Comic Artist Neal Adams Coming to Santa Cruz

Wednesday, January 15th

4:00 - 7:00pm 

At Atlantis Fantasyworld!

The first autograph is FREE! 

Who is Neal Adams?

"He's not only my favorite comic artist," says Joe Ferrara, owner of Atlantis Fantasyworld, "but one of the greatest in comics history. I first got the idea to open a comic book store in Santa Cruz 37 years ago I knew there was only one person I wanted to draw the logo. Neal was simply the best artist in comics and I wanted that level of excellence to be associated with our new business. In 2001 we celebrated our twenty-fifth anniversary by publishing our own comic, The Song of Mykal. It contains contributions from many comic artists we have met over the years. Neal drew the cover and we will have plenty of copies on hand for the signing"

Neal Adams, born June 15, 1941, is an American comic book creator known for helping to create the definitive modern imagery of the DC Comics characters Superman, Batman, and Green Arrow, the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates and the creators-rights advocate who helped secure a pension and recognition for Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Adams was inducted into the Eisner Award's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1998, and the Harvey Awards' Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1999.

Adams was born on Governors Island, New York City, New York,and attended the School of Industrial Art high school in Manhattan. After graduation in 1959, he attempted to find freelance work at DC Comics but ended up at Archie Comics instead. At Archie Comics he wanted to work on the publisher's newly launched superhero line, edited by Joe Simon. At the suggestion of staffers, Adams drew "three or four pages of [the superhero] the Fly", but did not receive encouragement from Simon. Sympathetic staffers nonetheless asked Adams to draw samples for the Archie teen-humor comics themselves. While he did so, Adams said in a 2000s interview, he unknowingly broke into comics:

"I started to do samples for Archie and I left my Fly samples there. A couple weeks later when I came in to show my Archie samples, I noticed that the pages were still there, but the bottom panel was cut off of one of my pages. I said, 'What happened'. They said, 'One of the artists did this transition where Tommy Troy turns into the Fly and it's not very good. You did this real nice piece so we'll use that, if it's OK.' I said, 'That's great. That's terrific.'"

That historic panel ran in Adventures of the Fly #4. Afterward, Adams began writing, penciling, inking, and lettering full-page and half-page gag fillers for Archie's Joke Book Magazine.

In 1962, Adams dove head first into his comics career at the NEA news paper syndicate. Writer Jerry Caplin, a.k.a. Jerry Capp, brother of Li'l Abner creator Al Capp, invited Adams to draw samples for Capp's proposed Ben Casey comic strip, based on the popular television medical-drama series.

Adams found work at Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror-comics magazines, under editor Archie Goodwin. Adams debuted there as penciler and inker of writer Goodwin's eight-page story "Curse of the Vampire" in Creepy #14. He and Goodwin quickly collaborated on two more stories, in Eerie #9 and Creepy #15.

Near the end of the Silver Age, Adams was assigned his first superhero covers, illustrating that of  Action Comics #356 and the same month's Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #79, featuring Superman and a mysterious new costumed character, Titanman. Also that month, Adams drew his first superhero story, teaming with writer Gardner Fox on the lighthearted backup feature "The Elongated Man" in Detective Comics #369. Shortly there after he drew Batman himself, along with the supernatural superhero the Spectre, on the cover of The Brave and the Bold #75- the first published instance of Adams' work on what would become two of his signature comics characters. The first instance of Adams drawing Batman in an interior story was "The Superman-Batman Revenge Squads" in World's Finest Comics #175.

Another signature character, in what would prove Adams' breakout series, was the supernatural hero Deadman, who had debuted in DC's Strange Adventures #205. Adams succeeded co-creator artist Carmine Infantino with the following issue's 17-page story "An Eye for an Eye". Adams went on to draw both the covers and stories for issues 207-216, and taking over the scripting with #212. The series became a fan sensation,  winning many awards and was quickly inducted into the Alley Award Hall of Fame. Adams himself received a special award "for the new perspective and dynamic vibrance he has brought to the field of comic art".

Adams also worked on such titles as The Specter, Teen Titans, Brave and the Bold ,Weird Western Tales and House of Mystery. He drew covers for Action Comics and Justice League of America.

In 1969 Adams started working freelance at Marvel on X-men. He continued to work on titles including; The Avengers, Tower of Shadows and Amazing Adventures.

Some of his most recognized work was done in the series Green Lantern/Green Arrow, which started in 1970. This series pushed the boundaries of subject matter in comics by tackling the sensitive subjects of drug addiction and race relations.

During the 1970s, Adams was politically active in the industry, and attempted to unionize its creative community. His efforts helped lead to the modern industry's standard practice of returning original artwork to the artist, who can earn additional income from art sales to collectors. He won his battle in 1987, when Marvel returned original artwork to him and industry legend Jack Kirby, among others. Adams helped lead the lobbying efforts that resulted in Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster receiving decades-overdue credit and some financial compensation from DC.  

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In addition to the inventory available at  

Atlantis Fantasyworld, Neil will bring various prints portfolios for purchase.    

(sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_Adams & http://www.nealadams.com/)