C. C. Beck
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| C. C. Beck | |
 C. C. Beck in 1982 |
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| Birth name | Charles Clarence Beck |
| Born | June 8, 1910 Zumbrota, Minnesota |
| Died | November 22, 1989 (aged 79) Gainesville, Florida |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Penciller |
| Notable works | Captain Marvel |
Charles Clarence Beck (June 8, 1910-November 22, 1989), was an American cartoonist and comic book artist, best known for his work on Captain Marvel.
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[edit] Biography
C. C. Beck was born on June 8, 1910 in Zumbrota, Minnesota. He studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and the University of Minnesota after completing an art correspondence course. In 1933, he joined Fawcett Publications as a staff artist.
[edit] Captain Marvel
While working for Fawcett, Beck created pulp magazines. When the company began producing comic books in autumn 1939, Beck was assigned to draw a character created by writer Bill Parker called "Captain Thunder". Before the first issue of Whiz Comics came out, the character's name was changed to Captain Marvel. Besides Captain Marvel, Beck also drew other Fawcett series, including the adventures of Spy Smasher and Ibis the Invincible.
His early Captain Marvel stories set the style for the series. Beck favored a cartoony versus realistic rendering of character and setting, which also came to be reflected in the whimsical scripting (by Otto Binder and others). The Captain Marvel stories boasted a clean style which facilitated Beck's assistants and other Fawcett artists emulating Beck's style (one exception was Mac Raboy whose work on Captain Marvel, Jr. was more in the style of Alex Raymond).
The popularity of Captain Marvel allowed Fawcett to produce a number of spin-off comic books and Beck to open his own New York City comics studio in 1941. He later expanded his studio, adding one in Englewood, New Jersey. In this capacity Beck oversaw most of the artwork in the Marvel Family line of comics and ensured they adhered to the style he originated. They also did commercial art, most prominently a series of advertisements in comic strip form starring Captain Tootsie promoting Tootsie Roll. Done in the style of the Marvel Family books and similarly whimsical (this Captain had a large T on his shirt instead of a lightning bolt), the ads appeared in comic books (published by both Fawcett and its rivals) and in Sunday comic strip sections of newspapers.
After years of litigation due to a suit lodged by DC Comics against Fawcett for copyright infringement claiming that Captain Marvel was a copy of Superman, Fawcett in the early 1950s (partly in response to flagging sales) reached a settlement with DC in which it agreed to discontinue its comic line.
[edit] Later work
After Fawcett Comics folded, Beck produced infrequent work for comics, a few issues for the short lived Milson Publications in 1966 and a handful of issues of the new revival of Captain Marvel entitled Shazam!, ironically published by DC comics, in 1973 (Beck illustrated only the first 10 issues of the series before leaving due to "creative differences" regarding plotlines). In 1967 Beck created a new character named Fatman the Human Flying Saucer that appeared in three comic books. This character was almost the inverse of Captain Marvel in appearance and coloration, but with very different powers. Beck later relocated to Florida where, in his retirement, he produced a regular opinion column for The Comics Journal entitled "The Crusty Curmudgeon". One of his chief topics was his objections to what he saw as the growing realism in comics art (versus the simpler style he had employed). Some see him prefiguring the exaggerated style most associated with Image Comics.
In the 1980s, until he died, C. C. Beck published a newsletter called FCA/SOB, which stood for Fawcett Collectors of America/Some Opinionated Bastards (the latter phrase humorously referring to himself).
He died in Gainesville, Florida of a renal ailment.
[edit] Trivia
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Beck in his interview with Tom Heintjes published in Hogan's Alley #3 states he only scripted one Captain Marvel story, involving a visit to a Mayan temple.
[edit] Awards
He was recognized for his work with formal nomination as a finalist for the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1990, and induction in 1997. He was also inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame in 1993.
