Marie Severin

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Marie Severin

Born August 21, 1929 (1929-08-21) (age 78)
Nationality American
Area(s) Penciler, Inker, Colorist
Notable works Dr. Strange, Sub-Mariner, Hulk, Not Brand Echh
Awards 1974 Shazam Award: Best Penciller (Humor Division); Will Eisner Comics Hall of Fame, 2001

Marie Severin (born 21 August 1929, Oceanside, New York) is an American comic book artist and colorist best known as a pioneering woman in the field, and for her extensive work for Marvel Comics and the 1950s' EC Comics.

She was inducted into the Will Eisner Comics Hall of Fame in 2001. Her brother John Severin is also a well-regarded artist who has worked extensively for EC and Marvel.


Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life and career

Marie Severin grew up in an artistic household where her father, a World War I veteran, eventually became a designer for the fashion company Elizabeth Arden during the 1930s.[1] In her teens, Severin took "a couple of months" of cartooning and illustration classes, and attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York "for one day and said, 'This is a college', and I wanted to draw and make money".[1]

Severin was working on Wall Street when her comics-artist brother, John Severin, needed a colorist for his work at EC Comics.[1] Marie Severin's earliest recorded comic-book work is coloring EC Comics' A Moon, a Girl...Romance #9 (Oct. 1949). She would contribute across the company's line, including its war comics and its celebrated but notoriously graphic horror comics, for which she sometimes give especially gruesome panels a single color in order to tone down otherwise graphic scenes of gore.[2]

At EC, Severin worked on the comics' production end, as well as "doing little touch ups and stuff" on the art.[1] When EC ceased publication in the wake of the U.S. Senate hearings on the effects of comic books on children and the establishment of the Comics Code, Severin worked briefly for Marvel Comics' 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics, until an industry downturn circa 1957 prompted her to seek work with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. She recalled in 2001, "I did a little bit of everything for them — I did television graphics on economics [and] I did a lot of drawing. I did a[n educational] comic book that my brother did the finished art on ... about checks".[1]

[edit] Silver Age

Not Brand Echh #10 (Oct. 1968). Cover art by Marie Severin.
Not Brand Echh #10 (Oct. 1968). Cover art by Marie Severin.

In 1959,[3], when the industry had picked up again to during the period fans and historians call the Silver Age of comic books, Severin again worked for Marvel Comics in production. Severin recalled in 2001 that when Esquire magazine requested an artist to illustrate a story "on the college drug culture", Marvel production manager Sol Brodsky offered Severin rather than one of the regular artists, all on deadline. Her illustration for the magazine led to Marvel editor-in-chief Stan Lee assigning her to succeed character co-creator Steve Ditko on the feature "Doctor Strange" in Strange Tales.

Severin continued to expand from colorist to do penciling and inking, and occasionally also lettering, on various titles. She drew stories of the Sub-Mariner and the Hulk, and the covers or interiors of titles including The Amazing Spider-Man, Iron Man, Conan the Barbarian, Kull the Conqueror, The Cat, and Daredevil. Additionally, she worked on Marvel's satiric humor magazine Crazy, as well as the company's self-lampooning comic book, Not Brand Echh.

[edit] Later life and career

In the 1980s, Severin was assigned to Marvel's Special Projects division, which handled non-comic book licensing such as from toy maquettes, film and television tie-ins, and the short-lived children's book imprint, Marvel Books.[4]

During the 1990s, Severin penciled the "Impossible Tale" of the "Li'l Soulsearchers" in issue #31 (Aug. 1998) of Claypool Comics' superhero-humor comic Soulsearchers and Company, inked by fellow Silver Age veteran Jim Mooney; and she inked Dave Cockrum's penciling in issue #43 (July 2000). She also inked Richard Howell's pencils on the story "Favor of the Month" in Elvira #144 (April 2005).

Severin retired sometime afterward, but continued into the mid-2000s to make occasional contributions, such as recoloring many of the comics stories reprinted in the EC-era retrospective books B. Krigstein and B. Krigstein Comics. The former won both the Harvey and Eisner comic-industry awards in 2003.

On October 11, 2007, Severin suffered a stroke, and was taken to Huntington Hospital in Huntington, New York, on Long Island, to recover and recuperate.[5]

[edit] Personal

Aside from her brother, John Severin, other family members in publishing and entertainment fields include her niece, Ruth Larenas, a producer for Bubblehead Publishing.[6][7]

[edit] Awards and honors

Severin won the Best Penciller (Humor Division) Shazam Award in 1974. The following year, she was nominated for both Best Inker (Humor Division) and Best Colorist.

She spoke at a 1974 New York Comic Art Convention panel on the role of women in comics, alongside Flo Steinberg, Jean Thomas (sometime-collaborator with husband Roy Thomas), Linda Fite (writer of "The Claws of the Cat" and a few other Marvel titles) and fan representative Irene Vartanoff [8] She also participated in the Women of Comics Symposium at the 2006 Paradise Comics Toronto Comicon.

She won an Inkpot Award at the San Diego Comic Con in 1988.

Severin's work was among that included in the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art exhibition of women comic-book artists, "She Draws Comics", July to November 2006.[9]

[edit] Quotes

Gene Colan: "Marie Severin is one of the sweetest people I've ever known in comics. She's outgoing, warm and funny as can be. She treats her peers and fans with humor and respect".[10]

Stan Lee: "Calling Marie the best woman artist in the business is an injustice. Marie was one of the best artists in the business, period".[11]

Roy Thomas: "Marie Severin is a triple threat. She can color, she can draw superheroes, and she's all but incomparable at humor. She is, quite possibly, one of the most underrated people in the history of comics...."[11]

Artist Mark Sparacio: "I met Marie Severin up at the Marvel offices when I was 15. I had sent some drawings of some characters that I had worked up to the art editor and asked for an interview. I received a letter saying that they weren't interested in my characters but I could come up to the offices and speak with someone about my work. It was Marie Severin and she gave me about 40 minutes of her time, discussing my artwork, explaining to me how I could improve and showing me around the offices. She was great and that left an indelible mark on me".[12]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d e Sequential Tart  (n.d., circa 2001): "The Chromatic Queen" (Marie Severin interview)
  2. ^ Geissman, Grant. Foul Play! The Art and Artists of the Notorious 1950s E.C. Comics (Harper Collins, 2005) p. 239
  3. ^ Comics Bulletin: Past Masters (column; n.d.): "Marie Severin: Comics' First Lady", by Clifford Meth
  4. ^ The Lambiek Comiclopedia: Marie Severin
  5. ^ Comic Mix (Oct. 16, 2007): "Comics Great Marie Severin Suffers Stroke", by Mike Gold
  6. ^ Comics Bulletin: Silver Bulletins (Jan. 7, 2005): "A Voyage Of A Million Miles", by Mike Storniolo
  7. ^ Bubblehead Publishing: Lost in Space: Voyage to the Bottom of the Soul
  8. ^ Lovece, Frank. "Cons: New York 1974!", The Journal Summer Special, 1974 (fanzine published by Paul Kowtiuk, Maple Leaf Publications; editorial office then at Box 1286, Essex, Ontario, Canada N0R 1E0). 
  9. ^ The Village Voice (July 6, 2006): "Best in Show: Women's Work", by R. C. Baker
  10. ^ DD Resource: Daredevil Creator Biographies — Marie Severin
  11. ^ a b Comics Bulletin: Silver Bulletins (Oct. 17, 2007): "Marie Severin: Comics First Lady", by Clifford Meth (different from similarly titled article above)
  12. ^ Scoop (April 3, 2004): The Main Event (column): "Better Late Than Never, Kid!" (interview with Mark Sparacio)

[edit] References

[edit] External links