Neal Adams (June 15, 1941 – April 28, 2022) was born on Governors Island in New York City. His father was in the US Military so Neal found himself growing up in a variety of locations in the United States and Europe. He attended and graduated the School of Industrial Art high school in Manhattan graduating in 1959. Immediately seeking work at DC Comics he was initially rejected which lead him to Archie Comics where he hoped to work on their Superhero line under the editorial direction of Joe Simon. Simon failed to warm to Adam’s work but the editors of their humor line encouraged him to do some samples for them where he was eventually hired to provide gag strips for Archie’s Joke Book.
His first published work was a single panel he had drawn for his Fly sample, it was cut out and used in ADVENTURES OF THE FLY #4 (Jan 1960). Continuing on the humor strips Adams eventually also took on an assistants job with artist Howard Nostrand to work on the BAT MASTERSON comic strip doing backgrounds and inking which Adams considered a valuable apprenticeship. After a falling out with Archie Comics Adams replaced that missing income with commercial art and advertising work. His specialty was comic book styled advertising which was frequently used in the early 60s.
In 1962 Adams began drawing the Ben Casey comic strip which was based on the popular TV show of the time with the first daily strip bearing his name appearing Nov 26, 1962. In 1964 a color Sunday strip was added which Adams also produced all the while maintaining his work in advertising because his family “wasn’t wealthy and needed the money”. Over the years Adams has claimed the strip ran in anywhere from 165 to 365 daily newspapers before coming to an end when the series was cancelled in 1966.
Adams was hired by Warren Publishing editor Archie Goodwin to work on EERIE and CREEPY Magazines which were big sellers in their black and white line with his first work there being CREEPY #14 (Curse of the Vampire Apr 67) and EERIE #9 (May 67) and at this point he again sought work at DC Comics where he found work on their War Books, despite his opposition to the Vietnam War he made his debut in OUR ARMY AT WAR #182 (Jul 67) and took his samples to Batman editor Julie Schwartz who rejected his work which lead him to approach BRAVE AND THE BOLD editor Murray Boltinoff in the hopes that he could work on the Batman feature in that book, instead Boltinoff assigned him ADVENTURES OF JERRY LEWIS #101 (Jul 67) as well as ADVENTURES OF BOB HOPE.
Adams still had hopes to work on superhero titles and eventually he was assigned the cover of ACTION COMICS #356 (Nov 67) but his first full superhero story published by DC Comics was The Elongated Man feature in DETECTIVE COMICS #369 (Nov 67) while his first Batman cover was for BRAVE AND THE BOLD #75 (Jan 68) and his first published Batman story was “The Superman-Batman Revenge Squads” in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #175 (May 68).
Adams work gained popularity and he soon worked for both Marvel and DC Comics igniting such titles as THE AVENGERS, GREEN LANTERN/GREEN ARROW, SUPERMAN, HOUSE OF MYSTERY and along with writer Denny O’Neil he returned Batman to his darker roots in the pages of both BATMAN and DETECTIVE COMICS. His final major work was the treasure edition SUPERMAN VS MUHAMMAD ALI (1978) which Adams himself dubbed “the greatest comic book or graphic novel ever done.” before opening his own studio, Continuity Associates where he produced advertising and comic book work independently.
In the mid-70s Adams was essential, along with National Cartoonists Society President and former Batman artist Jerry Robinson, to make public the shameful treatment of Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster when the DC Comics parent company Warner Bros began work on a big budget SUPERMAN movie which would eventually star Christopher Reeve and Marlon Brando. The pair were successful in getting Superman’s creators a pension and credit for the creation of the Man of Steel.
Adams was a staple at comic conventions for many years, often occupying 6-8 tables with a massive display of his work where he charged fans to sign his work much the same way TV and Movie celebrities do at the same shows.
Adams continued working into his late 70s with the critically panned BATMAN ODYSSEY and it’s various sequels which still found sales thanks to his decades worth of fans who supported it even if the writing was ham-handed.
Adams was known for having a massive ego but he could also show kindness, in one example he drew a Batman story for Marv Wolfman with no pay when the writer was trying to break into DC Comics, and in another more personal story he once did a portfolio review for me which lead to him introducing me to editor Archie Goodwin.
His work influenced hundreds of other comic book artists and he remains one of the big names of comic book history.
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