| Frank Springer | |
|---|---|
 Frank Springer c. 1975 | |
| Born | (1929-12-06)December 6, 1929 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | April 2, 2009(2009-04-02) (aged 79) Damariscotta, Maine, U.S. |
| Area | Penciller,Inker |
| Pseudonym(s) | Francis Hollidge Bob Monhegan |
Notable works | "The Adventures of Phoebe Zeit-Geist" Dazzler Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. |
| Awards | National Cartoonists Society Reuben Award (1973, 1977, 1981) Inkpot Award (2004) |
Frank Springer (December 6, 1929[1] – April 2, 2009[2]) was an Americancomics artist best known forMarvel Comics'Dazzler andNick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.. As well, in collaboration with writerMichael O'Donoghue, Springer created one of the first adult-oriented comics features on American newsstands: "The Adventures of Phoebe Zeit-Geist" in the magazineEvergreen Review. A multiple winner of theNational Cartoonists Society's Reuben Award, Springer was a president of the Society and a founding member of theBerndt Toast Gang, itsLong Island chapter.
Frank Springer was born in theJamaica neighborhood of theNew York City borough ofQueens, and moved with his family to nearbyNassau County, Long Island when he was nearly 10 years old.[3] He graduated fromMalverne High School inMalverne, New York, in 1948.[2] He had one sibling, a sister, who predeceased him.[2] Springer, whose art influences included adventure comic strips and magazine-cover illustrations byNorman Rockwell,Dean Cornwell, andJ. C. Leyendecker,[3] went on to earn an art degree fromSyracuse University in 1952, and after being drafted that year, served with theU.S. Army through 1954. Stationed atFort Dix, he spent his service, he said, "drawing pictures, drawing charts and that kind of thing. ... I got a lot of training in the army in doing sports cartoons with a deadline and so on."[3][4] Following his discharge, he began freelancing in New York City, soon becoming assistant tocartoonistGeorge Wunder on the comic stripTerry and the Pirates, on which Wunder had succeeded creatorMilt Caniff. Springer recalled in 2008,
I was essentially a line artist and it was through one of the freelance jobs that I learnt that George Wunder, who wrote and drewTerry and the Pirates, was looking for an assistant and I was given his number. I called him up, was hired and I stayed there for five years doing some backgrounds and foregrounds, answering his mail, coloring the Sunday strips. That was good training, watching a professional churning this stuff out, day after day, writing the synopsis, then writing the strips and so on. I loved the strips when I was growing up. I grew up onTerry and the Pirates,Flash Gordon andPrince Valiant; those were the main adventure ones. There were a lot of adventure strips at that time,Buck Rogers,Smilin’ Jack and all of that, so I leaned toward all of that rather than the gag cartoons.[3]
Leaving in 1960 to freelance again, Springer entered the comic-book industry two years later to drawDell Comics'Brain Boy, starring a telepathic government agent, inFour Color Comics #1330 (June 1962). Springer drew the spin-off series' five-issue run of #2-6 (Sept. 1962 - Nov. 1963).[5]
During the remainder of the 1960s and early 1970s period fans and historians call theSilver Age of comic books, Springer became a prolificpenciler-inker across much of Dell's line, drawing issues ofGhost Stories,Movie Classic,Tales from the Tomb,Toka: Jungle King, and the movie/TV tie-in seriesThe Big Valley,Charlie Chan,Iron Horse andThe New People, among other comics.[6]
He debuted atDC Comics with two comics the same month: pencilingBatman #197, and both penciling and inking the lead feature, "Dial H for Hero", inHouse of Mystery #171 (both Dec. 1967). Springer went on to draw an issue each ofDetective Comics andOur Army at War; ananthological story in anotherHouse of Mystery; and the first two issues ofSecret Six[7] — the initial one a rare example of a comic-book beginning its story on the cover rather than on the inside page one.[6]
After that, he found more regular work at rivalMarvel Comics, where he debuted onNick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #4 (Sept. 1968), a fill-in issue of writer-artistJim Steranko's signature series. Springer penciled and inked anorigin-story retelling (scripted byRoy Thomas) sandwiched between Steranko's final two issues. Springer then succeeded the departed Steranko, drawing issues #6-11 (Nov. 1968 - April 1969), with Steranko providing the covers of #6-7.[6]
Springer additionally drewCaptain Marvel #13-14 (May–June 1969) and aHercules back-up story inKa-Zar #1 (Aug. 1970) before concentrating on his ongoing Dell work until 1973, when that company ceased publication.[6]
Springer returned to draw a handful of stories for Marvel's black-and-whitehorror-comics magazines in 1974 and 1975, and then sprang from title to title, penciling sporadic issues ofThe Avengers,Captain America,The Spectacular Spider-Man, andSpider-Woman, among others, and also inked many Marvel and DC comics.[6]
He then became regular inker of Marvel'sThe Savage She-Hulk over pencilerMike Vosburg on issues #10-22 (Nov. 1980 - Nov. 1981). He penciled a longer run of thesuperheroine seriesDazzler from #4-31 and 35 (June 1981 - March 1984 and Jan. 1985), plus the Dazzler stories inWhat If...? #34 (Aug. 1982) andMarvel Graphic Novel #12 (1984). Springer, additionally, wroteDazzler #27-28 and co-wrote withJim Shooter #29 (July–Nov. 1983).[6]
Springer's other 1980s comics include issues of Marvel'sConan the Barbarian and the company'stoy-license titles based on the propertiesG.I. Joe andTransformers; and, for DC, a return to the Secret Six inAction Comics Weekly, and issues ofManhunter andGreen Arrow. After a brief hiatus from comics, he returned to co-ink, with Michael Weaver,Claypool Comics'Phantom of Fear City #11-12 (Feb. and May 1995). This was his last confirmed work in comics except for a single-page profile of the DC characterPerry White inSuperman Secret Files #1 (Jan. 1998).[6]
Miscellanea includes theAtlas/Seaboard seriesCougar in the 1970s, andContinuity Comics'Armor in the 1990s.[6]
With thedark-humor writer-provocateurMichael O'Donoghue, Springer from 1965 to 1966 drew "The Adventures of Phoebe Zeit-Geist" in the magazineEvergreen Review. The feature was one of the first mature-audience comics in the U.S., following the French feature "Barbarella" inEvergreen Review in 1965. Others in the vein includedPlayboy's "Little Annie Fanny" andMagazine Enterprises' "The Adventures of Pussycat". Unlike its innocently bawdy contemporaries, "Phoebe Zeit-Geist" had a darker, sometimes brutal edge, with scenes ofbondage depicted as actual torture rather thanBettie Page-like playfulness.[8]Evergreen Review publisherGrove Press collected the series as a 1968 book.[9]
Doonesbury comic-strip creatorGarry Trudeau cited the strip as an early inspiration, saying, "[A] very heavy influence was a serial in the Sixties called 'Phoebe Zeitgeist'. ... It was an absolutely brilliant, deadpan send-up of adventure comics, but with a very edgy, modernist kind of approach. To this day, I hold virtually every panel in my brain. It's very hard not to steal from it."[10]
Springer also drew the series "Frank Fleet" forEvergreen Review from 1969 to 1970. From 1971 to 1988 he was a regular contributor to thesatiric magazineNational Lampoon, occasionally using thepseudonymsFrancis Hollidge[11] andBob Monhegan.[11] He came toNational Lampoon, he recalled, through O’Donoghue, who had joined the magazine "and called me up almost right away to do a piece called 'Tarzan of the Cows'. I don’t know what issue it was in, but it was one of the earlier ones. I did several other pieces for the magazine and I worked with several of the other writers, Henry Beard, Doug Kenney, Brian McConnachie; all fabulous writers. These guys were really funny and I think I did some of my best work because the writing was so good."[3]
After having assisted Wunder onTerry and the Pirates from 1955 to 1960 and then moving to comic books, Springer returned to comic strips as penciler of thesyndicatednewspaper stripRex Morgan, M.D. from 1979 to 1981.[12][13] He also drewThe Incredible Hulk newspaper strip, starring the Marvel Comics'antihero; theromance stripThe Virtue of Vera Valiant, with writerStan Lee; andThe Adventures of Hedley Kase in the 1990s. Springer's cartoon art has appeared inGames Magazine,Muppets Magazine, the New YorkDaily News,[4]Playboy,Sports Illustrated for Kids,[3] and elsewhere.
In the mid-1960s, he did freelance work on theanimated TV seriesSpace Ghost, collaborating with a partner to produce "key drawings" of action for which "in-betweener" animators did connecting art. "It was part-time stuff, but that was enjoyable. It was a different phase of cartooning," Springer recalled.[14]
Springer also did a small amount of uncredited penciling on the comic stripThe Phantom, assistingSy Barry, and "for a really brief period" worked with writer-artistStan Drake onThe Heart of Juliet Jones.[3] Without mentioning the strip's name, Springer said in the mid-2000s that, "I worked withLeonard Starr for some years doing part of that strip," presumably Starrs'On Stage, later titledMary Perkins, On Stage. "Leonard always handled the figures but I’d come in once a week and do the backgrounds, pick up a check and leave."[3] He additionally did uncredited work on the comic stripFriday Foster, drawn in Spain byJorge Longarón. "I knew the [strip's] writer [Jim Lawrence], who lived here in New Jersey, ... [and] I got a call a couple of times from Lawrence who said they hadn’t gotten the material through from Spain" and Springer was asked to fill in. "I guess over the years I did two Sunday pages, maybe three."[3]
In 1980, just shy of his 51st birthday, Springer ran theNew York City Marathon.[15] In 1995, after spending the majority of his life onLong Island (mostly in the towns ofLynbrook,Massapequa Park, andGreenlawn),[2] Springer and wife Barbara, whom he married in c. 1956-1957, moved to Maine,[2] where the artist turned tooil painting. He said in 2004, "There were some raggedy times, but I always had work, raised five kids, bought some houses, bought some cars. ... I've been lucky".[16]
Springer at one point was president of theNational Cartoonists Society, and was a founding member of theBerndt Toast Gang, itsLong Island chapter.[2]
Springer died on April 2, 2009, at his home inDamariscotta, Maine, ofprostate cancer.[2] He was survived by his wife and five grown children: Barbara Edwards, Bill Springer, Jennifer Dills, Jon Springer, and Christopher Springer.[2] Characterizing Springer,Archie comics artistStan Goldberg said, "Very few people could surpass him as an artist, as a gentleman, and as a true gentleman in my field. ... When you see a Frank Springer job, you know it's going to be the best job in the world".[2]
...his wife of 52 years...
Writer E. Nelson Bridwell and artist Frank Springer brought together six individuals who all possessed special skills and dark secrets, and were all being blackmailed into the service of the faceless Mockingbird.
Phoebe Zeit-Geist is a parody of exploitative porno action comics that manages to be more exploitative, pornographic and action-packed than any of the material it sends up.
He took up running in his 40s and participated in numerous 10K races. In 1980 he successfully completed the New York City marathon.
| Preceded by | Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. artist 1968–1969 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | The Invaders inker 1976–1978 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Chic Stone | The SavageShe-Hulk inker 1980–1981 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Dazzler artist 1981–1985 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Dazzler writer 1983 | Succeeded by |
