Russell George Manning (January 5, 1929"United States Social Security Death Index," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VMMT-NZN : accessed 28 Aug 2014), Russell Manning, Dec 1981; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing). – December 1, 1981)
Accessed November 8, 2008. 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 who created the series '' Magnus, Robot Fighter'' and illustrated such

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...

comic strips as ''

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

'' and '' Star Wars''. He was inducted into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 2006.

Biography

Manning studied at the Los Angeles County Art Institute, and later, during his

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

service in Japan, drew cartoons for his military base newspaper. In 1953 he went to work for

Western Publishing Western Publishing, also known as Western Printing and Lithographing Company, was a Racine, Wisconsin, firm responsible for publishing the Little Golden Books. Its Golden Books Family Entertainment division also produced children's books and ...

and illustrated stories for the wide variety of comics published by Western for Dell Comics, and later for Western's own

Gold Key Comics Gold Key Comics was originally an imprint of American company Western Publishing, created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated this way from 1962 to 1984. Currently, Gold Key Comics is owned b ...

line. His first notable work was on ''

Brothers of the Spear "Brothers of the Spear" was a long-running backup feature in the ''Tarzan'' comic-book series created by American company Western Publishing and published first through Dell Comics and then through Gold Key Comics. Though published as part of a li ...

'', a backup feature, created by

Gaylord Du Bois Gaylord McIlvaine Du Bois (sometimes written DuBois) (August 24, 1899 – October 20, 1993) was an American writer of comic book stories and comic strips, as well as Big Little Books and juvenile adventure novels. Du Bois wrote ''Tarzan'' for Del ...

, in the ''Tarzan'' comic book. He also drew a few Tarzan stories. He created Gold Key's '' Magnus, Robot Fighter'' and '' The Aliens'' (which ran in the back of the former) in 1963 and drew the first 21 issues, through 1968. From 1965 to 1969, Manning drew Gold Key's ''Tarzan'' series. During this time, he adapted ten of the first eleven Tarzan novels written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, from scripts written by

. (The adaptation of the sixth, ''Jungle Tales of Tarzan'', also scripted by Du Bois, was drawn by Alberto Giolitti rather than Manning). In 1999 the first seven of these were reprinted in three graphic novels by

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops know ...

as ''Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan of the Apes'' (''Tarzan of the Apes'', ''Return'', ''Beasts'', and ''Son of Tarzan''), ''Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan — The Jewels of Opar'', and ''Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan The Untamed'' (''Tarzan the Untamed'' and ''Tarzan the Terrible''). These were later reprinted by Dark Horse in one hardcover archive volume. Manning's remaining adaptations, not reprinted by Dark Horse, were ''Tarzan and the Golden Lion'', ''Tarzan and the Ant Men'' and ''Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle''. They did plan another hardcover archive album. He did not do the finished art on the latter, but provided lay-outs for parts of the story. Manning also drew the Korak stories in the first 11 issues of Gold Key's '' Korak'' comic (also written by Du Bois). These were reprinted by Dark Horse Comics in 2 hardcover archive collections. From 1967 to 1972 he drew the ''Tarzan'' daily newspaper comic strip and stayed on the Sunday page until 1979. He also created four original Tarzan graphic novels for European publication. Two of them were reprinted by Dark Horse Comics in a single trade paperback collection (''Tarzan in The Land That Time Forgot'' and ''The Pool of Time'') (). During that same period he used assistants, among them William Stout, Rick Hoberg, Mike Royer, and

Dave Stevens Dave Lee Stevens (July 29, 1955 – March 11, 2008) was an American illustrator and comics artist. He was most famous for creating ''Rocketeer, The Rocketeer'' comic book and film character, and for his pin-up style "glamour art" illustrations, ...

. ''Magnus'', his and Gold Key's best-known heroic-adventure series, was set in the year 4000, which Manning depicted as clean, airy city scapes populated by shiny

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may ...

s, handsome men, and beautiful women. In an era when many

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

illustrations still showed interstellar spaceships with fins reminiscent of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

V-2 rocket The V-2 (german: Vergeltungswaffe 2, lit=Retaliation Weapon 2), with the technical name ''Aggregat 4'' (A-4), was the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was develop ...

s, Manning offered more exotic craft. His ''Magnus'' work was later collected by Dark Horse Comics in three hardcover "archive" editions using a different color palette. Dark Horse then reprinted them in three trade paperbacks. His final major work was writing and drawing the ''Star Wars'' newspaper strip in 1979-80. These were collected by Dark Horse Comics as ''Classic Star Wars: The Early Adventures'' (), which omitted the fact that Manning only drew some of the episodes that were 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 Spotlig ...

and Archie Goodwin. Russ Manning died of cancer on December 1, 1981 while still living in California where he was born. He was 52. The

Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award The Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award is an American award presented to a comic book artist whose first professional work appeared within the previous two years. It was named after comic book artist Russ Manning. The winner is chosen from ...

, which is presented annually at Comic-Con International during the

Eisner Awards The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

, is named after him.

References

External links

* * Hillman, Bill & Sue-On
"Russ Manning Tribute I," Erbzine (vol. 830).
* Hillman, Bill

* ttp://www.lambiek.net/artists/m/manning_r.htm Manning bio at Lambiek's Comiclopedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Manning, Russ American comic strip cartoonists Artists from Los Angeles Tarzan 1929 births 1981 deaths Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame inductees People from Van Nuys, Los Angeles

Biography

See also

References

Further reading

External links