I enjoy the work of Dick Sprang and I'd like to investigate his non-Batman work. I know he occasionaly drew some Superman strips to in World's Finest (and possibly elsewhere), but did he do anything that was non Batman related?

 

Are there many comics artists who only seemed to work on one character in their career?

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  • There's not much non-Batman work to investigate, according to the Grand Comic Base. He started out in comics doing a strip called Power Nelson for Prize Comics #1-6 in 1940, but the rest of his comics work seems to be pretty much Batman related. You can see the rundown here:

    http://www.comics.org/penciller/name/Dick%20Sprang/sort/chrono/?pen...

    He might have other 1940s work that wasn't credited and hasn't been identified, but it looks like once he started working with Bob Kane, that kept him pretty busy.

    I don't know of any artists who drew one character quite so exclusively. Will Eisner mostly did the Spirit, but not exclusively. There aren't many characters who could keep an artist busy for their entire career. Even Joe Shuster did Dr. Occult, Radio Squad, Slam Bradley and Funnyman, among some others.

    -- MSA

     

     

  • He was the main artist on the Superman/Batman feature in World's Finest from #78 (1955) to #119 (1961). There were some instalments by others during this run after #108, and three more by Sprang after #119. Superman stories by Sprang are mentioned here and here.

     

    Apparently he also did a few stories for Real Fact Comics.

  • Mister Silver Age wrote: "I don't know of any artists who drew one character quite so exclusively."

     

    Just out of curiosity, what about Wayne Boring (sp?) and Al Plastino in regards to Superman?

  • According to the GCD, Boring also drew covers and stories for Novelty Press in the 40s, including "Blue Bolt the American" stories (and a "Rick Richards" tale) in Blue Bolt, and "Toni Gayle" stories (and a couple of "Dr. Drew the Zoo Man" tales) in Young King Cole. Some of these were signed "Jack Harmon". I checked out a couple of the "Blue Bolt" stories. These aren't drawn in the same style as his 50s Superman tales, but I could see evidence that the artist was the Boring in the second one I looked at, from Blue Bolt v.8 #11.

     

    The GCD also credits the "Federal Men" instalments in Adventure Comics ##42-43 (1939) to Boring, and a four page comedic story in Astonishing #4 (1951). The former assignment was presumably connected to his time in Shuster's studio. The latter assignment could mean he drew further stories for Marvel in the early 50s that the GCD doesn't currently list.

     

    In the 70s he drew some comics for Marvel. According to the GCD these included most of the "Gulliver Jones" instalment in Creatures on the Loose #19, Captain Marvel ##22-24 and Thor #289. In the 80s he did All-Star Squadron #64 and a few pages for All-Star Squadron Annual #3 (and Secret Origins #1, featuring the Golden Age Superman).

     

    He also did newspaper strip work in the 60s and 70s (having earlier drawn the Superman newspaper strip).

      

  • Dandy's original question as stated was:

     

    Are there many comics artists who only seemed to work on one character in their career?

     

    I'd say Wayne Boring definitely counts. Every artist is going to have a few other credits on their resume, but if 90-99% of their work is on a single character or title, I'd say that fits Dandy's criterion. And clearly the vast majority of Boring's work was on Superman. (That Gullivar Jones story, by the way, is definitely worth checking out; in fact, I'd highly recommend the entire run of that undeservedly short-lived feature.)

     

    I don't know what all else Plastino may have done, but all I've ever seen is his Superman work, so he probably counts, too.

     

    I'd also nominate H.G. Peter. I've seen examples of a few other things he's done, but in comic books, once he picked up the Wonder Woman assignment, that seems to have been his main artistic focus right up till the day he died.

     

    And what about Dave Sim?

  • "Seem to have worked on one character" is different from being defined by that character, though. Sprang pretty much did only Batman-related stories except for a handful early on (at least that anyone knows). Boring did enough other work that I don't know that he qualifies, but that of course is up to whoever wants to define it and whether any of it involved a character. He may have drawn lots of stories but no other characters of note.

    H.G. Peter is probably a good bet to be similar to Sprang. I sure don't know of other work he was doing, and it would stand out, I think. The problem with the GA guys is that they usually don't have any credits, and their style may have evolved or they used different ones to even hide who they were.

    Dave Sim, again, is certainly known for Cerebus, but he hasn't done that for some time and is now doing another comic of his own. Certainly, at some point, unless he stops drawing, he'll do enough other work that he wouldn't count, since I don't think he's going back to Cerebus. But, again, if none of the other work includes on-going characters of any note, he may qualify.

    I have a soft spot for Plastino (probably in my head), because his was the first Superman work I ever saw, and I just loved Superman, so therefore I loved his artist. I saw Boring shortly afterward and liked it almost as much. Plastino seems to have done a lot of other stuff for DC, but it was all one-page things, according to the GCD. It adds up to a fair number of pages, but its not character-driven. So he may be another who is defined strictly by one character.

    -- MSA

  • The GCD also lists Plastino as having done stories for Dynamic Publications, and covers and a couple of stories for Novelty. His newspaper strip work includes a run on the Batman newspaper strip (in 1965-72, according to Wikipedia). His one page stories include ads.

     

    Peter also did Fearless Flint and Man O'Metal stories for Eastern Color. They're basically the same character: Flint would briefly change into a fiery Flint form, and O'Metal into a metal one. I think Peter had had a career as an illustrator or cartoonist before he did Wonder Woman.

     

    The "Johnny Blair in the Air" instalment in Captain Midnight #55 reminded me of Peter. My theory is it was drawn or co-drawn by one of his assistants.

     

    Speaking of Wonder Woman, this early drawing is interesting.

  • Out of curiousity, what about WRITERS and one specific title/character?

    While more modern possibilities might exist, given the nature of the comic book industry in the Golden Age, the only one I can come up with is Charles Moulton/William Moulton Marston on Wonder Woman.

  • Writers are far tougher, both because they got even less credit than artists in the early days, so we don't know who did what, and scripts can be written faster than drawn. So an artist may be able to keep busy penciling one character, but writers have a harder time doing that.

    Even then, few characters have so many stories they can take up someone's entire time, unless they're doing other artwork or writing too. 

    Chuck Cuidera might come close as another artist known for one character, but he also did some early Blue Beetle, which is more than Sprang did.

    Of course, Bob Kane is known for one character, but he did lots of little-known stuff before 1939.

    -- MSA

  • Many newspaper strip creators worked or have worked on the same strip for decades. Most of the ones who leap to mind worked on other strips at some point, though.

     

    I would think there must be creators who didn't stick with the comic book industry long enough to work on more than one feature.

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