Adrian Dingle (comic book artist)

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Adrian Dingle (1911-22 December 1974) was a painter whose career was based in Canada. He was also a creator of comic books during the 1940's.

Born John Adrian Darley Dingle in Barmouth, North Wales, he emigrated to Canada when he was three years old. He had settled in the Toronto region, building a house in Mississauga in the late 1940s, and working on a new house in Caledon prior to his death.

He began a career in art in the early 1930s. From August 1941 to 1947, he would author the comic book series Nelvana of the Northern Lights. Nelvana was the first Canadian superhero comic character whose debut was four months before that of Wonder Woman.

Another of Dingle's comic characters was The Penguin, another Canadian superhero distinct from the well-known nemesis of Batman. To avoid conflicts with Batman's publishers, this character was renamed The Blue Raven to allow efforts to reach an American audience. The Penguin premiered in 1943.

Nils Grant, Private Investigator was another of Dingle's comic creations.

At the end of the 1940s the comics industry in Canada became untenable. Dingle then turned his efforts towards other art forms such as illustrations for publications.

Dingle died at age 63 in Toronto at Wellesley Hospital due to complications from cancer treatment. He had three sons with his wife Patricia. He was posthumously inducted into the Joe Shuster Awards Hall of Fame in 2005.