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| '''Carl Burgos''' (née Max Finkelstein, ], ], ], ]; died ]) was an ] ] and ] ] best known for creating the ] in '']'' #1 (Oct. 1939), during what historians and fans call the ]. | '''Carl Burgos''' (née Max Finkelstein, ], ], ], ]; died ]) was an ] ] and ] ] best known for creating the ] in '']'' #1 (Oct. 1939), during what historians and fans call the ]. He was inducted into comic book's ] in 1996. | ||
| ==Biography== | ==Biography== | ||
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| Marvel eventually revived Burgos' original Human Torch for present-day stories, starting with ''The Fantastic Four Annual'' #4 (Nov. 1966). That same year, Burgos created a short-lived character called ] (no relation to either the old ] superhero or to Marvel's ]) for Myron Fass' ]. | Marvel eventually revived Burgos' original Human Torch for present-day stories, starting with ''The Fantastic Four Annual'' #4 (Nov. 1966). That same year, Burgos created a short-lived character called ] (no relation to either the old ] superhero or to Marvel's ]) for Myron Fass' ]. | ||
| Burgos would serve as an editor in the 1970s for Fass' ] line of black-and-white, ]-comic magazines. He would later edit various magazines for ] before his death from ] |
Burgos would serve as an editor in the 1970s for Fass' ] line of black-and-white, ]-comic magazines. He would later edit various magazines for ] before his death from ]. | ||
| ==Quotes== | ==Quotes== | ||
Revision as of 21:31, 18 October 2006
Carl Burgos (née Max Finkelstein, April 18, 1916, New York City, New York; died 1984) was an American comic book and advertising artist best known for creating the original Human Torch in Marvel Comics #1 (Oct. 1939), during what historians and fans call the Golden Age of comic books. He was inducted into comic book's Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1996.
Biography
Early career
Carl Burgos studied at the National Academy of Design in Manhattan, and in 1938 joinged the studio of the quirkily named Harry "A" Chesler, founder of one of that era's comic-book "packagers" who created comics on demand for publishers looking to enter the new medium. Among Burgos' first works was the short-lived syndicated comic strip Air-Sub DX in 1939. At roughly the same time, even before creating the android Human Torch, Burgos created the robot hero The Iron Skull in Centaur Publishing's Amazing-Man Comics #5 (Sept. 1939).
Burgos and others then followed Centaur art director Lloyd Jacquet to Jacquet's own newly formed packager, Funnies, Inc.. That company's first sale was to publisher Martin Goodman's equally new ], the predecessor of Marvel Comics, supplying the contents of Marvel Comics #1 (Oct. 1939). That landmark issue included not only writer-artist Burgos' Human Torch but also Bill Everett's hit character the Sub-Mariner. A painted cover by veteran science-fiction pulp artist Frank R. Paul featured the Torch.
Burgos' character proved a hit, and quickly went on to headline one of comics' first single-character titles, The Human Torch (premiering fall 1940 with no cover date and as issue #2, having taken over the numbering from the single-issue Red Raven).
Atlas and the 1950s
Following his World War II military service, Burgos left comics as a full-time career and concentrated on advertising and commercial art for the next quarter-century, though continuing to do occasional comics work. Most prominently, in 1953-54, Burgos draw Human Torch stories and five dramatic, dynamically designed and detailed covers for Young Men #24-28 (Dec. 1953 - June 1954), in which Atlas Comics, the 1950s iteration of Marvel, attempted to revive the dormant superhero field with the Torch, the Sub-Mariner, and Captain America.
Burgos during also contributed to the Atlas humor comics Crazy, Wild and Riot, its Western comic Annie Oakley, and its science-fiction/horror anthologies, including Astonishing, Journey Into Unknown Worlds, Strange Stories of Suspense and Strange Tales of the Unusual. He did humor for Pierce Publishing's Frantic, Satire Publications' Loco, and Major Magazines' Cracked during 1958-59, as well as layout art for the MLJ/Archie Comics series The Adventures of The Fly and The Double Life of Private Strong. He also provided illustrations for Marvel publisher Martin Goodman's pulp magazines, including Marvel Science Stories and Western Magazine in the 1950s.
During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Burgos worked for the Pro-Art Company and later for the Belwin Company, where he drew covers for sheet-music books, sometimes assisted by Susan Burgos, one of his two daughters. He also worked for a greeting-card company.
Silver Age and afterward
In the mid-1960s, Burgos pursued a lawsuit against Marvel to assert ownership of the Human Torch, whose name and superpowers had been used for The Fantastic Four's Johnny Storm since 1961, but little, if anything, came of this legal action. Burgos nonetheless contributed art to a Johnny Storm Human Torch story in Strange Tales #123 (Aug. 1964), as well as to three Giant-Man stories in Tales to Astonish #62-64 (Dec. 1964-Feb. 1965). Burgos drew himself and writer-editor Stan Lee into the final panel of the Torch story, with Lee adding the avuncular dialog:
Stan (referring to the Torch and the Thing): "There go the greatest guys in the world, Carl."
Carl: "Aw, you're just prejudiced, Stan."
Marvel eventually revived Burgos' original Human Torch for present-day stories, starting with The Fantastic Four Annual #4 (Nov. 1966). That same year, Burgos created a short-lived character called Captain Marvel (no relation to either the old Fawcett Comics superhero or to Marvel's Captain Marvel) for Myron Fass' M.F. Enterprises.
Burgos would serve as an editor in the 1970s for Fass' Eerie Publications line of black-and-white, horror-comic magazines. He would later edit various magazines for Harris Publications before his death from colon cancer.
Quotes
Fred Hembeck recalling his childhood purchase of Strange Tales #123: "I found my attention drawn to a longish line of copy located in one of the credit boxes. It read, 'Illustrated by Carl Burgos (who was the first to draw the Torch way back in the Golden Age of Comics!).' Well, there you go — I'm sold yet AGAIN!! Because in a time when the oldest archival material being reprinted by either Marvel or DC came from the mid-to-late fifties ... ANYTHING that was somehow connected to that mysterious and majestic era when the original pantheon of colorfully costumed superheroes was born had my full and complete attention!"
Footnotes
- Interview with daughter Susan Burgos, Alter Ego #49, June 2005, "The Privacy Act of Carl Burgos", p. 9: "I know he had a lawsuit against Marvel Comics. ... I do know that he went to see a lawyer. I assume it was about getting the rights to the Human Torch, and I read in Alter Ego that they settled out of court. I'm sure that's what happened the day he threw away . I have no idea how it was settled or even if it went to court, though I don't think it did"
- Hembeck.com: Classic Cover Redos — Strange Tales #123
References
- The Lambiek Comiclopedia: Carl Burgos
- The Timely Comics Story
- Michigan State University Libraries, Special Collections Division, Reading Room Index to the Comic Art Collection: "Bureau" to "Buriko" and "Human Tank" to "Human Zeros"
- Oddball Comics
- Artist Biographies Note: Birthdate given is contradicted by daughter Susan Burgos (see Footnotes, above)
- Don Markstein's Toonopedia: The Human Torch
- Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Captain Marvel