My favorite cartoonists
A list of my favorite cartoon creators, directors, and comic book and comic strip illustrators.
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Growing up in Portland, Oregon, Matt Groening did not particularly like school, which is what originally turned him towards drawing. In the mid-1980s, he moved to Los Angeles and started drawing a comic strip named "Life in Hell", which eventually became published in the newspaper where he worked. In 1988, James L. Brooks, looking for a filler in the television show, The Tracey Ullman Show (1987), turned towards a framed "Life in Hell" strip on his wall and contacted Groening. The animated shorts that Groening created were The Simpsons (1989).- Music Department
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Trey was born in Conifer, Colorado, on October 19, 1969 to Randy Parker, a geologist, and Sharon Parker, an insurance broker. He has an older sister, Shelley Parker. He met Matt Stone (co-creator of South Park (1997)) while attending the University of Colorado in Boulder, where he had a double major of music and Japanese. While at UCB he wrote, directed and starred in Cannibal! The Musical (1993) (aka "Cannibal: The Musical!") based on a true episode in Colorado's history. After graduation from UCB (rumors that he didn't due to skipping classes to work on the movie are false), he and Stone were asked by then-FoxLab executive Brian Graden to create an animated Christmas card for his friends and family. The now infamous short, titled The Spirit of Christmas (1995), led to South Park (1997).- Music Department
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Matthew Stone is a Jewish-American actor, writer, director, musician and animator who frequently collaborates with Trey Parker. They created and voiced in the South Park franchise. Matt voiced Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McCormick, Butters Stotch and other characters. He and Parker also worked on The Book of Mormon, Baseketball, Cannibal the Musical, Team America: World Police and Orgazmo.- Writer
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James Robert "Jim" Davis is a professional cartoonist, television writer, and television producer from Marion, Indiana. His main claim to fame has been the creation of the long-running comic strip "Garfield" (1978-), featuring a cantankerous cat and a memorable group of supporting characters. The strip has been adapted into three animated television series, 12 prime-time television specials, two theatrical films, and a number of video games. Davis also created the short-lived comic strip "U.S. Acres" (1986-1989), featuring a group of anthropomorphic barnyard animals. This strip was also adapted in animated form. It inspired a series of spin-off children's books.
In 1945, Davis was born in Marion, Indiana. The city is primarily known as the base for the Indiana Wesleyan University, the largest evangelical Christian university in the Midwestern United States. Davis parents' were farmers, named James William "Jim" Davis and Anna Catherine "Betty" Carter. Davis was primarily raised on a small cow farm, located in the vicinity of Fairmount, Indiana. Fairmount serves as a bedroom community for nearby Marion. Davis parents' primarily owned Aberdeen Angus cows, members of a Scottish breed of small beef cattle. The breed was first imported into the United States in 1873.
Davis received his secondary education at the Fairmount High School. He joined the staff of the school newspaper, "The Breeze". He eventually served as the newspaper's art editor. While working there, he created a comic strip about school life. He used the strip's characters to illustrate his senior yearbook.
Davis received his tertiary education at the Ball State University, a public research university located in Muncie, Indiana. He studied both art and business. Following his graduation graduation, he intended to become a professional newspaper cartoonist. In 1969, Davis was hired as an assistant by experienced cartoonist Tom K. Ryan (1926-2019). From 1969 to 1978, Davis worked as an assistant artist in the Western comedy strip "Tumbleweeds" (1965-2007). The comic strip's protagonist was the laconic cowboy Tumbleweeds, a man who was content to drift through life.
Davis aspired to create a comic strip of his own. His first effort was the strip "Gnorm Gnat" (1973-1975), published by the newspaper "The Pendleton Times" in Indiana. It featured anthropomorphic insects, with the main character Gnorm Gnat serving as a comedic straight man to his zanier supporting cast. Davis tried for years to sign a deal to have this comic strip syndicated nationwide. He kept facing rejection by various syndicates. He was told that he had a good art style, and a good sense for gags. But that readers would have trouble relating to insect characters. Davis decided to end this comic strip, and to start a replacement.
Davis decided to research other people's syndicated comic strips, trying to find out what made them popular. He noticed that there were numerous strips about animals, many of them featuring pet dogs. He realized that people related well to the idea of a pet animal, but figured that creating another comic strip about a dog would make his work unlikely to stand out. He realized that there were no comic strips about pet cats, so he decided to create a comic strip about a pet cat. Davis created the locally published comic strip "Jon" (1976-1978), featuring the relationship of a pet owner and his cat. He created the character Garfield for this comic strip. He based the character's personality on his own cantankerous grandfather, who was named James A. Garfield Davis.
In 1948, Davis signed a deal with United Feature Syndicate. They agreed to syndicate his comic strip for national distribution. He launched the revised comic strip "Garfield" on June 19, 1978. It was published in 41 newspapers, Davis' first work to have such a wide distribution. A Sunday version of the comic strip was launched June 25, 1978.
Davis gradually changed Garfield's design over the first years of the comic strip. By 1983, Garfield had become a bipedal animal. Garfield was far more successful than Davis had expected. By 1981, it was published in 850 newspapers and had accumulated over 15 million dollars in merchandise. David founded the company "Paws, Inc." (1981-) to handle the licensing rights to the comic strip and its characters. He started employing both artists (as assistants) and licensing administrators.
Davis signed a deal with producers Bill Melendez and Lee Mendelson for the creation of the first Garfield television special, "Here Comes Garfield" (1982). Both men had previously produced television specials for the comic strip "Peanuts". The director of the special was Phil Roman, while Davis himself handled the screenplay. The special reached an audience of about 50 million people, and was nominated for the "Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program". Based on this success, other 11 television specials were created between 1983 and 1991. All of them were nominated for Emmy Awards, and four of them won the Award.
Based on the success of Garfield in animation, Davis went to work on creating an animated television series about the character. He served as the producer of "Garfield and Friends" (1988-1994). Veteran comic book writer Mark Evanier was hired as the series' head writer. The series lasted for 7 seasons and 121 episodes. The series was considered quite successful, but its production cost kept rising. The network CBS eventually ended the series. Its end was one of a series of cost-cutting measures for the network, as CBS was facing financial problems in the mid-1990s. The series found further success in syndication.
In 1994, Davis (through Paws, Inc.) purchased all rights to the previously published Garfield comic strips from the United Feature Syndicate. Davis was the sole owner of the comic strip series from 1994 to 2019, while having the right to license reprints of the strip.
In the late 1990s, Davis stopped drawing the "Garfield" comic strip. He only provided rough sketches for subsequent comic strips, while the main artists for the strip were his long-term assistants Brett Koth and Gary Barker. Davis remained as the strip's main writer.
In 2000, Davis and his frequent collaborator Brett Koth launched a new comic strip, based on the toy character "Mr. Potato Head". The strip was not particularly successful, and ended in 2003. In 2002, "Garfield" became the world's most syndicated strip. It was published in 2,570 different newspapers across several countries, and had an estimated reading audience of 263 million people.
In 2006, Davis joined the faculty of the Ball State University as an adjunct professor. He lectured students "on the creative and business aspects of the comics industry". In 2011, Davis started drawing comics digitally through using a graphics tablet. He kept his older hand-painted "Garfield" strips in a climate-controlled safe, until he could figure what to do with his art archives. In 2019, he started selling parts of his archives at auctions.
In 2019, Davis sold Paws, Inc. to the media conglomerate Viacom. The rights to the "Garfield" comic strip and its global merchandising were transferred to Nickelodeon, one of Viacom's subsidiaries. As part of the deal, Davis would continue to supervise the production of the comic strip. The main offices of Paws Inc. were transferred from Muncie, Indiana to the skyscraper "One Astor Plaza" in New York City.
By 2022, Davis was 76-years-old. He continues supervising the production of the "Garfield" comic strip from his home in Indiana. He has spend most of his life in his home state, and seems to have no plans to move out or to retire. He has had two marriages, and has raised several of his own children and two step-children. While the comic strip market has declined in the 21st century, the popularity of Davis' cantankerous cat has never faded.- Producer
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Tom Ruegger is the fourteen-time Emmy-winning producer and creative force behind many of the most popular and successful animated television series of all time, including Tiny Toon Adventures (1990), Animaniacs (1993) and Pinky and the Brain (1995) to name only a few.
Over the last decade, Mr. Ruegger served as the executive producer and chief creative executive at Warner Bros. Animation. In 2002, he started his own company, Tom Ruegger Productions, and under its banner, Tom has been involved in the development, writing and production of multiple televisions series and feature films, both animated and live action. These new works include Animalia (2007) for PorchLight and PBS, as well as a new animated series for Disney.
Mr. Ruegger began his career as an animator at Hanna-Barbera Productions, under the mentor-ship of his childhood heroes, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Tom's early animation efforts appeared in such familiar cartoon series as "Scooby Doo", "The New Flintstones," "Casper" and "Godzilla'. Tom honed his writing skills at Filmation Studios under the guidance of Arthur H. Nadel and Lou Scheimer, on such series as Blackstar (1981) and Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle (1976)," then returned to Hanna-Barbera to serve as a story editor and producer for a variety of shows, including Pound Puppies (1985) and Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (1979). In 1988, Tom created and produced a new Scooby franchise, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo (1988)," which was the first Scooby Doo series to be nominated for an Emmy Award.
Tom joined Warner Bros. Animation in 1989 to head up production of Tiny Toon Adventures (1990). Thus began a decade-long creative collaboration between Mr. Spielberg and Mr. Ruegger that spanned five enormously successful series resulting in ratings success, a worldwide fan base, and over 30 Emmy Awards victories in numerous categories.
With the success of Tiny Toon Adventures (1990)," Warner Bros. Animation began its second "Golden Age," and Mr. Ruegger became chief creative executive of the company. Along with Jean MacCurdy, Tom executive-produced the studio's next major productions: Taz-Mania (1991) and Batman: The Animated Series (1992), a cartoon-noir take on the dark knight that premiered to rave reviews and strong numbers.
At the same time, Mr. Ruegger continued his collaboration with Mr. Spielberg by creating a cast of breakout characters and a new franchise entitled Animaniacs (1993). This "hellzapoppin'" cartoon show, starring zany siblings Yakko, Wakko and Dot Warner, premiered on "Fox Kids," and it became the comedy template for the animation industry for a number of years - every studio wanted its own Animaniacs (1993). The series went on to win multiple Emmys as well as the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award for Outstanding Achievement in Animation Programming. As the creator of Animaniacs (1993), Mr. Ruegger was the show's senior producer, and served as a story editor, writer and lyricist on the series.
Mr. Ruegger has gone on to create and produce a number of other acclaimed series as well. These include:
Pinky and the Brain (1995) This animated series stars two lab mice, one a dim bulb, the other a megalomaniac bent on global domination. Tom created this odd duo during the development of Animaniacs (1993), and the two mice proved so popular that they were spun off into their own prime time series on the WB. Tom served as the senior producer of this award-winning series, as well as a writer, story editor and lyricist.
Freakazoid! (1995)This animated series follows the adventures of teenage nerd Dexter Douglas, who is swept into cyberspace and transformed into the world's wildest superhero, Freakazoid. Tom co-created this Emmy-winning series for Steven Spielberg, and served as executive producer, story editor and lyricist.
Histeria! (1998) This cartoon comedy follows an eccentric cast, including Father Time, Big Fat Baby, Loud Kiddington and Charity Bazaar, as they travel through time and interact with key historic figures along the way. Tom created, wrote, and executive-produced the series.
Road Rovers (1996) Tom created this animated adventure comedy starring a team of superhero canines.
Animaniacs: Wakko's Wish (1999) Tom co-wrote, produced and directed this animated feature film featuring the "Animaniacs" cast.
"Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)" Tom executive-produced this feature film.
Tom grew up in Metuchen, New Jersey, and attended Metuchen High School, where he served as Student Council President, co-captain of his school's football and track teams, and editorial cartoonist for the high school newspaper. Tom attended Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, and graduated cum laude with a bachelor's degree in English. At Dartmouth, Tom served as the director of the Dartmouth Film Society, the nation's first and oldest college film society.
In his junior year at Dartmouth, Tom received a grant from the Arthur and Lillie Mayer Foundation to create an animated film. This 10-minute film, "The Premiere of Platypus Duck," was the beginning of Tom's steps toward a film career and, especially, a greater understanding of animation. Before graduation, Tom received the Marcus Heiman Award, Dartmouth College's highest honor for creative achievement.
Currently, Tom serves on the board of directors for the Hopkins Center and Hood Museum, which are the film/theater/arts centers at Dartmouth College. Tom is a member of the Writers Guild and the Screen Cartoonist Guild. He lives in Calabasas, California, with his three sons, Nathan, Luke and Cody.
In 2003 and 2004, Tom co-wrote the pilot and served as a script editor of the Emmy Award-winning animated series Tutenstein (2003) for Porchlight Pictures.
In 2005, Tom began work as producer and story editor of a new CGI animated series entitled Animalia (2007) for PorchLight Entertainment and Burberry Production. The series is scheduled for a fall 2007 premiere on the BBC, PBS and Australia-10.
Tom, along with partners Nicholas Hollander and Mark Seidenberg, is currently developing a new animated series for the Walt Disney Company.- Director
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Tex Avery was a descendant of Judge Roy Bean and Daniel Boone, but all his grandma ever told him about it was "Don't ever mention you are kin to Roy Bean. He's a no good skunk!!" After graduating from North Dallas High School in 1927, Avery moved to Southern California in 1929 and got a job in the harbor. After showing samples of his artwork he got a job at Walter Lantz Studios in 1929 as animator. His contributions during the years at Walter Lantz Studios were minor. From 1936 to 1941 he worked as supervisor - another word for cartoon director - of some 60 titles in the Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes series for Leon Schlesinger at Warner's. From 1942 to 1954 Avery worked as director of cartoons at MGM. He was responsible for practically every MGM Cartoon that did not feature Tom and Jerry. In 1955 he did four cartoons, again for Walter Lantz Studios, before leaving the field for advertising, where, alas, his unique sense of humor went largely unappreciated, but primarily because commercials are not credited for the viewing audience (perhaps his best known commercial work was for Raid bug spray, which always featured the cartoon bugs screaming "Raid!" before getting smashed.)
Among the many cartoon characters Avery created are Daffy Duck, Droopy, Screwy Squirrel, George and Junior and Chilly Willy. Tex Avery is also credited with creating the basic personality of Bugs Bunny. He was the one who coined the phrase "What's up, Doc?"- Director
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Born in San Diego, California, the young Robert Clampett was monumentally moved as a child by the film The Lost World (1925), inspiring him to create a sea-serpent sock-puppet that he used in puppet shows to entertain the neighborhood kids. This led him to create a stuffed Mickey Mouse toy, which became a prototype for the first mass-produced Mickey Mouse doll.
Between 1931 and 1947 Clampett was an animator and later director for the legendary Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Brothers Animation) where alongside his one time boss Tex Avery he became known as the wackiest and most archetypally cartoonish of all the directors.
During this time he also developed a test for a animated adaptation of 'John Carter of Mars' however, despite the support of the author Edgar Rice Burroughs it failed to materialize.
Amongst his famous fare was the Dalí inspired Porky in Wackyland (1938), his loving adaption of the Dr. Seuss book Horton Hatches the Egg (1942), the controversial all-black cast musical Snow White parody Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs (1943), the Fantasia (1940) parody A Corny Concerto (1943) and John Kricfalusis's favorite cartoon The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (1946) featuring the acerbic irreverence of Daffy Duck -- easily the most Clampett-esque of all his characters.
Clampett, at the time the longest serving employee at the animation studio, finally left in 1947. After a brief stint at Columbia, and a one-off cartoon at Republic It's a Grand Old Nag (1947) he was inspired by the new innovation of television to resurrect his old sea-serpent puppet, and created the phenomenally successful Time for Beany (1949)_ puppet television show, which was acclaimed by the likes of Albert Einstein and Groucho Marx, and even inspired the AC/DC line "Dirty Deeds, Done Dirt Cheap".
Clampett later returned to animation as a supervising producer on a cartoon series based on the characters of his puppet show Matty's Funnies with Beany and Cecil (1959).- Animation Department
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Starting as a cel washer, Chuck Jones worked his way up to animator and then director at the animation division of Warner Bros. He is famous for creating such beloved cartoon characters as Wile E. Coyote, Henery Hawk, Pepé Le Pew, Marvin the Martian, Ralph Wolf, Road Runner, Sam Sheepdog, Sniffles, and many others, as well as adding to the development of Warner favorites such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and countless others.
His most famous cartoons tend to have been created with writer Michael Maltese. Jones' autobiography, published by Simon & Schuster "Chuck Amuck"--a pun on his Daffy Duck short Duck Amuck (1953)--gives a very amusing account of his life. It is liberally sprinkled with hundreds of cartoons with some color plates.- Director
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Friz Freleng was born Isadore Freleng on August 21, 1906 in Kansas City, Missouri. With no formal training in drawing, his first job as an animator was with United Film Advancement Services in 1924 at the age of 17. The first work Friz is credited with was for Disney Studios where he worked as an animator on the "Alice" series in 1927. Friz then did some animation for Robert Winkler Productions in 1928 starting with Fiery Fireman and for Screen Gems (Port Whines) in 1929, but it was his work in Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid (1929) in 1929 under the direction of Hugh Harmon and Rudolf Ising when he first worked for Warner Brothers, though known at that time as Leon Schlesinger Studios.
Under Leon Schlesinger's supervision in the budding animation department of Warner Brothers, Freleng's career as an animator and director rocketed, producing some of the most beloved cartoons in America's golden age of animation.
Freleng worked as the head animator and oftentimes producer on the two main animation subdivisions established by Warner Brothers, Looney Toons and Merrie Melodies.
In the late forties, after Tex Avery and Robert Clampett had left Warner Brothers, Freleng's career as a director soared. Though nominated throughout his career for numerous Academy Awards, it wasn't until 1947 that he eventually took the Oscar for Tweetie Pie (1947). Freleng then won Oscars for Speedy Gonzales (1955) in 1955, Birds Anonymous (1957) in 1957, Knighty Knight Bugs (1958) in 1958, and The Pink Phink (1964) in 1964.
In 1963, Freleng along with David De Patie created the DePatie-Freleng Studio that specialized in short films and television commercials. It was here that Freleng enjoyed great success with his Pink Panther television series.
Freleng returned to Warner Brothers to direct a number of specials, such as Daffy Duck's Quackbusters (1988) and Porky Pig in Hollywood.
In 1986, Freleng appeared as himself in the Looney Tunes 50th Anniversary (1986), and three years later he made another appearance in the television special, Roger Rabbit and the Secrets of Toon Town (1988).
Freleng, in addition to his production work, wrote the script for The Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie (1981), while contributing to the Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales (1982) and Daffy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island (1983).
He also penned the book "Animation: The Art of Friz Freleng" (1994).
The New York Museum of Modern Art honored both Friz Freleng and Chuck Jones in a 1985 retrospective that set attendance records for the institution that remain unbroken to this day.
Friz Freleng passed away due to a heart ailment at his home in Los Angeles on May 26, 1995 at the age of 88.
Today Freleng's artwork is highly prized and sought by many collectors. Expect to pay a pretty penny for his work.- Director
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Robert McKimson was born on October 13, 1910. He started his career in animation, along with many others, as an artist for Walt Disney's Oswald the Rabbit in 1928. After Disney went to produce Mickey Mouse cartoons, Hugh Harman & Rudolph Ising went to Warner Brothers to direct and co-produce cartoon shorts, along with producer Leon Schlesinger. McKimson was one of the many artists who tagged along. During his career at Warner Brothers, Robert McKimson developed into one of the most gifted artists ever. In fact, he was an animator under nearly all the major WB directors. They include Hugh Harman & Rudolph Ising (1930-1933), Friz Freleng (1933-1937), Frank Tashlin (1937-1938), Chuck Jones (1938-1940), Tex Avery (1940-1941), and Bob Clampett (1942-1946; animating under Clampett's supervision was when McKimson's drawing talents truly began to blossom). Robert McKimson was in part responsible for developing Bugs Bunny's popularity during the 1940's. Between 1942 & 1943, Bob Clampett gave a Bugs Bunny modeling assignment to McKimson, which soon became the basic Bugs Bunny model for all Warner Brothers animators. The models are still in use for WB animators of today. He also designed the familiar design in which Bugs Bunny leans on a tree while eating a carrot, which was originally on display at a Los Angeles department store for a holiday sale. McKimson finally got his chance to direct in 1943, in the WWII short, "Return of Mr. Hook, The". His premiere short, "Daffy Doodles", was released in 1946. His earlier supervising efforts was influenced by none other than Bob Clampett, the last director he worked for. During his earlier directing efforts, Robert McKimson's brother, Charles McKimson, became his leading animator, who had previously been working at Warner Brothers as an animator under Tex Avery's supervision. Thomas McKimson, Robert's second brother, was also an animator for Warner Brothers, mainly under Bob Clampett's supervision; he was also a background & layout artist for Clampett's later WB cartoons. Drawing had apparently ran in the McKimson family. As director, Robert McKimson was responsible for the creation of such WB characters as Foghorn Leghorn, Barnyard Dog, Hippity Hopper, Bobo the Elephant, Tasmanian Devil, Sylvester Jr., and Speedy Gonzales, and helped develop the personality of other characters like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and Elmer Fudd. He only directed two Oscar-nominated toons; "Walky Talky Hawky" (1946), and "Tobassco Road" (1957). Robert McKimson's supervising success was partially because of the writing efforts of Warren Foster. However, when Foster was 'permanently' placed under Friz Freleng's writing unit in 1956, McKimson's writing unit was replaced by Tedd Pierce. That was when his supervising talents began to slip. In addition, he lost all his original animators (not nearly having the same dramatic effects for the other Warner Brother directors), including Charles McKimson. Robert did some of the animating under his supervision for a while between 1955 & 1956, until he got a new team of directors, which completely changed his stylization. Along with the change of writers & artists, Robert McKimson soon developed a 'squarer style', which from that point on scarred his cartooning career as his quality began to fall behind the other WB directors. The close-up of the original Warner Brothers' Cartoon Studio in 1963 was when Robert McKimson's career started to hit rock bottom. When the original WB Cartoon Studio closed, Friz Freleng quickly teamed up with David DePatie to form DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, in hopes of creating more WB cartoons. McKimson naturally tagged along, directing most of the less popular toon shorts of the 1960's, even the ones under Billy Hendrick's WB production in the latter of the 60's after DePatie-Freleng left WB in 1967. After the Warner Brothers cartoons' second diminishment in 1970, McKimson returned to DePatie-Freleng Enterprises to direct some Pink Panther cartoons. At that point, the careers of a lot of the remaining cartoonists, whom were once well-known during the 40's & 50's, had been detracted as well. In 1977, on his 66th birthday, McKimson had a doctor's appointment, when he was listed in good health. He decided to celebrate that evening. Unfortunately, while he was dining at a Burbank restaurant with Friz Freleng and other colleagues, Robert McKimson died of a massive heart attack (known as coronary). This came only years before his cartoons became part of the Warner Brothers' 'Looney Tunes renaissance' of the 1980's. Robert McKimson's cartooning career since its decline in the early 1960's, and his relatively early death in 1977 had mostly been pushed in the background from true recognition. But among many of today's cartoonists, McKimson still remains one of the most influential artists ever.- Director
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Arthur Davis is among the most overlooked & forgotten members of Warner Brother's "Golden Age". He has been overshadowed by other animation directors, including Tex Avery, Friz Freleng, Chuck Jones & Robert Clampett. A serviceable animator, Davis came to Warner Brothers with fellow animator Frank Tashlin, after working for Columbia Screen Gems. Davis continued to work for Tashlin's animation unit until 1944, when Tashlin left to pursue a career in live-action. He then worked as an animator in Bob Clampett's animation unit until 1945, when Clampett left over contract disputes with Edward Selzer. Davis completed several cartoons, that were already in production, such as "The Goofy Gophers" (1947), for which the dialogue had already been recorded. Davis' cartoons can be recognized by their laid-back attitude, and their characters' predilection for wearing bow ties. While not a ground-breaker like Jones, he did manage to direct one of the funniest Bugs Bunny cartoon shorts, of Bowery Bugs (1949), a retelling of the Steve Brodie/Brooklyn Bridge legend, [just like an ode]. Among the most popular Daffy Duck cartoons, (with Elmer Fudd & an unnamed fox), he directed is What Makes Daffy Duck (1948). In the early 1950's, cost-cutting measures at Warner Brothers forced the break-up of the Davis animation unit, and he was folded into Friz Freleng's unit. After spending the rest of the 50's as an animator, Davis directed one final Warner's cartoon, "Quackodile Tears," using Freleng's unit, in 1962. Following this, Davis left Warner Brothers & after working as an animator for Walter Lantz and a story-boarder for Hanna-Barbera, he joined Freleng's production company, DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, as a director, in 1968. Once there, Davis made two of the last truly classic Pink Panther cartoon shorts, "Pinkcome Tax" & "In the Pink of the Night." But at the start of the 70's, DePatie-Freleng's cartoons suffered an overall decline in quality. Neither Davis nor any of the studio's other directors were able to bring anything special to generally uninspired stories featuring the Pink Panther and DePatie-Freleng's lower second-rate characters (Ant & Aardvark, Blue Racer & others). At the end of the 70's, DePatie-Freleng dissolved and Freleng returned to Warner's, bringing much of the staff with him. Davis worked briefly as a sequence director for TV specials featuring classic Warner's characters, then moved to Hanna-Barbera. Working once again as a sequence director on their Saturday morning and syndicated cartoon series, Davis stayed there until his retirement in the mid-late 80's. Davis passed away in 2000, at the age of 94. He was 36 days from reaching 95.- Writer
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Charles Monroe Schulz (nicknamed "Sparky") was an American comic strip writer and artist from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was primarily known for creating the long-running comic strip "Peanuts" (1950-2000), and serving as its sole artist for the strip's entire run. His comic strip was known for its "clean, minimalist drawings", its sarcastic humor, and the emotional honesty of its dialogue. By the time of Schulz's death in 2000, the comic strip had been published in 75 different countries, and had been translated into 21 languages. The comic strip has been adapted into 5 theatrical animated films, over 40 animated television specials, 6 television series, and 2 theatrical musicals. In addition, Schulz is credited with popularizing the format of the "four-panel gag strip". This format was eventually used by several comic strips of the post-World War II period.
In 1922, Schulz was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota,. The city is occupying both banks of the Mississippi River. Schulz was the only child of Carl Schulz and Dena Halverson. His ancestry was German and Norwegian. His favorite comic strip during his childhood was "Barney Google" (1919-) by Billy DeBeck (1890-1942). Schulz was nick-named "Sparky" by his family, named after the race horse Spark Plug (also nicknamed "Sparky") in his favorite comic strip. He kept the nickname throughout his life.
Schulz started drawing as a hobby during his childhood. His favorite subject for drawings was the family dog, Spike. In 1937, Schulz submitted a drawing about Spike's unusual eating habits to the newspaper panel "Ripley's Believe It or Not!". This drawing was the first work by Schulz to be published in his lifetime.
Schulz received his primary education at the Richards Gordon Elementary School, located in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He skipped two half-grades during his elementary school years. He subsequently was always the youngest student in his class while attending Central High School. The school was the oldest high school in the state of Minnesota, established in 1866. Schulz was reportedly a shy and timid adolescent boy.
In February 1943, Dena Halverson (Schultz's mother ) died due to cancer. Schulz was shocked, as he was particularly close to his mother. She had tried to keep her illness a secret, as she did not want her son to worry about her. Shortly after her death, Schulz was drafted for service in World War II. He served as a staff sergeant with the 20th Armored Division in Europe. , He was a squad leader on a .50 caliber machine gun team, but his team only experienced combat at the ending months of the war. At one point, Schulz realized that he had forgot to load his machine gun while noticing that a German soldier was approaching him. Fortunately for Schulz, the German soldier had no intention to fire at him, and voluntarily surrendered to the American unit.
Schulz returned to civilian life in Minnesota in late 1945. He was soon hired as a letterer by the comic magazine "Timeless Topix"'. In July 1946, Schulz was hired by the "Art Instruction Schools", a Minneapolis-based home study correspondence course. His job was to review and grade the work of the students. He continued doing so for several years.
Schulz created his first comic strip for "St. Paul Pioneer Press". It was the short-lived "Li'l Folks" (1947-1950). He introduced several ideas that he would later reuse in "Peanuts". The comic strip used the recurring name "Charlie Brown" for three different characters, featured a Snoopy-like dog called Rover, and introduced a well-dressed young boy who idolized Ludwig van Beethoven (like the "Peanuts" character Schroeder.) Schulz eventually quit working for this newspaper. His editors had repeatedly denied his requests for a pay rise, and had relegated the comic strip into the women's section of the newspaper (rather than publishing it alongside other comic strips). An attempted deal to syndicate the strip through the Newspaper Enterprise Association fell through.
In 1950, Schulz negotiated a deal for a new comic strip with the United Feature Syndicate. The Syndicate was interested in his ideas, but they rejected his proposed title of "Li'l Folks" for legal reasons. There was already a comic strip under the copyrighted title "Little Folks", and its writer Tack Knight had claimed exclusive rights. An executive came up with the idea to name the comic strip "Peanuts". The comic stream was named after the "peanut gallery", the audience of the television series "Howdy Doody" (1947-1960). Schulz agreed to the new name, though he grew to dislike it. He would prefer to name the strip after the name of one of its characters. But the name was kept.
The syndicated comic strip "Peanuts" was introduced on October 2, 1950, initially published by only 7 newspapers.: the "Chicago Tribune", the "Denver Post", the "Evening Chronicle", the "Globe-Times", the "Minneapolis Tribune," the "Seattle Times", and the "Washington Post". The first strip in the series introduced only three characters: the protagonist Charlie Brown and two female acquaintances, Shermy and Patty. The pet dog Snoopy was introduced on October 4, 1950., Most of the strips' regular characters were introduced in its first 25 years: Violet (in February 1951), Schroeder (in May 1951), Lucy (in March 1952), Linus (in September 1952), Pig-Pen (in July 1954), Sally (in August 1959), Frieda (in March 1961), Peppermint Patty (in August 1966), Franklin (in July 1968) Woodstock (introduced in March 1966; officially named in June 1970), Marcie (in July 1971), and Rerun (in March 1973).
Schulz started working on a Sunday version of "Peanuts" in January 1952. He created the religious-themed comic strip "Young Pillars" (1956-1965) for the magazine "Youth Magazine", a publication of the Church of God. Unusually for Scchulz's work, this strip featured adolescents instead of children.
Schulz and Jim Sasseville later co-created the sports-and-game-oriented comic strip "It's Only a Game" (1957-1959) in an art style similar to "Peanuts". The new strip was modestly successful, but Schulz found that in conflicted with his increasingly demanding schedule. He terminated the strip voluntarily.
In 1957, Schulz was hired as an illustrator for a volume of the book "Kids Say the Darndest Things" by Art Linkletter (1912-2010). He illustrated a second volume of the work in 1962. In 1964, Schulz illustrated a collection of letters, "Dear President Johnson" by Bill Adler. These were Schulz's only efforts as a book illustrator.
For most of the 1950s, Schulz and his first wife Joyce Halverson lived primarily in Minnesota and Colorado. He primarily worked from home, or from a rented office room. In 1958, Schulz and his family moved Sebastopol, California. There Schulz built his first artist's studio. That studio burned down in 1966. Schutz later relocated to Santa Rosa, California, where he build a second artist's studio in 1969. He continued working there for the rest of his life.
By the autumn of 1970, Schulz had started contemplating divorce. He had an extramarital affair with Tracey Claudius, a woman who was only 25-years-old and was 23 years younger than him. He eventually received his divorce in 1972, but by then his affair with Claudius had ended In 1973, Schutz married his second wife Jean Forsyth Clyde. She had a daughter from a previous wedding, whom Schulz had already met. Their marriage lasted for 27 years and ended with his death.
In 1981, Schulz underwent heart bypass surgery. His hospitalization was considered newsworthy, and President Ronald Reagan personally phoned him to wish for his recovery. During the 1980s, Schulz found his hands shaking while drawing. He was eventually diagnosed as suffering from "essential tremor", a neurological disorder involving involuntary rhythmic contractions and relaxations of muscle groups. He received medication for his condition, but he insisted on continuing to draw "Peanuts" without assistants. This resulted in changes in his drawing style, with increasingly shakier lines in the comic strip.
In May 1988, Schulz was in the news over his personal life, something unusual in his career. Two masked men had entered his home through an unlocked door and attempted to kidnap his wife Jean. They fled empty-handed when one of Schulz's daughters arrived for a visit. The police suspected that the criminals were interested in ransom money, but no arrests were made.
In November 1999, Schulz experienced several small strokes and a blocked aorta. While undergoing a medical examination, his doctors realized that he was suffering from a previously undiagnosed condition: colon cancer. He started treatment with chemotherapy, but this caused his vision to blur. He was unable to keep drawing, so he announced his retirement on December 14, 1999. United Features retained ownership of the comic strip "Peanuts", but Schulz did not want to be replace on the production of the strip. Based on his insistence, the strip was scheduled to end on February 13, 2000 (the publication date for the last available comic strip).
On February 12, 2000, Schulz died in his sleep at his home in Santa Rosa, California. He was 77-years-old, and his death was caused by colorectal cancer. His comic strip ended on February 13, as scheduled. On May 27, 2000, Schulz was honored with tributes in over 100 different comic strips. Cartoonists devoted the day to homages of Schulz's style or appearances by his famous characters.
Schulz is long gone, but his characters from "Peanuts" have remained popular. Several animated adaptations of the comic strip were created in the first decades of the 21st century, and reprints of his work were still available in various forms. Schulz has been cited as an influence by several younger cartoonists, such as Jim Davis and Matt Groening.- Bill Watterson was born on 5 July 1958 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. He is a writer, known for Stripped (2014). He has been married to Melissa Richmond since 8 October 1983.
- Dik Browne was born on 11 August 1917 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer, known for The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie (1972), Hagar the Horrible (2021) and Hägar the Horrible (1989). He was married to Joan Kelly. He died on 4 June 1989 in Sarasota, Florida, USA.
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William Hanna was an animator, film director, and television producer. He was the co-founder of the company Hanna-Barbera, with his longtime partner Joseph Barbera.
Hanna was born in an Irish-American family, son of William John Hanna (1873-1949) and his wife Avice Joyce Denby. He was born in Melrose, New Mexico Territory, though the family never set root there. His father worked as a construction superintendent for railroads, water systems, and sewer systems. He was often re-assigned, requiring his family to move with him to new locations.
Hanna attended Compton High School in Compton California from 1925 to 1928. During his high school years, Hanna played the saxophone in a dance band. He developed a passion for music that would lead to him personally working on several theme songs for his animated work.
Hanna briefly attended Compton City College, studying both journalism and structural engineering. The Great Depression affected his family's financial situation, forcing him to drop out of college and seek work. He worked first as a construction engineer, then as a car wash employee. A family friend convinced him to seek a job for Leon Schlesinger's company "Pacific Title & Art Studio", which designed title cards for films. Though he lacked formal training, he displayed a talent for drawing. This helped him get hired at an upstart animation studio connected to Schlesinger, the Harman and Ising animation studio, which was producing the "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies" series. Hanna was promoted to head of their ink and paint department.
In 1933, the studio's heads (Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising) dissolved their business relationship with Schlesinger. Schesinger retained the rights to the "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies", while Harman and Ising kept the rights to their popular character Bosko. Hanna followed them into their subsequent projects. By 1936, he was promoted to film director and directed a few short films in their "Happy Harmonies" film series.
In 1937, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer stopped distributing animated films by Harman and Ising, and created their own animation subsidiary: the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio (1937-1957). They hired away most of the staff of the Harman and Ising studio, including Hanna. In 1938, Hanna became a senior director for the "Captain and the Kids" film series, an adaptation of the popular comic strip "The Katzenjammer Kids". The series failed to find an audience, and was terminated in 1939. Hanna was demoted from director to story-man.
During this period, Hanna started co-working with fellow animator Joseph Barbera on the idea of a film series featuring a cat-and-mouse duo. The two were allowed to co-direct the film "Puss Gets the Boot" (1940), introducing the characters of Tom and Jerry. The film was popular with critics and the audience, but studio head Fred Quimby was not initially interested in a full series with the characters. However, the commercial failure of other products of the studio convinced Quimby to try reusing Tom and Jerry. Hanna and Barbera were assigned their own production unit to work on the new series.
From 1940 to 1957, Hanna and Barbera co-directed 114 short films starring Tom and Jerry. The series was a critical and popular success, winning 7 Academy Awards and being nominated for other 7. In 1955, Fred Quimby retired, and Hanna and Barbera replaced him as studio heads. But by this time production costs for the films were high, while they were less profitable than before. MGM shut down the studio in 1957.
Hanna briefly partnered with animator Jay Ward in creating their own animation studio, called "Shield Productions". They parted ways before producing anything notable. Hanna next partnered with Barbera again, creating the company Hanna-Barbera Productions. Since the market for theatrical animated shorts was in decline, the duo intended to produce animation for television. They received partial funding from Screen Gems, in return for a distribution deal.
The studio's first television series was the moderately popular "The Ruff & Reddy Show". It was followed by the more successful "The Huckleberry Hound Show" and "The Yogi Bear Show", which introduced popular characters and managed to attract an adult audience. Realising that there was a market for adult-oriented cartoons, Hanna and Barbera next developed the animated sitcom "The Flintstones", a parody of "The Honeymooners" with a Stone Age setting. It found success with both adult and juvenile audiences, helping the studio become the leader in television animation for most of the 1960s.
In 1966, Hanna-Barbera Productions was sold to Taft Broadcasting for 12 million dollars. Hanna and Barbera continued serving as studio heads until 1991. In 1991, the studio was sold to Turner Broadcasting System, with Hanna and Barbera reduced to an advisory position. In 1996, the studio was sold to Time Warner, with Hanna remaining an advisor until his death in 2001.
In March 2001, Hanna died of esophageal cancer at his home in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, He was 90-years-old. He was buried at Ascension Cemetery in Lake Forest, California. His legacy includes more than 100 animated series, multiple films and television specials, and a large number of enduring characters.- Producer
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Joseph Roland Barbera was an American animator, film director, and television producer. He was the co-founder of the company Hanna-Barbera, with his longtime partner William Hanna.
Barbera was born in an Italian-American family. His parents were barbershop-owner Vincent Barbera (1889-1965) and Francesca Calvacca (1875-1969), both Italian immigrants from Sicily. Vincent was from the farming town of Castelvetrano, while Francesca was from the spa town of Sciacca (founded as the ancient Greek colony of Thermae).
Barbera was born in Little Italy, at the Lower East Side section of Manhattan. Months following his birth, Barbera's family moved to Flatbush, Brooklyn. He was mostly raised in Flatbush. Vincent Barbera grew prosperous for a while, but a gambling addiction led him to squander the family fortune. In 1926, Vincent abandoned his family, and Joseph was taken under the wing of his maternal uncle Jim Calvacca.
Barbera attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn. During his high school years, he worked as a tailor's delivery boy. Meanwhile, he excelled in boxing and won a number of titles, but decided against becoming a professional boxer. He graduated high school in 1928, and started working odd jobs.
In 1929, Barbera first became interested in animation, after viewing Walt Disney's "The Skeleton Dance" (1929). Shortly after, he started working as a freelance cartoonist. Some of his print cartoons were published in Redbook, the Saturday Evening Post, and Collier's. Meanwhile Barbera took art classes at the Art Students League of New York and the Pratt Institute, hoping to improve his drawing skills.
Barbera was eventually hired as an inker and colorist by Fleischer Studios. In 1932, he was hired by the Van Beuren Studios as an animator and storyboard artist. At Van Beuren he worked on such film series as "Cubby Bear" and "Rainbow Parades". The studio's most prominent cartoon starts were a human duo known as "Tom and Jerry". Barbera worked on the Tom and Jerry series, and apparently liked the sound of the duo's name.
In 1936, Barbera left the financially struggling Van Beuren studio to work for Paul Terry's Terrytoons studio. In 1937, he left Terrytoons to work for the then-recently established Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio (1937-1957). MGM offered its animators higher salaries than what Terrytoons could offer. His first few years at the studio were not particularly notable. In 1939, he and co-worker William Hanna started working on the idea of a cat-and-mouse duo of characters. They were allowed to co-direct "Puss Gets the Boot" (1940), introducing the new duo of Tom and Jerry. It was critically and commercially successful, but studio head Fred Quimby was initially uninterested in producing a full series of Tom and Jerry films. The lack of success of other products of the studio convinced Quimby, and Barbera and Hanna became the head of their own production unit to work on the new series.
From 1940 to 1957, Hanna and Barbera co-directed 114 Tom and Jerry animated shorts. The Tom and Jerry series was very popular with critics and audience. But by the 1950s, production costs were high while the profitability of the shorts was lower than before. MGM decided to shut down its animation subsidiary. Barbera was unemployed for the first time in decades.
Barbera briefly partnered with Robert D. Buchanan (1931-) in production of an animated television series, the science fiction series "Colonel Bleep" (1957-1960). It was the first animated series specifically produced for color television. Barbera eventually left this partnership and teamed up with William Hanna again. They founded Hanna-Barbera Productions, their own animation studio. With theatrical animation in decline, they focused on the new market of television animation.
The studio's first television series was the moderately successful "The Ruff & Reddy Show". It was succeeded by the much more popular "The Huckleberry Hound Show" and "The Yogi Bear Show". Survey's revealed that the two shows had attracted an adult audience, convincing Hanna and Barbera that they could market animation to adults. Their next series was the animated sitcom "The Flintstones" (1960-1966), popular with both children and adults. Its success helped establish Hanna-Barbera Productions as the leader in television animation.
In 1966, Hanna-Barbera Productions was sold to Taft Broadcasting for $12 million dollars.Barbera and Hanna remained studio heads until 1991, when the studio was sold to the Turner Broadcasting System for an estimated 320 million million dollars. Barbera and Hanna were reduced to advisory positions, which would they keep for the rest of their lives. Barbera periodically worked on new Hanna-Barbera shows, and even provided input for the original live-action adaptation of Scooby-Doo in 2002.
In 2001, Hanna-Barbera Productions was absorbed into Warner Bros. Animation. Barbera received executive producer credits for Warner Bros. sequels and adaptations of his old series (such as "What's New, Scooby-Doo?" and "Tom and Jerry Tales"). In 2005, Barbera co-directed a new Tom and Jerry short film: "The Karate Guard". Barbera then started work on a Tom and Jerry feature film, " Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale" (2007). He died before production was completed.
Barbera died in December 2006, at the age of 95. He had never fully retired and was still working at the time of his death. His legacy includes more than a 100 television series, and a large number of enduring characters.- Producer
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Al Jean was born on 9 January 1961 in Farmington Hills, Michigan, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for The Simpsons (1989), The Simpsons Movie (2007) and It's Garry Shandling's Show. (1986). He has been married to Stephanie Gillis since 2002.- Producer
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Mike Reiss was born on 15 September 1959. He is a producer and writer, known for The Simpsons (1989), The Simpsons Movie (2007) and It's Garry Shandling's Show. (1986).- Producer
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Genndy Tartakovsky was born and raised in Moscow, USSR. He and his family moved to Chicago, IL when he was 7 years old, after his father defected to the US. His interest in comic books and animation led him to study animation at CalArts in Los Angeles. While he was there he produced two student films, one of which was the basis of his series Dexter's Laboratory (1996). The character of Dee-Dee was inspired by his older brother Alex, who would often spoil younger brother Genndy's plans (as Dee-Dee does to Dexter). His first long form directing work was for the TV movie of the series, Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip (1999). He also directed animation for his collaborator Craig McCracken on The Powerpuff Girls (1998) and The Powerpuff Girls Movie (2002).
His most celebrated work was the epic animated series Samurai Jack (2001), featuring a time-traveling samurai in a battle of good vs. evil. He stopped work on the series to produce Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003) as a direct story tie-in to the beginning of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005). He then directed animation for the Adult Swim pilot Korgoth of Barbaria (2006). Plans were up in the air for over a decade for a possible movie conclusion to Samurai Jack, as well as directing a sequel to The Dark Crystal (1982). He created storyboards for the action-packed opening of Iron Man 2 (2010) during this time period.
Genndy produced another dynamic TV series Sym-Bionic Titan (2010), before finally landing his first feature on Hotel Transylvania (2012), which would involve taking over a tumultuous production and incorporating 2D techniques to 3D animation. Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015) was the first film for which he had creative control over the entire production, although it was still in the style developed during the first film. In 2017, he finally returned to direct a darker season of Samurai Jack to conclude the story on Adult Swim. He is currently directing Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018).- Writer
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Craig McCracken has been interested in drawing and animation since the age of three. Some of his sources of inspiration are Japanese anime, Super Friends (1973), Pee-wee's Playhouse (1986) and Little Golden Books. After briefly considering a career as a comic book illustrator, McCracken studied animation at Cal Arts in LA (along with fellow classmate and Dexter's Laboratory (1996) creator Genndy Tartakovsky. His most famous creation, The Powerpuff Girls (1998), began life in a student film under the less-cutesy title, Whoopass Stew! (1992), it was quickly renamed The Powerpuff Girls (1998).- Animation Department
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Canadian-born cartoon cartoonist Kricfalusi began his career by working on low end Saturday morning cartoons like The Jetsons (1962) revival and Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1972). In 1987, Kricfalusi's mentor, Ralph Bakshi, saved him by hiring him as supervising director on his show Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures (1987). The show was canceled after a scene where Mighty Mouse sniffed a flower to get superpowers and some people thought he was using cocaine. Soon afterwards, Nickelodeon bought his twisted brainchild The Ren & Stimpy Show (1991). But after continuous battles over script content and control, he was fired from his own show in 1992. After he was fired, he furthered his fight for creative freedom by founding a website where he sold dolls of his other characters. He then hired some of his old Ren and Stimpy co-workers and produced the first 'made for the web' cartoon series The Goddamn George Liquor Program (1997). He also created and produced "Weekend Pussy Hunt" another 'made for the web' series. Other work includes directing a Yogi Bear short for Cartoon Network, directing a music video for Björk. And in 2001 he returned to TV with the Saturday morning cartoon for Fox Kids called The Ripping Friends (2001), which he created and produced. By 2019, he released the cartoon by Kickstarter Cans Without Labels (2019).- Animation Department
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Joe Murray was born on 3 May 1961 in San Jose, California, USA. He is a writer, known for Rocko's Modern Life (1993), Camp Lazlo! (2005) and Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling (2019). He has been married to Carol Wyatt since May 2011. They have two children. He was previously married to Aleide Daley and Diane Murray.- Actor
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Paul Kevin Rugg is an American voice actor, puppeteer, writer and producer from Los Angeles who is known for voicing Freakazoid, Baron Vain from The Modifyers, Chuckles the Silly Piggy from Dave the Barbarian, Ned from Earth to Ned and Mr. Director from Animaniacs. He is married to Maria and had a daughter.- Animation Department
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Bruce Timm is an American animator, writer, voice actor and director. He is known for creating Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League and various installments of the DC Animated Universe. He co-created several DC characters including Harley Quinn and Livewire. He also worked on various DC animated films including Batman and Harley Quinn and Batman: Gotham by Gaslight.- Writer
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Paul Dini is an American animator and writer known for his contributions to DC Comics, including Batman: The Animated Series, Gotham Girls and fan favorite character Harley Quinn. He also worked on Batman: Arkham Asylum and it's sequel Batman: Arkham City as well as a 2003 animated pilot based on Zatanna starring Tara Strong. He is seen as the curator of the DC Animated Universe alongside Bruce Timm.- Producer
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Eric Radomski is known for Batman: The Animated Series (1992), Spawn (1997) and Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993).- Producer
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Tad Stones was born on 28 May 1952 in Burbank, California, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Darkwing Duck (1991), Aladdin (1994) and Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (1989). He has been married to Lisa Anne Muscio since 18 September 1976. They have one child.- Writer
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Writer/director/producer Paul Germain makes character-driven family comedies that are popular worldwide and across generations.
A native Angeleno, Paul started out at Gracie Films with James L. Brooks, working as a PA on "Terms of Endearment" and associate producer on the film "Say Anything" and the variety series "The Tracey Ullman Show."
Collaborating with producer Jeffrey Townsend, Paul developed and cast the one-minute cartoons that became "The Simpsons." Paul co-wrote the shorts with Matt Groening, directed the voice actors, hired Klasky-Csupo Studios to execute the animation, and produced all the original short cartoons, supervising every aspect of production. When "The Simpsons" went to series, Paul co-produced the first few episodes before moving to Klasky-Csupo himself.
While working on "The Simpsons," Paul pioneered the radio-play approach in TV animation. Where standard cartoon productions would record line readings from one actor at a time in isolation, Paul's innovation was to bring the cast together in the booth to perform and record interactively. He'd then edit the voice tracks into a "radio show" before animation began, a method that emphasizes the actors' performances over visual gags, and creates liveliness and immediacy. This approach calls for flexibility from animators, who draw and time their visual world to the preexisting voices. All of Paul's productions are designed around this story-based animation process.
At K-C studios Paul created "Rugrats" with Arlene Klasky and Gabor Csupo when his own first child, Tommy, was a year old. In addition to creating the characters, writing and producing the pilot, and casting and directing the actors, Paul oversaw all scripts, storyboards and soundtracks and was creative producer and show runner for the original 65 half-hours of the classic series. "Rugrats" earned Paul three Emmys. It still airs on Nickelodeon and remains one of the most popular shows of all time.
After "Rugrats," Paul and partner Joe Ansolabehere moved to Disney, where they created "Recess" for ABC. After its 1997 premier, "Recess" quickly became the network's most popular Saturday-morning show. Paul and Joe wrote, directed, and executive-produced 65 half hours of "Recess," to this day a mainstay on The Disney Channel and Disney outlets around the world. Seeing the success of the series, Disney asked for a feature and "RECESS: SCHOOL'S OUT" was released in theaters in 2001.
Some of Paul's other shows include "Lloyd In Space" (ABC and The Disney Channel,) and "Beethoven" (CBS.) Paul and Joe wrote the 2010 "Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue" for Disney, and a "Shrek" Halloween special for Dreamworks. Next the two executive-produced the new "Pound Puppies" series, writing and developing original characters for Hasbro Studios and The HUB. The series enjoyed a successful run through 2014, and was recently picked as "a kids show worth streaming" by The New Yorker for its smart appeal to both kids and parents.
As of Spring 2018, Paul is executive producer on a major animated series not yet announced, and Paul and Joe are signed to exec-produce the adaptation of a subversive coming-of-age novel as a live action multi-season series.- Writer
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Joe Ansolabehere was born on 18 June 1959 in Sacramento, California, USA. Joe is a writer and producer, known for Pound Puppies (2010), Rugrats (1991) and Sheriff Callie's Wild West (2013).- Art Department
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David Feiss was born on 16 April 1959 in Sacramento, California, USA. He is a writer, known for Cow and Chicken (1997), Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022) and Astro Boy (2009). He has been married to Annmarie Ashkar McCarty since 2009. They have one child. He was previously married to Pilar Menendez.- Writer
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Maxwell Atoms is an American animator, voice actor and writer known for creating Cartoon Network's The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy. He is also the creator of CN's Evil Con Carne and Underfist, the Executive Producer and Supervising Director of Disney's Fish Hooks, Executive Producer of WB's Bunnicula, and the writer and director of several Scooby-Doo! DTV movies.
He has four cats.- Writer
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Jhonen Vasquez was born and raised on San Jose's East Side. He graduated from Mount Pleasant High in 1992 and was a one-time film student at De Anza College. Even though he has little formal artistic training, he entered the world of alternative comics, as the writer/creator/artist of such titles as "SQUEE!" and "Johnny, The Homicidal Maniac", both published by Slave Labor Graphics. "SQUEE!" was nominated for several Eisner Awards, the comic industry's equivalent of the Oscars.- Writer
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Peter Laird is an American comics artist and writer from North Adams, Massachusetts. His main claim to fame is co-creating the hit series "Teenage Mutants Ninja Turtles" with his then-partner Kevin Eastman.
Next to nothing is known about Laird's family background and his early life. Unlike Kevin Eastman, he has rarely spoken about his background in interviews. He was born in 1954, and he was in his early 30s by the time he became a professional comics creator. In the early 1980s, Laird worked as an illustrator for a newspaper located in Dover, New Hampshire. His rates at the time were 10 dollars for each new illustration. To supplement his meager income, Eastman also created illustrations for fanzines.
In 1983 or 1984, Laird met aspiring comics artist Kevin Eastman who was searching for a publisher for his work. Laird was also interested in becoming a comics artist, and the two men decided to collaborate on creating their next works.
In 1984, Eastman and Laird had a brainstorming session in an effort to find ideas for their own comic book series. They decided to parody elements from four popular comics series of the early 1980s: Marvel Comics' "Daredevil" (about a super-powered mutate with ninja training) and "New Mutants" (about a team of teenage mutants), Dave Sim's "Cerebus the Aardvark" (about an anthropomorphic aardvark who has sword- and-sorcery style adventures), and Frank Miller's Ronin (about a long-dead Japanese ronin who is reincarnated in a dystopian version of New York City). They combined elements from all four series into the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" (TMNT for short).
Eastman and Laird decided to self-publish the first issue of TMNT, founding the publishing company Mirage Studios to do so. The company was funded through a loan from Eastman's uncle Quentin. They chose the name "mirage", because their company was more an illusion than a reality. The company mostly consisted of its creative duo, and lacked actual offices.
The first issue of TMNT was published in May, 1984. It was a black-and-white publication, only 40 pages long, The duo had the idea to advertise their product by sending a four-page press kit to 180 television and radio stations, to the Associated Press and to the United Press International. The result was that the comic book received much publicity, unusually so for a product by a fledgling publisher.
The initial print run for the first issue was 3,275 copies, and they were quickly sold out. Due to high demand from market, three additional printings were published the Summer of 1984 and September, 1985. Eastman and Laird had a sales success in their hands. There were advance orders of 15,000 copies for the second issue. Eastman and Laird earned a profit of 2,000 dollars each. They decided to quit their day jobs and to become full-time comic book creators.
Eastman and Laird made deals with other companies, granting them the right to create TMNT tie-ins and merchandise. Within a few years, there was a high demand for more TMNT stories and material. Laird has stated in interviews that he did not expect either the TMNT's rapid success, nor the pressures involved in trying to run both a company and a media franchise. For a while, Laird struggled with artist's block. He also realized that he no longer enjoyed drawing.
One solution for Laird's problems at the time was to hire more creative staff to help with the workload. Among the early additions to Mirage's staff were letterer Steve Lavigne, inker Ryan Brown, penciler Jim Lawson, and cover artist Michael Dooney. The company gained its first real offices in Florence, Massachusetts, in order to properly house the new staff. The Mirage creative team produced most of their work in-house, instead of relying on freelancers.
Further additions to Mirage's staff in the late 1980s included writer and artist Eric Talbot, writer Stephen Murphy, and inker Dan Berger. Murphy would eventually be promoted to managing editor of Mirage, shouldering much of the workload.
By 1990, Eastman had grown tired of working exclusively on TMNT and wanted to expand to new projects. Laird refused to either help him or to finance these projects. Eastman founded his own company, Tundra Publishing, while Laird remained at the head of Mirage. From this point on, Laird was de facto Mirage's only publisher, while Eastman progressively distanced himself from the company.
In 1992, Laird founded the nonprofit corporation Xeric Foundation, headquartered in Northampton, Massachusetts. The corporation's main goal is to grant funds to comic book creators who want to self-publish new projects. Laird felt that he owed his success as a self-publishing writer and artist to the loan he had received from Quentin Eastman. He felt that other aspiring creators could have a chance at success, if they have sufficient funds. Over the following decades the corporation has helped fund projects by many writers and artists.
In 2000, Laird partially bought out Eastman's ownership rights on Mirage and the TMNT franchise. According to the terms of the deal, Eastman was left with a small continuing income participation. In 2008, Laird purchased the remaining rights from Eastman, and briefly became the sole owner of the TMNT franchise.
In 2009, Laird sold the rights to the TMNT franchise to media corporation Viacom. Mirage became a subsidiary of Viacom. The rights were mainly handled by Viacom's subsidiary Nickelodeon, which was interested in financing new adaptations of the franchise. By the terms of the deal, Laird maintained the rights to annually create and publish up to eighteen black-and-white comics based on the TMNT franchise.
By 2021, Laird was 67-years-old. He infrequently writes or draws new comics projects, and is otherwise semi-retired.- Writer
- Actor
- Producer
Kevin Eastman is an American comics artist and writer from Portland, Maine. His main claim to fame is co-creating the hit series "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" with his then-partner Peter Laird. He has also served as the editor and publisher of the science fiction and fantasy comics magazine "Heavy Metal".
In 1962, Eastman was born in Portland, Maine. He received his secondary education from Westbrook High School, located in Westbrook, Maine. During his early life, Eastman was a comic book fan. His favorite comic book creator was Jack Kirby (1917-1994). His favorite comic book was Kirby's "Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth" (1972-1978), set in a a post-apocalyptic world dominated by sentient animals.
In the early 1980s, Eastman was an aspiring comics artist, but his work was mostly unpublished. He financially supported himself by working in restaurants. In 1983, Eastman started a romantic relationship with a female college student. His lover attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, located in Amherst, Massachusetts . Eastman decided to move to Northampton, Massachusetts, to further pursue this relationship.
While living in Massachusetts, Eastman tried to have his work published by local underground newspapers. Through his search for a publisher, Eastman met newspaper illustrator Peter Laird. At the time, Laird lived in Dover, New Hampshire, not far from Eastman's residence. The two men decided to collaborate on a number of comic book projects.
In 1984, Eastman and Laird had a brainstorming session in an effort to find ideas for their own comic book series. They decided to parody elements from four popular comics series of the early 1980s: Marvel Comics' "Daredevil" (about a super-powered mutate with ninja training) and "New Mutants" (about a team of teenage mutants), Dave Sim's "Cerebus the Aardvark" (about an anthropomorphic aardvark who has sword- and-sorcery style adventures), and Frank Miller's Ronin (about a long-dead Japanese ronin who is reincarnated in a dystopian version of New York City). They combined elements from all four series into the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" (TMNT for short).
Eastman and Laird decided to self-publish the first issue of TMNT, founding the publishing company Mirage Studios to do so. The company was funded through a loan from Eastman's uncle Quentin. They chose the name "mirage", because their company was more an illusion than a reality. The company mostly consisted of its creative duo, and lacked actual offices.
The first issue of TMNT was published in May, 1984. It was a black-and-white publication, only 40 pages long, The duo had the idea to advertise their product by sending a four-page press kit to 180 television and radio stations, to the Associated Press and to the United Press International. The result was that the comic book received much publicity, unusually so for a product by a fledgling publisher.
The initial print run for the first issue was 3,275 copies, and they were quickly sold out. Due to high demand from market, three additional printings were published the Summer of 1984 and September, 1985. Eastman and Laird had a sales success in their hands. There were advance orders of 15,000 copies for the second issue. Eastman and Laird earned a profit of 2,000 dollars each. They decided to quit their day jobs and to become full-time comic book creators.
Due to their newfound fame, Eastman and Laird were invited to the annual Atlanta Fantasy Fair in 1984. There they were introduced to several experienced professionals of both comic books and literature , such as Forrest James Ackerman (1916-2018), Fred Hembeck (1953-), and Larry Niven (1938-).
In 1985, Mirage Studios had a deal with Solson Publications, which was allowed to publish a number of TMNT tie-in books. This deal was followed by licensing deals with various other companies, leading to the creation of the first TMNT merchandise. Dark Horse Miniatures created lead figurines based on the comics, and marketed them to role-playing gamers and collectors. Palladium Books created a role-playing game based on the Turtles. First Comics was granted the right to publish color reprints of TMNT in trade paperback collections.
Up until 1987, Eastman and Laird personally handled Mirage Studios' merchandise deals. Then they acquired the services of professional licensing agent Mark Freedman. Through deals handled by Freedman, the Turtles started appearing on T-shirts, Halloween masks, and mugs.
In 1987, Mirage Studios closed a deal for the adaptation of TMNT into a five-part animated mini-series. The animation team responsible for these episodes was headed by Japanese animation director Yoshikatsu Kasai, with the animation mostly produced by the animation studio Toei Animation. Scripts were primarily handled by the experienced television writer David Wise (1955-2020), who had previously served as a writer for several science fiction and science fantasy television series.
Due to the success of the initial animated mini-series, a full-length animated series went into production. The animated series lasted from December 1987 to November 1996, a total of 10 seasons and 193 episodes. The series was generally a light-hearted version of the Turtles, in contrast to the "grim and gritty" comic book it was based on. It was one of the most popular animated series produced during the 1980s and 1990s, and introduced the TMNT to a wider audience.
In 1988, Mirage Studios closed a deal with Playmates Toys. The toy company was granted the right to produce the first TMNT action figures, based on both the original comic book and the ongoing animated series.
In 1988, Eastman helped draft the Creator's Bill of Rights. Through this document, independent comic book artists, writers, and publishers demanded creative rights over their work, and protested against exploitative "work for hire" practices in the comic book industry. While it was considered a landmark in the campaign for creative rights, it had little to no impact on the industry.
In 1990, TMNT received its first live-action film adaptation. The film earned 202 million dollars at the worldwide box office, becoming the ninth-highest-grossing film worldwide of 1990. Several sequels followed, establishing the Turtles as a popular film franchise.
By 1990, Eastman had grown tired on working exclusively on TMNT and wanted to expand to other projects. Laird was not interested in either helping him or in financing these projects. Eastman decided to form his own company to handle these projects, forming the publishing company Tundra Publishing. Tundra financed the "dream projects" of several veteran comics creators, who felt disgruntled by the policies of DC Comics and Marvel Comics (at the time the two dominant companies of the American comic book industry).
From 1990 to 1993, Tundra published many series and one-shots aimed at adult readers. Among them was the Jack the Ripper-themed "From Hell", the erotic-themed "Lost Girls" (featuring older versions of Alice, Dorothy Gale, and Wendy Darling), and the revenge-themed "The Crow". Eastman believed there existed a potentially large market of adult readers, who had grown tired of youth-oriented comics such as the "X-Men".
While often critically acclaimed and award-winning, Tundra's comics projects suffered from limited distribution, and poor sales. The company was never profitable. By 1993, Tundra was facing bankruptcy. It sold the rights to its comics titles to Kitchen Sink Press, and shut down. Tundra's failure cost Eastman to lose part of his own fortune, as he was its sole owner. His personal losses are estimated to 9-14 million dollars.
Eastman had long been a fan of the science fiction and fantasy comics magazine "Heavy Metal", the American-licensed version of French magazine "Métal Hurlant". It was aimed at older comics readers, and reprinted European comics that were otherwise unavailable in the United States. In January 1992 he became the new owner of the magazine. He also became its new editor, and tried to tried to renew interest in the publication. He served as its main owner until 2014.
Since the 1980s, Eastman had collected original artwork by leading comics professionals. In 1992, he established the art museum Words & Pictures Museum in Northampton, Massachusetts, and donated his art collection to it. The museum was devoted to the history of narrative art, cartoons, comic books, and graphic novels. Its ever-expanding collection included up to 20,000 original works from hundreds of artists. The museum shut down in 1999, due to financial problems. The fate of its collection is unclear.
In 1995, Eastman married actress Julie Strain (1962-2021). As Eastman helped develop several adaptations of "Heavy Metal" to films and video games, Strain was often cast as an actress in them. She was the protagonist of the animated film "Heavy Metal 2000" (2000), which was based on Eastman's graphic novel "The Melting Pot".
In 2000, Eastman sold part of his ownership rights on Mirage Studios and the TMNT, in part because he wanted to finance other projects. In 2006, he and Julie Strain received a divorce. Eastman gained custody over their only son. In 2008, he sold the rest of his ownership rights on Mirage Studios and the TMNT. He maintains some involvement in the TMNT franchise as an on-and-off writer and artist, and has served as an adviser for some of its adaptations.
In 2014, Eastman sold his ownership rights on "Heavy Metal" to music industry veteran David Boxenbaum and film producer Jeff Krelitz . By the terms of the agreement, he maintained his position as the magazine's publisher, and also serves as a minority investor.
By 2021, Eastman was 58-years-old. His work output has diminished in recent years, but he has never fully retired.- Writer
- Producer
- Animation Department
Todd McFarlane was born on 16 March 1961 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He is a writer and producer, known for Spawn (1997), Venom (2018) and Spawn (1997). He has been married to Wanda Kolomyjec since 27 July 1985. They have three children.- Writer
- Producer
- Actor
Frank Miller was born in Olney, Maryland, to a nurse mother and a carpenter and electrician father, and was raised in Montpelier, Vermont. He is of Irish descent. Miller was a big comics writer/artist in the '70s and '80s. He wrote and penciled the Marvel series "Daredevil" for a long time. His friend, Klaus Janson, inked. He also wrote two spinoffs about the character "Electra" and did a miniseries about the "X-Men" character "Wolverine". His hit miniseries "Ronin" was published by DC in the mid-eighties. His greatest success came with DC's character "Batman". In 1980, he wrote the acclaimed "Batman" story "Wanted - Santa Claus - Dead or Alive!" for DC Comics. In 1986, his most notable comic-book work, the groundbreaking "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns", an alternate history story about Batman in a grim future, was published by DC. Miller wrote and penciled. In 1988, he wrote the acclaimed "Batman: Year One", about Batman's first year on the job, for DC. In 1996, he wrote "Spawn versus Batman", a one-shot issue published by DC and Image Comics. He wrote the major motion pictures RoboCop 2 (1990) and RoboCop 3 (1993) and did the "Robocop" comic series for a little while.
Miller directed The Spirit (2008) and co-directed Sin City (2005) and Frank Miller's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014)_.- Writer
- Producer
- Art Department
Jim Lee is a Korean American comic-book writer and artist. He started his professional career in 1987, as a new artist for Marvel Comics. By the early 1990s, he had become one of the most popular artists in the field. His work on the X-Men broke sales records, and the costumes he designed for various team members defined their looks for at least a decade. In 1992, Lee became a co-founder of Image Comics. From 1992 to 1998, Lee was the owner and publisher of WildStorm Productions. In 1998, Lee sold WildStorm to DC Comics. WildStorm continued to exist as a DC imprint from 1998 to 2010, with Lee continuing to run the company. From 2010 to 2020, Lee served as a co-publisher of DC Comics, running the company alongside his then-partner Dan DiDio. In 2020, Lee became DC's sole publisher.
In 1964, Lee was born in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. His family soon moved to the United States, and Lee was primarily raised in St. Louis, Missouri. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States c. 1976, when he was 12-years-old. He first learned the Korean language in early childhood, and learned English as a secondary language. He was raised in a typical middle-class family.
Lee attended the River Bend Elementary School, located in Chesterfield, Missouri. He received his secondary education at the Saint Louis Country Day School, an all-boys school located in Ladue, Missouri. The school had grades from junior kindergarten to grade 12. Lee's first artistic activity was drawing posters for school plays.
As a school student, Lee reportedly felt as an outsider. He was a middle-class student in an upper-class school with a "preppy" style. His feelings of being an outsider influenced his reading habits. He was interested in comic books about outsider characters. His favorite characters were the X-Men, an entire group of outcasts.
While Lee designed art as a hobby, he was not initially interested in a professional career as an artist. Following his high school graduation, he enrolled at Princeton University to study psychology. He graduated with a psychology degree, but felt reluctant to then attend medical school. He decided to try to become a professional comic book artist, although he lacked professional training at the time.
Lee submitted artwork to various publishers, but nobody was interested in hiring him. A number of professional comics artists advised him to contact editors in person. While attending a comics convention in New York, Lee was introduced to veteran comics writer Archie Goodwin (1937-1998). Goodwin at the time served as an editor for Marvel Comics, and helped Lee to get hired by Marvel.
Lee's first professional assignment was serving as an artist for the series "Alpha Flight", featuring a group of Canadian superheroes. He served as a regular artist for the team book (on-and-off) from issue #53 to issue #64 (December, 1987-November, 1988).. He continued serving as a cover artist for the series until 1990.
His second assignment was becoming an artist for the series "Punisher: War Journal", featuring the lethal vigilante Punisher/Frank Castle. He served as a regular artist from issue #4 to issue #19 (March, 1989-June, 1990). His artwork for the title showcased Lee's inspiration from the works of Frank Miller, Kevin Nowlan, Whilce Portacio, and David Ross. It was also influenced by Lee's affection for Japanese manga.
Lee first got to work in an X-Men title when asked to draw "Uncanny X-Men" #248 (September, 1989). Lee was filling-in for the series' regular artist at the time, Marc Silvestri (1958-). Lee was then asked to draw issues #256-258 (December, 1989-February, 1990), covering a multi-part story that was part of the crossover "Acts of Vengeance". The issues marked the return of the missing character Psylocke/ Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock. In the period since her disappearance, Psylocke had mysteriously lost her original body, acquired a new Asian body, and acquired new ninja skills. Lee got to essentially redesign the character in an entirely new form. He also designed two new costumes for her, including her classic ninja outfit.
Lee was eventually promoted to the position of main artist for "Uncanny X-Men" , at the time one of Marvel's high-profile titles. He served in this position from issue #267 to issue #277 (September, 1990-June, 1991) . He worked with writer Chris Claremont (1950-) and inker Scott Williams. During his run of the title, Lee co-created the Cajun thief Gambit/Remy LeBeau. Created as a new member of the X-Men's supporting cast, Gambit eventually joined the team, and became one of its most popular members.
Lee's art style was enthusiastically received by readers, and he was soon considered one of Marvel's most popular artists. In 1991, Marvel launched a second ongoing X-Men title, simply called "X-Men" vol. 2. Lee served as the title's co-writer and main artist from issue #1 to issue #11 (October, 1991-August, 1992). The fist issue had sales of over 8.1 million copies, becoming the new record holder for best-selling issues.
During his ran on "X-Men" vol. 2, Lee designed new uniforms for the team. This included popular and long-lasting costumes for Cyclops/Scott Summers, Phoenix/Jean Grey, Rogue/Anna Marie, and Storm/Ororo Munroe. These costume designs were later used for "X-Men: The Animated Series" (1992-1997).
Lee created relatively few new characters for the X-Men. Among his creations for the title were Anne Marie Cortez (in issue #1), Fabian Cortez (in issue #1), Chrome/Allen Marc Yuricic (in issue #1), Harry Delgado (in issue #1), Marco Delgado (in issue #1), Nance Winters (in issue #1), Omega Red/Arkady Rossovich (in issue #4), Maverick/Christoph Nord (in issue #5), Janice Hollenbeck (in issue #5), Arthur Barrington (in issue #6), Birdy (in issue #6), Meek (in issue #7), Belladonna/Bella Donna Boudreaux (in issue #8), and Julien Boudreaux (in issue #8).
In the early 1990s, there were tensions within Marvel Comics because of the company's work-for-hire policies. The company heavily merchandised the artwork of their most prominent artists, but compensated these artists with modest royalties. Disgruntled with their relatively meager earnings and their lack of copyright over characters and concepts which they created, a number of these artists eventually broke away from Marvel. Lee was among them. He co-founded Image Comics with his then-partners : Erik Larsen (1962-), Rob Liefeld (1967-), Todd McFarlane (1961-) , Whilce Portacio (1963-), Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino (1952-).
Image Comics devoted itself to publishing creator-owned titles. Each image partner (except Portacio) also established their own company, with each of the 6 companies publishing their titles under the Image banner. These companies were autonomous from any central editorial control, and did not operate as subsidiaries of Image. Lee initially named his company Aegis Entertainment, but quickly renamed it to WildStorm Productions.
WildStorm's initial title was "Wildcats" (sometimes rendered "WildCats" or "WildC.A.T.s"), featuring a team of eponymous superheroes. The characters involved were created by Lee himself and his friend Brandon Choi. The concept of the series involved a centuries-long war between two alien races which secretly lived on Earth, the Kherubim and Daemonites. The Wildcats were mostly composed of Kherubim-human hybrids. The Kherubim were humanoid in appearance, nearly immortal, and rendered nearly sterile over the centuries. Only one in 10,000 Kherubim females was capable of giving birth. Kherubim hybrids were seemingly more fertile than their ancestors. The Daemonites were reptilian in appearance, and they were a parasitic race. They survived by taking over host bodies from various species. They also had various powers, most prominently telepathy.
"Wildcats" was a commercially successful title, and WildStorm was then able to produce more titles. Lee created or co-created such characters as the super-powered soldier and mercenary Deathblow/Michael Cray, the teenage superhero team Gen¹³, and the United Nations-sponsored heroic team Stormwatch. They all starred in their own series.
In 1993, Lee negotiated a deal with Valiant Comics for a crossover series featuring characters from both companies. The result was the then-popular miniseries "Deathmate". As WildStorm expanded, Lee published creator-owned comics by several notable comics professionals.
From 1996 to 1997, Lee was involved with a new Marvel Comics project, called "Heroes Reborn". The concept involved the relaunch of previously defunct Marvel series, featuring classic characters with new origin stories and updated settings. Lee took over the Fantastic Four title as both writer and illustrator, and also served as the new writer for Iron Man/Tony Stark. Meanwhile, Rob Liefeld took over the titles of Captain America and the Avengers.
Lee's two titles proved commercially successful, while Liefeld's titles were controversial. Liefeld left the "Heroes Reborn" project earlier than expected, and Marvel assigned both Captain America and the Avengers to Lee's studio. The project concluded in 1997, though Marvel was initially willing to continue the Heroes Reborn lineup indefinitely. Marvel wanted Lee to personally draw at least one of the ongoing titles, but Lee was unwilling to make a long-term commitment to Marvel.
Following "Heroes Reborn" conclusion, Lee negotiated another deal with Marvel. He was scheduled to serve as a new editor for Marvel, handling relaunched versions of the Defenders, Doctor Strange/Stephen Strange, and Nick Fury. All three titles were scheduled for debuts in December 1997, but this agreement was canceled prematurely.
Returning to WildStorm, Lee published a number of new titles. The most successful among them were "The Authority" and "Planetary". The Authority featured the eponymous superhero team, which operated beyond the constrains of laws and politics. The series was initially handled by the creative team of Warren Ellis (1968-) and Bryan Hitch (1970-). "Planetary" featured alternate versions of characters from many companies and genres, interacting with each other in a shared reality. It was handled by the creative team of Warren Ellis and John Cassaday (1971-).
In this period WildStorm also launched the imprint "America's Best Comics" (ABC) under the control of veteran writer Alan Moore (1953-). The imprint published then-popular series, such as "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", "Promethea", "Tom Strong", "Tomorrow Stories", and "Top 10".
While Lee was prolific as a publisher in the late 1990s, his output as a writer and artist was rather limited. His most notable work in this period was the 12-issue series "Divine Right: The Adventures of Max Faraday" (1997-1999), It featured Lee's new character, novice computer scientist Max Faraday. The concept of the series was that Faraday accidentally downloaded access codes to the Creation Wheel, a millennia-old device that can grant its users with the power of God. He then found himself targeted by people wanting this power for themselves.
In 1998, Lee sold WildStorm to DC Comics. He continued to run the company as an imprint of DC Comics. Meanwhile, he returned to work as an artist. In the early 2000s his most notable work was the 12-issue story arc "Batman: Hush" (October 2002-September 2003). The story arc introduced new super-villain Hush/Thomas Elliot, involved several Batman villains in an elaborate scheme, and explored the romantic relationship of Batman/Bruce Wayne and Catwoman/Selina Kyle. The story arc received critical acclaim.
In 2003, Lee designed the super-villain Sin Tzu, introduced in the beat 'em up video game "Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu", The video game was a spin-off the animated television series "The New Batman Adventures" (1997-1999). It was the last video game based on the DC Animated Universe. Sin Tzu was depicted as an Asian warlord and master strategist. The character was later adapted into the mainstream Batman comics.
Lee's next high-profile comics work was the 12-issue story arc "For Tomorrow" (June 2004-May 2005), featuring Superman. In this story, Superman is puzzled by the mysterious disappearance of 1 million people. Among the victims was his wife Lois Lane, and Superman was struggling with feelings of personal loss and guilt over her fate. The story arc also featured a guest appearance by Wonder Woman/Diana of Themyscira, and the return of the prominent super-villain General Zod. Lee's artwork in this story arc was highly praised, though the script by Brian Azzarello was met with lukewarm reviews.
Lee next worked on the series "All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder", which lasted for 10 issues (September 2005-August 2008). The series was a new origin story for Robin/Dick Grayson, and also covered the early career of Batman/Bruce Wayne. The first issue of the series was the highest-selling comic book of 2005, and the series in general enjoyed high sales. Lee's artwork was among the series' main selling points, though the script by Frank Miller was poorly received. The series was plagued by schedule delays, as Lee was concurrently involved with designing content for the video game with designing content for the video game "DC Universe Online",
In 2006, Lee was involved with a relaunch of the "Wildcats" series. He provided the artwork for the first issue of "Wildcats" volume 4, which turned out to be the only one published. The series' intended writer Grant Morrison (1960-) was preoccupied with other projects, and never scripted more than one issue. The series was canceled after that.
In February 2010, Lee was appointed as the new co-publisher of DC Comics, sharing duties with Dan DiDio (1959-). In September 2010, the WildStorm imprint was shut down. Several of its characters were later reused by mainstream DC Comics publication.
Lee's first landmark publication as a publisher was "The New 52" event of 2011. DC Comics canceled all of its superhero titles, and then launched 52 new series with #1 issues. The event wiped out the continuity of the DC Universe, and introduced a new continuity. Lee was named as one of the main architects of the event, sharing duties with writer Geoff Johns (1973-).
In 2013, Lee redesigned the Mortal Kombat ninja character Scorpion/Hanzo Hasashi. His version of the character was used in the video game "Injustice: Gods Among Us". Also in 2013, Lee became a member of the Advisory Board of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a non-profit organization chartered to protect the First Amendment rights of the comics community.
In 2014, the company General Mills commissioned DC Comics to redesign its monster-themed cereals. Lee personally redesigned the character Boo Berry. He commented in an interview that he found "the task of designing a cartoon character" to be more difficult than drawing his typical detailed designs for comics.
Lee was one of the main artists for the miniseries "Batman: Europa", which lasted 4 issues (January-April, 2016). The series featured an adventure of Batman and the Joker entirely set in Europe, and was inspired by Lee's visit of Italy. It is one of the few stories to feature Batman and the Joker as allied to each other, as they team-up against a mysterious new enemy. Their common foe was eventually revealed to be Bane, who wanted to teach them a lesson, about how dependent on each other they were in his view.
Also in 2016, Lee was the main artist for the one-shot publication "Harley Quinn and the Suicide Squad April Fool's Special". Lee was the main artist of the ongoing series "Suicide Squad" vol. 5 from issue #1 to issue #8 (October 2016 to February 2017). His version of the team prominently featured the character Harley Quinn/Harleen Quinzel.
In June 2018, Geoff Johns stepped down from his position as Chief Creative Officer (CCO) of DC Comics. Lee was named as Johns' replacement in the role, while continuing to serve as a co-publisher. In February 2020, Dan DiDio resigned from his position as co-publisher. Lee became the sole publisher for DC Comics.
By 2021, Lee was 56-years-old. He has been active as a professional comics artist for 34 years. He continues to be a popular comics creator, and does not seem to be considering retirement yet.- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Animation Department
Jack "The King" Kirby was an influential comic book writer and artist, particularly famous for creating or co-creating some of the most famous characters for both DC Comics and Marvel Comics.
In 1917, Kirby was born under the name "Jacob Kurtzberg" on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. He was a son of garment factory worker Benjamin Kurtzberg and his wife Rose Bernstein. Both his parents were Austrian-Jewish immigrants.
He developed an interest in drawing at an early age. He was mostly self-taught as an artist, having started by studying newspaper artwork from comic strip artists and political cartoonists. He cited among his main influences comic strip artists Milton Caniff (1907-1988), Hal Foster (1892-1982), and Alex Raymond (1909-1956), who were all pioneers of the adventure genre in comic strips. His professional name "Jack Kirby" was possibly chosen in reference to Rollin Kirby (1875-1952), an influential political cartoonist, who had won three Pulitzer Prizes in the 1920s.
At age 14, Kirby enrolled in Pratt Institute, a prestigious school for illustrators. He dropped out early. According to Kirby, his personal philosophy did not agree with that of the school. He was interested in producing quantities of artwork at a rapid rate and "get things done", while the Institute taught students to devote large amounts of time to a single piece of artwork.
After publishing a few works in outlets for amateur artists, Kirby entered the world of professional cartooning in 1936. He was hired by the Lincoln Newspaper Syndicate to work on comic strips and advice cartoons. He stayed there until 1939. He then briefly joined the field of animation and was hired by the Fleischer Studios. He worked as an in-betweener in animated shorts, drawing intermediate frames between two images to give the appearance that the first image evolves smoothly into the second image. He quit after a short period, feeling dissatisfied with the factory-like conditions at Fleischer.
In the late 1930s and early 1940s, the comic book medium was taking off and there were many available positions for writers and artists interested in working in the medium. Kirby soon joined the staff at the Eisner and Iger Studio, working under co-founders Will Eisner and Jerry Iger. The Studio was one of a number of pioneering companies selling completed comic book stories and artwork to the fledgling publishing companies of the time. Under various pseudonyms, Kirby contributed artwork to series in various genres, including humor, science fiction, swashbucklers, and Westerns.
The Eisner and Iger Studio dissolved for uncertain reasons by 1940. By that time comic book publishing companies were starting to hire writers and artists directly, instead of simply buying stories. Kirby found work at one of the publishers of the time, Fox Features Syndicate. Kirby's first superhero stories were Blue Beetle stories. He was not credited as an artist, the credit going to the non-existent "Charles Nicholas".
While working at Fox, Kirby was acquainted with Joe Simon. Simon was producing stories for various publishers and had recently created a superhero called Blue Bolt for Novelty Press. He had seeking for a partner to work on the second issue of Blue Bolt and was impressed enough with Kirby's work to offer him the partnership. Kirby accepted and the duo ended up working together for the following decades.
Simon was soon hired as an editor for Timely Comics (later renamed to Marvel Comics) and was also interested in contributing stories. He had the idea for a new patriotic superhero and managed to convince Timely publisher Martin Goodman that the new hero would work as the star of a solo comic book. This was at the time rare, since most comic book characters were featured in anthology titles. Once securing a publisher, Simon asked Kirby to join him in working on the character. The new character was called Captain America and debuted in 1941. Despite its strong similarities to an earlier MLJ Comics character called The Shield, Captain America became the most successful of the two characters and the fist two issues of his title were major best sellers of the comic book medium. This helped establish co-creators Simon and Kirby among the most famous comic creators of the time.
Despite the commercial success of Captain America, Kirby was not paid more than the average comic book artist of the time: 75 dollars per week. He and Simon continued working on the Captain America series until issue #10 while secretly negotiating a deal with another publisher. An early incarnation of DC Comics was offering them a combined weekly salary of 500 dollars if they switched publishers. The switch was formalized by 1942.
At first DC was uncertain on what work to assign Simon and Kirby. After a few minor assignments, they were asked to contribute their own story ideas. The duo soon took over the already established Sandman series featured in Adventure Comics and revamped the character. They also created a new version of the Manhunter, this time as a superhero. Kirby and Simon wanted to name the character "Rick Nelson", but the editor changed the name to "Paul Kirk", essentially naming him after an earlier character called Paul Kirk, Manhunter.
Simon and Kirby found more success with a non-superhero idea. They created the Boy Commandos, a combination of the "kid gang" concept that was already established in comic books, this time with a then-modern war setting. The Commandos soon became one of the most popular DC series of their time, graduated to their own title, and reportedly sold "over a million copies each month". In their heyday, the commandos were the third highest selling characters DC had in its stable. Only Superman and Batman actually sold more.
Besides the Boy Commandos, Simon and Kirby co-created another "kid gang" for DC: the Newsboy Legion. While never as popular as the Commandos, they became the feature characters of Star-Spangled Comics and were considered a hit in their own right.
Kirby's comic book career had to be put in hiatus in 1943, when he was drafted into the United States Army. While he never took part in any major battle, he was deployed in the European theatre of World War II in 1944. Following the Invasion of Normandy, Kirby was tasked with drawing reconnaissance maps and images of areas which the Army was considering to occupy. He was effectively a military scout and reconnaissance agent, and his work put him at risk. A case of severe frostbite in the winter of 1944-1945 resulted in his hospitalization. There were fears that his feet would have to be amputated for him to survive, though he managed to recover with no amputation necessary. He was discharged from the Army in July, 1945, having been awarded medals for his service.
Following his discharge from the Army, Kirby was reunited with Simon. Simon had spend the majority of the War serving in the United States Coast Guard. They were both looking for a way to return to comic book work, though their old jobs at DC had been taken by other creators. They spend the next several years working for Harvey Comics. For Harvey, the duo created some original characters such, as the superheroes Stuntman (1946) and Captain 3-D (1953). However, these characters were not as popular as their earlier creations.
Besides their relatively steady work for Harvey, Simon and Kirby freelanced for other publishers. Their employers of the time included publishers such as Crestwood Publications and Hillman Periodicals. For Crestwood, Simon and Kirby created one of their greatest hits: Young Romance, the first of the romance comics. At the time traditional comic book genres such as superheroes were in decline and publishers and creators were looking for new ideas. Simon and Kirby noticed that romance magazines of the 1940s sold well and had the idea of adapting the genre to comic books. It worked far better than expected. Young Romance and its spin-off series Young Love continued to sell millions of copies for years.
Due to the "follow the leader" mentality of comic book publishers of the time, other publishers soon published their own romance comics. Though few managed to successfully compete with the Simon and Kirby created titles, who were considered better in quality than most of their imitators. The success had an effect in the lives of the duo. Simon and Kirby had negotiated a contract which earned them a large percentage from the profits. Kirby earned more money than ever before and was able to purchase a new home for his family.
In 1953-1954, Simon and Kirby were annoyed to find out that Atlas Comics (the then-current name of Marvel Comics) was reviving Captain America. They had never asked for any input from Simon and Kirby to do this, nor offered to rehire them. Seeking for a way to outdo their old creation, the duo created a new superhero called Fighting American (1954) for Crestwood Publications. At first conceived as a serious 1950s take on the old patriotic hero concept, Fighting American's series soon became largely satirical. It never sold well and did not last long, though it has left enough of a mark in the comic book medium to be constantly reprinted and occasionally revived from a relatively high number of publishers.
In late 1953-1954, Simon and Kirby founded their own comic book publishing company: Mainline Publications. At the time the comic book industry was under attack by psychiatrist Fredric Wertham (1895-1981) and politician Estes Kefauver (1903-1963). Many of the older comic book publishers were affected by the controversy and the resulting drop in sales, either getting out of the business or reducing their output. There was still a high demand for new material and Mainline Publications hoped to fill the void left by the demise of the older publishers.
Simon and Kirby's plans for their company turned out to be too optimistic. They published only four titles, all in established genres. They were "Bullseye: Western Scout" (a Western), "Foxhole" (a war comic), "In Love" (a romance comic), and "Police Trap" (a crime comic). None of them was a great success in sales, but they were noticed by Wertham, who used them as exhibits of comic book "filth". At the same time, Simon and Kirby entered into a complex legal battle with Crestwood Publications. They claimed their former employer owed them at least 130,000 dollars, but the case was settled out of court with the payment of only 10,000 dollars. It was not not enough to solve ongoing financial problems for Mainline Publications, which closed in 1956.
The partnership of Simon and Kirby did not survive the demise of their company. Simon was considering leaving the comic book medium altogether and seeking employment as an advertising artist, but Kirby wanted to keep working in his original medium. They parted amiably. Several of the unpublished material for Mainline Publications was sold to Charlton Comics. Kirby was left with an unused idea for a new team of adventurers. He would continue developing the idea over the following year, and eventually sell it to DC Comics. It was the the earliest incarnation of Challengers of the Unknown, though Kirby did not stay with DC long enough to further develop it.
From 1956 to 1958, Kirby was producing freelance work for DC Comics and Atlas Comics (Marvel Comics), mostly as a writer and penciller, and occasionally as an inker. He contributed stories for characters such as the Green Arrow and the Yellow Claw, though he did not create any major characters of his own. His take on Green Arrow was considered controversial, as Kirby included more science-fiction themes in the stories and was trying to revamp the character. Green Arrow co-creator Mort Weisinger reportedly hated Kirby's concept for the character.
In addition to comic books, Kirby co-created a comic strip called "Sky Masters of the Space Force" (1958). It was a science fiction comic book set in the near-future. It was a minor hit but got Kirby in a legal dispute with Jack Schiff, editor of DC. Schiff had helped bring Kirby in contact with his collaborators for the comic strip. He claimed that Kirby owed him a share of the strip's profits. The matter was settled in court and Schiff won the trial. This helped severe Kirby's relations with DC, and he soon quit the comic strip as well.
In late 1958, Kirby started producing more work for Atlas Comics (Marvel Comics). For various reasons Atlas had lost much of its creative personnel and there was a need for the remaining staff to increase its productivity. Kirby decided he could use some extra money and started mass producing art for Atlas. He became arguably the most prolific artist of the company, with his artwork appearing in almost any ongoing title. His best-remembered production from this time involved anthology stories for Atlas' series of supernatural-fantasy and science fiction titles. They were minor hits of their time and considered classics by later Marvel artists and readers. Most of his creations were supposed to be one-shot characters, but some of his characters have been revived and have made appearances in several works by other creators. They include characters such as Fin Fang Foom, Groot, and Grottu.
Kirby still did not work exclusively for Atlas. He collaborated with Joe Simon to create two more superheroes for Archie Comics. They were the Fly (1959) and a new incarnation of the Shield, called Lancelot Strong (1959). He also worked for the "Classics Illustrated" comic book series by The Gilberton Company, Inc.
In 1961, Atlas/Marvel editor-in-chief Stan Lee wanted to create a new superhero team to compete with DC's Justice League of America, which was turning out to be a hit. He decided to collaborate with Kirby in creating the team, the result being the Fantastic Four. For the first story of the new team, Lee created a synopsis of what he wanted the story to be like. Kirby then incorporated his own ideas and drew the whole story. Then Lee added his own dialogue to the finished artwork and narrative captions. The finished story was then offered for further inking, coloring, and eventual publication. This was the so-called "Marvel Method" of producing stories, where both co-creators had considerable influence on what was being created.
In later years, both Kirby and Lee would argue over who was the true creator of the Fantastic Four and the driving force behind the series. They both claimed that they came up with most of the concepts and that their collaborator only added relatively insignificant details. A number of comic book historians have tried to determine which version was true, though no definite evidence can be produced. Historian Mark Evanier, who has written a biography of Kirby, has argued that none of the two versions were true. He has argued that the two men were equal collaborators and that the credit for the series belongs to both of them.
The Fantastic Four title became a commercial hit and Kirby was its main artist for the first 102 issues (November, 1961-September, 1970). Atlas/Marvel soon launched a new line of titles, with Kirby serving as an artist for most of them. Besides contributing artwork and plots, Kirby was asked to train other Marvel artists in how to draw the characters. He provided "breakdown" layouts and the other artists would learn to draw based on them. Before long, Kirby's style had become Marvel's new house style. This did not prevent his personal style from further evolving, by incorporating new drawing techniques and other experiments.
In the 1960s, Kirby created or co-created hundreds of major and minor characters for Marvel Comics. Among his major creations were Doctor Doom (1962), the Hulk (1962), Thor (1962), Iron Man (1963), Magneto (1963), Uatu the Watcher (1963), the original X-Men (1963), the Inhumans (1965), the Black Panther (1966), Ego the Living Planet (1966), Galactus (1966), and the Silver Surfer (1966). For some of them Kirby only contributed their debut stories, for others entire runs of featured stories. He also helped revive older characters, such as Captain America, Namor, and Ka-Zar (who was given an entirely different setting and backstory).
By the early 1970s, Kirby felt increasingly dissatisfied with his working relationship with Marvel. He was paid much better than before, earning about 35,000 dollars per year. But he felt that he was not given adequate credit for his own creations, that his plot contributions went mostly uncredited, and that Marvel was earning much more money from characters that he had created. He consequently left Marvel. He was hired by DC Comics, as the result of a deal with editorial director Carmine Infantino.
Kirby's contract with DC, produced in 1970, gave him essentially a free reign as writer and penciller in whatever title he worked on. He soon worked in four inter-connected titles. They were the already established (but low-selling) title Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen (which had no one assigned to it so Kirby could take it over without having someone lose their job) and the new titles New Gods, Mister Miracle, and the Forever People. The concept of the titles became known as Jack Kirby's Fourth World.
The idea for the so-called New Gods had reportedly come to Kirby a few years earlier, while he was working on the "Tales of Asgard" sub-series for Marvel's "Thor" title. He wanted to produce a story about two planets at war with each other and the grand finale would be the Ragnarok ("Twilight of the Gods"), the battle that ends the gods at the finale of Norse mythology. Marvel never allowed him to work on such a story, DC on the other hand did. Kirby came up with the idea of the New Gods born out of the death of the old ones. He soon developed an entirely new mythology for his creations, combining disparate ideas from multiple sources. The scope was epic.
Kirby at first intended to tell a finite story about the New Gods. It would have a start, several chapters, and a definite conclusion. But the titles initially sold too well and DC argued against the idea, wanting the tales to continue indefinitely. Kirby was forced to compromise and the story continued, though sales soon dropped. "New Gods" and the Forever people were canceled in 1972. Mister Miracle continued under Kirby until 1974, though the stories became a bit more conventional.
Though Kirby's take on the New Gods and associated characters was considered a bit too weird for mainstream comics, DC never completely lost interest in the characters. They were revived by later creators, reused for decades, and a few (like Darkseid) went on to play prominent roles in the wider DC multiverse. Meanwhile Kirby went on to work in other series.
The other 1970s DC characters created or co-created by Kirby included Etrigan the Demon (1972), Kamandi (1972), OMAC (1974), a new version of Sandman (1974), Atlas (1975), a new version of Manhunter (1975), the Dingbats of Danger Street (1975) and Kobra (1976). All these characters were considered as series protagonists, and some of them did receive their own title. However, none of them enjoyed long-term success.
In 1975, Marvel Comics announced that Kirby would return to work with them. He was soon producing new runs as sole writer and penciller of "Black Panther" and "Captain America". His most enduring work, however, was in the creation of new series and characters. His best known work was "The Eternals" (1976-1978), a 19-issue series about immortal gods active on modern Earth. It was very similar in concept to the New Gods. The human-looking gods were called Eternals, their demonic looking counterparts were the Deviants, and they were both inferior to the mysterious space gods called the Celestials. The series was never a best-seller but has its dedicated fans. The characters and concepts have been incorporated to the wider Marvel multiverse, with several other creators adding to them over the decades.
Somewhat less ambitious were the rest of the Kirby creations of the 1970s for Marvel. They included Machine Man (1977) and Devil Dinosaur (1978). Each held its own short-lived series, but enduring success eludes them. They still have enough fans to warrant several revivals over the following decades.
Kirby left Marvel in 1978 to return to the field of animation, after an absence of nearly 40 years. He spend much of the late 1970s and 1980s working on television animated series such as "Thundarr the Barbarian" and "The Centurions". Futhermore, Kirby found the experience much more satisfying, considering he was in a senior creative post as production designer and worked with young employees who did the more laborious work of animation. They treated him with far more respect than the people in the comic book industry.
Never satisfied with his lack of creative control over his older creations, Kirby briefly returned to comic books with the creator-owned series "Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers" (1981-1984). It was intended as his own sequel to the New Gods. The title character, Captain Victory, was implied to be the son and heir of Orion. His supposed grandfather "Blackmaas" was a look-alike of Darkseid.
In the mid-1980s, when the Kenner toy company judged his New Gods villains, like Darkseid, ideal antagonists for the Super Powers Collection toy-line, DC asked Kirby to design the action figure versions for character. He received royalties for the use of his character designs, the only time he was so compensated. He also returned to his characters in the DC graphic novel called The Hunger Dogs!.
In the early 1990s, Kirby licensed his creator owned-characters to Topps Comics. Existing characters and unused Kirby-produced concepts from earlier decades were used for the so-called Kirbyverse line of comic books. Kirby himself did not contribute new work to Topps. He attempted to make a comeback to the comic book medium with a comic book series called "Phantom Force", but died in 1994 before its publication.
Some of Kirby's unpublished work has seen posthumous publication. His creator-owned characters were inherited by his family and have continued to appear in new works by various publishers. The Kirby family has repeatedly attempted to claim partial ownership over Jack Kirby's Marvel creations, though their legal efforts have so far been unsuccessful. The Kirby family has not disputed the ownership of his DC creations.- Writer
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Van Partible was born on 13 December 1971 in Manila, Philippines. He is a writer and director, known for Johnny Bravo (1997), The Amazon Women (1997) and Shorty McShorts' Shorts (2006).- Writer
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Seth Woodbury MacFarlane was born in the small New England town of Kent, Connecticut, where he lived with his mother, Ann Perry (Sager), an admissions office worker, his father, Ronald Milton MacFarlane, a prep school teacher, and his sister, Rachael MacFarlane, now a voice actress and singer. He is of English, Scottish, and Irish ancestry, and descends from Mayflower passengers.
Seth attended and studied animation at the Rhode Island School of Design and, after he graduated, he was hired by Hanna-Barbera Productions (Now called Cartoon Network Studios) working as an animator and writer on the TV series Johnny Bravo (1997) and Cow and Chicken (1997). He also worked for Walt Disney Animation as a writer on the TV series Jungle Cubs (1996). He created The Life of Larry (1995) which was originally supposed to be used as an in-between on Mad TV (1995). Unfortunately the deal fell through but, a few months later, executives at FOX called him into their offices and gave him $50,000 to create a pilot for what would eventually become Family Guy (1999).
Since Family Guy's debut, MacFarlane has gone on to create two other television shows-American Dad! (2005) and The Cleveland Show (2009). MacFarlane began to establish himself as an actor, voice actor, animator, writer, producer, director, comedian, and singer throughout his career. MacFarlane has also written, directed and starred in Ted (2012) and its sequel Ted 2 (2015), and A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014). He voiced the mouse, Mike, in the animated musical Sing (2016).To be fair he used to have talent, and it's not entirely his fault that Family Guy became terrible in recent years.- Producer
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Mike Judge is an American actor, animator, film director, screenwriter, and television producer.
In 1962, Judge was born in Guayaquil, the largest city of Ecuador and the country's main port. His parents were expatriate Americans. His father was archaeologist William James Judge and his mother was librarian Margaret Yvonne Blue. At the time of Mike's birth, William Judge was working for a non-profit organization which promoted agricultural development in Ecuador.
Around 1969, the Judge family returned to the United States, and settled in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Mike spend most of his school years in Albuquerque. He received his secondary education at St. Pius X High School, a private, Roman Catholic high school located in Albuquerque. The school was named after Pope Pius X (1835-1914, term 1903-1914), who is venerated as a saint,
Following his graduation from high school, Judge enrolled at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). The UCSD is a public land-grant research university, located in San Diego, California. Judge was interested in a science career, and followed science studies. In 1985, Judge graduated with a Bachelor of Science in physics. From 1985 to 1987, Judge held various jobs relating to either physics or mechanical engineering. He was dissatisfied with his work life, because he found that these jobs were boring.
In 1987, Judge was hired by Parallax Graphics, a startup video card company. Its headquarters were located in Santa Clara, California. Santa Clara is located at the center of Silicon Valley, and houses the headquarters of several high-tech companies. Parallax only had about 40 employees. Judge quit following only 3 months of work, because he disliked the company's corporate culture and his co-workers. In later interviews, Judge claimed that his co-workers reminded him of the Stepford Wives. His negative experiences contributed to his unflattering portrayal of Silicon Valley in his television career.
Judge next attempted to start a new career as a musician, serving as bass player in a blues band. For a couple of years, Judge was part of a music group headed by blues guitarist Anson Funderburgh (1954-). In the early 1990s, Judge worked alongside singer and drummer Doyle Bramhall (1949-2011). Bramhall was a well-known figure in the Texas music scene. During his musical career, Judge was taking graduate math classes at the University of Texas at Dallas.
In 1989, Judge was shown animation cels on display, and became fascinated with animation. Judge purchased a Bolex 16 mm film camera, and started working on his own animated short films. The amateur animator worked from his home at the time, located in Richardson, Texas. His short films were initially on display in local animation festivals.
In 1991, Judge developed "Milton", a series of short films satirizing the typical life of office workers. Judge voiced all the characters. The films were acquired by Comedy Central, and showcased Judge's talents to a wider audience. In 1992, Judge created the animated short "Frog Baseball", depicting two cruel and stupid teenagers. The short film was featured in the television series "Liquid Television" (1991-1995), which showcased works by independent animators. The network MTV was sufficiently impressed with the short film to order an animated television series featuring its main characters.
Judge's first work as a television producer was the animated series "Beavis and Butt-Head" (1993-1997), a satirical, scathing commentary on modern society. Besides producing the series, Judge voiced the two protagonists. He also wrote and directed most of its episodes. The series was considered quite controversial in its own era, but was commercially successful. In its initial incarnation, it lasted for 7 seasons, and 200 episodes. Judge gave permission for the use of supporting character Daria Morgendorffer in the spin-off series "Daria" (1997-2002), which was also successful. Judge was otherwise not involved in the production of the spin-off.
In 1997, Judge directed the animated feature film "Beavis and Butt-Head Do America". It featured the protagonists in a road trip across the United States. It earned about 63 million dollars in the North American box office, and was critically well-received as a satire of youth culture.
Judge's next television series was the animated sitcom "King of the Hill" (1997-2010), which was broadcast by the Fox Broadcasting Company. For this series, Judge's partner and co-creator was the experienced comedy writer Greg Daniels (1963-). Daniels was previously a screenwriter on the popular animated sitcom "The Simpsons". Daniels had written several episodes in seasons 5 to 7 (1993-1996), and some of them were considered among the highlights of the series. For "King of the Hill", the duo of creators decided to maintain a relatively realistic depiction of modern life. Much of the humor derived from depicting the frustrations and absurdities of an otherwise mundane existence. "King of the Hill" was both a critical and commercial hit, and commercial hit. It lasted for 13 seasons and 259 episodes.
In the late 1990s, Judge wrote and directed the live-action film "Office Space" (1999). It was loosely based in his own "Milton" series of animated short films,, but featured additional characters. The film under-performed at the box office, only earning about 12 million dollars from its worldwide release. However the film sold surprisingly well in the home video market, and became a cult hit.
In 2003, Judge and fellow animator Don Hertzfeldt (1976-) co-founded the annual film festival "The Animation Show". It showcased animated short films from various eras, with its initial goal being to cover "everything from forgotten classics to the very latest in computer animation". In its first year, the touring festival visited over 200 movie theaters in North America.
Judge's third feature film was the dystopian science fiction comedy "Idiocracy" (2006). It depicted a soldier from the early 21st century who spends 500 years in suspended animation. He awakes in the 26th century, in a future world which has fully embraced anti-intellectualism. The film never received a wide theatrical release, and only earned 495,000 dollars at the box office. However it sold very well in the home video market, and became a cult film.
In 2008, Fox decided to cancel "King of the Hill" despite the series' decent ratings. At the time it was the 105th most watched series on American television. The final group of episodes were broadcast over the following 2 years.
In 2009, Judge directed his fourth (and so far last) feature film. It was the live-action comedy film "Extract". It features a successful flavoring-extracts company who has to deal with a lawsuit by an injured employee, with the schemes of a female con-artist, and with the sexual frustration and impaired judgment of its owners. The film earned about 11 million dollars at the box office, and was critically well-received.
In 2009, Judge developed his third television series, the animated comedy "The Goode Family" (2009) for ABC. Compared to "King of the Hill", this series contained more political satire. The series failed to find an audience, and some critics considered that its humor more properly belonged in the 1990s than the 2000s. It only lasted 1 series and 13 episodes, canceled by ABC due to its low ratings. It was the first series created by Judge to be considered a failure.
In 2011, "Beavis and Butt-Head" was revived for another season, with Judge as a producer and an updated setting. The 8th season only lasted for 2 months (October 27-December 29, 2011) and 2011. The opening audience attracted an audience of 3,3 million viewers. Ratings fell during the season, and the final episode only had 900,000 viewers. MTV decided not to order a 9th season.
Judge next developed his fourth television series, the live-action comedy "Silicon Valley" (2014-2019). The original premise was to focus on the competitive business environment of the Silicon Valley. Following the first season's success, "Silicon Valley" continued in the long-term. The series lasted for 6 seasons and 53 episodes. The series received critical acclaim for its "hilarious" take on the business world and modern technology, and was nominated for several awards. Conversely, a number of critics felt that a number of its characters were stereotypical nerds, and lacked proper character development.
While "Silicon Valley" was still ongoing, Judge developed his fifth television series. It was the animated documentary series "Mike Judge Presents: Tales from the Tour Bus" (2017-2018), which focused on the oral history of professional musicians and their associated musical genres. It presented anecdotes concerning the featured musicians, "as told by their families, band-mates, and close associates". The series lasted 2 seasons and 16 episodes .The series was critically acclaimed, but never attracted a large audience.
In its relatively short run, this series featured biographies of (in order of presentation): Johnny Paycheck (1938-2003), Jerry Lee Lewis (1935-), George Jones (1931-2013), Tammy Wynette (1942-1998), Billy Joe Shaver (1939-2020), Waylon Jennings (1937-2002), Blaze Foley (1949-1989), George Clinton (1941-), Rick James (1948-2004), Bootsy Collins (1951-), James Brown (1933-2006), Morris Day (1957-), and Betty Davis (1945-).
In 2021, Judge was 58-years-old. He has never fully retired, though he has yet to make a television comeback. His professional career in television has lasted 30 years so far, and he has gained a reputation for innovative series concepts.- Additional Crew
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Phillip Bradley "Brad" Bird is an American director, screenwriter, animator, producer and occasional voice actor, known for both animated and live-action films. Bird was born in Kalispell, Montana, the youngest of four children of Marjorie A. (née Cross) and Philip Cullen Bird. His father worked in the propane business, and his grandfather, Francis Wesley "Frank" Bird, who was born in County Sligo, Ireland, was a president and chief executive of the Montana Power Company. On a tour of the Walt Disney Studios at age 11, he announced that someday he would become part of its animation team, and soon afterward began work on his own 15-minute animated short. Within two years, Bird had completed his animation, which impressed the cartoon company. By age 14, barely in high school, Bird was mentored by the animator Milt Kahl, one of Disney's legendary Nine Old Men. Bird recalls Kahl's criticisms as ideal: Kahl would point out shortcomings by gently delivering thoughts on where Bird could improve. After graduating from Corvallis High School in Corvallis, Oregon in 1975, Bird took a three-year break. He was then awarded a scholarship by Disney to attend California Institute of the Arts, where he met and befriended another future animator, Pixar co-founder and director John Lasseter.- Animation Department
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Danny Antonucci was born on 27 February 1957. He is a writer and director, known for Ed, Edd n Eddy (1999), Heavy Metal (1981) and Ed, Edd n Eddy's Boo Haw Haw (2005).- Writer
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John Dilworth was born on 14 February 1963 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a writer and director, known for The Dirdy Birdy (1995), The Chicken from Outer Space (1996) and Courage the Cowardly Dog (1999).- Animation Department
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George Krstic is known for Megas XLR (2004), Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy (2020) and Motorcity (2012).- Writer
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Stephen McDannell Hillenburg is the creator of SpongeBob SquarePants (1999), Nickelodeon's highest-rated cartoons for children and a staple of American television. He was born on August 21, 1961 in Fort Sill, a United States Army post in Lawton, Oklahoma, to Nancy (Dufour) Hillenburg and Kelly Neugent Hillenburg Jr.
Raised in Anaheim, California, he became fascinated with marine biology as a child and later developed an interest in art. He started his professional career in 1984 teaching marine biology at the Orange County Marine Institute. He wrote 'The Intertidal Zone', a comic book about tide-pool animals which he used to educate his students.
In 1989, two years after leaving teaching, Hillenburg enrolled at the California Institute of the Arts to pursue a career in animation. He was later offered a job on the Nickelodeon animated television series Rocko's Modern Life (1993), after his success with short films The Green Beret (1992) and Wormholes (1992), which he created while studying animation.
In 1994, Hillenburg began developing The Intertidal Zone characters and concepts for what would become SpongeBob SquarePants. The show premiered in 1999 and has aired since then. He also directed The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004), which he originally intended to be the series finale. However, Nickelodeon wanted to produce more episodes, so Hillenburg resigned as the showrunner. He went back to making short films, with Hollywood Blvd, USA (2014).
In 2015, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015) was released; the sequel to the 2004 film, it marked Hillenburg's return to the franchise, after he co-wrote the story and acted as an executive producer on the project.
Aside from two Emmy Awards and six Annie Awards for SpongeBob SquarePants, Hillenburg also received an accolade from Heal the Bay for his efforts on elevating marine life awareness, as well as the Television Animation Award from the National Cartoonists Society. Despite all this, he was involved in public controversies, including one that centered on speculation over the SpongeBob character's intended sexual orientation.
Hillenburg was diagnosed in 2017 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. He stated that he would continue to work on his show for as long as possible. He died at age 57 on November 26, 2018 in San Marino, California, a year and a half after his diagnosis.- Writer
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Craig Bartlett was born on 18 October 1956 in Seattle, Washington, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Dinosaur Train (2009), Hey Arnold! (1996) and Rugrats (1991). He was previously married to Lisa Groening.- Art Department
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Mitch Schauer started sketching at the young age of 18 months. In early childhood, his favorite thing to draw was telephone poles in perspective. He was back and forth between Oklahoma and California with his career and eventually moved to Germany to work for Berlin Animation Film. His animation career extends from star fairies and pound puppies in the early 80s all the way to Angry Beavers in the late 90s. He now resides in California with his wife, Cindy, daughter, Stacy, and son, Robert.- Writer
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Peter Hannan is an artist and writer. He is the creator and executive producer of the Nickelodeon animated series, CatDog, overseeing all aspects (writing, storyboarding, character design, art direction, and post-production) of sixty-five half hours, including several holiday specials. Since most of the shows are made up of 11-minute episodes, this amounts to one hundred and twenty-something stories and at least one fistfight. He produced Fetch, the CatDog theatrical short subject for The Rugrats Movie as well as a ninety-minute television movie, CatDog and the Great Parent Mystery.
He has several new film and television projects in development (for little kids, big kids, and grown-ups), and is working behind the scenes or in collaboration with a variety of talented cohorts, writing show bibles, scripts, and treatments, creating/designing characters, art directing, and songwriting.
He is the author and illustrator of The Sillyville Saga, a series of children's books and a veritable manifesto of absurdity: Sillyville or Bust, Escape from Camp Wannabarf, School After Dark: Lessons in Lunacy, and The Battle of Sillyville: Live Silly or Die! He also wrote and illustrated stories for the anthologies Speak! Children's Illustrators Brag About Their Dogs and Purr! Children's Illustrators Brag About Their Cats. He is currently working on series of middle-grade illustrated chapter books which feature a staggering team of super-avenging nincompoops. He really wants this to be a runaway best-selling series because he feels that sitting on the beach, or perhaps in the woods, scribbling funny words and silly pictures while sipping refreshing beverages would be a very civilized way to live. He is also writing and illustrating several picture books and working on a book intended for adults. He has written and illustrated a number of amusing newspaper and magazine pieces with titles like The Incredible Shrinking Christmas, Death of Yuppie, Mike Royko Moves to the Suburbs, and The Good, the Bad, and the Irish.
Hannan has had a life-long interest in, some might say addiction to, singing and songwriting. He wrote the CatDog theme song, which he also sings. He wrote many other songs for the series, but mercifully left the singing to his remarkable cast. The most hilarious coup of his songwriting career was convincing Oscar-winning multi-hyphenate Billy Bob Thornton and Ally McBeal/Broadway star Jane Krakowski to sing two perfectly ridiculous songs (as two characters each) for CatDog and the Great Parent Mystery. Five Hannan CatDog songs are included on "The Newest Nicktoons" and several other Nickelodeon collections released on Kid Rhino.
He has done illustrations for The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Playboy, Entertainment Weekly, and many other newspapers, magazines, and advertising media. His single-panel cartoons (The Adventures of a Huge Mouth) have appeared in Harper's Magazine, Esquire Magazine, The Chicago Reader and many other publications. A book of his cartoons was published by Chicago Review Press and he created a line of greeting cards for Paper Moon Graphics. He is currently working on a series of drawings entitled My Own Private Hollywood, a harrowing look at the funny business of the business. His paintings, drawings, illustrations, and cartoons have been included in numerous exhibitions.
Peter Hannan was born and raised in upstate New York. He is a proud victim of small-town public and parochial education and a graduate of tiny and notorious Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont, famous as the alma mater of David Mamet. Peter Hannan has never even met Mr. Mamet. Mr. Hannan lives in southern California with his wonderful wife (who he met when he was six and she must have been, like, negative ten or something), two fabulous kids, and two dogs, one of whom is certifiably nuts, but only when the doorbell rings.- Writer
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Bryan Konietzko was born on 26 May 1976 in the USA. He is a writer and producer, known for The Legend of Korra (2012), Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005) and The Last Airbender (2010).- Writer
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Michael Dante DiMartino was born on 18 July 1974 in Shelburne, Vermont, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for The Legend of Korra (2012), Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005) and The Last Airbender (2010).- Producer
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Bill Oakley is an American writer and producer from Westminster, Maryland known for working on The Simpsons, Futurama, Regular Show and Mission Hill. He wrote several Simpsons episodes during the 1990s. He also wrote the infamous "Steamed Hams" scene from the episode "22 Short Films About Springfield" which became a popular internet meme in the late 2010s.- Producer
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Josh Weinstein was born on 5 May 1966 in Alexandria, Virginia, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for The Simpsons (1989), Futurama (1999) and Disenchantment (2018). He has been married to Lisa Simmons since 2 July 1995. They have two children.- Producer
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Ben Edlund was born on 20 September 1968 in Pembroke, Massachusetts, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for The Tick (1994), Angel (1999) and Supernatural (2005).- Art Department
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Robert Taylor was born in 1944 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was a producer, known for TaleSpin (1990), The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat (1974) and DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp (1990). He died on 11 December 2014 in Woodland Hills, California, USA.- Producer
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Gregory David Weisman grew up in Woodland Hills, California with his parents, younger sister and younger brother, Jon Weisman. After graduating from college, Greg moved to New York City to work for DC Comics, where he worked on Captain Atom, among other titles. He soon moved back to L.A. to go to graduate school.
In 1989, he became a creative executive at Disney, working on such shows as DuckTales (1987), Raw Toonage (1992) and Bonkers (1993). Greg's big break came in 1994, when his brand new show, Gargoyles (1994), debuted. After working on 66 of Gargoyles (1994)' episodes, he left the show and Disney when his contract was not renewed in 1996. He has since worked on such shows as Max Steel (2000) and Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles (1999). You can probably catch him answering questions on Station Eight's Ask Greg Forum.- Writer
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Bill Kopp is known for Eek! The Cat (1992), Mad Jack the Pirate (1998) and Tales from the Crypt (1989).- Art Director
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Gary Baseman was born in 1961. He is known for Teacher's Pet (2000), ToddWorld (2004) and Hemisphere (2023).- Writer
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Doug Langdale was born on 19 August 1969 in North Hollywood, California, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for The Book of Life (2014), Maya and the Three (2021) and Earthworm Jim (1995). He has been married to Candie Langdale since 18 October 2009.- Producer
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Timothy Walter Burton was born in Burbank, California, to Jean Rae (Erickson), who owned a cat-themed gift shop, and William Reed Burton, who worked for the Burbank Park and Recreation Department. He spent most of his childhood as a recluse, drawing cartoons, and watching old movies (he was especially fond of films with Vincent Price). When he was in the ninth grade, his artistic talent was recognized by a local garbage company, when he won a prize for an anti-litter poster he designed. The company placed this poster on all of their garbage trucks for a year. After graduating from high school, he attended California Institute of the Arts. Like so many others who graduated from that school, Burton's first job was as an animator for Disney.
His early film career was fueled by almost unbelievable good luck, but it's his talent and originality that have kept him at the top of the Hollywood tree. He worked on such films as The Fox and the Hound (1981) and The Black Cauldron (1985), but had some creative differences with his colleagues. Nevertheless, Disney recognized his talent, and gave him the green light to make Vincent (1982), an animated short about a boy who wanted to be just like Vincent Price. Narrated by Price himself, the short was a critical success and won several awards. Burton made a few other short films, including his first live-action film, Frankenweenie (1984). A half-hour long twist on the tale of Frankenstein, it was deemed inappropriate for children and wasn't released. But actor Paul Reubens (aka Pee-Wee Herman) saw Frankenweenie (1984), and believed that Burton would be the right man to direct him in his first full-length feature film, Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985). The film was a surprise success, and Burton instantly became popular. However, many of the scripts that were offered to him after this were essentially just spin-offs of the film, and Burton wanted to do something new.
For three years, he made no more films, until he was presented with the script for Beetlejuice (1988). The script was wild and wasn't really about anything, but was filled with such artistic and quirky opportunities, Burton couldn't say no. Beetlejuice (1988) was another big hit, and Burton's name in Hollywood was solidified. It was also his first film with actor Michael Keaton. Warner Bros. then entrusted him with Batman (1989), a film based on the immensely popular comic book series of the same name. Starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson, the film was the most financially successful film of the year and Burton's biggest box-office hit to date. Due to the fantastic success of his first three films, he was given the green light to make his next film, any kind of film he wanted. That film was Edward Scissorhands (1990), one of his most emotional, esteemed and artistic films to date. Edward Scissorhands (1990) was also Burton's first film with actor Johnny Depp. Burton's next film was Batman Returns (1992), and was darker and quirkier than the first one, and, while by no means a financial flop, many people felt somewhat disappointed by it. While working on Batman Returns (1992), he also produced the popular The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), directed by former fellow Disney Animator Henry Selick. Burton reunited with Johnny Depp on the film Ed Wood (1994), a film showered with critical acclaim, Martin Landau won an academy award for his performance in it, and it is very popular now, but flopped during its initial release. Burton's subsequent film, Mars Attacks! (1996), had much more vibrant colors than his other films. Despite being directed by Burton and featuring all-star actors including Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Pierce Brosnan and Michael J. Fox, it received mediocre reviews and wasn't immensely popular at the box office, either.
Burton returned to his darker and more artistic form with the film Sleepy Hollow (1999), starring Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci and Casper Van Dien. The film was praised for its art direction and was financially successful, redeeming Burton of the disappointment many had felt by Mars Attacks! (1996). His next film was Planet of the Apes (2001), a remake of the classic of the same name. The film was panned by many critics but was still financially successful. While on the set of Planet of the Apes (2001), Burton met Helena Bonham Carter, with whom he has two children. Burton directed the film Big Fish (2003) - a much more conventional film than most of his others, it received a good deal of critical praise, although it disappointed some of his long-time fans who preferred the quirkiness of his other, earlier films. Despite the fluctuations in his career, Burton proved himself to be one of the most popular directors of the late 20th century. He directed Johnny Depp once again in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), a film as quirky anything he's ever done.- Director
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Ralph Bakshi worked his way up from Brooklyn and became an animation legend. He was born on October 29, 1938, in Haifa, Israel, the son of Mina (Zlotin) and Eliezar Bakshi, and is of Krymchak Jewish descent. He was raised in Brownsville, after his family came to New York to escape World War II. Bakshi attended the Thomas Jefferson High School and was later transferred to the High School of Industrial Arts and graduated with an award in cartooning in 1957.
At the Terrytoons studio, he started as a cel polisher then graduated to cel painting. Practicing nights and weekends, he quickly became an inker and then an animator. There, he worked on such shows as Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle, Deputy Dawg, Foofle and Lariat Sam. At 28 he created and directed a series of superhero spoof cartoons called The Mighty Heroes.
In 1967, Bakshi moved to Paramount Studios. Working with producer Steve Krantz, Bakshi worked on episodes of the Spider-Man TV series and several short films. In the 1970s, Bakshi set out to produce films using his innovative vision for how animated films should be. Krantz suggested Robert Crumb's "Fritz the Cat" comic book as Bakshi's first feature. The two set out to meet with Crumb and get the film rights. In 1972, the film premiered and was extremely successful, as the first feature-length animated film to receive an X rating by the American rating system (when it was distributed worldwide, it generally received lower ratings the equivalent of an R rating, and was released as being unrated on DVD).
The success of "Fritz the Cat" allowed Bakshi to produce films featuring his own characters and ideas, and so "Heavy Traffic" and "Coonskin" were produced, both of which were extremely controversial, but were praised by critics. During the same period, he shot and completed another feature titled "Hey Good Lookin'" for the Warner Brothers studio, who didn't think that a combination of live-action and animation would sell, and forced Bakshi to go back and animate the live action sequences.
During this period, Bakshi also produced two very successful fantasy films, "Wizards" and part one of an animated film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings." Although these films were financially successful, they were misunderstood by critics, and United Artists, the studio that produced "The Lord of the Rings" refused to fund the second part, or sequel to Bakshi's ambitious adaptation.
During the 1980s, animation went into a decline. "American Pop," done using the same style of realistic animation as "The Lord of the Rings" was not successful financially, and critics did not see the point of the film being animated. The finished version of "Hey Good Lookin'" was released during the same year as "American Pop," but was also unsuccessful financially. Bakshi's last film of the decade, "Fire & Ice," a collaboration with famed artist Frank Frazetta, was a flop.
Bakshi produced several television features with mixed results before returning to film with what would eventually become "Cool World" - the script was rewritten several times during production without Bakshi's knowledge until it came to the point where Bakshi did not recognize his own work. The film was critically scorned, and was a box office flop. Fans feel that the film is not a true Bakshi film.
Since then, the Internet and DVD releases of Bakshi's work have brought him a new generation of fans and increased interest, encouraging Bakshi to produce another film. "Last Days of Coney Island" is in production. Bakshi lives in New Mexico. A three-day retrospective was held at American Cinematheque at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, California and the Aero Theater in Santa Monica, California in April, 2005.- Animation Department
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Bob Kane was an American comic book writer and artist of Jewish descent, most famous for co-creating Batman and several members of Batman's supporting cast. Kane was inducted into the comic book industry's Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1994 and into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1996.
Kane was born under the name "Robert Kahn" in New York City. His father was the engraver Herman Kahn, and his mother was the housewife Augusta. Both of his parents were originally from Eastern Europe.
Kane attended DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, where he was friends with future comic book writer Will Eisner. Following his graduation, he legally changed his name to "Robert Kane" and enrolled at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art to study art. The school was a private college, located at Cooper Square on the border of the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan.
Kane originally wanted to become an animator, and in 1934 he was hired as a trainee animator by the animation studio Fleischer Studios (1921-1942), headed by the brothers Max Fleischer (1883-1972) and Dave Fleischer (1894-1979). He worked for up to two years in the production of animated short films, but had left the studio by 1936.
Kane entered the comics field in 1936, as a freelance penciler and inker. His early work was published in the magazine "Wow, What A Magazine!," which was edited by cartoonist Jerry Iger (1903-1990). Kane's most notable contribution was the comic serial "Hiram Hick", which he both drew and inked.
In 1936, Jerry Iger and .Will Eisner partnered to create their own company, "Eisner & Iger" (1936-1939). It was a comic book packager, producing complete comic stories that could be sold to publishers that did not have their own creative staff. In 1937, Kane was hired by this upstart company.
Kane's early work included the anthropomorphic animal series "Peter Pupp" (published by the magazine "Wags" in the United Kingdom and by Fiction House's "Jumbo Comics" in the United States), the comedy series "Ginger Snap" (published in "More Fun Comics"), the comedy series "Oscar the Gumshoe" (published in "Detective Comics"), the comedy series "Professor Doolittle" (published in "Adventure Comics"), and the adventure series "Rusty and his Pals" (published in "Adventure Comics). Among them, Peter Pupp stood out for its "overtones of mystery and menace".
By 1939, Superman had become a major hit for an early incarnation of DC Comics and there was a new market for comic book superheroes. Interested in creating his own superhero Kane started working on a new character, "Bat-Man". Kane said his influences for the character included actor Douglas Fairbanks' film portrayal of the swashbuckler Zorro; Leonardo da Vinci's diagram of the ornithopter, a flying machine with huge bat-like wings; and the 1930 film "The Bat Whispers", based on Mary Rinehart's mystery novel "The Circular Staircase" (1908).
Kane had already used Bill Finger as a ghost writer for his early comic strips. He asked Finger to provide additional ideas for Batman, and to write the initial Batman stories. Following a number of Finger's suggested redesigns, "Batman" debuted in "Detective Comics" #27 (May, 1939). It became a major hit for an early incarnation of DC Comics.
Early Batman stories were written and penciled by Bob Kane's own art studio (located in The New York Times building) and then sold for publication. Kane received the sole credit for whatever he and his staff created. Finger remained the main writer of the series, while Jerry Robinson (1922-2011) and George Roussos (1915-2000) were hired as Kane's art assistants. The four of them are jointly credited for introducing most of Batman's early supporting characters and memorable villains.
By the early 1940s, DC Comics demanded more Batman stories than the Bob Kane studio could produce. In response, DC hired its own writers and artists to work on additional stories, though Bob Kane continued to receive the sole credit for the stories. The most notable of these "ghost artists" was Dick Sprang (1915-2000) who remained attached to the Batman series for at least a decade, and co-created a popular new villain, the Riddler. Among the ghost writers of Batman, the most notable was Gardner Fox (1911-1986), who introduced some of Batman's notable equipment.
From 1943 to 1946, Bob Kane focused entirely on the Batman newspaper comic strip, and no longer produced new Batman stories for comic books. In his absence, Jerry Robinson became the main penciler for the Batman stories. Additional ghost artists of the period included Jack Burnley (1911-2006) and Win Mortimer (1919-1998). Several Batman-related covers were designed by Fred Ray (1920-2001), who was also the primary Superman cover-artist of the 1940s,
In 1946, the Batman newspaper comic strip ended, and Bob Kane started producing comic book stories for Batman again. He eventually hired his own ghost writers and ghost artists, The most notable among them were Lew Sayre Schwartz (1926-2011), the main artist of the Batman series between 1946 and 1953, and Sheldon Moldoff (1920-1967), the main artist of the series between 1953 and 1967. Schwartz is mainly remembered for co-creating a popular villain, called Deadshot. Moldoff is remembered for co-creating the villains Poison Ivy and Mr. Freeze, the second version of the villainous Clayface, Batman's allies Bat-Mite, Bat-Girl/Betty Kane, and Batwoman/Kathy Kane, and Batman's pet dog Ace the Bat-Hound.
In the 1960s, Kane found work in television animation., He created the television series "Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse" (1960-1962), featuring two anthropomorphic animal superheroes. Courageous Cat was a parody of Batman, while sidekick Minute Mouse was a parody of Robin. Kane subsequently created the television series "Cool McCool" (1966-1967), depicting the adventures of an inept secret agent.
In 1966 or 1967, Kane chose to retire from his work in comic books and animation. He was 52-years-old and had been working on the field for three decades. He started producing "fine art" works for exhibitions in galleries. His work as a painter was prolific, though comic book historians have noted that he again hired ghost artists to help him produce the paintings.
In 1989, Kane was hired as a consultant for the live-action "Batman" (1989) film directed by Tim Burton. He served in the same consulting role for its three sequels, released between 1992 and 1997. In 1998, Kane was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he eventually died. He was 83-years-old and had lived in retirement for two decades.
Kane was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles. Several of the characters Kane created remain popular, and he continues to receive posthumous credit in works based on his creations.- Art Department
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Neal Adams is an American comic book artist and writer from New York City. He has been active in the field since the early 1960s. His work has been critically acclaimed, and he has been inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame, the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1999, and the Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame. He has been a creators-rights advocate since the 1970s, and once led efforts to unionize the comic book creators.
In 1941, Adams was born on Governors Island, an island located in New York Harbor, within the New York City borough of Manhattan. The island was used as a United States Army post from 1783 to 1966, primarily used as a training ground for troops. Residential buildings and modern roads were added to the island in the 1920s.
Adams received his secondary education at the School of Industrial Art, a Career and Technical Education high school located in Manhattan. The school had been established in 1936 by a small group of art teachers. Adams graduated in 1959, and then started seeking work as a freelance comic book artist.
Adams submitted samples of his work to the publisher Archie Comics. He aspired to draw stories for the superhero the Fly/Thomas "Tommy" Troy. A panel of his work was published in "Adventures of the Fly" #4 (January 1960), added to another artist's story. The panel was considered superior to one which had been drawn by a more experienced artist. It was Adams' first published work.
Adams was hired by Archie Comics, and tasked with writing, penciling, inking, and lettering humorous filler stories for "Archie's Joke Book Magazine". He earned about16 dollars for each half-page that he completed , and 32 dollars for each full page. The payment was meager, but Adams became the main breadwinner for his impoverished family,
Through a recommendation, Adams was hired for three months as an assistant to experienced comics artist Howard Nostrand (1929-1984). They worked on the short-lived syndicated comic strip "Bat Masterson" (1959-1960), which was based on a Western television series. Adams primarily worked as a background artist on the strip, earning a weekly salary of 9 dollars.
Having left Archie Comics, Adams worked for a while as a freelance artist for the advertising industry. He found regular work at the agency Johnstone and Cushing (1936-1962), which specialized on comic-book styled illustrations. Adams received additional training by veteran illustrator Elmer Wexler (1918 - 2007), and created a number of works in Wexler's style.
In 1962, Adams was hired as the main artist for the comic strip "Ben Casey" (1962-1966), which was based on a medical drama television series. The plots of the script were typical for soap operas, involving "heroin addiction, illegitimate pregnancy, and attempted suicide". But Adams produced artwork in a realistic style, which aided the strip's success. Adams earned a weekly salary of 300-350 dollars.
In 1966, "Ben Casey" ended, and Adams returned to working as a freelancer. He served briefly as a ghost artist for the comic strip "Peter Scratch" (1965-1967), about the career of a hard-boiled detective. He also served as a ghost artist for the long-running comic strip "The Heart of Juliet Jones"" (1953-2000), with art imitating the work of the strip's regular artist Stan Drake (1921 - 1997). He reportedly turned down an offer to work on the comic strip "The Green Berets", which glorified the battles of the Vietnam War. He suggested that the agency responsible should hire Joe Kubert ( 1926 - 2012), an artist who specialized in drawing war comics.
In 1967, Adams was hired by the comic book publisher Warren Publishing, which specialized on horror stories. He collaborated with experienced writer Archie Goodwin (1937 - 1998)) in creating stories for the anthology series "Creepy" and "Eerie". At that time, he learned that Joe Kubert had left DC Comics. The company sought new artists for its war comics, and Adams applied for the job. An 8-page story in the anthology series "Our Army at War" #182 (July 1967) was his first story for DC. He continued working concurrently for both Warren and DC.
Adams aspired to work on stories for the popular superhero Batman/Bruce Wayne, but DC editor's kept rejecting his applications for the job He was instead tasked to illustrate comedy stories for the series "The Adventures of Jerry Lewis" and "The Adventures of Bob Hope", which depicted fictionalized versions of famous comedians. He was also tasked with drawing Superman-related covers for "Action Comics" #356 and "Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane".
In "Detective Comics" #369 (November, 1967), Adams illustrated a lighthearted story featuring the superhero Elongated Man/Randolph "Ralph" Dibny. It was his first superhero story. He soon became the regular artist for stories featuring the undead superhero Deadman/Boston Brand, serving in this role for "Strange Adventures" #206-216 (November 1967-February, 1969). As of issue #212, he was also the series' writer. This series became a fan favorite, and won a number of awards. It established Adams' reputation as a great artist.
In 1968. Adams became the regular writer and artist for a short-lived series featuring the return of 1940s superhero the Spectre/Jim Corrigan. While the series re-established the Spectre as a viable character, it was not commercially successful. The series only lasted for 10 issues, with Adams illustrating about half of them. The only significant villain depicted in Adams' stories was the Psycho-Pirate/Roger Hayden, a man who could manipulate the emotions of others.
In 1969, was asked to rewrite and redesign a Teen Titans story about protesters being manipulated by alien invaders.. His version of the story appeared in "Teen Titans" vol 1 #20 (April, 1969). The original version of the story was intended to introduce a superhero code-named Jericho, while Adams' version featured a one-shot character called Joshua.
Adams' continued to be a freelancer, and he was hired by Marvel Comics in 1969. Adams served as the regular artist for "X-Men" vol 1 #56-63(May-December, 1969), and #65 (February, 1970). In his first story, Adams redesigned the super-villain Living Pharaoh/Ahmet Abdol into the giant form of the Living Monolith. He next introduced the villain Larry Trask, along with the second generation of the mutant-hunting robots known as the Sentinels. He also co-created and designed the energy vampire Sauron/Karl Lykos, who was named after a Tolkien character. He co-created a new super-villain team, the Savage Land Mutates, as rivals for the X-Men. Adams was the first artist to design classic villain Magneto/Max Eisenhardt without his helmet. In his final issue, Adams co-created a new villainous alien race, the Z'nox.
As Adams later recalled in interviews, he found that Marvel provided a friendlier working environment than DC. He got to socialize with his co-workers, and befriended colleague such as John Romita Sr. (1930-), Marie Severin (1929-2018), and Herb Trimpe (1939 - 2015). He also formed working relationships with writers Roy Thomas (1940-) and Dennis O'Neil (1939 - 2020), and the inker Tom Palmer (1942-).
In 1970, Adams finally got a chance to work on Batman, when asked by editor Julius Schwartz to revamp the character. The fairly lighthearted Batman stories of the 1960s had fallen out of fashion. Adams and Dennis O'Neil created stories re-establishing Batman's "dark, brooding nature" and the film noir-like world which he inhabits. They also made changes to Batman's rogues gallery.
In 1970, Adams co-created the shapeshifting villain Man-Bat/Dr. Robert Kirkland "Kirk" Langstrom as a new adversary for Batman. In May 1971, Adams co-created the femme fatale Talia al Ghul as both a foe and a love interest to Batman. In June 1971, Adams co-created Talia's father, the immortal villain Ra's al Ghul (Arabic for "The Head of the Demon) as a new major threat in Batman's life. In August 1971, Adams revived the classic villain Two-Face/Harvey Dent, who had last been used in 1954. The disfigured villain became one of Batman's main rogues. In September 1973, Adams revamped the Joker into "a homicidal maniac who murders people on a whim and delights in his mayhem". This version of the character more closely resembled the 1940s version of the character than the "goofy prankster" version used since the 1950s.
Back in "The Brave and the Bold #85 (August-Sepembert 1969), Adams had redesigned the classic superhero Green Arrow/Oliver "Ollie" Queen. He gave the character a distinctive goatee beard and a more stylish uniform. In 1970, he further revamped the character into a streetwise protector of the working class and the disadvantaged, with left-wing political beliefs. Starting in "Green Lantern/Green Arrow" #76 (April 1970), the character shared a series with the space cop Green Lantern/Hal Jordan. Jordan was revamped at that time into a conservative man with a strong belief in "law and order". The two heroes formed an odd pairing in their shared stories
Over the following few years, Adams and Dennis O'Neil collaborated in stories where the two heroes faced real-life problems, such as "racism, overpopulation, pollution, and drug addiction". Green Arrow's former sidekick Speedy/Roy Harper was depicted as a drug addict, bringing the problem of addiction close at home. This new direction to the characters was critically acclaimed, but not commercially successful. "Green Lantern/Green Arrow" was canceled with issue #89 (April, 1972), which featured a story based on Jesus' crucifixion. The series was revived in 1976, without any involvement by Adams.
Adams was one of the main artists working in the space opera story "Kree-Skrull War", published in "Avengers" vol. 1 #89-97 (June 1971 - March 1972). The story depicted a war between two rival space empires, that had been introduced in the previous decade. It also featured the alien superhero Captain Marvel/Mar-Vell becoming an honorary member of the Avengers. It finally introduced a romantic relationship between two veteran Avengers, the magic user Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff and the sentient android Vision. The story is considered a highlight in Marvel's history, and introduced many long-running subplots.
In 1973, Adams co-created a new science fiction character for Marvel, Killraven/Jonathan Raven. The character inhabited a post-apocalyptic a future, where humanity has been enslaved by Martians. Killraven was depicted as a member of a group of freedom fighters who wandered in the ruins of the Eastern United States. The initial Killraven series ended in 1976, though the characters has been revived several times.
For the rest of the 1970s, Adams worked on few stories for DC Comics. He worked however frequently as a cover artist, and worked on redesigns of Superman's supporting cast. He was an uncredited co-artist in the crossover story "Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man" (March 1976). In the story the two heroes team-up to foil the combined threats of Lex Luthor and Doctor Octopus/Dr. Otto Octavius. The story is considered the first modern superhero inter-company crossover.
In 1978, Adams and Dennis O'Neil collaborated on the one-shot comic "Superman vs. Muhammad Ali", where the hero has to face Ali in a boxing match. The story established that Superman typically relies on his superior strength to win fights, and lacked in actual training and fighting skills. The 72-page book was a landmark issue, and a personal favorite of Adams. It was also his last professional comic book story for several decades.
Back in 1971, Adams had founded his own company, the illustration studio Continuity Associates. There comic book artists provided artwork for other companies. In the late 1970s, Adams focused most of his efforts on running the lucrative company. The company's employees have at various times included famous names such as Larry Hama, Walt Simonson, and Jim Starlin.
In the 1970s, Adams led efforts to unionize comic book creators. In 1978, he co-founded the Comics Creators Guild. The organization had about 40 members. In 1975, his lobbying efforts convinced DC Comics to pay a yearly stipend and medical benefits to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster,, Superman's original creators. The two men did not own their own creation, and had struggled financially for years. In 1987, Adams' lobbying efforts convinced Marvel Comics to return original artworks from its archives to the artists responsible. These artists could earn additional income from selling the artwork to collectors.
In 1984, Adams founded the subsidiary company Continuity Comics (1984-1994), to publish work by himself and others. Its most popular character was the witch Ms. Mystic, a character which Adams had created in 1982. She had her own series for 9 issues. Adams was involved in a legal controversy when fellow artist Michael Netzer (1955-) claimed that he was an uncredited co-creator of Ms. Mystic, and demanded ownership rights. Adams won the court case, but Continuity Comics collapsed due to financial problems. Adams and Netzer have maintained an adversarial relationship ever since.
In 2005, Adams made his comeback in comics, when hired by Marvel to draw an 8-pages long story featuring the X-Men. In 2010, he both wrote and designed the mini-series "Batman: Odyssey". From 2011 to 2012, he worked on the sequel series "Batman: Odyssey" vol. 2. In 2012, he worked on the X-Men again, co-writing and designing the mini-series "First X-Men". This series established that Wolverine/James Howlett and Sabretooth/Victor Creed led a mutant team of heroes before the X-Men were founded. It also provided additional background information on several characters associated with the X-Men, such as Professor X/Charles Xavier and Bolivar Trask.
Adams produced a number of Batman short stories for DC Comics in 2013 and 2014. In 2016, he created new versions of some of his most famous covers for DC Comics. Also in 2016, he wrote and designed the miniseries "Superman: Coming of the Supermen". In 2017, Adams wrote and designed a mini-series featuring Deadman. So far, this has been his last major work for comic books.
In 2008, Adams participated in efforts to convince the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum to end its ownership of artwork created by the artist Dina Babbitt (1923-2009). Babbitt had created the artwork while serving as an inmate of the Auschwitz concentration camp, and ownership over it was held by the camp's authorities. She later wished to reclaim ownership over her work, but the museum rejected her petitions. Adams believes that the artwork properly belongs to Babbitt's descendants, and not to the museum. He has illustrated a graphic documentary about Babbitt's story, and continues to support the case of the Babbitt family.
As of 2021, Adams is 80 years old. He is no longer particularly active as an artist, but he is fondly remembered for creating or co-creating several popular characters. Some of his creations have stood the test of time, and his contributions to long-running characters such as Batman and the X-Men are well-regarded.- Writer
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Dwayne McDuffie was an African American comic book and animation writer best known as one of the founders of Milestone Media, an imprint of DC Comics dedicated to promoting better stories and characterizations for minorities and for his contributions to Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, the final installment of what DC Comics fans refer to as "the DCAU". McDuffie, who notoriously despised stereotypes and vehemently fought against them in his work, won three Eisner Award nominations for his work in comics.
Born Dwayne Glenn McDuffie in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Edna McDuffie Gardner, as a child he initially dreamed of becoming an astronaut and studied physics, but he was rejected from that occupation due to his 6-foot-5 stature. A voracious reader, McDuffie then dedicated his energy to writing. Following a stint as copy editor for Investment Dealer's Digest (a business magazine) a friend's connection helped him win an interview at Marvel Comics as an assistant editor to Bob Budiansky, where he cut his literary teeth on helping develop the company's first superhero trading cards and writing "Damage Control", a miniseries dealing with the insurance company that has to deal with the collateral damage of the super-hero Vs. super-villain brawls that plague the company's fictional interpretation of New York City. When he became an editor for Marvel he submitted the spoof proposal Ninja Thrashers in response to the company's treatment of its black characters.
Following freelance writing in 1990 for various Marvel, DC Comics and even Archie Comics titles, McDuffie wrote Monster In My Pocket for Harvey Comics editor Sid Jacobson, whom he cited as a mentor.
Following his early 1991 divorce from his first wife, Patricia D. Younger, McDuffie and three partners founded Milestone Media, in order to express a multicultural sensibility he felt comic books were lacking. With McDuffie as editor-in-chief, Milestone's characters included the African-American Static, Icon, Hardware, the Asian-American Xombi, and the multi-ethnic superhero group the Blood Syndicate, which include black, Asian and Latino men and women. Milestone debuted its titles in 1993 through a distribution deal with DC Comics.
Following the discontinuation of Milestone Media's publishing, Static would be adapted into the animated series Static Shock, for which McDuffie wrote 11 episodes, also serving as story editor. McDuffie then joined the writing staff of Justice League, essentially replacing long time DCAU writer Paul Dini, later promoted to story editor and producer when the series became Justice League Unlimited, writing, producing or at least story-editing 69 of the series 91 episodes. Other animation writing credits included What's New, Scooby-Doo?, Ben 10: Alien Force, Ben: Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, and Teen Titans.
In addition to his TV animation writing credits, McDuffie also wrote for a number of direct-to-DVD animated films for Warner Brothers featuring DC Comics heroes. Among these were Justice League: Crisis On 2 Earths (2010), based on an abandoned story idea he'd originally pitched as a bridge between the end of Justice League and the beginning of Justice League Unlimited, All-Star Superman (2011) and Justice League: Doom (2012).
During his return to comics, McDuffie wrote the Marvel miniseries Beyond! and the Fantastic Four, and Firestorm and Justice League America for DC Comics, the latter he was unfortunately fired from following his very frank and unflattering answers to fans about the creative process. McDuffie then wrote Milestone Forever, chronicling the final adventures of the Milestone characters he'd helped create before they were added to the regular DC universe.
Friends, family and fans were devastated when McDuffie died on February 21, 2011, only one day after his 49th birthday, due to complications from emergency heart surgery at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center. His younger brother, Darryl, had died only a few months earlier, while their older brother Brian had died as an infant. Truly a titanic, larger than life visionary who fought relentlessly for better quality storytelling for all, McDuffie was a talent lost too soon. He is survived by his second wife, animation-TV writer Charlotte Fullerton, and his mother. When Justice League: Doom, loosely based on Mark Waid's Tower of Babel miniseries, was released a little more than year later it was dedicated to his memory.- Producer
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Glen Murakami was born on 27 July 1968 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a producer and art director, known for Batman Beyond (1999), The Batman (2004) and Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000).- Producer
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Doug TenNapel writes books, makes art and created Catscratch and Ami Jones, The Neverhood and Earthworm Jim. His work in television includes creating Earthworm Jim, Nickelodeon's Catscratch, Nick Jr's Ami Jones (Movie Only) and serving as show runner for the Netflix/Dreamworks VeggieTales in the House. He made the comic Cardboard, the mysterious Mothman and created the Youtube hit Sockbaby series featuring Doug Jones (Star Trek: Discovery) and Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite). He is also the author of seventeen graphic novels and sold stories to studios including: Fox New Regency, Disney, Sony and Universal. He has a Facebook page and posts free art tutorials on Youtube. He lives in Franklin, Tennessee with his wife and four children as he continues to create stories that families love.- Animation Department
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Kent Butterworth was born on 20 January 1953 in Gilbert, Arizona, USA. He is a director, known for Attila and the Great Blue Bean (2007), Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (1993) and Batman: The Killing Joke (2016).- Animation Department
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Milton Knight was born on 12 May 1962 in Mineola, New York, USA. He is a director, known for The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat (1995), Attila and the Great Blue Bean (2007) and Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (1993).- Producer
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Jay Ward (born as Joseph Ward Cohen Jr.) was an American creator and producer of animated television series. He was the eponymous founder of the animation studio Jay Ward Productions (1948-), one of the earliest American studios to market its productions to television audiences. Ward co-created "Crusader Rabbit" (1950-1959), the first animated series produced specifically for television. His subsequent productions included "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends" (1959-1964), "Hoppity Hooper" (1964-1967), "George of the Jungle" (1967), and "The Dudley Do-Right Show" (1969-1970). In the 1960s, Ward's studio started producing animated television commercials for the Quaker Oats Company. Its best known project in this field were the commercials featuring the cartoon mascot Cap'n Crunch, depicted as an 18th-century naval captain.
In 1920, Ward was born in San Francisco. His parents were Joseph Ward Cohen (1890-1967) and his wife Mercedes Juanita Troplong Ward (1892-1972). He was primarily raised in Berkeley California, and his family name had changed to "Ward" by his teen years. He attended the Frances E. Willard Intermediate School in Berkeley.
Ward received his college education at the University of California, Berkeley, and gained an undergraduate degree. He pursued further studies at the Harvard Business School, graduating in 1947 with a Master of Business Administration (MBA). Following his graduation, Ward opened his first real estate office. It was profitable, but Ward was soon injured when a runaway truck crashed into his office building.
During his recuperation period, decided to invest profits from his real estate business into opening a new animation studio. He partnered up with the animator Alex Anderson (1920-2010), who was his childhood friend. Anderson had previous experience working with the animation studio Terrytoons (1929-1972), and happened to be a nephew of the studio founder Paul Terry (1887-1971).
Ward and Anderson developed the pilot film "The Comic Strips of Television" to market a new group of characters to television producers. The characters included Crusader Rabbit (a short but intelligent adventurer), Hamhock Bones (a parody version of Sherlock Holmes) and Dudley Do-Right (a bumbling Canadian Mountie). Nobody was interested in Hamhock and Dudley, but producer Jerry Fairbanks (1904-1995) was interested in financing an entire series about Crusader. Ward and Anderson produced the first seasons of the Crusader Rabbit series from 1950 to 1952, developing Rags the Tiger as Crusader's dimwitted sidekick. The episodes followed a comedy adventure format, with cliffhangers at the end of each episode. This version of the series lasted for 195 episodes.
In 1953, Fairbanks declared bankruptcy. His inventory of filmed, low-budget productions from past decades was considered outdated, and he could not find a market for it. Ward and Anderson entered a legal battle in an attempt to secure their rights to the "Crusader Rabbit" series, but lost. When the series was revived in 1956, a new producer had hired a different production team. By that time, Ward was trying to develop the script for a new series. It was to be called "The Frostbite Falls Revue" , and was intended to feature an entire cast of eccentric characters. This project never materialized, but two characters developed for it became the next big stars for Ward's animation studio: Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Bullwinkle J. Moose.
Ward found television success with the "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends", which recycled some of the adventure comedy ideas from "Crusader Rabbit". The new series benefited from having a talented group of animators working of it (Ward had hired veterans from the United Productions of America/UPA), from its witty scripts by Bill Scott, Chris Hayward, and Allan Burns, and from its frequent use of self-referential humor.
By the late 1960s and early 1970s, Ward's animation studio largely ended its production of new animated series. Ward had recurring problems with finding network executives interested in his ideas, while his television commercials were a more stable source of profit for the studio. Ward also operated his own gift shop, "Dudley Do-Right Emporium" (1971-2005). It marketed toys and souvenirs based on the studio's past productions.
Ward died in October 1989, due to renal cancer. He was 69-years-old at the time of his death. His family continued operating the studio and the gift store for several years.- Producer
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Max Fleischer was an American animator, inventor, and film producer from Krakow. As an inventor, Fleischer is primarily known for inventing the rotoscope, an animation technique that allowed animators to draw realistic images and movements, based on live-action images. He later co-founded the short-lived animation studio Fleischer Studios (1929-1942), and served as the studio head for its entire history. The studio was primarily known for creating short film featuring the animated characters Koko the Clown, Betty Boop, and Bimbo the Dog. It also introduced the first animated adaptations of both Popeye and Superman. Fleischer lost control over his studio to Paramount Pictures, though he would continue to work in animation for decades.
In 1883, Fleischer was born to a Jewish family in Krakow, Austria-Hungary. His father was the tailor Aaron Fleischer, and his mother was the housewife Malka "Amelia" Palasz. The Fleischer family emigrated to the United States in 1887, settling in New York City. Aaron became an exclusive tailor to high society clients, and the family enjoyed a middle-class life for about a decade. Aaron lost control over his tailor shop in the late 1890s, forcing the family to move to an impoverished section of Brooklyn.
Fleischer received commercial art training at the Cooper Union, a private college located at Cooper Square in New York City. He received formal art training at the Art Students League of New York. His teacher there was the Canadian painter George Bridgman (1864-1943). Fleischer also received further education at "Mechanics and Tradesman's School".
After completing his education, Fleischer was hired as an errand boy by the newspaper "The Brooklyn Daily Eagle" (1841-1955, 1960-1963). He remained there for years, working variously as a photographer, a photoengraver, and a staff cartoonist. He initially drew only single-panel editorial cartoons. He later created the satirical comic strips "Little Algie" and "S.K. Sposher, the Camera Fiend".
Fleischer left the newspaper c. 1905, in order to work as a technical illustrator for the Electro-Light Engraving Company in Boston. In 1909, he was hired as a catalog illustrator for the Crouse-Hinds Company. In 1910, he was hired as an art editor by the magazine "Popular Science". By 1914, the first commercially produced animated short films appeared in movie theaters. The characters; movements were generally "stiff and jerky", and so Fleischer started working on a method to trace images from a live-action film. He worked on his rotoscope from 1914 to 1916, and was granted a patent for the invention in 1917. This allowed the production of realistic animation.
Fleischer partnered up with his brother Dave Fleischer, to produce the animated film series "Out of the Inkwell" (1918-1929). It included 62 animated films, mostly featuring Koko the Clown as the protagonist. The character was inspired by Dave's previous job as a clown at Coney Island. The selling point of the series were the on-screen interactions between live-action artists and their pen and ink creations. The Fleischer brothers were eventually able to hire the experienced animator Dick Huemer, who produced more fluid animation for their films.
In 1924, Fleischer and a number of partners co-founded the film company Red Seal Pictures Corporation, which owned 36 theaters on the East Coast of the United States. One of Fleischer's partners was the inventor Lee de Forest (1873-1961). De Forest was working on a method to produce sound-on-film recordings for films. Fleischer gained access to de Forest's Phonofilm process, and went to work in creating animated short films with sound. The first of them was "My Old Kentucky Home" (1926), which also featured the first use of lip-synch in animation. Fleischer eventually worked on 19 early sound films, but the Red Seal went bankrupt in 1927.
From 1927 to 1929, the Fleischer brothers had a brief business partnership with film producer Alfred Weiss. They agreed to produce animated short films for Paramount Pictures, which would serve as their distributor. The partnership dissolved due to the mismanagement of Weiss, but the Fleischer brothers would maintain a working relationship with Paramount for the following 15 years.
In 1929, Fleischer co-founded the Fleischer studios. The company's staff initially set up operations at the Carpenter-Goldman Laboratories in Queens. Only 8 months later, they moved to a new location in Broadway. This would remain their main headquarters until 1938.Fleischer and his staff started work on the film series "Screen Songs" (1929-1938). It featured sing-along animated shorts, teaching the lyrics of various songs to the audience. The short films featured performances by popular musicians of the 1930s, such as Lillian Roth, Ethel Merman, and Cab Calloway.
The short film "Dizzy Dishes" (1930) introduced the character of Betty Boop, a caricature of a Jazz Age flapper. She quickly became a recurring character, and served initially as an imitation of real-life singer Helen Kane (1904-1966). Betty was a hit with the audience, and she was granted her own film series in 1932. She starred in 90 films between 1932 and 1939, and had guest-star roles in other 36 films between 1930 and 1933. She was the most popular character of the Fleischer Studios, regarded as the first "sex symbol" on the animated screen.
In late 1932, Fleischer licensed the rights to the comic strip character Popeye the Sailor. The character was granted a film series of his own, appearing in 109 short films between 1933 and 1942. The series introduced animated adaptation of several comic strip characters from the series "Thimble Theatre" (1919-1994), such as the damsel-in-distress Olive Oyl, the muscular bully Bluto, and the gluttonous scam artist J. Wellington Wimpy. The characters became household names, with Popeye himself said to surpass Mickey Mouse in popularity by the end of the 1930s.
Due to a business deal, the Fleischer Studios acquired much of its funding from a long-term partnership with Paramount Pictures. At times when Paramount itself was facing financial problems, the studio found itself suffering from a lack of funding. Fleischer was initially unable to secure rights to the innovative three-color Technicolor process in 1932. The studio introduced its first color cartoons in 1934, but had to use the limited two-color processes of Cinecolor (red and blue) and Two-Color Technicolor (red and green). They introduced their first film in three-color Technicolor in 1936. By that point, the rival studio Walt Disney Animation Studios was considered to be more innovative in its uses of color animation.
In the mid-1930s, Fleischer patented the use of three-dimensional effects in animation. He promoted these under the name the "Stereoptical Process". The process was used to great effect in the featurettes "Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor" (1936) and "Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves" (1937). Max Fleischer started petitioning Paramount to fund an animated feature film, but their executives were doubtful of its commercial value. Following the box office success of the animated feature film "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937), Fleischer received sufficient funding to work on his own feature film.
In 1938, the Fleischer Studios moved its headquarters to Miami, Florida. The studio staff started working on "Gulliver's Travels" (1939), the second American animated feature film to be produced. During its production, the personal relationship between brothers and business partners Max and Dave Fleischer deteriorated. Max reportedly disapproved of Dave's love life, and attempted to end one of Dave's romantic relationships. The film was eventually completed and grossed more than $3 million dollars at the American box office.
To Max Fleischer's disappointment, the Fleischer Studios found itself in debt due to their first feature film. Paramount received a lion's share of the profits from the American box office, and the animation studio had no rights to any profits from the film's releases in foreign markets. In addition, Paramount penalized the animation studio with the debt of 350,000 dollars. The film had exceeded its original budget, and this violated a contract agreement with Paramount. The Fleischer Studios were now indebted to their distributor.
In 1940, Fleischer Studios introduced three new animated series: "Gabby", "Animated Antics", and "Stone Age Cartoons". "Gabby" was a spin-off from "Gulliver's Travels" , featuring the adventures of the film's town crier. "Animated Antics" was an anthology series, often featuring supporting characters from "Gulliver's Travels". "Stone Age Cartoons" featured a surprisingly modern take on Stone Age life, and has been cited as a precursor to "The Flintstones". All three series were regarded as commercial failures, generating little interest from exhibitors.
In search for a more viable series, Fleischer licensed to the superhero character Superman. The studio created a short-lived series for the character, releasing 9 short films between 1941 and 1942. It was the character's first animated adaptation, and featured more technically complex elements than most of its contemporaries in animation. Each episode had a budget of about 50,000 dollars, twice the budget of the typical Popeye cartoon in the same period. Frustrated that they had to animate the character leaping from place to place (as in the comics), the Fleischer brothers came up with the idea that Superman could fly on his own. The high cost of the series turned out to be a problem, but the series was popular.
Meanwhile, the Fleischer brothers were working on their second animated feature, at the request of Paramount. The film in question was "Mr. Bug Goes to Town", a tale of anthropomorphic insects. It was scheduled for release in early December 1941, but its release was postponed for months due to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Theater owners showed only a limited interest in the film, and it turned out to be a box office bomb.
With the Fleischer Studios heavily in debt to Paramount and Dave Fleischer having already resigned, Paramount decided to claim ownership over the animation studio and its characters. Max Fleischer was forced to resign, while the studio was re-organized into the Paramount subsidiary Famous Studios (1942-1967). The most notable character of the new studio was Casper the Friendly Ghost.
Fleischer was briefly out of work. He subsequently was hired as the head of the animation department for "The Jam Handy Organization", a Detroit-based company owned by film producer (1886-1983). Fleischer primarily worked on animated training films for the Army and Navy during World War II. He continued working for Handy until 1953. His most notable film for this entire period was "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (1948), the first animated adaptation of a 1939 Christmas story by Robert L. May. Fleischer personally directed the film.
In 1953, Fleischer was hired as a production manager by Brayco. It was a company which primarily produced filmstrips from the late 1960s to its closing in 1963. It had formed as a corporate successor to the animation studio Bray Productions (1912-1928), where Fleischer had briefly worked in his early career.
In 1955, Fleischer won a lawsuit against Paramount Pictures. They had the rights to re-release most of his former films, but the court decided that they did not have the right to remove Fleischer's name from the film credits. In 1958, Fleischer and his new partner Hal Seeger (1917-2005) founded the minor animation studio "Out of the Inkwell Films". They had the intention to revive "Out of the Inkwell" as a television series. They eventually produced 100 color episodes of the new series, released from 1960 to 1961. Due to his failing health, Fleischer decided against appearing in person in the live-action segments.
For most of the 1960s, Fleischer made efforts to reclaim ownership over Betty Boop, his most popular character. Paramount had sold its rights to the character in 1958, but the courts were unable to decide which person or company held the exclusive rights to the character.
In 1967, Fleischer and his wife Essie retired to the Motion Picture Country House, a retirement community for film industry people. The retirement community was located at the southwest end of the San Fernando Valley, and had been operational since 1942. In September 1942, Fleischer died there, due to "arterial sclerosis of the brain". He was 89-years-old at the time of his death, having survived several of his former partners and employees.
Fleischer's animated works eventually found a new audience in animation fans who regard them as an alternative to Walt Disney's works, and who often find them to be more appealing to older audiences. Works of the Fleischer Studios have also been popular with animation historians, which regard them highly for their innovations. Fleischer remains one of the most famous animated film producers of the 20th century, but his reputation mostly endures due to the cult following of some of his characters.- Dave Fleisher is known for Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol (1987), Firestorm (1998) and A Judgment in Stone (1986).
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Also known under the pseudonym Jackson Publick. His debut as a writer was a comedy superhero comic book "Cement Shooz," which got the attention of Ben Edlund. This led to McCulloch working as a storyboard artist on Edlund's animated series The Tick (1994). He later story boarded PB&J Otter (1998) and Sheep in the Big City (2000). After unsuccessfully pitching his own series The Venture Bros. (2003) to Comedy Central twice, he finally convinced Adult Swim to pick it. He is also a voice actor, known for voicing a number of the Venture Bros. characters, including Hank Venture and the Monarch, several background characters on Superjail! (2007) and the five-headed dragon Hiram McDaniels on the podcast "Welcome to Night Vale."- Producer
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Chris Prynoski was born on 1 November 1971 in New Jersey, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for Motorcity (2012), Her (2013) and Freddy Got Fingered (2001).- Writer
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An unlikely firestorm was ignited on the 19th of April, 1999. The Universal Press Syndicate made the largest launch ever of a single comic strip in the history of the printed page when it debuted an off-beat work in more than 160 newspapers that day (and 40 more by year's end). The strip, centering on two prepubescent Black youths transplanted from the inner-city of South Chicago to the lily-white fictional suburb of Woodcrest, immediately set off controversy with its daily skewerings of race, politics, music and every other slice of Americana considered taboo to the "funnies". And yet both the success and controversy of the comic happened so fast that few knew about the man behind it all. The strip is "The Boondocks", brainchild of Aaron McGruder.
Born in Chicaco, Illinois in 1974 under the sign of Gemini, Aaron and his parents soon moved to from their largely-Black neighbourhood to a mostly-white suburb in Baltimore, Maryland when Aaron was about to start school. Spending the majority of his life there, young Aaron got a first-hand education on race relations; often feeling like an outsider as a minority. Yet, he was never unhappy. It was during his productive and highly influential youth that McGruder would come in contact with the things that would change his life forever. The first was Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977). After his first viewing of George Lucas' galaxy far, far away, McGruder become one of many children his generation to have a life-long obsession with the film (not unlike Jersey-borne filmmaker Kevin Smith). The second was Hip-Hop. The uniquely African-American musical style became to new generations what jazz and the British invasion had been years before. As the civil rights movement ended and Reaganomics took over, Hip-Hop became the only viable, uncensored outlet for Black youth to express themselves unchallenged. The third was comics. Not just the "funny books" containing the adventures of Superman and Spider-Man, but comic strips. Aaron's tastes over the years ranged from the funny-yet-true child's POV as shown by Charles M. Schulz with "Peanuts" to, eventually, the irreverent humour of Berkeley Breathed and Bill Waterson "Bloom County" and "Calvin & Hobbes" (respectively) to the biting political satire of Garry Trudeau's "Doonesbury."
After graduating high school, McGruder enrolled in the University of Maryland where the budding artist found his first widespread outlet for his creativity. After fellow UofM student Frank Cho (author of the cult comic "Liberty Meadows") graduated in the mid-90s, the school newspaper, The DiamondBack, was left without a leading comic strip. The paper's lead editor, Jayson Blair (who would later court his own controversy with his infamous run at The New York Times), doubted that anything would grab as much attention as Cho's work. Aaron gladly volunteered for the job, creating a strip that would combine elements of his own life with an all-around "Hip-Hop perspective" of world events as told through the eyes of young Black children wise beyond their years. With that, "The Boondocks" premiered in The Diamondback and became an instant hit, introducing UofM students to Huey Freeman, an afro-sporting, self-appointed revolutionary (named after Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense); Riley Freeman, Huey's unapologetic "gangsta"-wannabe younger brother; and Jazmine DuBois, a bi-racial girl with little more control over her racial identity than her own fussy hair.
With the help of fellow student and aspiring DJ, Rhome Anderson, McGruder began showing the strip on the internet. The strip achieved enough popularity to the point where in 1998 it received its first national print publication in the pages of the Hip-Hop magazine "The Source" for three months straight (details of why it was removed vary). After graduating UofM with degrees in Afro-American studies, McGruder and Anderson courted several offers to publish the strip in national newspapers before finding an agreeable one with Universal Press Syndicate. The strip made its national premiere April of 1999 with the largest debut for a new comic in a record 160 papers nation-wide. The strip immediately caused controversy. Everything from the characters' (anime-influenced) designs to the handling of the bi-racial Jazmine seemed to stir the ire of someone no matter where the strip was published. Some Blacks claimed it was stereotypical and derogatory; many whites claimed it was outright racist, hurtful and divisive. Parents found such common strip activities like the boys being spanked by their Grandfather and young Riley's bullying of other children undeserving of print space alongside such veteran "G"-rated fare as "Garfield" and "Peanuts". Even fellow UofM alum Frank Cho--whose strip "Liberty Meadows" was taking heat for its blatant sexual content and toilet humour--called McGruder's strip "racist and hateful."
Yet for all the angry resentment, the positive response to the strip was equally-strong. In fact, many papers struggled with whether or not to drop the strip because of strong following. Many fans celebrated its genuine Hip-Hop references and championed it as a long-silent voice for the Black community now having the opportunity to be heard. The characters were championed for the way Aaron had the characters ask questions from "Why are there no good Black TV shows?" to "Why is Black History Month in the shortest month of the year?" McGruder himself seemed to take it all in stride frequenting the late-night rounds on such series as Politically Incorrect (1993), BET Tonight with Ed Gordon (1998), and 20/20 (1978) among others.
Over the years, the strip's controversy and popularity have only continued to grow. McGruder has had his characters speak on everything from exploitative rap videos, the NRA, Black conservatives, and inter-racial marriage to such trivial pursuits as lawn-mowing as a form of illegal child labour and the surge of rappers as movie stars over the past ten years. The strip is constantly a hot topic with several paper often moving it out of the "comics" section to "Editorials" and some removing it from the paper altogether. Recognizable personas from BET founder Robert L. Johnson to conservative columnist Ward Connerlly have publicly condemned the strip (and have often found themselves the subjects of its jibes). Right-wing "avengers" often criticise the strip's constant "attacks" on George W. Bush.
Nothing seemed to escape the wrath of the Freeman brothers, not even McGruder's beloved "Star Wars". In the weeks leading up to the highly-anticipated released of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999), Huey and Riley were shown lining up in eager anticipation. After the film was released, the boys expressed reactions felt by many life-long fans when they skewered the movie and its supposedly racist character Jar-Jar Binks. Ironically, the strip found one of its biggest fans in that film's co-star, Samuel L. Jackson. In late 2001/early 2002, the strip found itself with more controversy than usual (if that's at all possible) when, after the attacks of 9/11, McGruder swayed away from mainstream opinions of the country and had his characters criticise every thing from the mainstream media's cheerleader-like support of war and Bush to the false patriotism of flag-wavers in light of the attacks. The strip was pulled from several major papers (particularly in New York). Rather than back down from this position, McGruder satirized his "banning" by pretending the strip was being replaced with mock characters in the form of a US flag and ribbon. Many assumed that the strip has actually been canceled and that the new "patriotic" comic was permanent, unknowing that McGruder himself was proving his point all the more.
In the years since its introduction, the strip has gone through minor changes: Rhome Anderson is no longer involved with the strip; several new characters have been added; McGruder has compiled two books of collected strips (with a third due late 2003); he's gotten the opportunity to meet his influential heroes, including Garry Trudeau and he is currently teaming up with filmmaker Reginald Hudlin in an attempt to get an animated version of "The Boondocks" off the ground. Love him or hate him, Aaron McGruder finds himself in that great pantheon of classic satirists: his opinion may not be yours, but he has a basis from which he speaks that makes his a voice worth listening to. Were his strip nothing more than senseless rambling (something he himself has often joked about), it wouldn't have nearly gotten the amount of attention it has. It is a sharp perspective from someone whose generation is constantly said to have none. You needn't agree, but you'd do best to give it a listen.- Writer
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Small started learning guitar at 15, and graduated from the Berklee College of Music in 1997. During his music studies he concurrently took several writing and comedy classes at Emerson College. After graduating, he began performing stand-up at The Comedy Studio in Harvard Square, where he was spotted by Loren Bouchard, who at the time was casting for the central character for a UPN pilot produced by Tom Snyder Productions which eventually evolved into Home Movies.
Small was the co-creator, writer, voice actor, composer and musician for Home Movies, a cartoon initially aired on the UPN television network and then moved to Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. The final episode of Home Movies aired on April 4, 2004, after running four seasons, although the show is periodically rerun on Adult Swim. In the series, he voiced the show's protagonist, 8-year-old aspiring filmmaker Brendon Small, as well as a number of other characters.
Small's latest claim to fame is as co-producer, co-writer, composer, and actor for the Adult Swim series Metalocalypse, which premiered on August 6, 2006. The series focuses on a fictional death metal band named Dethklok, and each episode features a song "performed" by the band. In addition to all of the behind-the-scenes work he does for the series, he also provides voice talent for the characters Skwisgaar Skwigelf, Pickles the Drummer, and Nathan Explosion, three of the five members of Dethklok. The song "Thunderhorse" was also featured on the hit video game Guitar Hero II.- Art Department
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Aaron Springer is a graphic and digital artist who is employed by Walt Disney Television Studios Production Company. He has gained notoriety through his efforts as a writer and storyboard artist on various movies and television series. His notable efforts include Samurai Jack (2002-2003), Dexter's Laboratory (2003), and SpongeBob SquarePants (1999-2012). Presently, he is contributing to the Mickey Mouse (2013-2014) television series.- Producer
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Stan Lee was an American comic-book writer, editor, and publisher, who was executive vice president and publisher of Marvel Comics.
Stan was born in New York City, to Celia (Solomon) and Jack Lieber, a dress cutter. His parents were Romanian Jewish immigrants. Lee co-created Spider-Man, the Hulk, Doctor Strange, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Daredevil, Thor, the X-Men, and many other fictional characters, introducing a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. In addition, he challenged the comics' industry's censorship organization, the Comics Code Authority, indirectly leading to it updating its policies. Lee subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.
He had cameo appearances in many Marvel film and television projects, with many yet to come, posthumously. A few of these appearances are self-aware and sometimes reference Lee's involvement in the creation of certain characters.
On 16 July 2017, Lee was named a Disney Legend, a hall of fame program that recognizes individuals who have made an extraordinary and integral contribution to The Walt Disney Company.
Stan was married to Joan Lee for almost 70 years, until her death. The couple had two children. Joan died on July 6, 2017. Stan died on November 12, 2018, in LA.- Writer
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As the creator of 'Scrooge McDuck', Carl Barks did more than any other comic book artist to widen the popularity of Donald Duck, bringing in the process a vast array of memorable supporting characters into the Disney universe, among them Uncle Scrooge himself, Gladstone Gander, Gyro Gearloose (and his Little Helper), the Beagle Boys, and the Junior Woodchucks.
Unlike many other artists working (all anonymously) for the Disney company, Barks did not mindlessly churn out condescending, forgettable stories of a childish nature during his 24-year stint on the Disney Ducks. He consistently produced delightful top-quality material, both in his scripts and in his art as well as in his dialogues, which echoed with deep human resonance. "I polished and polished on the scripts and drawings until I had done the best I could in the time available", he said. In both types of stories -- the 10-page comedies and the longer adventure stories -- he produced between 1942 and 1966, he managed to convey the intricacies and subtleties of the full scope of human emotions (from envy and cynicism and alarm and desperation to joy and scorn and triumph and smugness) while capturing the essence of exotic locations from the four corners of the world (from scorching deserts and primal forests to humid jungles and freezing snow-clad mountains through the urban setting of Duckburg).
His mastery at this is witnessed to by, among others, Newsweek's homage to his artistry and by Time's conclusion that "Scrooge and his creator Carl Barks belong in the great mainstream of American Folklore." Beyond that is the plain fact that he was known to his readers simply as "the good artist" (a descriptor necessary during a time when the Disney company didn't identify any of its cartoonists). His publishers tried in the early '50s to replace him on the 10-page comedies in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories so that he could concentrate on the longer adventure epics in Donald Duck and Uncle $crooge (these were the three titles that contained the bulk of Barks' output through the years); they were promptly flooded with a barrage of pleading and irate letters from readers demanding that "the good artist" be brought back.
Among his many fans were George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg, who were inspired by the adventure comic books. One South American adventure in particular ("The Prize of Pizarro", Uncle $crooge nr 26, June-August 1959) inspired sequences in all three Indiana Jones films (the booby traps both in the lost temple in the opening pre-credits sequence of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), and in the final scenes of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), as well as the flood through the mines of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)). In an homage printed in Uncle Scrooge: His Life & Times (edited by Edward Summer and published by Gary Kurtz), Lucas writes that when he discovered the McDuck character as a kid, he liked him "so much that I immediately went out and bought all the Uncle $crooge comics I could find on the newsstand. My greatest source of enjoyment in Carl Barks' comics is in the imagination of his stories .... The stories are also very cinematic .... these comics are a priceless part of our literary heritage." Indeed, the titles of his adventures (many of which were inspired by the National Geographic) duly resonate with exoticism and adventure: "The Mummy's Ring", "Terror of the River", "Mystery of the Swamp", "Ghost of the Grotto", "Lost in the Andes", "Sheriff of Bullet Valley", "Trail of the Unicorn", "The Golden Helmet", "The Seven Cities of Cibola", etc...
His stories were constantly reproduced in Disney comics across the globe, after his retirement in 1966 (the same year that Walt Disney, who was born nine months after Barks, died). And soon his 6,371 comics pages (according to one count) from some 450 comic books were being reprinted (by then computer-colored) in impressive coffee-table volumes and hand-sewn hardback tomes, not just in the United States, but throughout the western world (Scandinavia, Germany, Italy, etc...).
Certainly the most widely read comic book artist of all time, Barks is also in all probability, what with Disney being the world's largest publisher of children's magazines and books (every year over two billion people around the globe read a Disney book or magazine, the company claims), the most widely-read author of any type of reading material of the 20th century.
Born to a homesteading family in Oregon on March 27, 1901, Carl Barks left school at 15 and spent the next two decades "in grim and demanding jobs" (to quote Michael Barrier's "Carl Barks and the Art of the Comic Book". These included rancher, logger, railroad repairman and printer. During the Depression, he went on to become an illustrator for a humor magazine, eventually becoming its most productive member. He joined the Disney studio in 1935, where he became a story man on the animated cartoons of a character created a year earlier (a duck by the name of Donald) and worked with such people as Harry Reeves, Chuck Couch, Jack Hannah, Homer Brightman and Nick George. Health problems eventually forced Barks to leave the Burbank studio during World War II for the dry air of the California desert, where he made the transition to comic books.
And so, it was after the age of 40, in an era when most people had little more than a third of their lives in front of them, that Carl Barks made the fateful jump of his life, the one that would leave his name an immortal one in the annals of what the French call "le neuvième art" (the ninth art form). And yet, it would not be until after his retirement that his name would, slowly but surely, become known to the mainstream public. It was during the 1960s that persistent fans (among them his official biographer, Michael Barrier) finally managed to identify "the good artist" (also dubbed the Duckman and the comic book king), become his correspondents, and proceed to make his name known to the outside world.
Despite having retired (and as his name was slowly becoming famous), "Unca Carl" did not remain inactive. He turned to painting, specifically signed oil paintings of his Disney Ducks, paintings that today easily fetch thousands of dollars and whose prices have occasionally topped $100,000. Indeed, it is easy to forget that Barks' retirement years lasted far longer than his comic book career and he spent many more years before the canvas than he did over the drawing board. In fact, Barks lived to the ripe old age of 99, and it is somewhat amazing to realize how vast an amount of time this actually means. His life spans such an extensive amount of time that his date of birth is further removed from that of his death than it is to the Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the untamed wilderness west of the Mississippi (including Oregon, the region where the Barks family would eventually settle).
He was sprightly and active until the very last. People half his age reported that he could remember events they had long forgotten. His pace was such that during his 1994 trip to Europe (his first outside North America) to celebrate Donald's 60th birthday, young Disney handlers and PR staff (imagine yuppies in their 30s) at Paris' Euro Disneyland had to quicken their pace to keep up with the then-93-year-old man. His philosophy could be summarized in these words: "I worked hard at trying to make something as good as I could possibly make it... I always tried to write a story I wouldn't mind buying myself."- Writer
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Steve Ditko was an American comics writer and artist of Rusyn descent. He is better known for co-creating the superheroes Spider-Man/Peter Parker and Doctor Strange/Stephen Strange for Marvel Comics. He created many other characters for various publishing companies. Among his better known creations are Blue Beetle/Ted Kord, Captain Atom/Allen Adam, the Creeper/Jack Ryder, Hawk and Dove/Hank Hall and Don Hall, Mr. A/Rex Graine, the Question/Charles Victor Szasz, Shade the Changing Man/Rac Shade, Ditko was an adherent of Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand (1905-1982). Her work had a significant influence on his own work, which often reflected Objectivism's belief in moral absolutism.
In 1927, Ditko was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a city located 56 miles (90 kilometers) to the east of Pittsburgh. His parents were master carpenter Stephen Ditko and his homemaker wife Anna. Both parents were first-generation American Rusyn immigrants from Czechoslovakia. Steve was the second of four children born to the Ditko family, and he was raised as a typical member of a working class family.
Stephen Ditko, Steve's father, loved newspaper comic strips. He introduced his son to the work of comic strip artists of the 1930s and 1940s. The Ditko family's favorite comic strip was the adventure series "Prince Valiant" by Hal Foster (1892-1982). As Steve grew up, so did his interest in both comic strips and comic books. His favorite characters during his adolescence were Batman/Bruce Wayne and the Spirit/Denny Colt.
Ditko received his secondary education at the Greater Johnstown High School, and graduated in 1945. In October 1945, Ditko enlisted in the United States Army. He spend his military service in Allied-occupied Germany. While there, Ditko drew comic strips for a military newspaper. It was his first comics-related work, though he lacked formal training at the time.
Following his discharge, Ditko had the option to receive a college education, thanks to the G.I. Bill. The G. I. Bill was a law that provided a range of benefits to returning veterans, including the payments of tuition and living expenses needed for them to attend high school, college, or vocational school. In 1950, Ditko chose to enroll at the art school "Cartoonists and Illustrators School" (later known as the School of Visual Arts) , located in New York City.
While studying at art school, Ditko found a mentor in veteran comic book artist Jerry Robinson (1922-2011). Robinson had been one of the main artists of the "Batman" series, and was credited as the co-creator of Robin/Dick Grayson and the Joker. Robinson found Ditko to be a dedicated student, and a very hard worker. He encouraged Ditko to write his own stories and to create his own characters,
By 1953, Ditko had graduated and began work as a professional comic book artist. His first work was illustrating the science fiction story "Stretching Things" for Stanmor Publications. Stanmor sold this story to the comic book publisher Farrell Publications, which first published it in 1954.
Ditko's second professional story, but first published work, was the romance story "Paper Romance" . It was published by Gillmor Magazines in October, 1953.
Ditko was soon after hired by the studio operated by veteran comic book writers and artists Jack Kirby (1917-1994) and Joe Simon (1913-2011). While working for them, Ditko received additional training by his co-worker Mort Meskin (1916-1995). According to an interview, Ditko admired Meskin's ability to create detailed drawing compositions without cluttering the image.
Some of Ditko's earliest known work was published by Prize Comics, an imprint of Crestwood Publications which was co-headed by Kirby and Simon. In 1954, Ditko was first hired by the publisher Charlton Comics, a low-budget company located in Derby, Connecticut. His first story for them was a vampire story, titled "Cinderella". He continued working for Charlton on-and-off until 1986, when the company shut down.
In 1954, Ditko contracted tuberculosis and had to take a hiatus from his comic book work. He recuperated at his family's house in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. By 1955, Ditko had recovered and he moved back to New York City. In 1956, Ditko was hired by Atlas Comics, Marvel Comics' predecessor. He mostly illustrated surreal stories, written by Atlas' writer-editor Stan Lee (1922-2018).
Ditko's work for Atlas Comics was published in its anthology titles, including "Amazing Adventures", "Journey into Mystery", "Strange Tales", "Strange Worlds", "Tales of Suspense" and "Tales to Astonish". Ditko's stories were sufficiently were sufficiently popular for him to be assigned as the main artist of "Amazing Adventures" in December, 1961. The anthology was renamed to "Amazing Adult Fantasy", to reflect its publication of stories that were more sophisticated that Atlas/Marvel's typical output.
Ditko's stories for Atlas and Marvel Comics were composed according to the company's "Marvel Method" of writer-artist collaboration. The writer provided a brief outline of the plot, while the artist fleshed out the story and illustrated it. This gave Ditko significant creative influence on any story, though he did not receive a credit as a co-writer or co-plotter.
In the early 1960s, Stan Lee wanted to create a new teenage hero, called Spider-Man. He first gained permission to create such a story by his publisher Martin Goodman (1908-1992). He then had to design the new character, and then gave the assignment to his main artist at the time: Jack Kirby. Kirby created a 6-page-long draft for the character's first story, but Lee rejected his designs. He then gave the assignment of designing Spider-Man to Ditko, who was the company's second most prominent artist at the time. Ditko's version of the character was accepted by Lee.
Ditko created Spider-Man's original costume. He incorporated a face mask which hid the character's facial features, a costume with no shoes that would allow the character to cling on walls, and a hidden wrist-shooter. Ditko also created the character's "web gimmick" and his spider signal. The idea of webs coming out of the character's hands was credited to Ditko's roommate at the time, the fetish artist Eric Stanton (1926-1999).
Spider-Man's origin story was published in "Amazing Fantasy" #15 (August 1962), the final issue of the anthology series. It became a top-seller, so Marvel Comics decided to give Spidey (as the character was nicknamed) his own series: "The Amazing Spider-Man" vol. 1 (March, 1963-November, 1998). Ditko was the new magazine's main artist for its first 38 issues (March, 1963-July, 1966).
Besides Spidey himself, Ditko co-created most of his early supporting cast and early foes. His creations included (in order) Aunt May/May Reilly Parker, Uncle Ben/Ben Parker, the Burglar, Crusher Hogan/Joseph Hogan, Flash Thompson/Eugene Thompson, Elizabeth Allan, Maxie Shiffman, Raymond Warren, Bluebird/Sally Avril, and Seymour O'Reilly (all introduced in Amazing Fantasy #15),J. Jonah Jameson (issue #1), Man-Wolf/John Jameson (issue #1), Chameleon/Dmitri Smerdyakov (issue #1),Vulture/Adrian Toomes (issue #2), Tinkerer/Phineas Mason (issue #2), Doctor Octopus/Otto Octavius (issue #3), Betty Brant (issue #4), Sandman/Flint Marko (issue #4), Principal Davis/Andrew Davis (issue #4), Lizard/Dr. Curtis Connors (issue #6), the Living Brain (issue #8), Charlie Murphy/Charles Murphy (issue #8), Electro/Maxwell "Max" Dillon (issue #9), Dr. Nicholas Bromwell (issue #9), Montana/Jackson Brice (issue #10), Fancy Dan/Daniel Brito (issue #10), the Ox/Raymond Bloch (#issue #10), the Big Man/Frederick Foswell (issue #10), Crime-Master/Bennett Brant (issue #11), Mysterio/Quentin Beck (issue #13), Green Goblin/Norman Osborn (issue #14), Kraven the Hunter/Sergei Kravinoff (issue #15), Anna Watson (issue #15), the Great Gambonnos/Ernest Gambonno and Luigi Gambonno (issue #16), Wilson Allan (issue #17), Hobgoblin/Ned Leeds (issue #18), the Scorpion/Mac Gargan (issue #20), Princess Python/Zelda DuBois (issue #22), Lucky Lobo/Francisco Lobo (issue #23), Mary Jane Watson (issue #25), Professor Spencer Smythe (issue #25), Spider-Slayer (issue #25), Crime-Master/Nicholas "Nick"/ "Lucky" Lewis (issue #26), Barney Bushkin (issue #27), the Molten Man/Mark Raxton (issue #28), Doris Raxton Allan (issue #28), Prowler/Cat Burglar/ the Cat (issue #30), Green Goblin/Harry Osborn (issue #31), Gwen Stacy (issue #31), the Jackal/Professor Miles Warren (issue #31), Dean Corliss (issue #31), the Looter/Meteor Man/Norton Fester (issue #36), Sally Green (issue #36), Robot Master/Gaunt/Professor Mendel Stromm (issue #37), Max Young (issue #37), and Guy Named Joe/Joe Smith (issue #38).
Ditko eventually demanded credit for his plot contributions, and Stan Lee complied. Fros issue #25 onward, Ditko started receiving plot credits. One of the most celebrated issues plotted by Ditko was issue #33, titled "If This Be My Destiny...!", In it Spider-Man is pinned down by heavy machinery, and is plagued by visions of having failed to rescue his uncle and being then unable to rescue his aunt. He eventually escapes through sheer force of will. The story has been repeatedly cited as one of Marvel Comics' best stories.
While continuing his work on Spider-Man, Ditko co-created Dr. Strange. The character was introduced in "Strange Tales" #110 (July 1963), and continued to appear regularly in the magazine. Ditko's Doctor Strange artwork was acclaimed "for its surrealistic mystical landscapes and increasingly psychedelic visuals". It became a favorite series for college students of the 1960s. Dr. Strange was a magic user whose adventures took place in "bizarre worlds and twisting dimensions".
In the Dr. Strange series, Ditko introduced some of the earlier cosmic characters used by Marvel. A multi-part story in "Strange Tales" #130-146 (March 1965 - July 1966) introduced Eternity, a living personification of the universe,
Besides Spider-Man and Dr. Strange, Ditko contributed stories for other Marvel characters of the era. He drew stories of the Hulk/Bruce Banner and Iron Man/Tony Stark. Ditko is credited for designing the Leader/Samuel Sterns in 1964, who has since served as the Hulk's primary adversary.
In 1966, Ditko decided to quit working for Marvel Comics, though he never explained the reasons for his decision. His relationship with Stan Lee had deteriorated sometime earlier, and they were no longer on speaking terms. Art and editorial changes in their stories were handled through intermediaries. According to John Romita Sr. (1930-), Ditko's replacement in the Spider-Man series, Ditko and Lee had disagreed on how to handle their characters.
After leaving Marvel Comics, Ditko returned to Charlton Comics. The pay rates at Charlton were considerably lower than Marvel's, but its creators enjoyed more creative freedom over their stories. Between 1965 and 1968, Ditko was the main creative force behind the stories of Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, and the Question.
From 1966 to 1967, Ditko also worked for Warren Publishing. The publisher specialized in comic magazines, and Ditko contributed 16 stories for the anthology series "Creepy" and "Eerie".
In 1967, Ditko created the creator-owned character Mister A. The character was inspired by Objectivism philosophy, and often delivered lethal justice to criminals. The first Mister A story was published in "witzend", an an underground comic which handled creator-owned stories by comic book professionals. Its original publisher was veteran comic book artist Wally Wood (1927-1981). Ditko regularly worked on Mister A stories for various publishers between 1967 and 1978. He eventually published the penultimate Mister A story in 2000, and the ultimate story in the series in 2009.
In 1968, Ditko was hired by DC Comics. His first major creation for the company was the Creeper, with the character introduced in "Showcase" #73 (April 1968). The sibling duo Hawk and Dove were then introduced in Showcase #75 (June 1968). The Creeper graduated to his own comic book series called "Beware the Creeper: (June 1968 - April 1969), and Ditko handled all 6 of its issues.
In 1969, Ditko resigned from DC Comics. He contributed a story to the first issue of Wally Wood's series "Heroes, Inc. Presents Cannon" (1969), but otherwise worked near-exclusively for Charlton Comics in the early from 1969 to the mid-1970s. In 1974, Ditko became the main artist for the stories featuring Liberty Belle/Caroline Dean.
In 1975, Ditko was hired by the short-lived publisher Atlas/Seaboard Comics (1974-1975). The company was owned by Martin Goodman, Marvel Comics' former owner. Ditko co-created a character called Destructor, which was given his own series. Ditko handled the art for all 4 of its issues (February-August, 1975). He also worked on 2 issues for the series Tiger-Man, and a single issue for Morlock 2001. Atlas/Seabord shut down in 1975.
In 1975, Ditko returned to DC Comics. His first major work there was creating the antihero Stalker/Elpis, who briefly received his own sword-and-sorcery themed series. Ditko handled all 4 of its issues. He also created the character Shade, the Changing Man, and handled all issues of his short-lived series (1977-1978).
Besides working on his own characters for DC Comics, Ditko contributed stories for its other characters. He worked on stories for Etrigan the Demon, the Legion of Super-Heroes, and Man-Bat/Robert Kirkland "Kirk" Langstrom. Several of his stories were published in anthology titles. In 1980, Ditko became the main artist for the stories featuring Starman/Prince Gavyn, a new extraterrestrial superhero. His stories only covered the first year of Starman's series.
In 1979, Ditko was hired by Marvel Comics again. He took over the series "Machine Man", featuring Jack Kirby's character Machine Man/Aaron Stack. The character was a sentient robot. Ditko also wrote stories for Captain Universe and the Micronauts, space-faring heroes. In 1980, Ditko co-created a new hero: Dragon Lord/Tako Shamara. The character failed to caught on with readers.
From 1984 to 1986, Ditko drew a series featuring the character of Rom the Space Knight/Rom of Galador, another extraterrestrial superhero. The long-running series ended in 1986. In 1988, Ditko co-created a new teenage superhero for Marvel, called Speedball/Robbie Baldwin. Speedball graduated to his own series, which lasted for 10 issues. Ditko was the series main artist, and contributed most of its plots. Following the series' cancellation, Speedball became a featured character in the team book "New Warriors".
While Ditko mostly worked for Marvel Comics during the 1980s, he also contributed for Pacific Comics, Eclipse Comics, First Comics, and Archie Comics. He contributed stories for Archie's resident superheroes, including the Fly/Thomas "Tommy" Troy, Flygirl/Kim Brand, and Jaguar/Ralph Hardy.
In 1982, Ditko was on contract with Western Publishing to serve as the main artist for a new science-fiction series called "Astral Frontiers". The series ended in development hell, and Western stopped publishing comics in 1984.
In the early 1990s, Ditko was hired by Valiant Comics to contribute stories for its stable of characters. Ditko worked on stories for "Magnus, Robot Fighter", Solar/Phil Seleski, and X-O Manowar/Aric of Dacia.
Ditko contributed an Iron Man and Dr. Doom crossover story in the anthology Marvel Super-Heroes vol. 2, #8 (January, 1992). This story introduced new super-heroine Squirrel Girl/Doreen Allene Green. The character eventually gained a cult following, joined the Great Lakes Avengers (an Avengers' spin-off team), and graduated to her own series. She was among the last original characters Ditko created for Marvel Comics, and the last one to become popular.
In 1995, Ditko served as the main artist for a comic-book miniseries featuring Phantom 2040/Kit Walker, the 24th incarnation of the Phantom. The series was an adaptation of a then-popular French-American animated series. It was among Ditko's large mainstream works. His other commercial works of the 1990s included one-shot publications for Dark Horse Comics, Defiant Comics, and Fantagraphics Books.
In 1998, Ditko wrote a few stories featuring Iron Man, Namor, the Sub-Mariner, and the Power Rangers. Then he mostly retired from mainstream comics. His final mainstream work was a 5-page-long story featuring the New Gods. It was intended for publication c. 2000, but was not published by DC Comics until 2008.
During the last decades of his life, Ditko mostly worked on creator-owned stories. Most of them were published by his long-time associate Robin Snyder, a former editor of Charlton Comics. Most of these works did not receive a wide circulation. In 2008, Ditko published the essay book "The Avenging Mind", and a collection of editorial cartoons under the title "Ditko, Etc...,".
In 2010, Ditko helped in the publication of reprint collections featuring his work from the 1970s. At about the same time, DC and Marvel published a number of previously unpublished stories by Ditko. Ditko had sold the stories to the two publishers in earlier decades, but they were kept in their respective inventories.
In the 2010s, Ditko continued to work in his apartment within Manhattan's Midtown West neighborhood. He lived alone, having never married and having no known children. In June 2018, Ditko was found dead within his apartment. The cause of death was a myocardial infarction (heart attack),itself caused by arteriosclerotic and hypertensive cardiovascular disease. Ditko was 90 years old at the time of death.
In 2019, Ditko's last essay was published posthumously. His last printed words concerned his thoughts about his friends and foes: "Here's to those who wish me well, and those that don't can go to hell."- Art Department
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Frank Frazetta is one of the most prolific and well-known illustrators of the 20th century. This is due in part to the variety of media in which his art has appeared (comics, posters, album covers, books, etc.), but also to his very recognizable style. Frazetta was a very precocious artist, claiming to have begun drawing at the age of three, and selling a drawing at the age of eight. He received formal art training at the Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts. He entered into the world of comic book illustration at the age of 16, with work on "Shining Knight" comics. His early work was for DC, but he later did work for Timely (Marvel), Standard, and Toby. His more famous early work was done for EC Comics, where he illustrated a number of horror and suspense stories. In 1952, he worked as an assistant for Al Capp ("L'il Abner"), but quit in 1960 after disagreement over salary cuts. He turned to paperback cover illustrating to pay the bills. While not very lucrative at the time, the illustrations are today sought by many collectors, especially his work on the Edgar Rice Burroughs titles (Tarzan, John Carter of Mars, and others). In the mid 60s, Frazetta joined other former EC cartoonists at Warren Publications, where he worked on "Creepy", "Eerie", and helped design "Vampirella". Frazetta's work was probably at its most popular in the 1970s, where it could seen almost everywhere. His drawings were and are instantly recognizable - the men are impossibly muscular, the women are supernaturally beautiful, and the monsters are indescribably hideous. Many of his illustrations have been collected into handsome, oversized volumes, or can still be found decorating teenagers' walls.- Writer
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Rob Liefeld was born in the 1960s. From an early age finding a love for drawing, he soon found himself filling tests less and less with meaningful facts and more and more with doodles of superheroes. He knew he wanted to get into comics. Later on, during 1980's, his father became ill and he found himself with a new reason to get into comics: To support his family. At a comics convention, he showed his work to both DC and Marvel and found himself work on both The New Mutants and Hawk and Dove. After pumping new life into the New Mutants, the title was revamped was X-Force (joining the growing line of X titles that fill the comic book shops). Soon after seeing that creations of his own, such as Cable and Deadpool, were generating tons of money ), him and several fellow artists went off and founded Image Comics (via a distribution deal with Malibu Comics, founded by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg), a creator-owned venture into comics. With artwork that pushed the envelope, Rob and his fellow artists found themselves reaching superstar status. After years of working together at Image, Rob quit/Image fired him and he went off with Joseph Loeb III (writer of Commando and producer of Firestorm) and Scott Mitchell Rosenberg (developer of Men In Black, CEO Platinum Studios, 14 time New York Times Bestseller creator ) and founded Awesome Entertainment (now Awesome Comics). Now an independent success, Liefeld has several films in the works through his company: Avengelyne, Badrock, Prophet, and The Mark.- Writer
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John Victor Romita Sr. was an American comic book artist best known for his work on Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man and for co-creating characters including Mary Jane Watson, the Punisher, and Wolverine. Romita was the father of John Romita Jr., also a comic book artist, and the husband of Virginia Romita, for many years Marvel's traffic manager.
His first comics work was in 1949 as a ghost artist for Timely Comics, the precursor to Marvel, through which Romita met editor-in-chief Stan Lee. In 1951, Romita began drawing horror, war, and romance comics for Atlas Comics (previously Timely), and also drew his first superhero work, a 1950s revival of Captain America. He began working exclusively for DC Comics from 1958-1965 and was the artist for many of their romance comics. During these years, Romita further developed his ability to draw beautiful women, which he later became well-known for.
Romita joined Marvel in 1965, initially drawing Daredevil comics. In 1966, Spider-Man artist and co-creator Steve Ditko left Marvel, and Romita was chosen by writer Lee as the new artist for Amazing Spider-Man. Within a year of Romita becoming the Spider-Man artist, The Amazing Spider-Man rose from Marvel's second-best-selling title to the company's top-seller. Romita brought a new romance style to Spider-Man comics that soon became the new house style for the character. In June 1973, Romita was promoted to Marvel's art director and heavily influenced the look of Marvel comics throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
He was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2002- Writer
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John Romita Jr. was born on 17 August 1956 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Kick-Ass (2010), Madame Web (2024) and Kick-Ass 2 (2013).- Don Rosa was born on 29 June 1951 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. He is a writer, known for Retour à la case mémoire, TaleSpin (1990) and The Don Rosa House Tour (2011). He has been married to Ann Payne since 1980.
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Walt Kelly was born on 25 August 1913 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Dumbo (1941), The Pogo Special Birthday Special (1969) and I Go Pogo (1980). He was married to Selby Daley, Stephanie Waggony and Helen DeLacy. He died on 19 October 1973 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Producer
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Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Flora Disney (née Call) and Elias Disney, a Canadian-born farmer and businessperson. He had Irish, German, and English ancestry. Walt moved with his parents to Kansas City at age seven, where he spent the majority of his childhood. At age 16, during World War I, he faked his age to join the American Red Cross. He soon returned home, where he won a scholarship to the Kansas City Art Institute. There, he met a fellow animator, Ub Iwerks. The two soon set up their own company. In the early 1920s, they made a series of animated shorts for the Newman theater chain, entitled "Newman's Laugh-O-Grams". Their company soon went bankrupt, however.
The two then went to Hollywood in 1923. They started work on a new series, about a live-action little girl who journeys to a world of animated characters. Entitled the "Alice Comedies", they were distributed by M.J. Winkler (Margaret). Walt was backed up financially only by Winkler and his older brother Roy O. Disney, who remained his business partner for the rest of his life. Hundreds of "Alice Comedies" were produced between 1923 and 1927, before they lost popularity.
Walt then started work on a series around a new animated character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. This series was successful, but in 1928, Walt discovered that M.J. Winkler and her husband, Charles Mintz, had stolen the rights to the character away from him. They had also stolen all his animators, except for Ub Iwerks. While taking the train home, Walt started doodling on a piece of paper. The result of these doodles was a mouse named Mickey. With only Walt and Ub to animate, and Walt's wife Lillian Disney (Lilly) and Roy's wife Edna Disney to ink in the animation cells, three Mickey Mouse cartoons were quickly produced. The first two didn't sell, so Walt added synchronized sound to the last one, Steamboat Willie (1928), and it was immediately picked up. With Walt as the voice of Mickey, it premiered to great success. Many more cartoons followed. Walt was now in the big time, but he didn't stop creating new ideas.
In 1929, he created the 'Silly Symphonies', a cartoon series that didn't have a continuous character. They were another success. One of them, Flowers and Trees (1932), was the first cartoon to be produced in color and the first cartoon to win an Oscar; another, Three Little Pigs (1933), was so popular it was often billed above the feature films it accompanied. The Silly Symphonies stopped coming out in 1939, but Mickey and friends, (including Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto, and plenty more), were still going strong and still very popular.
In 1934, Walt started work on another new idea: a cartoon that ran the length of a feature film. Everyone in Hollywood was calling it "Disney's Folly", but Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was anything but, winning critical raves, the adoration of the public, and one big and seven little special Oscars for Walt. Now Walt listed animated features among his ever-growing list of accomplishments. While continuing to produce cartoon shorts, he also started producing more of the animated features. Pinocchio (1940), Dumbo (1941), and Bambi (1942) were all successes; not even a flop like Fantasia (1940) and a studio animators' strike in 1941 could stop Disney now.
In the mid 1940s, he began producing "packaged features", essentially a group of shorts put together to run feature length, but by 1950 he was back with animated features that stuck to one story, with Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland (1951), and Peter Pan (1953). In 1950, he also started producing live-action films, with Treasure Island (1950). These began taking on greater importance throughout the 50s and 60s, but Walt continued to produce animated features, including Lady and the Tramp (1955), Sleeping Beauty (1959), and One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961).
In 1955 he opened a theme park in southern California: Disneyland. It was a place where children and their parents could take rides, just explore, and meet the familiar animated characters, all in a clean, safe environment. It was another great success. Walt also became one of the first producers of films to venture into television, with his series The Magical World of Disney (1954) which he began in 1954 to promote his theme park. He also produced The Mickey Mouse Club (1955) and Zorro (1957). To top it all off, Walt came out with the lavish musical fantasy Mary Poppins (1964), which mixed live-action with animation. It is considered by many to be his magnum opus. Even after that, Walt continued to forge onward, with plans to build a new theme park and an experimental prototype city in Florida.
He did not live to see the culmination of those plans, however; in 1966, he developed lung cancer brought on by his lifelong chain-smoking. He died of a heart attack following cancer surgery on December 15, 1966 at age 65. But not even his death, it seemed, could stop him. Roy carried on plans to build the Florida theme park, and it premiered in 1971 under the name Walt Disney World. His company continues to flourish, still producing animated and live-action films and overseeing the still-growing empire started by one man: Walt Disney, who will never be forgotten.- Animation Department
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Owen Fitzgerald was born on 30 November 1916 in the USA. He is known for Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (1993), Super Friends (1973) and Tiny Toon Adventures (1990). He died in 1994.- Writer
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Like many pioneers, the work of 'Winsor McCay' has been largely superseded by successors such as Walt Disney and Max Fleischer but he more than earns a place in film history for being the American cinema's first great cartoon animator. He started out as a newspaper cartoonist, achieving a national reputation for his strips 'Little Nemo in Slumberland' and 'Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend'. Inspired by his son's flick-books, he spent four years and produced four thousand individual drawings in making his first animated cartoon 'Little Nemo', completing it in 1911. But his biggest cartoon success was 'Gertie the Dinosaur' (1913), which was the centrepiece of a vaudeville act in which the live McCay would interact with his cartoon character. For this, he single-handedly produced ten thousand individual drawings, laboriously re-drawing the background every time. It is often wrongly cited as the first animated cartoon, but it was certainly the first successful one, and influenced dozens of imitators. His 1918 production 'The Sinking of the Lusitania' was even more ambitious: comprising 25,000 drawings, it was the first feature-length American cartoon, and the second one made anywhere. He retired from film-making in the 1920s, but would subsequently describe himself as "the creator of animated cartoons". This honour, strictly speaking, belongs to the Frenchman Emile Cohl - but McCay was certainly the first to bring them to a wide audience.- Writer
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David Michelinie is an American comic book writer. Among Michelinie's best-known work are his two runs on Iron Man with co-plotter/inker Bob Layton, in the late 1970s and early 1980s which introduced the character's serious problem with alcoholism and his specialized power armor variants. He introduced two of Stark's closest comrades, Bethany Cabe and Jim Rhodes as well as new enmities with Justin Hammer and Doctor Doom.- Writer
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Chris Claremont was born on 25 November 1950 in Ealing, London, England, UK. He is a writer and actor, known for X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and Dark Phoenix (2019).- Mark Bagley was born on 7 August 1957 in Frankfurt, Germany. He is a writer, known for Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (2010), Lego Marvel Super Heroes (2013) and Ultimate Spider-Man (2005). He is married to Patricia Bagley. They have one child.
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Marv Wolfman was born on 13 May 1946 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He is a writer and actor, known for Young Justice (2010), Blade II (2002) and Blade: Trinity (2004). He has been married to Noel Wolfman since 16 November 1991.- Writer
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Gerry got his start as a writer of comic books at age fifteen. He created _The Punisher_ for Marvel Comics in 1972. In recent years, he's written for film and television, and has written and produced for Father Dowling Mysteries (1989) (ABC, 1990-91) and Under Suspicion (1994) (CBS, 1994-95).]- Writer
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Dan Jurgens was born on 27 June 1959 in Ortonville, Minnesota, USA. He is a writer, known for Booster Gold, Batman and Harley Quinn (2017) and Reign of the Supermen (2019). He is married to Ann Marie Jurgens. They have two children.- Writer
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Judd Winick was born on 12 February 1970 in Long Island, New York, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for The Life and Times of Juniper Lee (2005), Young Justice (2010) and Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010). He has been married to Pam Ling since 26 August 2001. They have two children.- Writer
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Jim Aparo was born on 24 August 1932 in New Britain, Connecticut, USA. Jim was a writer, known for Young Justice (2010), Beware the Batman (2013) and LEGO DC Super Hero Girls: Super-villain High (2018). Jim died on 19 July 2005 in Southington, Connecticut, USA.- Writer
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Alan Moore was born on 18 November 1953 in Northampton, England, UK. He is a writer and actor, known for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003), From Hell (2001) and Watchmen (2019). He has been married to Melinda Gebbie since 12 May 2007. He was previously married to Phyllis B. Dixon.