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Tower Comics
Tower Comics was an American comic book publishing company that operated from 1965 to 1969, best known for Wally Wood's '' T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents'', a strange combination of secret agents and superheroes; and Samm Schwartz's ''Tippy Teen'', an Archie Andrews clone. The comics were published by Harry Shorten and edited by Schwartz and Wood. Tower Comics was part of Tower Publications, a paperback publisher at that point best known for their Midwood Books line of soft-core erotic fiction aimed at male readers. Tower Comics set themselves apart by publishing 25-cent, 64-page comics, during a time of 12-cent, 32-page comics. The comics were something of a throw-back to the Golden Age, in that they had more pages than most of their contemporaries and usually featured five or six independent stories, with all the main characters coming together for the final story of the issue, a common Golden Age plotting device used in team books such as DC Comics's ''All-Star Comics''. History Towe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Shorten
Harry Shorten (1914–1991) was an American writer, editor, and book publisher best known for the Comic strip syndication, syndicated gag cartoon ''There Oughta Be a Law!'', as well as his work with Archie Comics, and his long association with Archie's publishers Louis Silberkleit and John L. Goldwater. From the late 1950s until his 1982 retirement, Shorten was a book publisher, overseeing such companies as Leisure Books, Midwood Books, Midwood-Tower Publications, Belmont Tower, and Roband Publications. Biography Early life and education Shorten was born in New York City, the son of Russian/Polish immigrants Joseph and Leah Shorten. He attended Thomas Jefferson High School (Brooklyn), Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn, New York, Brooklyn. Shorten attended New York University, where he played halfback for the football team and acquired the nickname "Streaky." He graduated from NYU in 1937 [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Superhero Comics
Superhero comics is one of the most common genres of American comic books. The genre rose to prominence in the 1930s and became extremely popular in the 1940s and has remained the dominant form of comic book in North America since the 1960s. Superhero comics feature stories about superheroes and the universes these characters inhabit. Beginning with the introduction of Superman in 1938 in Action Comics 1, ''Action Comics'' #1 (an anthology of adventure features) comic books devoted to superheroes (heroic people with extraordinary or superhuman abilities and skills, or god-like powers and attributes) ballooned into a widespread genre, coincident with the beginnings of World War II and the end of the Great Depression. Precursors In comics format, superpowered and costumed heroes like Popeye and The Phantom had appeared in newspaper comic strips for several years prior to Superman. The first fully-masked hero Clock (comics), The Clock first appeared in the comic book ''Funny Pages' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russ Jones
Russ Jones (born July 16, 1942 in Ontario) is a Canadians, Canadian novelist, illustrator, and magazine editor, active in the publishing and entertainment industries over a half-century, best known as the creator of the magazine ''Creepy (magazine), Creepy'' for Warren Publishing. As the founding editor of ''Creepy'' in 1963, he is notable for a significant milestone in comics history by proving there was a readership eager to read graphic stories in a black-and-white magazine format rather than in a color comic book.Richardson, Peter"Russ Jones, Woody and the Genesis of Creepy" Cloud 109 (July 6, 2010). During the mid-1960s, Jones also pioneered the presentation of original comics formatted directly for paperback books, such as ''Christopher Lee's Treasury of Terror'' (Pyramid, 1966). Comics and graphic novels While in the United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, Jones worked on ''Leatherneck Magazine, Leatherneck'' magazine. Arriving in New York, he teamed with Wally Wood an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Pearson (American Writer)
William Pearson (born July 27, 1938), known professionally as Bill Pearson, is an American novelist, publisher, editor, artist, comic book scripter and letterer, notable as the editor-publisher of his own graphic novel, graphic story publication, ''witzend''. Biography Early years Born in Belle Fourche, South Dakota, Pearson was employed in 1957 as a technical illustrator at the Ziff Davis publishing firm and began night classes at the School of Visual Arts, including an anatomy course taught by Burne Hogarth. Work as a technical illustrator for the Underwood Typewriter Company in 1959 was followed by two years as a mechanical draftsman at Motorola in Phoenix, Arizona. While serving in the military at Fort Polk in Louisiana during the early 1960s, he met artist Ed Paschke. Working together in Fort Polk's Training Aids Department, they provided illustrations for publications, signs, targets and manuals to explain weapons and procedures to incoming troops. The two remained lif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Larry Ivie
Larry Ivie (1936–2014) was an American comics artist, writer, and Comic book collecting, collector who was active in comics fandom in the middle part of the 20th century, described by comics historian Bill Schelly as "the closest thing to an authority on comics that was available in the 1950s." Biography Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to biologist Wilton Ivie and his wife Aleen, he moved to New York City in the mid 1950s to attend the School of Visual Arts, and with a large personal library of comic books and correspondence via fanzines became a prominent part of New York comics fan culture. He also made amateur films of superheroes, influencing the amateur films of Donald F. Glut and appearing in two of his films. He provided painted covers and other editorial material for early issues of ''Castle of Frankenstein'' magazine, then self-published the seven issues of his own newsstand magazine ''Monsters and Heroes'', for which he drew comic stories of his own superhero Altron B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Skeates
Stephen Skeates (; January 29, 1943 – March 30, 2023) was an American comic book creator known for his work on such titles as ''Aquaman'', ''Hawk and Dove'', ''T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents'', and ''Plop!'' He also wrote under the pseudonyms Chester P. Hazel and Warren Savin. Early life Stephen Skeates was born in Rochester, New York, on January 29, 1943. He and his parents lived in the attic of his maternal grandmother's Fairport, New York, Fairport home until he was four and a half, at which time they and his baby brother moved into a two-story home that his father and uncle had built. His parents tended to describe him as "a dreamer" because he preferred to play alone rather than interact with other children. He enjoyed reading comic books, preferring cartoon animal antics to the superhero titles. From an early age, he wanted to become a writer, but he found that ambition hampered by the fact that he read very slowly. So, in junior high school and later at Fairport High School, he was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Len Brown (comics)
Len Brown (born October 7, 1941) is an American writer, editor, radio personality and comic book scripter, best known as the co-creator of '' T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents'' and ''Mars Attacks''. Born in Brooklyn, Brown began working in the Product Development Department of Topps Chewing Gum shortly after he graduated from high school. As a creative editor, working with department head Woody Gelman, Brown developed ideas for both sports and non-sports cards, a position which put him in contact with leading comic book artists, who illustrated Topps humor cards. During his 41 years at Topps, Brown contributed to such series as Civil War News, Garbage Pail Kids and Wacky Packages. ''Mars Attacks'' In 1962, inspired by Wally Wood's cover for EC Comics' ''Weird Science'' #16, Brown pitched the idea of ''Mars Attacks'' to Gelman. Gelman and Brown devised the storyline of a Martian invasion. They recruited Wood to visualize situations in rough sketches and hired Bob Powell to pencil the project ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Bassford
Richard Bassford (born 1936) is an American illustrator who has worked in both advertising and comic books. Born in Manhattan, Bassford lived from age three in the Queens neighborhoods of Maspeth, Corona and Whitestone until his marriage in 1961, when he moved to Flushing. In 1975, Bassford settled in Cold Spring, New York. Comic books As a teenager, he took particular note of comic books drawn by Wally Wood, who became a major influence. In Manhattan, Bassford studied at the School of Industrial Art (which later became the High School of Art and Design), and he entered the commercial art field in the early 1950s with magazine gag cartoons and packaging art for toy boxes. His pen-and-ink illustrations were published in the magazine ''Amateur Art & Camera'' in 1954. Bassford's first work in comics came in 1957 with "What Happened on the Mountain!" for Atlas Comics' ''World of Mystery'', reprinted in Atlas' ''World of Fantasy'' #13 (August 1958). At the Wally Wood Studio, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 activities: "Vocational Course. Ambition: Undecided". (; November 2, 1927) was an American comics artist, comic book artist best known for being the co-creator of Marvel Comics, Marvel superheroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. He also made notable contributions to the character of Iron Man, introducing the character's signature red and yellow design. Ditko studied under Batman artist Jerry Robinson at the Cartoonist and Illustrators School in New York City. He began his professional career in 1953, working in the studio of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, beginning as an inker and coming under the influence of artist Mort Meskin. During this time, he began his long association with Charlton Comics, where he did work in the genres of science fictio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reed Crandall
Reed Leonard Crandall (February 22, 1917 – September 13, 1982) Reed Crandall at the Social Security Death Index, via GenealogyBank.com; and vi FamilySearch.org citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing. Retrieved on 22 February 2013. Neither gives specific day of death. First cit archived from the original on 22 February 2013; second cit [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gil Kane
Gil Kane (; born Eli Katz , ; April 6, 1926 – January 31, 2000) was a Latvian-born American comics artist whose career spanned the 1940s to the 1990s and virtually every major comics company and character. Kane co-created the modern-day versions of the superheroes Hal Jordan, Green Lantern and the Atom (Ray Palmer), Atom for DC Comics, and co-created Iron Fist (character), Iron Fist and Adam Warlock with Roy Thomas for Marvel Comics. He was involved in the anti-drug storyline in ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #96–98, which, at the behest of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, bucked the then-prevalent Comics Code Authority to depict drug abuse, and ultimately spurred an update of the Code. Kane additionally pioneered an early graphic novel prototype, ''His Name Is... Savage'', in 1968, and a seminal graphic novel, ''Blackmark'', in 1971. In 1997, he was inducted into both the List of Eisner Award winners ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dan Adkins
Danny L. AdkinsDanny L. Adkins at the Social Security Death Index via FamilySearch.org. Retrieved December 30, 2013. Adkins' death date is sometimes given erroneously as March 8, which was instead the date on which his death the week earlier had been announced. (March 15, 1937 – May 3, 2013) was an American illustrator who worked mainly for comic books and science-fiction magazines. Biography Early life and career Dan Adkins was born in West Virginia, in the basement of an unfinished house. He left the state "when I was about 7" as his family moved to Pennsylvania; Reno, Nevada; Phoenix, Arizona; New York; Ohio; and New Jersey.Adkins in Reprinted in When he was "about 11" years old, Adkins said, he had a b ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
