Murphy Anderson (born July 9, 1926) is an American comic book artist, known as one of the premier inkers of his era, who has worked for companies such as DC Comics for over fifty years, starting in the Golden Age of Comic Books in the 1940s. He has worked on such characters as Hawkman, Batgirl, Zatanna and the Spectre, as well as on the Buck Rogers daily syndicated newspaper comic strip. Anderson also contributed for many years to PS, the preventive maintenance comics magazine of the U.S. Army.
Career
Murphy Anderson was born in 1926 in Asheville, North Carolina. He entered the comic book industry in 1944 drawing the "Suicide Smith", "Sky Rangers", and "Star Pirate" features for Fiction House. From 1947 to 1949, Anderson was the artist on the Buck Rogers comic book series. During the 1950s, Anderson worked for several publishers including Pines Comics, Marvel Comics, St. John Publications, Ziff Davis, and DC Comics.
The Strange Adventures series was home to one of the last superheroes of the pre-Silver Age of Comic Books era, Captain Comet, created by writer John Broome and artist Carmine Infantino in issue #9. Anderson became the artist of the "Captain Comet" feature with the story "The Girl from the Diamond Planet" story in issue #12 (Sept. 1951). A combination of the "Captain Comet" feature with the "gorilla craze" was presented in issue #39 (December 1953). Another Strange Adventures feature drawn by Anderson was the Atomic Knights which debuted in issue #117 (June 1960) and which Anderson later described as his favorite assignment. Anderson and writer Gardner Fox launched the Hawkman series in May 1964 and introduced the Zatanna character in issue #4 (Nov. 1964). Comics historian Les Daniels noted that "Hawkman really took off when artist Murphy Anderson took over...Anderson came into his own with his elegantly ornamental version of the Winged Wonder." The Spectre was revived by Fox and Anderson in Showcase #60 (Feb. 1966) and was given his own series in December 1967.
As an inker, Anderson designed the costume of Adam Strange With his frequent collaborator, penciler Curt Swan, the pair's artwork on Superman and Action Comics in the 1970s came to be called "Swanderson" by the fans. He often hide his initials somewhere within the stories he inked. In the early 1970s, DC assigned Anderson, among other artists, to redraw the heads of Jack Kirby's renditions of Superman and Jimmy Olsen, fearing Kirby's versions were too different from the established images of the characters. In 1973, he established Murphy Anderson Visual Concepts, which provided color separations and lettering for comic books.
Awards
Anderson's accolades include the 1962 Alley Award for "Best Inker"; a 1963 Alley for "Artist Preferred on Justice League of America"; 1964 Alleys for "Best Inking Artist" and for "Best Comic Book Cover" (Detective Comics #329, with penciler Carmine Infantino); 1965 Alleys for, again, "Best Inking Artist" and "Best Comic Book Cover" (The Brave and the Bold #61), as well as for "Best Novel" (an untitled story in Showcase #55, with writer Gardner Fox).
Anderson was inducted into the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1998 and the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 1999.
In 2013, Anderson was inducted into the Inkwell Awards Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame.
Bibliography
Comics work includes:
Aardvark-Vanaheim
- Cerebus Jam #1 (1985)
Aida-Zee Comics
- Aida-Zee #1 (inker, assisted by Dan Zolnerowich, and color separations)(1990)
Comico Comics
- Jonny Quest #9 (1987)
DC Comics
- Action Comics #379, 393-424, 426-428, 430-433, 485, 544, 600, 700 (inker) (1969-1994)
- Action Comics Weekly #613-641 (inker) (1988-1989)
- Adventure Comics #383, 453 (inker) (1969-1977)
- The Atom #1-11, 13 (inker) (1962-1964)
- The Atom and Hawkman #39-41, 43-44 (1968â€"69)
- Batman #254 (inker) (1974)
- The Brave and the Bold #28, 47 (inker); #61-62 (1960-1965)
- DC Comics Presents #5, 8; #67-68, 95 (inker) (1979-1986)
- DC Special Series #11 (inker) (1978)
- DC Super Stars #12 (inker) (1977)
- Detective Comics (Elongated Man) #357, 359-360, 377; (Batgirl) #384-385, 388-389, 392-393, 396-397 (inker); (Robin) #390-391, 394-395 (inker); (Batman) #431-432 (inker) (Jason Bard) #431, 433 (inker); (the Atom) #432 (1973); (Hawkman) 480 (1966â€"1978)
- Falling In Love #118 (1970)
- The Flash #110-111, 114-115, 117-119, 121, 148-150, 152, 195, 200-204, 206-208 (inker) (1959-1971)
- Girls' Love Stories #150 (inker) (1970)
- Girls' Romances #149, 151 (1970)
- Green Lantern #1, 4, 9-10, 16, 21, 71, 73-74, 137 (inker) (1960-1981)
- Hawkman #1-21 (1964â€"1967)
- Heroes Against Hunger #1 (inker) (1986)
- House of Mystery #37; #198, 212, 302 (inker) (1955-1982)
- House of Secrets #91 (1971)
- Korak, Son of Tarzan #52-56 (1973â€"1974)
- My Greatest Adventure #42 (1960)
- Mystery in Space #2, 4, 7-17, 45-48; (Adam Strange) #56-59, 61-70, 72, 74-83, 85, 87-91 (inker) (1951-1964)
- The New Teen Titans vol. 2 #15 (inker) (1985)
- Our Army at War #28, 31 (1954-1955)
- Phantom Stranger #1, 4-6 (1952-1953)
- Phantom Stranger vol. 2 #4-5 (1969-1970)
- Secret Origins (Doll Man) #8; (Uncle Sam) #19; (Black Condor) #21 (1986â€"1987)
- Showcase (the Atom) #34-36 (inker); (I-Spy) #50 (inker); (Doctor Fate) #55-56; (Spectre) #60-61, 64 (1965â€"66)
- Spectre #1; 6-8 (inker) (1967-1969)
- Strange Adventures #9-11, 44, 53, 55, 94, 96, 99, 111, 115, 119, 121-122, 124-125, 127-128, 130-131, 133, 13-137, 139-140, 142-143, 145-146, 148-149, 151-152, 154-155, 159, 161-163, 227; (Captain Comet) #12-44; (Atomic Knights) #117, 120, 123, 126, 129, 132, 135, 138, 141, 144, 147, 150, 153, 156, 160; (Adam Strange) #222, 226 (1951-1970)
- Superboy #167-172, 175-184, 186-195, 197 (inker) (1970-1973)
- Superman #233-238, 241-244, 246-251, 253-270, 411, Annual #10 (inker); (Fabulous World of Krypton) #233; (Private Life of Clark Kent) #270 (1970â€"1985)
- The Superman Family #186 (inker) (1977)
- Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen (full art) #129-130, 132; (Superman and Jimmy Olsen heads re-drawn over Jack Kirby layouts) #136-139, 141-145, 148 (1969â€"1972)
- Superman: The Wedding Album #1 (inker) (1996)
- Tales of the Unexpected #50 (1960)
- Tarzan (backup stories) #207, 209, 217-218 (1972â€"1973)
- The Unexpected #118-119, 122, 208 (1970-1981)
- Weird Worlds (John Carter of Mars) #1-3 (1972â€"1973)
- Witching Hour #38 (1974)
- World's Finest Comics (Tommy Tomorrow) #121-122; (Super-Sons) #216, 221 (inker); (Superman and Batman) #217, 220, 244-246, 256 (inker); (Hawkman) #256 (1961-1979)
Image Comics
- Shadowhawk #9 (1993)
Marvel Comics
- Suspense #7 (1951)
References
External links
- Murphy Anderson at the Comic Book DB
- Murphy Anderson at Mike's Amazing World of Comics
- Showcase #55: The Glory of Murphy Anderson
- Tribute website
