e of his most impressive feats."Charles Biro at Lambiek's ''Comiclopedia''
Accessed August 29, 2008 Biro was joined by writer-artist

Basil Wolverton Basil Wolverton (July 9, 1909 – December 31, 1978)
at the

Dick Briefer in ''Daredevil Comics''. In issue #13 (October 1942) Biro introduced the "

Little Wise Guys The Little Wise Guys is a group of fictional characters, created by Charles Biro, who first appeared in comic books from Lev Gleason Publications in the 1940s and Image Comics in the 2010s. Publication history The four original Little Wise Guys ...

," echoing such junior characters as the

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comic book artist, writer and editor, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He gre ...

-created

Newsboy Legion The Newsboy Legion is a teenage vigilante group in the DC Comics Universe. Created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, they appeared in their own self-titled feature which ran from ''Star-Spangled Comics'' #7 (April 1942) to #64 (January 1947). In 1970, ...

for

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 ...

. The Wise Guys comprised Curly, Jocko, Peewee, Scarecrow and Meatball, with Meatball meeting an early death—"a rare moment in comics of the days." By the late 1940s, with superheroes going out of fashion, the Little Wise Guys took center stage, and "Daredevil unmasked and became a mentor to the kids, who eventually pushed the title character out of his own comic book." After writing the adventures of Daredevil between 1941 and 1950, with issue #70 (January 1950), Biro continued to write "Little Wise Guys" stories until the series ended with issue #134 (September 1956).

Other work

Among his work for other companies, was the

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 ...

''Goodbyland'' in 1938, and "Block & Fall" for

Centaur Comics Centaur Publications (also known as Centaur Comics) was one of the earliest American comic book publishers. During their short existence, they created several colorful characters, including Bill Everett's Amazing-Man. History Comics Magazine Co ...

(1938). He produced work for Henle and Fiction House in the mid to late 1930s and co-created the character of Airboy for Hillman Periodicals in 1941. Debuting in the second issue of ''Air Fighters Comics'' (November 1942), Airboy (with artist

Al Camy AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...

and scripter

Dick Wood Malcolm Richard Wood (February 29, 1936 – April 4, 2015) was an American football quarterback and coach who played college football at Auburn and professionally in the American Football League (AFL). After his player career ended, Wood served ...

) was to be one of Biro's most enduring creations, and has been resurrected several times since the character's demise (with Hillman) in 1953, after a run of over 100 issues, during which time ''Air Fighters Comics'' was renamed ''Airboy Comics'' (December 1945). In October 1955, he wrote and illustrated the first of around 13 issues of a weekly humor book entitled ''Poppo of the Popcorn Theatre'' for Fuller, which was "virtually ignored."

Legacy

Crime comics

For Lev Gleason, Biro helped to create the

Crime comics Crime comics is a genre of American comic book, 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 a ...

genre with the landmark title ''Crime Does Not Pay'' (1942–1955), which he edited along with Bob Wood. Miller, J. J.,

Thompson, Maggie Maggie Thompson (born Margaret Curtis; November 29, 1942), is an American longtime editor of the now-defunct comic book industry news magazine ''Comics Buyer's Guide'', science fiction fan, and collector of comics. Early life Margaret ( nickna ...

, Peter Bickford and Frankenhoff, Brent, ''The Comic Buyer's Guide Standard Catalog of Comic Books'', 4th Edition (KP Books, 2005) - "Crime Does Not Pay", pp. 366-367 The title had an instant effect on the marketplace, and is described in ''The Comic Buyer's Guide Standard Catalog of Comic Books'' as "the comic book that got the entire crime comics genre rolling—and may have unwittingly contributed to the formation of the

Comics Code 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. T ...

years later." "Usually regarded as the comic book industry's first crime title," the series started with ''Crime Does Not Pay'' #22 (July 1942), carrying on the numbering from ''Silver Streak Comics'' #21. The landmark title was the result of bar talk between Biro and Wood (both alumni of the

Harry "A" Chesler Harry Chesler (January 12, 1897, or January 12, 1898 (sources differ) – December 1981),Harr ...

Shop Nicky Wright "Seducers of the Innocent"
Accessed August 29, 2008), who worked together regularly. Part of "the allure of the series" was due to Biro's narrator, "Mr. Crime" (a prototype for the more famous

EC Comics Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books, which specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, war novel, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through th ...

"GhouLunatic" trio). The series immediately spawned a plethora of imitators, but " roughout its run, ''Crime Does Not Pay'' was always the best-written, best-illustrated, and best-edited crime title, and it was always the best-selling title, as well." Although it can arguably be said to have been a major factor in the comics witchhunts of the 1950s, it is fair to note that it stood apart from its more tawdry imitators: Indeed, Brancatelli claims that "for several years during the late 1940s and early 1950s, ''Boy'', ''Daredevil'' and ''Crime Does Not Pay'' ll Biro-edited and -written titles, largely under Biro coverswere the three best-selling titles in a comic field of over 400 competitors."

Later life and career

After parting company with Gleason in 1956, Biro "left the field for television," moving into the field of graphic design. He was employed for the last ten years of his life by

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

as a graphic artist between 1962 and 1972. During the late 1960s, he became curious about a comic book convention and walked from NBC over to the convention hotel. When convention staffers realized who he was, he was handed a microphone and spoke spontaneously about his career for 20 minutes. He died on 4 March 1972, and was nominated for induction into the Eisner Hall of Fame in both 1998 and 2000, before being formally inducted in 2002.

Quotes

Joe Brancatelli:

References

Sources

* Strickler, Dave. ''Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924-1995: The Complete Index.'' Cambria, California: Comics Access, 1995.
Comiclopedia: Charles Biro
{{DEFAULTSORT:Biro, Charles Golden Age comics creators Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame inductees 1972 deaths 1911 births American comics artists American comics creators American comics writers People from Brooklyn People from New York (state) American people of Hungarian descent