Creators of the Silver-Age Superman Family A Legion of talent made the period of 1958-1968 the most creative in comic book history. Click on a name below for more information about that person: Superman Family Main Page | Legion of Super-Heroes Main Page Wrote a number of Jimmy Olsen and Superman stories. He also wrote a couple of Adult Legion cameos, including "Beauty and the Super-Beast", guest-starring Saturn Woman and Proty II. He also wrote scripts for Journey Into Mystery (Thor) over at Marvel Comics under the penname "R. Burns". Otto Oscar Binder (August 26, 1911 - October 13, 1974) One of the best writers of the Golden Age, he wrote the majority of the Captain Marvel stories and invented Mary Marvel for Fawcett. He later created Supergirl in 1959 at DC Comics, and is credited for writing the very first Legion tale in Adventure Comics No. 247. E. Nelson Bridwell (1931 - January 23, 1987) One of the first comic professionals to emerge from fandom and a previous letter writer to the Legion Outpost, Edward became Weisinger's assistant editor in 1964. Edward's vast knowledge of Superman shows up in his scripts, which are often so loaded with events that they can be quite overwhelming. Edward is accredited with writing the Legion's origin tale in Superboy No. 147, but it is Adventure Comics No. 350/351's "The Outcast Heroes", that we feel is his best work on the Legion of Super-Heroes. DC's horror-mystery writer, Weisinger would often bring him in to do stories involving ghosts, monsters or gritty mystery-drama. Wrote a number of stories about Superbaby, Superboy and Superman. One of the most prolific science fiction pulp writers of the 1930s, he started working for DC (National) in 1941. Edmond's worked on many titles during the Silver Age, primarily World's Finest, but he also wrote quite a run of Adventure starring the Legion of Super-Heroes. His tales can be recognized for their science-oriented, action-packed plots filled with drama and often tragedy. His wife, Leigh Brackett, was a very prolific sci-fi writer herself, and co-scripted "The Empire Strikes Back" in 1980. Edmond's best Legion story is (in our opinion) Adventure Comics No. 306's "The Legion of Substitute Heroes". He retired from the comics field in 1966. Like Rond Vidar, the Legion character he created, Jim Shooter also was a young genius. While recovering from an illness in hospital, 13-year old Jim read through stacks of Marvel Comics and wondered why DC's characters couldn't be as exciting and off-the-wall. Picking Adventure Comics as the comic series that could most benefit from a creative boost, the teenager scripted and drew an entire story and submitted it to DC Comics! Weisinger was so impressed with the "child prodigy" that he hired Jim right away and after a little fixing up in both story and art Adventure Comics No. 347/348 was the result. It was an epic two-parter that introduced the Khund Empire and four new Legionnaires! In our opinion (and most other fans agree), Jim's best work would come later in Adventure No. 359/360's "The Outlawed Legionnaires". By the end of the '60s, Jim left comics an 18-year old "veteran" of the business. Jerry Siegel (October 17, 1914 - January 28, 1996) What can you say about the person who, as a teenager, co-created the prototype super-hero and made the term a household word? When Mort Weisinger took over as Superman Family editor in the late '50s, he immediately rehired Jerry to work on Superman. Jerry's stories can be spotted for their high Superman Lore content as well as a dash of silliness - a far cry from his gritty, tough as nails Superman of the Golden Age. Jerry's best Legion of Super-Heroes story is (in our opinion) Adventure Comics No. 340/341's "Computo, the Conqueror". Mort Weisinger (April 25, 1915 - May 7, 1978) Born in New York City, he came to work for DC (National) in 1940. In 1958 he started taking over the editing chores from Whitney Ellsworth on the Superman Family titles. In a year he was sole editor of the entire line, adding World's Finest to his list in 1964. Mort helped revitalize and expand upon DC's greatest legend, as well as oversaw the formation of the Legion of Super-Heroes in 1958, his brain-child. Mort encouraged readers to write into his mags with suggestions and criticisms, which forced him to think up ingenious answers that eventually made their way into the Superman legend. Mort helped young writer Jim Shooter by suggesting story ideas and polishing his finished scripts. He retired from comics in 1970. An artist of the Golden Age, Pete had drawn many an issue featuring Fawcett's Captain Marvel (he even suggested a form of the name - Captain Marvelous). Pete drew many Jimmy Olsen stories and a few Legion ones in the 1960s. His characters have a "rubbery" look to them and they fit better in the Captain Marvel universe. His creation of Mantis Morlo, a Legion villain, looks suspiciously like Doctor Sivana... The Legion's first regular artist when the team "took over" Adventure Comics. John helped define the look of many of the Legionnaires, and his style can be recognized by its pretty females (he was originally a romance artist) and unique perspectives (he had previously drawn "Tales of Bizzaro World"). John drew the Legion for three years right up until his last effort, Adventure Comics No. 339's death of Beast Boy, which poignantly coincided with his own passing away. Inarguably the best inker in the business. George replaced Stan Kaye as Superman inker. His crisp and clean lines perfectly complemented Curt Swan's natural pencils, and he raised the quality of comics tremendously during his time at DC. The Supergirl artist of the Silver Age, Jim has also drawn a number of Legion adventures. Jim's artistic style can be recognized easily by his characters' staring, "mooning" eyes, and characters that frequently pose with their index fingers stuck out. His Legion future settings were heavily influenced by his work on Tommy Tomorrow. During the early '80s, he was an inker for Spider-Man. At the start of the Silver Age, George took over from John Sikela, who was the Superboy artist of the 1950s. George was an excellent Superboy artist who drew quite a few Legion adventures, including the story that first introduced Star Boy. George's art style is easily recognizable: His characters' faces are stylized and cute, the males often drawn with visible upper lips (and sometimes shaded black), and sometimes characters are drawn with two stylized worry/surprise/pain lines on their foreheads. Character hair is also stylized. Papp often draws super-costumes with a telltale wrinkle or bagginess to the shorts. Rather than give Papp and other long time talents a benefits plan, DC fired George in early 1968. The first artist to ever pencil the Legion in their initial cameo in Adventure Comics No. 247, Al was one of the predominant Superman and Superboy artists of that time. Plastino's characters are recognized by their thick torsos, wide ribcages, "plastic" faces and "calf curves" drawn on Superboy's and Superman's boots.
Born in Germany, Kurt entered the comics field in 1941. As a Golden Age artist, he drew Captain Marvel for Fawcett Comics. Kurt began working at DC in 1959, and became the regular artist on Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane. In fact, he became so identified with the characters of Lois and Lana Lang that he was often asked by editor Mort Weisinger to redraw the heads of the two women for other Superman Family artists. Kurt's art is easily recognizable for its resemblance to his work on Captain Marvel. His Superman Family characters, while more realistically drawn than his Shazam Family characters, still have thicker, pointy-er eyebrows. They have big eyes but sleepy, almost droopy, eyelids. Other telltale clues in Kurt's art style are that his Superman has shading lines on his shins and on his forearms (almost as if to fill the void from not having to draw the golden "braid" on Cap's sleeves). From the side, his Superman's "lat muscle lines" starts higher and extend further to the back, often passing far beneath his shoulder-blades. Kurt passed away very recently.
Inarguably THE BEST artist that DC Comics has ever known. Curt WAS Superman, and who else but Curt could place two dozen Legionnaires in one panel with the ease and naturalness that was his style? Similarly, his futuristic settings, like in the Legion's 30th century, Krypton, Kandor and alien worlds are realistic and inspiring. Nobody did it better than Curt. His Superman was handsome, powerful looking and... well... SUPERMAN!!! The fact that editor Mort Weisinger asked Curt to draw Superman/Clark Kent to look like TV's Superman George Reeves is especially evident in his profiles of the Man of Steel. Curt penciled virtually every Superman Family cover during the Silver-Age, giving the entire line a consistent "look" (and something that disappointed readers who would buy an issue for its great Curt Swan cover then later open it up to discover a Wayne Boring interior!).
Superman Family Main Page | Legion of Super-Heroes Main Page |
Pete Costanza (1913 - 1984)
John Forte (1918 - 1965)
Jim Mooney (1919 - )
George Papp (1916
- 1990)
Al Plastino (1921
- ?) 
Kurt
Schaffenberger (December
15, 1920 - January 24, 2002)
Curt Swan (February 17, 1920 - June 16, 1996)
Curt's
family had moved from Saskatchewan, Canada to the U.S.
years ago, changing their name from Swanson to Swan. Curt
had many times claimed that his style was influenced by
the naturalistic paintings of Norman Rockwell. Curt Swan
and his artistic legacy will forever be cherished for the
joy it has brought to millions of people around the
world. Thank you, Curt.