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A BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE: Plus, other stuff too!
According to my records, I wrote seven stories totaling 146 pages that were drawn by Irv Novick (April 11, 1916 – October 15, 2004). Unfortunately, American readers never got the chance to see two of those tales, both 46-page Superman stories, which appeared overseas in comics from DC’s German publishing partner, Egmont Ehapa.
Those seven stories, done in a five year span, represent only a fraction of the output of this pioneer comic book artist. Irv got his start in the Golden Age sweatshop, er, studio of comics packager Harry “A” Chesler and was MLJ Comics’ (later Archie Comics) lead superhero artist from 1939, including co-creating with Harry Shorten the Shield—comics’ first star-spangled hero, beating out Captain America by more than a year. He worked steadily in comics and advertising (with a timeout for the Army, 1943-46) until he retired in 1990 due to failing eyesight.
Irv made the jump to DC in 1952, hooking up with editor and writer Robert Kanigher with whom he worked for the next 15 years on cores of war stories and features, including Johnny Cloud, Mademoiselle Marie, Gunner and Sarge, Sgt. Rock, and Captain Storm, as well as such adventure strips as the Silent Knight, Robin Hood and the Sea Devils.
He left comics to return to advertising in the 1960s but was eventually, according to Mark Evanier, lured back to DC by Kanigher with a freelance contract that guaranteed work and the highest rate the publisher paid. Irv was worth his weight in gold, and with the 1968 reshuffling of assignments under new editorial director Carmine Infantino, Irv got his honorable discharge from war comics and got back to his superhero roots on such titles as Wonder Woman, Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane, The Flash (for a nine year run) and, of course, Batman and Detective Comics.
The publication a couple of weeks back of the Limited Collectors’ Edition #C-59 Facsimile Edition: Batman’s Strangest Cases reminded me that Irv Novick drew one hell of a great Batman. And it made me wonder why his Caped Crusader isn’t often included in the Bat-Hall of Fame with Neal Adams, Jim Aparo, Dick Giordano, and the rest of the lauded Batman artists of the Silver and Bronze Ages.
Count me lucky I was a fledging writer at a time in comics history when the founders and originators of comics were still working in the field and would, from time to time, be assigned something I had written. I was privileged to work with a lot of the greats, but if I had to pick a Top 13, Novick would certainly make the list.
Here then, My 13 Favorite Collaborations With — and Other Stuff By — Irv Novick:
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Blue Ribbon Comics #2 (December 1939). Not just any Phantom but Bob Phantom, an inauspicious start to Irv Novick’s comic book career.
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Pep Comics #1 (January 1940). Why bother with an origin story when an overwritten caption will do?
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Captain Storm #1 (May/June 1964). My favorite of DC’s 1960s war titles, this short-lived series featured a bold concept for the time — a World War II PT boat skipper who returns to active duty after losing his leg in combat—and some of the decade’s best Irv Novick art.
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All-American Men at War #103 (May/June 1964). A killer cover!
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Batman #227 (December 1970). To make my case about Novick’s ability as a Batman artist, I need only submit “The Demon of Gothos Mansion,” inked by Dick Giordano.
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The Flash #217 (August/September 1972). Do you want it fast, or do you want it good? In the case of Irv Novick’s Flash, you got both! Inks by Frank McLaughlin.
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Detective Comics #489 (April 1980). In addition to being the first ever Commissioner Gordon solo story, “When the Inmates Run the Madhouse,” inked by Steve Mitchell, was also my first collaboration with Novick.
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Green Lantern #157 (October 1982). I was incredibly lucky with the artists assigned several of the “Tales of the Green Lantern Corps” back-ups I wrote during this period, including this two-parter, with Part 1 inked by Joe Giella…
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Green Lantern #158 (November 1982). …And Part 2 by Bruce Patterson.
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Superman Quarterly #9 (1983). The first of my two 46-page Superman album stories for European publisher Ehapa with Irv Novick, this one stunningly inked by Tony DeZuniga. This is from the Dutch edition; the title translates to “Deadly Sting of the H.I.V.E.”
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Superman Album #11 (1984). And the second, the “Sun-Stealer of Space,” inked by Giella. I wrote seven others as well with artists like Curt Swan and Alex Saviuk, a total of nine of the 21 stories overseen by editor Julie Schwartz. Only three or four of the stories were ever printed in the States, including one by Gil Kane repurposed as a Superman Special and one by me, Bob Rozakis, and Swan reprinted as a two-part crossover in issues of Superman and Action Comics. In all, there are over a thousand pages of never-before-seen pre-Crisis Superman stories that you guys should be badgering DC to reprint!
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Superman #406 (April 1985). The clock was ticking down on Old School Superman, and editor Julie Schwartz would sometimes scramble for ideas. “The Fight for the Right to be Superman” (inked by Dave Hunt) grew out of his question to me, “So, what d’you know about those masked wrestlers?”
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Action Comics #569 (July 1985). One last time around for me and Irv on Superman, albeit as the script monkey over a plot and with layouts by an artist named Dennis Yee, inked by Rodin Rodriguez.
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MORE
— 13 REASONS IRV NOVICK’s FLASH Was So Groovy. Click here.
— IRV NOVICK’s Greatest BATMAN Page. Click here.
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PAUL KUPPERBERG was a Silver Age fan who grew up to become a Bronze Age comic book creator, writer of Superman, the Doom Patrol, and Green Lantern, creator of Arion Lord of Atlantis, Checkmate, and Takion, and slayer of Aquababy, Archie, and Vigilante. He is the Harvey and Eisner Award nominated writer of Archie Comics’ Life with Archie, and his YA novel Kevin was nominated for a GLAAD media award and won a Scribe Award from the IAMTW. He also wrote an essay for DC’s Aquaman: 80 Years of the King of the Seven Seas. Check out his new memoir, Panel by Panel: My Comic Book Life.
Website: https://www.paulkupperberg.net/
Shop: https://www.paulkupperberg.net/shop-1
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