Howard Purcell

Howard Purcell
Born November 10, 1918
Died April 24, 1981 (aged 62)
Luzerne County, Pennsylvania
Nationality American
Area(s) Writer, Penciller
Pseudonym(s) Michael Robard
Notable works
 Sargon the Sorcerer
Gay Ghost

Howard Purcell (November 10, 1918 - April 24, 1981)[1][2] was an American comic-book artist and writer active from the 1940s Golden Age of comics through the 1960s Silver Age.

A longtime penciler and cover artist for DC Comics, one of the field's two largest firms, he co-created the Golden Age characters Sargon the Sorcerer and the Gay Ghost (renamed in the 1970s the Grim Ghost) for All-American Publications, one of the companies, with National Comics and Detective Comics, that merged to form DC. Purcell also drew the famous cover of Green Lantern #1 (Fall 1941).

Biography

Green Lantern #1 (July 1941). Cover art by Purcell

Early life and career

Howard Purcell, whose early influences included the adventure comic-strip artists Hal Foster and Alex Raymond, as well as illustrators Harvey Dunn and Dean Cornwall,[3] took art classes at the Art Students League of New York.[4] He worked as an animator in New York City studios[3] before breaking into comic books, where his earliest known credit is National's Adventure Comics #53 (Aug. 1940), for which he wrote and drew the six-page feature "Mark Lansing".[5] The titular adventurer's exploits with subterranean races and other science fictiony conceits ran through issue #62. By that time Purcell had drawn the cover of All-American's All Star Comics #2 (Fall 1940) — reprinted as the cover of DC Comics' quirkily numbered, 2006 hardcover collection All Star Archives #0 — as well as the feature "Lando, Man of Magic" in World's Best Comics #1 (Spring 1941),[6] and both the Green Lantern cover of, and the humorous adventure feature "Red, White and Blue" in, All-American Comics #25 (April 1941).[5]

Purcell and writer John Wentworth created Sargon the Sorcerer in the following month's issue.[7] A minor character in what would become the DC universe, Sargon was John Sargent, whose exposure to the "Ruby of Life" during infancy granted him magical powers that he used in adulthood to fight crime, keeping his supernatural abilities camouflaged in his guise as a stage magician. Purcell and Wentworth continued with the character through All-American Comics #50 (June 1943).[5]

With writer Gardner Fox, Purcell created the Gay Ghost in All-American's Sensation Comics #1 (Jan. 1942).[8] The character, renamed the Grim Ghost in the 1970s,[8] was similar to National Comics' the Spectre in that he was a ghost (of Keith Everet, the fictional 18th-century Earl of Strethmere) who inhabited the body of a modern man, Charles Collins, to fight injustice — although unlike the genuinely grim Spectre, he did so with cheery (i.e., gay) swashbuckling.

For rival Timely Comics, the 1940s forerunner of Marvel Comics, Purcell drew the only appearance of the superhero Young Avenger, in USA Comics #1 (Aug. 1941), under the pseudonym Michael Robard.[9]

Later life and career

Purcell's 1960s work included doing cover art for the DC series Sea Devils, and, with writer Bob Haney, creating the supernatural character the Enchantress in Strange Adventures #187 (April 1966). Purcell did a smattering for Marvel Comics, including two "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." stories, over Jack Kirby layouts, in Strange Tales #143-144 (April–May 1966); a Black Knight solo feature in Marvel Super-Heroes #17 (Nov. 1968); and two 10-page, semi-anthological backup stories featuring the Watcher, in Silver Surfer #4-5 (Feb. & April 1969).[5]

Purcell's last known work was a story each in the DC supernatural anthology Weird Mystery Tales #1-3 (Aug.-Dec. 1972), plus the cover of #2.[5]

By at least 1968,[10] Purcell was additionally a teacher at a high school in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania[3] and at the Luzerne County Community College in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania,[4][10] and was chairman of that college's Commercial Art department.[11]

Purcell died in April 1981 in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Howard Purcell at the Social Security Death Index, Social Security Number 711-05-1720.
  2. ↑ Catron, Michael (August 1981). "Howard Purcell Dies". Amazing Heroes (Fantagraphics Books) (3): 23.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Shaw, Scott (May 31, 2009). "Mr. District Attorney, No. 53". Oddball-Comics.com. Archived from the original on February 2, 2012. Note: Source claims "Wilkes-Barre High School", but of four high schools in that city, none have that name
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Howard Purcell at the Lambiek Comiclopedia.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Howard Purcell at the Grand Comics Database
  6. ↑ Lando, Man of Magic at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on October 25, 2011.
  7. ↑ Sargon the Sorcerer at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on October 25, 2011.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 The Gay Ghost at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on October 25, 2011.
  9. ↑ USA Comics #1 at the Grand Comics Database, citing historian Michael J. Vassallo
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Michael Molnar". Eleanor Ettinger Gallery. Archived from the original on October 10, 2010.
  11. ↑ "Arthur Miller Fine Art". Fine Art Studio Online. Archived from the original on October 10, 2010.