CARMINE INFANTINO
CARMINE INFANTINO
Flash 137
Carmine Infantino
BornMay 24, 1925
NationalityAmerican
Area(s) Penciller, Editor
Notable works Flash (Barry Allen)
Awards National Cartoonists Society Award, various Alley awards
Carmine Infantino (born May 24, 1925) is an American comic book artist and editor who was a major force in the Silver Age of Comic Books. He was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2000.
Early life and career
Carmine Infantino was born in Brooklyn, New York City.
He attended Public Schools 75 and 85 in Brooklyn before going on the High School of Industrial Arts (now the High School of Art and Design) in Manhattan. During his freshman year of high school, Infantino began working for the quirkily named Harry "A" Chesler, whose studio was one of a handful of comic-book "packagers" who created complete comics for publishers looking to enter the emerging field in the 1930s-1940s Golden Age of Comic Books. As Infantino recalled
“I used to go around as a youngster into companies, go in and try to meet people -- nothing ever happened. One day I went to this place on 23rd Street, this old broken-down warehouse, and I met Harry Chesler. Now, I was told he was a mean guy and he used people and he took artists. But he was very sweet to me. He said, 'Look, kid. You come up here, I'll give you a dollar a day, just study art, learn, and grow.' That was damn nice of him, I thought. He did that for me for a whole summer.”
Infantino, who also attended night classes at the Art Students League, became an art assistant at Quality Comics the following summer. Later, at Timely Comics, the Golden Age precursor of Marvel, Infantino got his first job drawing comics. With friend and high-school classmate Frank Giacoia penciling, Infanto inked the debut of the feature "Jack Frost" in USA Comics #1 (Aug. 1941). Infantino would eventually work for several publishers during the decade, drawing Airboy and the Heap for Hillman Periodicals; working for packager Jack Binder, who supplied Fawcett Comics; briefly at Holyoke; then landing at DC Comics, where he became a regular atist of the Golden Age Flash, Black Canary, Green Lantern and Justice Society of America.
During the 1950s, Infantino freelanced for Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's company, Prize Comics, drawing the series Charlie Chan, which in particular shows the influence both of Kirby's and Milton Caniff's art styles. Back at DC, during a lull in the popularity of superheroes, Infantino drew Westerns, mysteries, science fiction comics. As his style evolved, he began to shed both the Kirbyisms and the gritty shading of Caniff, and develop a clean, linear style.
The Silver Age
In 1956, DC editor Julius Schwartz assigned writer Robert Kanigher and artist Infantino to the company's first attempt at reviving superheroes: an updated version of the Flash that would appear in issue #4 (Oct. 1956) of the try-out series Showcase. Infantino designed the now-classic red uniform with yellow detail, striving to keep the costume as streamlined as possible, and he drew on his design abilities to create a new visual language to depict the Flash's speed, making the figure a red and yellow blur. The eventual success of the new, science-fictiony Flash heralded the wholesale return of superheroes, and the beginning of what fans and historians call the Silver Age of comics.
Showcase #4 (Oct. 1956): The Silver Age starts. Art by Carmine Infantino and Joe Kubert.
Infantino continued to work for Schwartz in his other features and titles, most notably "Adam Strange" in Strange Adventures, replacing Mike Sekowsky. In 1964, Schwartz was made responsible for reviving the faded Batman titles. Writer John Broome and artist Infantino jettisoned the sillier aspects that had crept into the series (such as (Ace the Bathound, and Bat-Mite) and gave the "New Look" Batman and Robin a more detective-oriented direction and sleeker draftsmanship that proved a hit combination. Other features and characters Infantino drew at DC include "The Space Museum", and Elongated Man
For his work in this period, he tied for the 1958 National Cartoonists Society award for the Comic Book Division.
After Wilson McCoy, the artist of The Phantom comic strip, died, Infantino finished one of his last stories. Infantino was a candidate for taking over the Phantom Sunday strip after McCoy's death, but the job was instead given to Sy Barry.
DC Comics editorial director
In 1967, Infantino was tasked with designing covers for the entire DC line. When DC was sold to Kinney National Company, Infantino was promoted to editorial director. He started by hiring new talent, and promoting artists to editorial positions. He hired Dick Giordano away from Charlton Comics, and made artists Joe Orlando, Joe Kubert and Mike Sekowsky editors. New talents such as Neal Adams and Denny O'Neil were injected into the company.
Infantino was made publisher in 1971, during a time of declining circulation for DC's comics. Infantino attempted a number of changes, including the launch of starting several new titles. Older characters including Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Superman, Wonder Woman and, again, Batman were revamped to mixed results.
The same year he was made publisher, Infantino scored a major coup in signing on Marvel Comics' star artist, Jack Kirby. Beginning with Jimmy Olsen, Kirby created his Fourth World saga that wove through that existing title and three new series he created. With sales of his comics landing below expectations, however, the titles were eventually canceled and a few years later Kirby went back to working at Marvel Comics.
In an effort to raise revenue, Infantino raised the cover price of DC's comics from 15 to 25 cents, simultaneously raising the page count by adding reprints and new backup features. Marvel met the price increase, then dropped back to 20 cents; Infantino stayed at 25 cents, a decision that ultimately proved bad for over-all sales.
After working with writer Mario Puzo on the Superman movie, Infantino collaborated with Marvel on the historic company-crossover publication Superman vs. Spider-Man. Yet before sales on that hit book had been recorded, Warner Communications replaced Infantino with Jenette Kahn, a person new to the comics field. Mr. Infantino returned to drawing freelance.
Later career
Infantino later drew for a number of titles for Warren Publishing and Marvel, including the latter's Star Wars, Spider-Woman, and Nova. In the 1980s, he again drew the Flash for DC. As of 2005, Infantino is retired, although he is often a guest at comic book conventions. Vanguard Productions published his autobiography The Amazing World of Carmine Infantino (ISBN 1-887591-12-5).
Awards
Infantino's awards include:
*1958 National Cartoonists Society Award, Best Comic Book
*1961 Alley Award, Best Single Issue: The Flash #123 (with Gardner Fox)
*1961 Alley Award, Best Story: "Flash of Two Worlds", The Flash #123 (with Gardner Fox)
*1961 Alley Award, Best Artist
*1962 Alley Award, Best Book-Length Story: "The Planet that Came to a Standstill!", Mystery in Space #75 (with Gardner Fox)
*1962 Alley Award, Best Pencil Artist
*1963 Alley Award, Best Artist
*1964 Alley Award, Best Short Story: "Doorway to the Unknown", The Flash #148 (with John Broome)
*1964 Alley Award, Best Pencil Artist
*1964 Alley Award, Best Comic Book Cover (Detective Comics #329 with Murphy Anderson)
*1967 Alley Award, Best Full-Length Story: "Who's Been Lying in My Grave?", Strange Adventures #205 (with Arnold Drake)
*1967 Alley Award, Best New Strip: "Deadman" in Strange Adventures (with Arnold Drake)
*1969 special Alley Award for being the person "who exemplifies the spirit of innovation and inventiveness in the field of comic art"
Categories: | American comics artists | Batman artists | Comic book editors | DC Comics executives | Flash (comics) artists |
It would seem that Lichtenstein was even less original than many of his existing detractors had thought.
Although Lichtenstein had been using comic book imagery in his paintings since 1957, he did not do large canvases reproducing single comic strip panels featuring speech balloons until he painted Look Mickey in the summer of 1961 4 months after he had, by his own admission, seen Warhol's canvases. Warhol had been painting single comic strip panels featuring speech balloons since 1960 - a year earlier than Lichtenstein. It is possible that Lichtenstein, as Warhol suspected, had seen Warhol's paintings at Bonwit Teller, although Lichtenstein never mentioned it in interviews. In any case, Lichtenstein admitted having seen Warhol's cartoon paintings prior to doing his own single panel comic strip paintings featuring speech balloons (Look Mickey) and it is possible he was influenced by Warhol's work.
www.flickr.com/photos/deconstructing-roy-lichtenstein/395...
www.warholstars.org/warhol1/11roylichtenstein.html
ROY LICHTENSTEIN
The first time that Warhol's large canvases of comic strip characters were exhibited publicly was in April 1961 as part of a window display at the Bonwit Teller department store. Ted Carey discovered afterwards that Roy Lichtenstein was doing similar work.
Ted Carey:
"... I can remember one Saturday afternoon going into Castelli [Gallery], and I was in looking at a show, and Ivan said, 'Oh, I've got something to show you...' so, we went into the closet and he pulled out this big Pop Art painting, and I can't remember what it was, but it was a cartoon-type painting. And I said, 'It looks like Andy Warhol.' and he said, 'No, it's Roy Lichtenstein.' And I said, 'Well it looks very much like some paintings that Andy is doing.' 'Yes, we've heard that Andy is doing some paintings like this,' he said, 'Leo would like to see them. So, tell Andy to give us a call.'"1
When Carey told Warhol of Lichtenstein's paintings, Warhol thought Lichtenstein was copying his ideas.
Ted Carey:
"... So, I went home and called Andy - no, I think, I went right over to Andy's house... and so, I said, 'Prepare yourself for a shock.' And he said, 'What?' I said, 'Castelli has a closet full of comic paintings.' And he said, 'You're kidding?!' And he said, 'Who did them?' And I said, 'Somebody by the name of Lichtenstein.' Well, Andy turned white. He said, 'Roy Lichtenstein.' He said, 'Roy Lichtenstein used to... ' - as I remember, he used to be a sign painter for Bonwit Teller, and here's where I'm a little bit confused because Andy... couldn't get anybody to show his early cartoon paintings, so he went to Gene Moore and Gene Moore said, 'Well I can put the paintings in the windows...' He put them in the 57th Street window... As I remember, the implication was: Andy felt that Lichtenstein had seen the paintings in the window and gave him the idea to do his paintings. Now, whether this is true or not, I don't know, but at this time, this is what Andy had felt."2
Lichtenstein later denied that he had any knowledge of Warhol's comic strip paintings prior to doing his own:
Roy Lichtenstein:
"I saw Andy's work at Leo Castelli's about the same time I brought mine in, about the spring of 1961... Of course, I was amazed to see Andy's work because he was doing cartoons of Nancy and Dick Tracy and they were similar to mine."3
Although Lichtenstein maintains that he saw Warhol's paintings at Castelli's gallery in "about" the Spring of 1961, Castelli did not have any Warhol paintings at that time. The only place they had been exhibited was in April 1961 in the windows of Bonwit Teller. Lichtenstein implies that Castelli was stocking Warhol's work prior to his own, whereas Carey's comments indicate the opposite - and Carey's comments are supported by the recollections of both Leo Castelli and Ivan Karp. Although Lichtenstein had been using comic book imagery in his paintings since 1957, he did not do large canvases reproducing single comic strip panels featuring speech balloons until he painted Look Mickey in the summer of 1961 4 months after he had, by his own admission, seen Warhol's canvases. Warhol had been painting single comic strip panels featuring speech balloons since 1960 - a year earlier than Lichtenstein. It is possible that Lichtenstein, as Warhol suspected, had seen Warhol's paintings at Bonwit Teller, although Lichtenstein never mentioned it in interviews. In any case, Lichtenstein admitted having seen Warhol's cartoon paintings prior to doing his own single panel comic strip paintings featuring speech balloons (Look Mickey) and it is possible he was influenced by Warhol's work.
davidbarsalou.homestead.com/LICHTENSTEINPROJECT.html
www.flickr.com/photos/deconstructing-roy-lichtenstein/
www.valleyadvocate.com/gbase/Arts/content?oid=oid:688
davidbarsalou.homestead.com/roylichtenstein.html
CARMINE INFANTINO
CARMINE INFANTINO
Flash 137
Carmine Infantino
BornMay 24, 1925
NationalityAmerican
Area(s) Penciller, Editor
Notable works Flash (Barry Allen)
Awards National Cartoonists Society Award, various Alley awards
Carmine Infantino (born May 24, 1925) is an American comic book artist and editor who was a major force in the Silver Age of Comic Books. He was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2000.
Early life and career
Carmine Infantino was born in Brooklyn, New York City.
He attended Public Schools 75 and 85 in Brooklyn before going on the High School of Industrial Arts (now the High School of Art and Design) in Manhattan. During his freshman year of high school, Infantino began working for the quirkily named Harry "A" Chesler, whose studio was one of a handful of comic-book "packagers" who created complete comics for publishers looking to enter the emerging field in the 1930s-1940s Golden Age of Comic Books. As Infantino recalled
“I used to go around as a youngster into companies, go in and try to meet people -- nothing ever happened. One day I went to this place on 23rd Street, this old broken-down warehouse, and I met Harry Chesler. Now, I was told he was a mean guy and he used people and he took artists. But he was very sweet to me. He said, 'Look, kid. You come up here, I'll give you a dollar a day, just study art, learn, and grow.' That was damn nice of him, I thought. He did that for me for a whole summer.”
Infantino, who also attended night classes at the Art Students League, became an art assistant at Quality Comics the following summer. Later, at Timely Comics, the Golden Age precursor of Marvel, Infantino got his first job drawing comics. With friend and high-school classmate Frank Giacoia penciling, Infanto inked the debut of the feature "Jack Frost" in USA Comics #1 (Aug. 1941). Infantino would eventually work for several publishers during the decade, drawing Airboy and the Heap for Hillman Periodicals; working for packager Jack Binder, who supplied Fawcett Comics; briefly at Holyoke; then landing at DC Comics, where he became a regular atist of the Golden Age Flash, Black Canary, Green Lantern and Justice Society of America.
During the 1950s, Infantino freelanced for Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's company, Prize Comics, drawing the series Charlie Chan, which in particular shows the influence both of Kirby's and Milton Caniff's art styles. Back at DC, during a lull in the popularity of superheroes, Infantino drew Westerns, mysteries, science fiction comics. As his style evolved, he began to shed both the Kirbyisms and the gritty shading of Caniff, and develop a clean, linear style.
The Silver Age
In 1956, DC editor Julius Schwartz assigned writer Robert Kanigher and artist Infantino to the company's first attempt at reviving superheroes: an updated version of the Flash that would appear in issue #4 (Oct. 1956) of the try-out series Showcase. Infantino designed the now-classic red uniform with yellow detail, striving to keep the costume as streamlined as possible, and he drew on his design abilities to create a new visual language to depict the Flash's speed, making the figure a red and yellow blur. The eventual success of the new, science-fictiony Flash heralded the wholesale return of superheroes, and the beginning of what fans and historians call the Silver Age of comics.
Showcase #4 (Oct. 1956): The Silver Age starts. Art by Carmine Infantino and Joe Kubert.
Infantino continued to work for Schwartz in his other features and titles, most notably "Adam Strange" in Strange Adventures, replacing Mike Sekowsky. In 1964, Schwartz was made responsible for reviving the faded Batman titles. Writer John Broome and artist Infantino jettisoned the sillier aspects that had crept into the series (such as (Ace the Bathound, and Bat-Mite) and gave the "New Look" Batman and Robin a more detective-oriented direction and sleeker draftsmanship that proved a hit combination. Other features and characters Infantino drew at DC include "The Space Museum", and Elongated Man
For his work in this period, he tied for the 1958 National Cartoonists Society award for the Comic Book Division.
After Wilson McCoy, the artist of The Phantom comic strip, died, Infantino finished one of his last stories. Infantino was a candidate for taking over the Phantom Sunday strip after McCoy's death, but the job was instead given to Sy Barry.
DC Comics editorial director
In 1967, Infantino was tasked with designing covers for the entire DC line. When DC was sold to Kinney National Company, Infantino was promoted to editorial director. He started by hiring new talent, and promoting artists to editorial positions. He hired Dick Giordano away from Charlton Comics, and made artists Joe Orlando, Joe Kubert and Mike Sekowsky editors. New talents such as Neal Adams and Denny O'Neil were injected into the company.
Infantino was made publisher in 1971, during a time of declining circulation for DC's comics. Infantino attempted a number of changes, including the launch of starting several new titles. Older characters including Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Superman, Wonder Woman and, again, Batman were revamped to mixed results.
The same year he was made publisher, Infantino scored a major coup in signing on Marvel Comics' star artist, Jack Kirby. Beginning with Jimmy Olsen, Kirby created his Fourth World saga that wove through that existing title and three new series he created. With sales of his comics landing below expectations, however, the titles were eventually canceled and a few years later Kirby went back to working at Marvel Comics.
In an effort to raise revenue, Infantino raised the cover price of DC's comics from 15 to 25 cents, simultaneously raising the page count by adding reprints and new backup features. Marvel met the price increase, then dropped back to 20 cents; Infantino stayed at 25 cents, a decision that ultimately proved bad for over-all sales.
After working with writer Mario Puzo on the Superman movie, Infantino collaborated with Marvel on the historic company-crossover publication Superman vs. Spider-Man. Yet before sales on that hit book had been recorded, Warner Communications replaced Infantino with Jenette Kahn, a person new to the comics field. Mr. Infantino returned to drawing freelance.
Later career
Infantino later drew for a number of titles for Warren Publishing and Marvel, including the latter's Star Wars, Spider-Woman, and Nova. In the 1980s, he again drew the Flash for DC. As of 2005, Infantino is retired, although he is often a guest at comic book conventions. Vanguard Productions published his autobiography The Amazing World of Carmine Infantino (ISBN 1-887591-12-5).
Awards
Infantino's awards include:
*1958 National Cartoonists Society Award, Best Comic Book
*1961 Alley Award, Best Single Issue: The Flash #123 (with Gardner Fox)
*1961 Alley Award, Best Story: "Flash of Two Worlds", The Flash #123 (with Gardner Fox)
*1961 Alley Award, Best Artist
*1962 Alley Award, Best Book-Length Story: "The Planet that Came to a Standstill!", Mystery in Space #75 (with Gardner Fox)
*1962 Alley Award, Best Pencil Artist
*1963 Alley Award, Best Artist
*1964 Alley Award, Best Short Story: "Doorway to the Unknown", The Flash #148 (with John Broome)
*1964 Alley Award, Best Pencil Artist
*1964 Alley Award, Best Comic Book Cover (Detective Comics #329 with Murphy Anderson)
*1967 Alley Award, Best Full-Length Story: "Who's Been Lying in My Grave?", Strange Adventures #205 (with Arnold Drake)
*1967 Alley Award, Best New Strip: "Deadman" in Strange Adventures (with Arnold Drake)
*1969 special Alley Award for being the person "who exemplifies the spirit of innovation and inventiveness in the field of comic art"
Categories: | American comics artists | Batman artists | Comic book editors | DC Comics executives | Flash (comics) artists |
It would seem that Lichtenstein was even less original than many of his existing detractors had thought.
Although Lichtenstein had been using comic book imagery in his paintings since 1957, he did not do large canvases reproducing single comic strip panels featuring speech balloons until he painted Look Mickey in the summer of 1961 4 months after he had, by his own admission, seen Warhol's canvases. Warhol had been painting single comic strip panels featuring speech balloons since 1960 - a year earlier than Lichtenstein. It is possible that Lichtenstein, as Warhol suspected, had seen Warhol's paintings at Bonwit Teller, although Lichtenstein never mentioned it in interviews. In any case, Lichtenstein admitted having seen Warhol's cartoon paintings prior to doing his own single panel comic strip paintings featuring speech balloons (Look Mickey) and it is possible he was influenced by Warhol's work.
www.flickr.com/photos/deconstructing-roy-lichtenstein/395...
www.warholstars.org/warhol1/11roylichtenstein.html
ROY LICHTENSTEIN
The first time that Warhol's large canvases of comic strip characters were exhibited publicly was in April 1961 as part of a window display at the Bonwit Teller department store. Ted Carey discovered afterwards that Roy Lichtenstein was doing similar work.
Ted Carey:
"... I can remember one Saturday afternoon going into Castelli [Gallery], and I was in looking at a show, and Ivan said, 'Oh, I've got something to show you...' so, we went into the closet and he pulled out this big Pop Art painting, and I can't remember what it was, but it was a cartoon-type painting. And I said, 'It looks like Andy Warhol.' and he said, 'No, it's Roy Lichtenstein.' And I said, 'Well it looks very much like some paintings that Andy is doing.' 'Yes, we've heard that Andy is doing some paintings like this,' he said, 'Leo would like to see them. So, tell Andy to give us a call.'"1
When Carey told Warhol of Lichtenstein's paintings, Warhol thought Lichtenstein was copying his ideas.
Ted Carey:
"... So, I went home and called Andy - no, I think, I went right over to Andy's house... and so, I said, 'Prepare yourself for a shock.' And he said, 'What?' I said, 'Castelli has a closet full of comic paintings.' And he said, 'You're kidding?!' And he said, 'Who did them?' And I said, 'Somebody by the name of Lichtenstein.' Well, Andy turned white. He said, 'Roy Lichtenstein.' He said, 'Roy Lichtenstein used to... ' - as I remember, he used to be a sign painter for Bonwit Teller, and here's where I'm a little bit confused because Andy... couldn't get anybody to show his early cartoon paintings, so he went to Gene Moore and Gene Moore said, 'Well I can put the paintings in the windows...' He put them in the 57th Street window... As I remember, the implication was: Andy felt that Lichtenstein had seen the paintings in the window and gave him the idea to do his paintings. Now, whether this is true or not, I don't know, but at this time, this is what Andy had felt."2
Lichtenstein later denied that he had any knowledge of Warhol's comic strip paintings prior to doing his own:
Roy Lichtenstein:
"I saw Andy's work at Leo Castelli's about the same time I brought mine in, about the spring of 1961... Of course, I was amazed to see Andy's work because he was doing cartoons of Nancy and Dick Tracy and they were similar to mine."3
Although Lichtenstein maintains that he saw Warhol's paintings at Castelli's gallery in "about" the Spring of 1961, Castelli did not have any Warhol paintings at that time. The only place they had been exhibited was in April 1961 in the windows of Bonwit Teller. Lichtenstein implies that Castelli was stocking Warhol's work prior to his own, whereas Carey's comments indicate the opposite - and Carey's comments are supported by the recollections of both Leo Castelli and Ivan Karp. Although Lichtenstein had been using comic book imagery in his paintings since 1957, he did not do large canvases reproducing single comic strip panels featuring speech balloons until he painted Look Mickey in the summer of 1961 4 months after he had, by his own admission, seen Warhol's canvases. Warhol had been painting single comic strip panels featuring speech balloons since 1960 - a year earlier than Lichtenstein. It is possible that Lichtenstein, as Warhol suspected, had seen Warhol's paintings at Bonwit Teller, although Lichtenstein never mentioned it in interviews. In any case, Lichtenstein admitted having seen Warhol's cartoon paintings prior to doing his own single panel comic strip paintings featuring speech balloons (Look Mickey) and it is possible he was influenced by Warhol's work.
davidbarsalou.homestead.com/LICHTENSTEINPROJECT.html
www.flickr.com/photos/deconstructing-roy-lichtenstein/
www.valleyadvocate.com/gbase/Arts/content?oid=oid:688
davidbarsalou.homestead.com/roylichtenstein.html