Curt Swan
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| Curt Swan | |
| Birth name | Curtis D. Swan |
| Born | February 17, 1920 Willmar, Minnesota |
| Died | June 16, 1996 (aged 76) |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Penciller, Inker |
| Notable works | Superman |
Curtis D. Swan (February 17, 1920 in Willmar, Minnesota -June 16, 1996)[1] was an American comic book artist, best known for his work on the Superman comics spanning three decades.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life and career
Curt Swan, whose grandmother had shortened the original family name of Swanson, was the youngest of five children. Father John Swan worked for the railroads; mother Leotine Hanson had worked in a local hospital.
Drafted into the army in 1940, he spent World War II working on the G.I. magazine, Stars and Stripes. After returning to civilian life in 1945 he began working for DC Comics. After a stint on Boy Commandos he began to just pencil pages, leaving the inking to others.
[edit] Superman
He drew many different features including "Tommy Tomorrow" and "Gangbusters", but slowly began gravitating towards the Superman line of books including Superboy, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen and the "Legion of Super-Heroes" feature in Adventure Comics. He drew the daily newspaper comic strip Superman from the late 1950s until its demise in 1964.
Swan became the artist most associated with Superman during the period fans and historians call the Silver Age of comic books, producing hundreds of covers and stories from the 1950s through the 1980s. With his frequent inker Murphy Anderson, the pair's collaborative artwork came to be called "Swanderson" by the fans.
In the Superman-based television show, Smallville (TV Series), Christopher Reeve makes a guest-appearance in two episodes as character Virgil Swan, who knows all about Clark Kent and his origins. This could well be an allusion to Swan.
[edit] Later life and career
After DC's 1985 12-issue limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths and with the impending 1986 revision of Superman by writer and artist John Byrne, Swan was released from his duties on the Superman comics. His swan song on Superman was the non-canonical 1986 story "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?", written by Alan Moore. After this, Swan continued to do occasional minor projects for DC, including an Aquaman limited series and special in 1989, and various returns on illustrating Superman.
He was living in Wilton, Connecticut, at the time of his death. Issue 92 of the Legion of Super-heroes memorialized him with a cameo appearance as an art teacher.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Social Security Death Index gives June 17, 1996 as the date death was verified by a family member; verification date can be the same as the death date, or one or more days afterward.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- PaulGravett.com (tribute to Swan)
