American Mythology

Carmine Infantino died a week ago today. Never heard of him? That’s not surprising. Though he was a very influential – perhaps one of the most influential – figures of all time in his chosen field, his chosen field was not (and really still is not) regarded with universal respect. He was “talent” that became “management.” He was an unmarried, old school Italian, often in the company of younger, more attractive people than himself. He was, as they say, “larger than life.”

He was, primarily, a comic book artist.

You can read about him in The New York Times HERE.

Lately, I’ve been nursing a growing infatuation with comic book history, that is to say, the history of the men and women – and, yes, there were many women – who inhabited the shabby offices, created the incredible characters and illustrated the first renditions of the figures who inhabit American Mythology.

That is what I personally consider comic books and its resultant characters – American Mythology.

Carmine Infantino drew comic books for most of his adult life because he couldn’t make a start in syndicated newspaper comic strips. That was where the money and the respectability was – in daily newspaper strips. Though he tried, and had shots a couple of comic strips, he couldn’t make a living doing them and was forced to accept freelance work from National Publications (later to be DC comics) to help his family make ends meet. He brought home his first comic book driven paycheck when he was barely 18.

And he lived in the industry for the next 60 years.

One could argue that he also helped save it. Infantino is one of the creators who survived the Seduction of the Innocent period of comics. Most comic fans know that the United States Congress held hearings on juvenile delinquency in the 1950s that nearly destroyed American comic books. You can read about it HERE. Infantino, who was drawing super hero comics before the hearings found himself in romance comics and western comics and science fiction comics. For years.

Later, after the furor had died down and the country turned its attention to matters more important than whether or not it was a corrupting influence on youth to see images of millionaire 30-something Bruce Wayne sharing a room and appearing in PJs with his young, teenage ward Dick Grayson (true example of the intellectual level of the comic book hearings), Infantino contributed to a pop-culture craze with his “new design” of the aforementioned Batman. Anyone who watched the 1960s Batman television show or spent a Saturday morning in front of The Superfriends is familiar with the re-design. From there, Infantino contributed new costumes to The Flash and Green Lantern and, after being named President and Publisher of DC Comics, collaborated with Mario Puzo (yes, the one who wrote The Godfather) on the screenplay to Superman: The Movie. Fired from DC before the film premiered, Infantino didn’t receive the screen credit he was promised for his work. He taught at art schools, illustrated the first memorable comic book versions of Star Wars (George Lucas is said to have asked for Infantino to be the artist who adapted his work), designed entire lines of comic inspired toys and action figures and finally, towards the end of his career, got to illustrate a daily Batman comic strip.

Not bad for a first generation son of Italian immigrants. Not bad to contribute to the pantheon of American Mythology.

I have in the back of my head a desire to compile, in one place, the stories of the pioneers of this American art form – pioneers like Infantino. There have been many books about the history of comics. Two of them are most notable in my collection: The Comic Book History of Comics by Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunleavy and Marvel Comics, the Untold Story by Sean Howe. There isn’t, as far as I know, a book that catalogs the histories of the creators of the Marvel, DC, Gold Key, Fawcett, EC characters and comics. I, for one, would eat that up like cheesecake. If I am the only one, I guess I’d be pulling this together just for me.

Much like the history of Rock and Roll or Baseball or motion pictures, the history of comic books plays out like a history of America.

And this history is told as mythology which makes men and women like Infantino mythmakers…