Marc Swayze

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Marc Swayze was an American comic book artist from 1941-53 for Fawcett Publications. He is best known for his work on Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family during the Golden Age of comic books for Fawcett Comics, and is the co-creator of Mary Marvel with writer Otto Binder. The very first Mary Marvel character sketches came from Swayze's drawing table, and he illustrated her earliest adventures, including the classic origin story, "Captain Marvel Introduces Mary Marvel" (Captain Marvel Adventures #18, Dec. '42). He was hired primarily by Fawcett to illustrate Captain Marvel stories and covers for Whiz Comics and Captain Marvel Adventures. He also wrote many Captain Marvel scripts, and continued to do so while in the military. After leaving the service in 1944, he made an arrangement with Fawcett to produce art and stories for them on a freelance basis out of his Monroe, Louisiana home. There he created both art and story for The Phantom Eagle in Wow Comics, in addition to drawing the Flyin' Jenny newspaper strip for Bell Syndicate (created by his friend and mentor Russell Keaton). After the cancellation of Wow, Swayze produced artwork for Fawcett's top-selling line of romance comics, including Sweethearts and Life Story. After the company ceased publishing comics, Swayze moved over to Charlton Publications, where he ended his comics career in the mid-50's. An oil painter, musician, and former minor league baseball player, Swayze now writes a column containing his professional memoirs, which has been a favorite in Alter Ego magazine since 1996.