Dick Giordano

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Dick Giordano
Dick Giordano Portrait.jpg
Dick Giordano by Michael Netzer
Born Richard Joseph Giordano
(1932-07-20)July 20, 1932
New York City, New York, United States
Died Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.
Ormond Beach, Florida, United States
Nationality American
Area(s) Penciller, Inker, Editor
Notable works
 Action Comics (Human Target)
Batman
Detective Comics
Wonder Woman
Awards Alley Award
  • Best Editor (1969)

Shazam Award

  • Best Inker (Dramatic Division) (1970, 1971, 1973, and 1974)

Inkwell Awards

  • Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame (2009)

Richard Joseph "Dick" Giordano (July 20, 1932[1] – March 27, 2010[2]) was an American comic book artist and editor whose career included introducing Charlton Comics' "Action Heroes" stable of superheroes and serving as executive editor of DC Comics.

Early life

Dick Giordano, an only child, was born in New York City on July 20, 1932, in the borough of Manhattan to Josephine and Graziano "Jack" Giordano. He attended the School of Industrial Art.[3]

Career

Charlton Comics

Beginning as a freelance artist at Charlton Comics in 1952, Giordano contributed artwork to dozens of the company's comics, including such Western titles as Annie Oakley, Billy the Kid, and Wyatt Earp, the war comic Fightin' Army, and scores of covers.[4][5]

Giordano's artwork from Charlton's Strange Suspense Stories was used as inspiration for artist Roy Lichtenstein's 1965/1966 Brushstroke series, including Brushstroke, Big Painting No. 6, Little Big Painting and Yellow and Green Brushstrokes.[6][7][8]

By the mid-1960s a Charlton veteran, Giordano rose to executive editor, succeeding Pat Masulli, by 1965.[9] As an editor, he made his first mark in the industry, overseeing Charlton's revamping of its few existing superheroes and having his artists and writers create new such characters for what he called the company's "Action Hero" line. Many of these artists included new talent Giordano brought on board, including Jim Aparo, Dennis O'Neil, and Steve Skeates.[9][10]

DC Comics

DC Comics vice president Irwin Donenfeld hired Giordano as an editor in April 1968, at the suggestion of Steve Ditko,[11] with Giordano bringing over to DC some of the creators he had nurtured at Charlton.[9] Giordano was given several title such as Teen Titans, Aquaman and Young Love,[10] but none of DC's major series. He launched the horror comics series The Witching Hour in March 1969.[12] and the Western series All-Star Western vol. 2 in September 1970.[13]

He continued to freelance for DC as a penciler and inker.[14] As an artist, Giordano was best known as an inker. His inking was particularly associated with the pencils of Neal Adams, for their run in the early 1970s on the titles Batman and Green Lantern/Green Arrow.[5] Comics historian Les Daniels observed that "The influential Adams style moved comics closer to illustration than cartooning, and he brought a menacing mood to Batman's adventures that was augmented by Dick Giordano's dark, brooding inks."[15]

Continuity Associates

By 1971, frustrated by what he felt was a lack of editorial opportunities, Giordano had left DC to partner with artist Neal Adams for their Continuity Associates studios, which served as an art packager for comic book publishers, including such companies as Giordano's former employer Charlton Comics,[16] Marvel Comics, and the one-shot Big Apple Comix. Several comics artists began their careers at Continuity[10] and many were mentored by Giordano during their time there.

He had a brief run as penciler of the Wonder Woman series which included a two-issue story in issues #202–203 (October and December 1972) written by science-fiction author Samuel R. Delany.[17] Giordano drew several backup stories in Action Comics featuring the Human Target character as well as the martial arts feature "Sons of the Tiger" in Marvel's black-and-white comics magazine The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu.[5][10] He was a frequent artist on Batman and Detective Comics and he and writer Denny O'Neil created the Batman supporting character Leslie Thompkins in the story "There Is No Hope in Crime Alley" in Detective Comics #457 (March 1976).[18] Giordano inked the large-format, first DC/Marvel intercompany crossover, Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man (1976), over the pencils of Ross Andru.[19] Giordano inked Adams on the one-shot Superman vs. Muhammad Ali in 1978.[20] Throughout the late 1970s and the 1980s, Ross Andru and Giordano were DC's primary cover artists, providing cover artwork for the Superman titles as well as covers for many of the other comics in the DC line at that time.[21]

Return to DC

In 1980, DC publisher Jenette Kahn brought Giordano back to DC.[22][23] Initially the editor of the Batman titles, Giordano was named the company's new managing editor in 1981,[24] and promoted to vice president/executive editor in 1983, a position he held until 1993.[9] DC Comics writer and executive Paul Levitz observed in 2010 that "Giordano held the respect of talent as one of their own, and kept their affection with his reassuring calm and warmth."[25]

Giordano provided art for several anniversary issues of key DC titles. He and television writer Alan Brennert crafted the story "To Kill a Legend" in Detective Comics #500 (March 1981).[26][27] Giordano was one of the artists on the double-sized Justice League of America #200 (March 1982)[28] as well as Wonder Woman #300 (Feb. 1983)[29][30] He was promoted to Vice-President/Executive Editor in 1984,[31] and with Kahn and Levitz, oversaw the relaunch of all of DC's major characters with the Crisis on Infinite Earths limited series in 1985.[32] This was followed by Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen in 1986.[33] Giordano inked several major projects during this time such as George Pérez's pencils on Crisis on Infinite Earths and John Byrne's pencils on The Man of Steel and Action Comics,[5] though during this period he always employed assistants for inking backgrounds, filling in large black areas, and making final erasures.[34]

From 1983 to 1987,[35] Giordano wrote a monthly column published in DC titles called "Meanwhile..." which much like Marvel's "Bullpen Bulletins" featured news and information about the company and its creators. Unlike "Bullpen Bulletins," which was characterized by an ironic, over-hyped tone, Giordano's columns ". . . were written in a relatively sober, absolutely friendly voice, like a friend of your father's you particularly liked and didn't mind sitting down to listen to."[3] Giordano closed each "Meanwhile..." column with the characteristic words, "Thank you and good afternoon."

The Vertigo imprint was launched in early 1993 built upon the success several titles edited by Karen Berger including Swamp Thing, Hellblazer, Sandman, Doom Patrol, Animal Man, and Shade, the Changing Man.[36] Giordano inked six issues of The Sandman in 1991-1993.[37]

Creators rights

Beginning in 1987, Giordano was in the middle of an industry-wide debate about the comics industry, ratings systems, and creators' rights.[3][38] Veteran writers Mike Friedrich, Steven Grant, and Roger Slifer all cited Giordano in particular for his hard-line stance on behalf of DC.[39][40][41][42][43] This debate led in part to the 1988 drafting of the Creator's Bill of Rights.

Later career

Giordano left DC in 1993, and still did the occasional inking job, but later returned to freelancing full-time.[44] In 1994 Giordano illustrated a graphic novel adaptation of the novel Modesty Blaise released by DC Comics, with creator/writer Peter O'Donnell.[5][45] He was one of the many artists who contributed to the Superman: The Wedding Album one-shot in 1996 wherein the title character married Lois Lane.[46]

In 2002, Giordano launched the short-lived Future Comics with writer David Michelinie and artist Bob Layton.[14] Since 2002, Giordano had drawn several issues of The Phantom published in Europe and Australia.[47] In 2004, Giordano and writer Roy Thomas completed an adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula novel. They had begun the project in 1974 but the cancellation of many of Marvel's black and white magazines put it into limbo.[48] The finished story was collected into a hardcover edition in 2005[49] and a colorized hardcover edition in 2010.[50] In 2005, F+W Publications Inc. published the instructional art book Drawing Comics with Dick Giordano, which he wrote and illustrated. His last work appeared in Jonah Hex vol. 2 #51 published in March 2010 for which he drew the interior art and the cover.[5]

Personal life

Giordano married the former Marie Trapani, sister of fellow comics artist Sal Trapani, on April 17, 1955.[51] She died from complications of her second stomach cancer surgery in February 1993.[52] They had three children together; Lisa,[53] Dawn, and Richard Jr.[54] Marie's death, combined with Giordano's increasing hearing loss, hastened his decision to retire from DC.[52] Following the death of his wife, Giordano split time between homes in Florida and Connecticut.[9] In 1995, he moved to Palm Coast, Florida, where he continued to work full-time freelancing, until his death.[55] Giordano had suffered from lymphoma and later from leukemia, secondary to the chemotherapy.[56] He died on March 27, 2010 due to complications of pneumonia.[56]

Legacy

Giordano served as mentor or inspiration to a generation of inkers, including Terry Austin,[57] Mike DeCarlo,[58] and Bob Layton.[59]

Shortly after Giordano's death in 2010, The Hero Initiative created The Dick Giordano Humanitarian of the Year Award, which debuted at the 2010 Harvey Awards ceremony held at the Baltimore Comic-Con. The award recognizes one person in comics each year who demonstrates particular generosity and integrity in support of the overall comic book community.[60]

Awards

Giordano received recognition in the industry for his work, including the Alley Award for Best Editor in 1969.[61] He won the Shazam Award for Best Inker (Dramatic Division) in 1970 (for Green Lantern),[62] 1971,[63] 1973 (for Justice League of America),[64] and 1974.[65] Giordano received an Inkpot Award in 1981.[66] In 2009 he was awarded the Inkwell Awards Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame Award.[67]

Bibliography

Comics work (interior art) includes:

Archie Comics

  • Archie's Super Hero Comics Digest Magazine #2 (inker) (1979)
  • Archie Chilling Adventures in Sorcery #4 (1973)

Charlton Comics

  • Brides in Love #1 (1956)
  • Judomaster #91-98 (Sarge Steel backup stories) (1966-1967)
  • Sarge Steel #1-4, 7 (1964-1966)
  • Secret Agent #10 (Sarge Steel backup story) (1967)

DC Comics

Marvel Comics

Valiant Comics

Warren Publishing

Other Publishers

Books

References

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External links

Preceded by Aquaman editor
1968-1971		 Succeeded by
Paul Levitz (in 1977)
Preceded by
George Kashdan
 Teen Titans editor
1968-1971		 Succeeded by
Murray Boltinoff
Preceded by
Paul Levitz
 Batman editor
1981-1982		 Succeeded by
Len Wein
Preceded by
Paul Levitz
 The Brave and the Bold editor
1981-1982		 Succeeded by
Len Wein
Preceded by
Paul Levitz
 Detective Comics editor
1981-1982		 Succeeded by
Len Wein
Preceded by DC Universe Executive Editor
1983-1993		 Succeeded by
Mike Carlin

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  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Dick Giordano at the Grand Comics Database
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 140: "Editor Dick Giordano ushered the [Western comic] genre into a new era with the return of All-Star Western."
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Dick Giordano Passes" Comic Shop News #1192
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 153
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 170: "Many talents from both DC and Marvel contributed to this landmark publication - in addition to inker Dick Giordano, Neal Adams provided several redrawings of Superman while John Romita, Sr. worked on numerous Peter Parker/Spider-Man likenesses"
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Manning, Matthew K. "1980s" in Dolan, p. 193: "The comic responsible for DC's name reached its 500th issue with the help of a variety of talented comic book icons...In a dimension-spanning story by writer Alan Brennert and fan-favorite artist Dick Giordano, Batman traveled to an alternate Earth to save the parents of a young Bruce Wayne."
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Manning "1980s" in Dolan, p. 200: "The Amazing Amazon was joined by a host of DC's greatest heroes to celebrate her 300th issue in a seventy-two-page blockbuster...Written by Roy and Dann Thomas, and penciled by Gene Colan, Ross Andru, Jan Duursema, Dick Giordano, Keith Pollard, Keith Giffen, and Rich Buckler."
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 206
  32. ↑ McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 217: "Running for twelve monthly parts, and written by Marv Wolfman with art by George Pérez and Dick Giordano among others, Crisis led to many major characters - Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman - being relaunched."
  33. ↑ Manning "1980s" in Dolan, p. 218: It was what many consider the greatest year in comics. DC debuted two of the industry's most influential works: Frank Miller supplied a gritty take on super-heroes with Batman: The Dark Knight, while writer Alan Moore brought a literary ear and sophisticated structure to DC's comics with the maxiseries Watchmen.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Eury (2003), pp. 117-118
  36. ↑ Manning "1990s" in Dolan, p. 262
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  44. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  45. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  46. ↑ Manning "1990s" in Dolan, p. 275: " The behind-the-scenes talent on the monumental issue appropriately spanned several generations of the Man of Tomorrow's career. Written by Dan Jurgens, Karl Kesel, David Michelinie, Louise Simonson, and Roger Stern, the one-shot featured the pencils of John Byrne, Gil Kane, Stuart Immonen, Paul Ryan, Jon Bogdanove, Kieron Dwyer, Tom Grummett, Dick Giordano, Jim Mooney, Curt Swan, Nick Cardy, Al Plastino, Barry Kitson, Ron Frenz, and Dan Jurgens."
  47. ↑ Eury (2003), pp. 148-153
  48. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  49. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  51. ↑ Eury (2003), p. 21
  52. ↑ 52.0 52.1 Eury (2003), p. 130
  53. ↑ Eury (2003), p. 25
  54. ↑ Eury (2003), p. 28
  55. ↑ Eury (2003), p. 138
  56. ↑ 56.0 56.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  57. ↑ Austin, Terry "Terry Austin on Giordano," in Eury (2003), p. 84
  58. ↑ Eury, pp. 99-100
  59. ↑ Layton, Bob "Bob Layton on Giordano," in Eury (2003) p. 146
  60. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  66. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  67. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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