all artwork copyright by DC Comics, Inc.
Updated 3/10/09
Updated 3/10/09
| Curt Swan's (1920-96) first Superboy artwork appeared in Superboy #5 in December 1949. He would go on to provide art for many Superboy stories throughout the next twenty years. Curt contributed pencils only almost exclusively throughout his career. His earliest inkers are hard to identify. | Many of the earliest were inked by John Fischetti (1916-80) who had worked with Curt on Tommy Tomorrow, stories for Stange Adventures and Star Spangled War Stories in the late 1940's and early 50's. Fischetti went on to be a famous editorial cartoonist. An editorial cartoon award is named after him. |
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| Curt and John Fischetti drew the very first Superbaby story in Superboy #8 (June 1950). This story was written by Bill Finger | The classic Swan/Fischetti Superboy features, big 50's hair and a bunched up cape around Superboy's neck as in this story from Superboy 22. |
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| Sy Barry was National's "go-to" inker in the early fifties. His style was the house style of the company. Everybody was told to emulate his slick, clean line. He inked Swan's work between 1952 and 1955. | Ray Burnley (1902-64) was better known for inking almost of all of Curt's Jimmy Olsen stories in the Fifties, but he did do a few Superboy stories, including fittingly this one. |
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| Bruno Premiani (1924-?) , later famous for his work on the Doom Patrol, made a rare appearance inking someone else's work here on one Superboy story. | Stan Kaye (1916-67) primarily inked Wayne Boring, but he did do a lot of Curt Swan's covers and a number of Superboy stories from 1955 to 1960. |
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Curt Swan and Stan Kaye from Superboy 47 March 1956 "Clark Kent's Best Pal" by Otto Binder |
| John Forte (1918-1966), best known for his work on the Legion of Super Heroes, occasionally inked Curt's work. | George Klein (d. 1969) inked most of Curt's Superboy stories in the 1960's. His inking is often considered the definitive version for fans who grew up during that period, much the same way as Ray Burnley's is considered for fans who grew up in the 50's and Murphy Anderson's is for fans from the 70's. George's work is distinguished by his high foreheads and his use of crosshatching and ink dribbles when shading backgrounds. He probably replaced Sy Barry as Swan's regular Superboy inker in 1955. |
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| Many mid-fifties Swan Superboy stories have long been identified in fan sources as having been inked by Creig Flessel. Unfortunately, Flesses has stated in writing that he never inked Swan's work. These stories were most likely actually inked by John Giunta1920-70. Giunta's work can be identified by his hard, crisp blacks and by his tendency to give Superboy the same "figure 8" S symbol that Sikela does. | After Stan Kaye left comics in 1961, Swan's regular inker became George Klein again. |
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