Neal Adams

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Neal Adams (born June 6, 1941 on Governors Island , Manhattan , New York City ) is an American draftsman and graphic artist. Adams mainly works as a designer of commercial graphics (advertising logos, etc.) and comics. He was particularly known for his dynamic linework and his naturalistic way of depicting figures.

Neal Adams, 2007

Life and work

Adams, whose drawing style was shaped by Joe Kubert , Frank Frazetta , Russ Heath and Mort Drucker , applied for the first time to a publisher, the US market giant DC-Comics, as a professional comic artist in 1959. After his portfolio was rejected at DC, he took a position at Archie Comics, where he drew on the comics about the character of Bat Masterson.

From 1962 to 1966 he illustrated the regular comic strip for the television series "Ben Casey". He then began drawing horror comics in black and white under the aegis of Archie Goodwin for Warren Publishing. Then he finally managed to get a job at DC on the second attempt. There he immediately achieved great success with the series Deadman, which was published in the "Strange Adventures" series, so that he soon became the publisher's leading title-page artist. After a brief interlude at Marvel Comics, where he teamed up with author Roy Thomas to take over the series X-Men (issues # 56-63, March to December 1969), which is about to be discontinued, and helped it gain new popularity, he became with DC entrusted some of the publisher's most important series.

In the early 1970s, Adams collaborated frequently with writer Dennis O'Neil . Together they created extremely successful and influential comic books, the effect of which on the genre can still be seen today. Best known is probably their joint "reinvention" of the comic hero Batman , whom they brought back to his dark roots after he had mutated into a cheerful figure as a result of the brightly colored TV comedy series of the 1960s. They made the appearance of the superhero as well as that of his opponents and his environment much darker, relocated the daytime adventures of the “dark knight” back to a nocturnal environment and also gave them a much more serious theme. Dick Giordano usually acted as the inker of Adam's drawings . Also with O'Neil, Adams created the award-winning series Hard Traveling Heroes , in which the heroes Green Lantern and Green Arrow embark on an odyssey through the United States to find the "real America", but above all on prejudice and crime , Selfishness and corruption. These socially critical issues were the first to address problems such as drug abuse or racism within the comic medium.

In the 1970s, Adams tried to set up a comic strip union. He made a significant contribution to the common practice today of returning original drawings to the artist after the booklets based on them have been printed. This enables many - often poorly paid - artists to earn some extra money by selling original drawings to collectors. Adams was also a member of the group of artists who, through their massive protest, persuaded Warner Brothers to reimburse the Superman inventors, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster , a modest compensation and pension for the Superman inventors, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster .

From the mid-1980s onwards, Adams rarely designed the inner workings of comic books, but was still a sought-after cover designer. Together with Harlan Ellison he produced the one-shot The Twilight Zone (October 1991).

Adams also illustrated Tarzan novels and worked in the film industry during the 1970s . In the early 1980s he worked for the independent publisher Pacific Comics and similar independent, smaller houses. He also founded his own small publisher, Continuity Comics, which published such series as Bucky O'Hare , Skeleton Warriors , CyberRad and Ms. Mystic .

Awards

For Strange Adventures # 207, Adams received the Alley Award in the "Best Cover" category, 1968 for Best Story ( Track of the Hook , Brave and the Bold # 79) and 1969 for Best Draftsman. In 1969 he was inducted into the Alley Award Hall of Fame.

In 1970 he received the Shazam Award for best individual story ( No Evil Shall Escape My Sight , Green Lantern # 76, together with Dennis O'Neil) and the same award for best draftsman ( Dramatic Division ). 1971 again for best single story ( Snowbirds Don't Fly , Green Lantern # 8, with O'Neil). In 1974 he received the British Fantasy Award for Conan the Barbarian (together with Roy Thomas and John Buscema ). In 1999 he was inducted into the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame.

plant

comics

notebooks

National Periodical / DC
  • Batman - # 219 (backup story), 232, 234, 237, 243, 244, 245, 251, 255
  • The Brave and the Bold (Batman Team-Ups) - # 79-86, 93, 100, 102
  • Detective Comics (featuring Batman) - # 369 (Elongated Man Backup-Story), # 395, 397, 400, 402, 404, 407, 408, 410
  • Green Lantern / Green Arrow - # 76-87, 89
  • House of Mystery (individual stories) - # 178, 179, 186
  • The Specter - Vol. 1, # 2-5
  • Strange Adventures (featuring Deadman) - # 206-216
  • Teen Titans - # 21
  • World's Finest Comics (Batman-Superman team-ups) - # 175-176
  • Superman vs. Muhammad Ali
Marvel
  • The Avengers - # 93-96
  • X-Men - # 56-63, 65

Cover

National Periodical / DC
  • Action Comics (Superman) - # 356, 3568-359, 361-362, 364, 366-367, 370, 373, 375-379
  • Adventure Comics (with the Legion of Super-Heroes) - # 365-369, 371-373
  • All Star Superman - # 1 (variant)
  • Batman - # 200, 203, 217-218, 220, 230, 240 (DC)
  • The Brave and the Bold - # 76
  • Challengers of the Unknown - # 67-68
  • Detective Comics - # 372, 285, 399, 403, 411-413 (DC)
  • Green Lantern - # 63
  • Green Lantern Vol. 4 (2005) - # 8 (variant)
  • House of Mystery - # 175 - 192
  • Justice League of America - # 66-67, 70, 74
  • The Phantom Stranger - # 3
  • Showcase - # 80 (first Phantom Stranger)
  • Superboy - # 143, 145-146, 148-153, 155, 157-159
  • Superman - # 204-208, 210, 213-215
  • Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane - # 79, 81-82, 85-88, 90-91
  • Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen - # 109-112, 115, 118
  • World's Finest Comics # 174, 178

Volumes

Hardcover collections
Softcover collections

Web links

Commons : Neal Adams  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files
personal data
SURNAME Adams, Neal
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American comic book artist
DATE OF BIRTH June 6, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH Governors Island , Manhattan , New York City