Ric Estrada (February 26, 1928 – May 1, 2009) was a

Cuban American Cuban Americans ( es, cubanoestadounidenses or ''cubanoamericanos'') are Americans who trace their cultural heritage to Cuba regardless of phenotype or ethnic origin. The word may refer to someone born in the United States of Cuban descent or t ...

comics 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 a ...

who worked for companies including the major American publisher

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 ...

. He also worked in comic strips,

political cartoons A political cartoon, a form of editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically combine ...

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

, storyboarding, and commercial illustration.

Biography

Early life and career

Ric Estrada was born in

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, Cuba. He made his first professional sale, an illustration used on the cover of the Cuban magazine ''Bohemia'', at the age of 13. Estrada attended the

University of Havana The University of Havana or (UH, ''Universidad de La Habana'') is a university located in the Vedado district of Havana, the capital of the Republic of Cuba. Founded on January 5, 1728, the university is the oldest in Cuba, and one of the firs ...

. Through his uncle, Sergio Carbo, Estrada met writer

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century f ...

; the two men facilitated Estrada's move to New York City in 1947 to further his artistic studies and start a career. Estrada there attended the New York Art Students League,

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

, and 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 ...

. Estrada's first New York home was in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

where he met fellow artists such as Lee J. Ames, Dan Barry, Sy Barry,

Frank Frazetta Frank Frazetta (born Frank Frazzetta ; February 9, 1928 – May 10, 2010) was an American fantasy and science fiction artist, noted for comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, LP record album covers, and other media. He i ...

, Andre LeBlanc, Mort Meskin,

Pete Morisi Peter A. Morisi (January 7, 1928 – October 12, 2003),Peter A. Morisi
Social Security Number 076-20-5 ...

Don Perlin Don Perlin (; born August 27, 1929) is an American comic book artist, writer, and editor. He is best known for Marvel Comics' ''Werewolf by Night'', ''Moon Knight'' (a character he co-created), '' The Defenders'', and ''Ghost Rider''. In the 1990s ...

, and

George Roussos George Roussos (; August 20, 1915 – February 19, 2000), also known under the pseudonym George Bell, was an American comic book artist best known as one of Jack Kirby's Silver Age inkers, including on landmark early issues of Marvel Comics' ''Fa ...

Comic books

In the 1950s, Estrada penciled and inked "Bunker", the first comic-book story to feature an African-American hero, and "Rough Riders". Both stories were for the

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, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950 ...

series ''

Two-Fisted Tales ''Two-Fisted Tales'' is an anthology war comic published bi-monthly by EC Comics in the early 1950s. The title originated in 1950 when Harvey Kurtzman suggested to William Gaines that they publish an adventure comic. Kurtzman became the editor o ...

''. He drew for

Dell Comics Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1974. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark" ...

Hillman Periodicals Hillman Periodicals, Inc., was an American magazine and comic book publishing company founded in 1938 by Alex L. Hillman, a former New York City book publisher. It is best known for its true confession and true crime magazines; for the long-runni ...

, St. John Publications, and

Ziff-Davis Ziff Davis, Inc. is an American digital media and internet company. First founded in 1927 by William Bernard Ziff Sr. and Bernard George Davis, the company primarily owns technology-oriented media websites, online shopping-related services, an ...

. In the late fifties he drew almost half the satirical articles of the first two issues of the '' Mad'' magazine imitator ''Frantic''. After that he moved to Germany, where he stayed for three years. He did political cartoons for the '' Spandauer Volksblatt'' in the morning and did storyboards for the advertising company Deutschen Documentar in the afternoons. In 1967 and 1968, he drew stories for

Warren Publishing Warren Publishing was an American magazine company founded by James Warren, who published his first magazines in 1957 and continued in the business for decades. Magazines published by Warren include '' After Hours'', '' Creepy'', '' Eerie'', '' F ...

's black-and-white horror comics magazine ''

Eerie ''Eerie'' was an American magazine of horror comics introduced in 1966 by Warren Publishing. Like '' Mad'', it was a black-and-white magazine intended for newsstand distribution and did not submit its stories to the comic book industry's volunta ...

''. Much of Estrada's comic book career after returning from Germany was spent working for

. Though superheroes were not his preference Estrada worked on Superman, Batman,

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...

Wonder Girl Wonder Girl is the alias of multiple superheroines featured in comic books published by DC Comics. Donna Troy, the original Wonder Girl, was created by Bob Haney and Bruno Premiani and first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #60 (June/July ...

, and

Richard Dragon Richard Dragon (or simply Dragon) is the alias of two fictional, comic book characters appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Although both incarnation differ in alignment, they're portrayed as extremely accomplished martial arti ...

, and he co-created

Lady Shiva Lady Shiva (real name Sandra San or more recently Sandra Wu-San) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was co-created by Dennis O'Neil and Ric Estrada, and first appeared in '' Richard ...

and

Power Girl Power Girl, also known as Kara Zor-L and Karen Starr, is a superheroine appearing in American comic books by DC Comics, making her first appearance in ''All Star Comics'' #58 (January/February 1976). Power Girl is the cousin of the superhero Supe ...

. Estrada drew detective comics,

romance comics Romance comics is a comics genre depicting strong and close romantic love and its attendant complications such as jealousy, marriage, divorce, betrayal, and heartache. The term is generally associated with an American comic books genre published t ...

war comics War comics is a genre of comic books that gained popularity in English-speaking countries following World War II. History American war comics Shortly after the birth of the modern comic book in the mid- to late 1930s, comics publishers began incl ...

and a few horror stories for DC. In 1976, Estrada's work was in such high demand from DC that he illustrated the premiere issues of ''six'' separate titles that year: ''

All Star Comics ''All Star Comics'' is an American comic book series from All-American Publications, one of three companies that merged with National Periodical Publications to form the modern-day DC Comics. While the series' cover-logo trademark reads ''All ...

'', '' Blitzkrieg'', '' Freedom Fighters'', ''

Isis Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...

'', '' Karate Kid'', and ''

Super Friends ''Super Friends'' is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes, which ran from 1973 to 1985 on ABC as part of its Saturday-morning cartoon lineup. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera and was based on the Justice League of ...

''. Estrada's preference was for the war stories. Among the war titles he worked on for DC Comics was ''

G.I. Combat ''G.I. Combat'' was an American comics anthology featuring war stories. It was published from 1952 until 1956 by Quality Comics, followed by DC Comics until its final issue in 1987. In 2012 it was briefly revived. Publication history The focu ...

'', for which he illustrated a number of stories in the ongoing features "Blitzkrieg" and "Robert Kanigher's Gallery of War", both written by

Robert Kanigher Robert "Bob" Kanigher (; June 18, 1915 – May 7, 2002)Social Security Death Index, social security #116-07-5117. was an American comic book writer and editor whose career spanned five decades. He was involved with the Wonder Woman franchise for ...

. While working on ''G.I. Combat'' #169 (Feb. 1974), Estrada filled a page shortage with an account from the ''

Book of Ether The Book of Ether () is one of the books of the Book of Mormon. It describes the Jaredites, descendants of Jared and his companions, who were led by God to the Americas shortly after the confusion of tongues and the destruction of the Tower of Ba ...

'', a short book of scripture contained in the

Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude d ...

. That story came to the attention of Hugh W. Pinnock, who was in charge of creating a comic-style adaptation of the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

for

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

, and in 1980 Estrada drew all the pictures for that book.

Comic strips and animation

Estrada drew the '' Flash Gordon'' syndicated newspaper comic strip in sporadic stints from the 1950s to the 1970s. In the 1980s, he collaborated on the animated television series ''

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe ''He-Man and the Masters of the Universe'' is an American animated television series produced by Filmation based on Mattel's toy line ''Masters of the Universe''. The show, often referred to as simply ''He-Man'', was one of the most popular anim ...

'', '' Galtar'', ''

The New Adventures of Jonny Quest ''The New Adventures of Jonny Quest'' is an American animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, and a continuation of the 1964–65 television series ''Jonny Quest''. Debuting in 1986 as part of ''The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera'' ...

'', and ''

Bionic Six is a 1987 animated television series. It was produced by Universal Television and animated by TMS Entertainment, Tokyo Movie Shinsha (now TMS Entertainment) and distributed, through first-run syndication, by MCA Inc., MCA TV, years before the la ...

''.

Death

Estrada died May 1, 2009, at 81, after a lengthy battle with prostate cancer.

Awards

Ric Estrada received an

Inkpot Award The Inkpot Award is an honor bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International. It is given to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of popular culture, at CCI's annual conv ...

in 2000.

References

External links

*
Ric Estrada
at Mike's Amazing World of Comics {{DEFAULTSORT:Estrada, Ric 1928 births 2009 deaths 20th-century American artists 20th-century American novelists 20th-century Cuban artists 20th-century Cuban male artists American comics artists American comic strip cartoonists American illustrators American male novelists American storyboard artists Art Students League of New York alumni Converts to Mormonism Cuban emigrants to the United States Cuban Latter Day Saints DC Comics people Deaths from prostate cancer EC Comics American editorial cartoonists Inkpot Award winners Latter Day Saints from New York (state) New York University alumni School of Visual Arts alumni Silver Age comics creators University of Havana alumni 20th-century American male writers