Curt
Swan 1920-96
The history of Superman in the Bronze
Age (1970-86) is primarily the history of Curt Swan. Swan's pencils
dominated Superman in this era, like no other penciller before had
ever done. The decade began with a "rebirthing" of the character
as Julius Schwartz took over as editor from the retiring Mort Weisinger.
Schwartz brought in Denny O'Neil to script a major new story line and to
try to pump up the action a little.
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"Superman Breaks Loose"
by Denny O'Neil, Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson. Superman 233. |
Murphy
Anderson 1926-
Curt's major inker for this seminal period
was Murphy Anderson. Anderson's first collaboration with Swan was
the cover of Action Comics 380 in September 1969. His first
story was Action 393 in October 1970. The Swan/ Anderson team,
often called "Swanderson" by the fans, remained together until March 1974,
when Anderson left DC to produce comic instruction manuals for the US military. |
Vince
Colletta 1923-91
Primarily known as an inker, Colletta concentrated
on romance books before inking Jack Kirby's Thor from 1965-69.
Became DC's art director in 1972. Inked Curt Swan's pencils on Superman
on and off from 1974-83. |
Bob
Oksner 1916-
Started on the Flash and the Justice
Society back in 1948 and went on to a long career working on teen and
humor books, including Binky and Jerry Lewis, as well as
writing the syndicated strip Dondi. Inked Superman
over Curt Swan in 1973-76 and 84-86. |
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"The Second Coming of
Superman" by Cary Bates, Curt Swan and Vinnie Colletta.- Superman Spectacular-
1977. |
"Who Was That Dog I
Saw You With Last Night?" by Elliot S. Maggin, Curt Swan and Bob Oksner.
Superman 287. |
Phillip
(Tex) Blaisdell 1920-99
Worked for Eisner in the forties.
Came to DC in 1968, working primarily as an inker. Inked Curt Swan
from 1974-77. Also edited some DC mystery titles.
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Frank
Chiarmonte 1942-83
Born in Cuba. Moved to the US in 1967.
Began working for Marvel in 1973. Moved to DC in 1977. Inked many
features, including Swan's Superman from 1977-82. |
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"The Man With the Kryptonite
Heart" Marty Pasko, Curt Swan and Tex Blaisdell- Superman 310. |
"The Wreck
of the Cosmic Hound" by Marty Pasko, Curt Swan and Frank Chiarmonte-
Superman 318 |
Frank
Springer 1929-
inked Swan's pencils on just two Superman
stories in 1977. |
Dave
Hunt 1942-
Began working in undergrounds as David Argo. Started doing background
inks for Frank Giacoia and others at Marvel, as well as lettering from
1972-78. Became an inker for DC in 1978, often working over both
Curt Swan and Kurt Schaffenberger. From 1981 to 1984 he was Swan's
most frequent and most sympathetic inker.
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"Today the City--Tomorrow
the World" by Marty Pasko, Curt Swan and Frank Springer- Superman
312. |
"The Man Who Saved the
Future" by Paul Kupperberg, Curt Swan and Dave Hunt - Superman 378. |
Dan
Adkins 1937-
First inked Curt in 1970 on Superman
230. He returned for a five issue run in 1977 and again in 1982. |
Kurt
Schaffenberger 1920-2002
It seems only fitting that the two classic
Superman
artists of the Silver Age would eventually team up. So it was that
Kurt Schaffenberger eventually got to ink several Curt Swan stories in
the mid-eighties. |
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"The Killer
With the Heart of Steel" Marty Pasko, Curt Swan, and Dan Adkins. Superman
317 |
"Endings" by Marv
Wolfman, Curt Swan and Kurt Schaffenberger. Action 556- June, 1984 |
Al
Williamson 1931-
Born in Columbia. Moved to the US in 1943.
Long and varied career, including the Rip Kirby newspaper strip
for several years. Inked Curt Swan in 1985-86. Of Swan's later inkers,
Al Williamson is the one he cited as bringing the most to his pencilling.
By 1985 DC had also switched to much better paper and a higher quality
of printing and coloring. Swan's work looked better than it had in
over a decade.
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In October
1986 a new era in Superman began, as John Byrne and Jerry Ordway took over
the art on the regular Superman titles. Curt's work did not vanish
entirely however, for he did yet another run on Action Comics Weekly from
May 1988 through March 1989 and also a graphic novel, Superman: The
Earth Stealers, with script by John Byrne. Six pages of Curt's art
also appeared in Superman: The Wedding Album, published in December
of 1996, giving Curt a Superman career spanning six decades. |
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"Clark Kent-- Fired!"
by Cary Bates, Curt Swan and Al Williamson- Superman 410. |
"The Earth Stealers" by John Byrne (script), Curt
Swan and Jerry Ordway
1988 Graphic Novel |
Other Artists
While the history of Superman in the
Bronze Age is primarily the history of Curt Swan, there were a few other
artists who contributed, mostly by doing covers, although a few also did
full stories. |
Nick
Cardy 1920-
A pioneer who began with the Eisner/Iger
shop in 1939 and worked on the original Blue Beetle and Lady
Luck.
Drew Aquaman for DC from 1961-68,
as well as Bat Lash and the Teen Titans. He became
DC's premier cover artist from 1972-75.. |
Bob
Oksner 1916-
In addition to inking Curt's pencils,
Oksner also did full covers from 1975-77. |
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Ross
Andru 1927-93
Classic DC war artist, co-creator of the
Metal
Men and premiere Wonder Woman artist of the 1960's. Andru
went on to a long stint on Spider-Man before returning to DC and
an editorial position. He contributed Superman covers from
1978-82. |
Eduardo
Barretto
Born in Uruguay. Started working
for DC in 1979. He drew Superman covers from 1984-86. |
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Gil
Kane 1926-2000
Born Eli Katz, Gil began his career as
a member of the Simon and Kirby shop and drew Sandman during the
war. Afterwards he worked on many features, including Wildcat
(as Gil Stack), Astra, Girl of the Future, The Trigger
Twins and Nighthawk. In the Sixties he rose to fame as the initial
artist on Green Lantern and the Atom before departing for
Marvel Comics where he drew Spider-Man, among other features.
He both wrote and drew Superman stories in 1983-84. |
Rich
Buckler 1949-
Came up through the fanzines in the late
sixties, working on Star -Studded Comics, among others, Broke
in a t DC in 1970 doing mystery stories and an occasional World of Krypton
back-up story. Never stuck with one series long, but did Superman/Batman
stories for World's Finest and stories for DC Comics Presents,
as well as the Superman vs. Shazam tabloid.
He also did a number of Superman
covers from 1977 to 1982. |
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"Rebirth" by Marv Wolfman and Gil Kane.
Action 544 |
"Superman's Last Christmas" by Cary Bates,
Rich Buckler and Frank McLaughlin -Superman 369 |
Jose
Luis Garcia-Lopez 1948-
Born in Spain, moved to Argentina in 1952.
Came to the US in 1975. Primarily concentrated on covers
and promotional artwork but did draw a few complete Superman stories
in 1975-80. |
Irv
Novick 1916-2004
Golden age great and long-time Batman
and Flash artist, did a stint on Lois Lane in the sixties
and returned to Superman for five stories from 1982-1985. |
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"Seven Foot Two and Still Growing!"
by Elliot Maggin, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and Bob Oksner.-Superman 302 |
"Peril of the Pass-Along Powers" by Gerry
and Carla Conway, Irv Novick and Dave Hunt. Superman 407. |
Kurt
Schaffenberger 1920-2002
Lois Lane aritist par excellance,
Kurt
pencilled 18 Superman stories from 1984 to 1986. This was
a period when a concerted effort was being made to make Superman
look like it had back in the 1960's. |
Keith Giffen
Most closely associated with the Legion
of Super-Heroes at the time, Keith Giffen drew a number of Superman stories
in the 1985-86 runup to the Iron Age revamp, often featuring his creation,
Ambush Bug. The example below is different. It features French comic
strip characters Asterix and Obelix. |
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"The Great Toyman Trivia Contest" by Paul
Kupperberg, Kurt Schaffenberger and Dennis Jensen. Action Comics 561 |
"Prisoners of Time" by R. J. M. Lofficier,
Keith Giffen and Bob Oksner. Action 579, May 1986. |
Other artists, of course also
drew Superman in this time period, primarily in books like Justice League
of America, World's Finest Comics, DC Comics Presents and
Superman Family. Those who contributed stories to Superman
and Action Comics not mentioned above include Alex Saviuk, Brian
Bolland, Denys Cowan, Paris Cullens, Howard Bender, Rick Hoberg,
Wayne Boring, Klaus Janson, Ed Hannigan, Pat Broderick, Ron Randall, Marshall
Rogers, Jerry Ordway, Dick Giordano, Carmine Infantino, Joe Staton, Ernie
Chua and George Perez. |