The Late Great Neal Adams

The first comic book I can remember reading was Batman no. 234 (August 1971). The main story in that issue was "Half an Evil." Although I didn't know it at the time, it was historic as the first appearance of the villain Two-Face since 1954.  Both the cover of Batman no. 234 and the story "Half an Evil" were pencilled by Neal Adams. Over the next several years I would read several comic books featuring art by Neal Adams, everything from Batman to Green Lantern. He would ultimately become one of my favourite comic book artists, if not my favourite. Sadly, Neal Adams died yesterday, April 28 2022, at the age of 80. According to his wife Marilyn Adams, the cause was complications from sepsis.

Neal Adams was born on June 15 1941 in New York City. His father was in  the military, and so he spent much of his childhood on various U.S. Army bases. Neal Adams attended the School of Industrial Art in Manhattan and graduated in 1959. He submitted work to National Periodical Publications (the company then known informally and now known formally as DC Comics), but was continuously rejected). He found work at Archie Comics, drawing gag fillers for Archie's Joke Book Magazine. In the late Fifties he also worked as an assistant to cartoonist Howard Nostrand on the Bat Masterson newspaper strip for three months.

Neal Adams began the Sixties providing commercial art for the advertising industry. After freelancing for a time, he found work at the Johnstone and Cushing agency, an agency that specialized in comic strip style advertisements. In 1962 Mr. Adams went to work on the Ben Casey newspaper strip, remaining with the strip's 3 1/2 year run. For a few weeks in 1966 Neal Adams was a ghost artist on the hard boiled detective comic strip Peter Scratch. The following year he found work at Warren Publishing, providing art for their magazines Creepy and Eerie.

It was also in 1967 that Neal Adams finally found work at DC Comics. His first work was a penciller on the story "It's My Turn to Die" in the anthology title Our Army at War no. 182 (July 1967). That same year he also worked on DC's The Adventures of Bob Hope and The Adventures of Jerry Lewis. In 1967 he also did artwork for Star Spangled War Stories and a back-up story featuring the Elongated Man for Detective Comics no. 369 (November 1967). It was with Strange Adventures no. 206 (November 1967) that he began providing art for the "Deadman" feature. His cover for Strange Adventures no. 207 (December 1967) won the Alley Award for Best Cover. Neal Adams would continue drawing Deadman in Strange Adventures into 1969. In 1969, 1970, and 1971 he also did artwork for House of Mystery, Phantom Stranger, Teen Titans, Hot Wheels, Deadman back-up stories in Aquaman, Challengers of the Unknown, Witching Hour, and Justice League of America.

It was with The Brave and the Bold no. 79 (November 1968) that Neal Adams first worked on the character with whom he is most associated, Batman. He continued to work on The Brave and the Bold until issue no. 86 (September 1969). That issue featured the first appearance of Green Arrow's new costume, as well as the first time he wore a goatee. Neal Adams's work on The Brave and the Bold was the first step towards the revamp of the character that he would undertake with writer Denny O'Neil. In the stories Mr. Adams drew for The Brave and the Bold, scenes were often set at night and Batman was drawn more realistically and less cartoony than he had been before.

Neal Adams would again make history when he was teamed with Dennis O'Neil to write the "Batman" feature in Detective Comics no.395 (January 1970). Together Neal Adams and Dennis O'Neil took Batman away from the camp flavour that had developed with the TV show in 1966 and closer to the dark night avenger he had originally been. It was with Detective Comics no. 411 (May 1971) that they introduced Talia al Ghul. Her father, Ra's al Ghul, would be introduced in Batman no. 232 (June 1971). The two would soon number among Batman's most frequently featured foes. It was in "Half an Evil" in Batman no. 234 (August 1971) that they revived the Golden Age villain Two-Face after he had not appeared since 1954. With "The Joker's Five-Way Revenge!" in Batman #251 (Sept. 1973) they returned The Joker to the homicidal psychopath he had originally been.

Batman would not be the only character that Neal Adams and Dennis O'Neil revamped. Beginning with Green Lantern vol. 2 no. 76 (April 1970), they also revamped Green Lantern. The two of them teamed Green Lantern up with Green Arrow, the latter who would serve as the voice of the counter culture. Messrs. Adams and O'Neil's run on Green Lantern was characterised by stories that dealt with current issues. For example, Green Lantern no. 85-86 featured a two part story in which Green Arrow's former sidekick Speedy has become addicted to heroin. During their run they deal with such issues as racism, overpopulation, and pollution. Unfortunately, sales for Green Lantern were not particularly good and the series was cancelled with no. 88 (March 1972). The remaining stories of Neal Adams and Denny O'Neil's run on Green Lantern were published as backup stories in The Flash no. 217-219.

While Neal Adams was working at DC, he also did work for other companies. At Marvel, he provided artwork for X-Men no. 56-63 and no. 65 (February 1970). He also worked on Thor no. 180-181 (1970), Amazing Adventures no. 5-8 (1971), and The Avengers no. 93-96 (1971-1972). While working at DC he continued to occasionally work on Warren Publishing's Creepy and he worked on Vampirella no. 1 (September 1969).

It was while he was working for DC Comics that he also founded Continuity Associates with  Dick Giordano in 1971. Continuity Associates is an art and illustration studio originally based in New York City, but later expanding to Los Angeles, that originally produced advertising art and storyboards for motion pictures. While continuing to produce advertising art and storyboards for movies, Continuity Associates later became an art packager for such comic book publishers as Charlton and Marvel.

After the founding of Continuity Associates in 1971 and the cancellation of Green Lantern in 1972, Neal Adams's work for DC and comic books in general became more sporadic. /He continued work on Batman through 1974. He would do later work on the character, including the mini-series Batman Odyssey in 2010 and 2011, Batman Odyssey Vol 2 in 2011 and 2012, Batman Black and White, vol. 2, no. 1 in 2013, and the mini-series Batman vs. Ra's al Ghul from 2019 to 2021. In 1972 he illustrated El Diablo stories for Weird Western Tales and the artwork for the story "The Private Life of Clark Kent" in Superman no. 254. He did a Human Target back up story in Action Comics no. 425 in 1973. He worked on House of Mystery no. 228 in 1975. Neal Adams illustrated public service pages for Justice Includes All Children in 1976. He was the artist for Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali in 1978. He provided art for Detective Comics Vol. 2, no. 27 in 2014.  He did a story for Harley's Little Black Book in 2016 and that same year provided art for the miniseries Superman: The Coming of the Supermen. He provided art for The Kamandi Challenge no. 2 in 2017. From 2017 to 2018 he was the artist on the Deadman miniseries. He also did some more work for Marvel, including Amazing Adventures in 1973, Dracula Lives no. 2 in 1973, Monsters Unleashed no. 3 in 1973, Conan the Barbarian no. 37 in 1974, The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu in 1974, Savage Tales no. 4 in 1974, Savage Sword of Conan in 1976, Crazy no 2 in 1974, Kull and the Barbarians no. 2 in 1975, Epic Illustrated no. 7 in 1981, X-Men Giant-Size No. 3 in 2005, Young Avengers no. 3 in 2005, New Avengers, vol. 2, no. 16 in 2011, First X-Men no. 15 from 2012 to 2013, and Fantastic Four: Antithesis #1–4 in 2020. He also did some work for Charlton, including Emergency! and The Six Million Dollar Man in 1976. From the Seventies to the Teens he would do occasional work for publishers from Atlas/Seaboard to Dark Horse to DIW.

In addition to his work on comic books, he also did cover art for Ballantine Book's reprints of the Tarzan novels in the Seventies.

In 1984 Neal Adams formed Continuity Comics. Besides Neal Adams, the company also published work by such creators as Vincente Alazar, Dan Barry, Esteban Maroto, Bart Sears, and others. The company lasted until 1994.

Neal Adams was a vocal advocate for the rights of creators. As early as 1970 he attempted to unionize the industry. He was among the first to champion the return of original artwork to the artist, which would become an industry standard. In 1978 along with several others, he formed  the Comics Creators Guild, an attempt at a union for comic book creators. Ultimately, the Comics Creators Guild failed. Neal Adams was among those who lobbied for Superman creators to receive financial remuneration and credit as the creator of the character from DC Comics.

Neal Adams was among the most influential comic books artists of all time, if not the most influential He was a mentor to both Frank Miller, Bill Sienkiewicz, and influenced such artists as John Byrne, Howard Chaykin,  Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, and Jim Starlin. As to why Neal Adams influenced so many artists, it is simply that he was one of the artists to bring the realism to the pages of comic book. Neal Adams's work was a sharp break from the cartoony styles that had dominated comic books during the Golden Age and even into the Silver Age. His artwork was realistic and very detailed, from human anatomy to guns and vehicles. At the same time his work was infused with an energy rarely seen even in superhero comic books. More so than any other artist, Neal Adams's art was filled with drama.

Of course, Neal Adams's impact went beyond his talent as an artist. With writer Dennis O'Neil, he returned Batman to his roots as a dark night avenger, setting the stage for everything from Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns to the "Dark Knight" film trilogy. Messrs. O'Neil and Adams also brought back Two-Face after a 17 year hiatus and took The Joker back to being the homicidal psychopath he had originally been. They also introduced such characters as Ra's al Ghul and his daughter Talia. With writer Frank Robbins, Neil Adams introduced the character of Man-Bat. While Dennis O'Neil revitalized Batman, they also brought relevance to the pages of Green Lantern, dealing with issues that had rarely, if ever, been addressed in comic books. It was in the pages of Green Lantern that Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams introduced DC's first Black superhero, the Green Lantern John Stewart. Neal Adam's achievements weren't limited to DC. When he was working on X-Men at Marvel, with Roy Thomas he introduced the character of Havok and brought back Magneto. While Neal Adams's run on X-Men would only last nine issues, it would have a lasting impact on the franchise.

Neal Adams revolutionized comic books to such a point that saying that comic books today would not be the same without him is not mere hyperbole. He brought realism to comic books, revitalized several characters, and introduced yet others. If both the comic book industry and comic book fans are mourning him so, it is because he was just that important.