| Bob Brown | |
|---|---|
| Born | William Robert Brown August 22, 1915 |
| Died | January 29, 1977 (aged 61) |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Penciller |
| Notable works | Challengers of the Unknown Daredevil Detective Comics Space Ranger Superboy |
William Robert "Bob" Brown[1] (August 22, 1915 – January 29, 1977[2]) was an American comic book artist with an extensive career from the early 1940s through the 1970s. With writers Edmond Hamilton and Gardner Fox, Brown created the DC Comics hero Space Ranger, drawing the character's complete run from his debut in the try-out comic Showcase #15 (Aug. 1958) through Mystery in Space #103 (July 1965).
Brown also penciled the DC title Challengers of the Unknown (taking over from Jack Kirby) for over ten years, from 1959–1969; and he had notable runs on DC's Superboy and Marvel Comics' Daredevil, the latter during the mid 1970s.
Brown's work also appeared in DC's Action Comics, The Brave and the Bold, Detective Comics, Doom Patrol, House of Mystery, House of Secrets, My Greatest Adventure, Tales of the Unexpected, Tomahawk and World's Finest Comics; the Marvel Comics titles The Avengers, Warlock, and The Rawhide Kid; and the French comic series Big Boy. One of his last published pieces, a fill-in story written by Bill Mantlo (and actually drawn a couple of years earlier),[3] was published posthumously in Uncanny X-Men #106 (Aug. 1977).
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Bob Brown attended the Hartford Art School and the Rhode Island School of Design.[4] Brown's career in comics began during the 1940s and spanned four decades, with steady work for both DC and Marvel until his untimely death in 1977 at age 62 from leukemia[5] following a long illness. He had just signed on as the new artist on Wonder Woman with #231 but only completed a single issue which was released two weeks after his passing.[2][6] He was eulogized in August 1977 issues of Marvel titles, with special mention given to his fostering ". . . better communication between American and European cartoonists."[5]
Writer Chris Claremont:
| “ | . . . he was a rare, beautiful man. He was a gentleman in the truest sense of the word; he was a consummate artist, and at the same time a cultured, witty, articulate — almost renaissance — man. He was the kind of man you always wished you knew better, and if you were his friend, you were a lucky person indeed."[3] | ” |
Comics historian Mark Evanier:
| “ | Bob Brown, a veteran artist who had drawn everything from Batman to Challengers of the Unknown . . . now found his work regarded as 'old-fashioned'. It wasn't so much that Brown couldn't take a more modern approach to his work as that he just plain didn't understand what that meant. Editors kept showing him the work of new artists, he told me. They'd say, 'This is what we want now,' but Brown couldn't grasp just what it was he was supposed to learn from the examples, which often struck him as displaying weak anatomy, poor perspective and other fundamental errors. It was almost like they were telling him that, 'Kids relate to crude artwork,' and he knew it wasn't that.[7] | ” |
Tony Isabella, scripter during Brown's run on Daredevil:
| “ | I loved working with the late Bob Brown. I was a fan of his from his days as the artist on DC's Challengers of the Unknown. Yes, he was very much under-appreciated.[8] | ” |
Brown's comics work (interior pencil art) includes:
| Preceded by Jack Kirby |
Challengers of the Unknown artist 1959–1969 |
Succeeded by Jack Sparling |
| Preceded by Al Plastino |
Superboy artist 1968–1973 |
Succeeded by Dave Cockrum |
| Preceded by Don Heck |
Daredevil artist 1974–1977 |
Succeeded by Lee Elias |
| Preceded by Tony Isabella |
Daredevil writer 1975 (with Tony Isabella) |
Succeeded by Marv Wolfman |