Neal Adams

Born: June 15th 1949

Education: School of Industrial Art high school in Manhattan -Graduated 1959

Adams started with Archie Comics having been turned down by DC Comics. In 1962, Adams began his comics career in earnest at the NEA newspaper syndicate. From a recommendation, writer Jerry Caplin, a.k.a. Jerry Capp, brother of Li\'l Abner creator Al Capp, invited Adams to draw samples for Capp\'s proposed Ben Casey comic strip, based on the popular television medical-drama series.

After a three and a half year run on Ben Casey, Adams\' goal at this point was to be a commercial illustrator. While drawing Ben Casey, he had continued to do storyboards and other work for ad agencies.

Adams made his DC debut as penciler-inker for DC war comics. Despite his opposition to the then current US military involvement in Vietnam, Adams saw this as an opening. It payed off. Adams was soon assigned his first superhero covers, illustrating that of the Superman flagship Action Comics #356 (Nov. 1967) and the same month\'s Superman\'s Girl Friend, Lois Lane #79 (Nov. 1967), featuring Superman and a mysterious new costumed character, Titanman. Also that month, Adams drew his first superhero story, teaming with writer Gardner Fox on the lighthearted backup feature \"The Elongated Man\" in Detective Comics #369, the flagship Batman title. Shortly afterward, he drew Batman himself, along with the supernatural superhero the Spectre, on the cover of The Brave and the Bold #75.

Adams\' art style, honed in advertising and in the photorealistic school of dramatic-serial comics strips, marked a signal change from most comics art to that time.

In 1969, the duo of Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams would revitalize Batman with a series of noteworthy stories reestablishing Batman\'s dark, brooding nature and taking the books away from the campy look and feel of the 1966-68 ABC TV series. Adams introduced new characters to the Batman mythos beginning with Man-Bat co-created with writer Frank Robbins in Detective Comics #400 (June 1970).[44] O\'Neil and Adams\' creation Ra\'s al Ghul was introduced in the story \"Daughter of the Demon\" in Batman #232 (June 1971) and the character would later become one of Batman\'s most common adversaries. The same creative team would revive Two-Face and revitalize the Joker in \"The Joker\'s Five-Way Revenge!\"

During the 1970s, Adams was politically active in the industry, and attempted to unionize its creative community. His efforts, along with precedents set by Atlas/Seaboard Comics\' creator-friendly policies and other factors, helped lead to the modern industry\'s standard practice of returning original artwork to the artist, who can earn additional income from art sales to collectors. He won his battle in 1987, when Marvel returned original artwork to him and industry legend Jack Kirby, among others. Adams notably and vocally helped lead the lobbying efforts that resulted in Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster receiving decades-overdue credit and some financial remuneration from DC.

Awards:

Eisner Award\'s Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1998,

Harvey Awards\' Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1999.

Website: http://nealadams.com/

Neal Adams History of American Illustration