| Joe Orlando | |
|---|---|
 Joe Orlando in the early 1950s | |
| Born | (1927-04-04)April 4, 1927 Bari, Italy |
| Died | December 23, 1998(1998-12-23) (aged 71) Manhattan, New York, U.S. |
| Area | Cartoonist,Penciller,Inker, Editor,Colourist |
Notable works | Creepy,Mad, vice president ofDC Comics |
| Awards | Inkpot Award (1980) Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame (2007) |
Joseph Orlando (April 4, 1927 – December 23, 1998)[1] was anItalian-American illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades. He was the associate publisher ofMad and the vice president ofDC Comics, where he edited numerous titles and ran DC's Special Projects department.
Orlando was born inBari,Italy, immigrating to theUnited States in 1929.[2] He began drawing at an early age, going to art classes at a neighborhood boys' club when he was seven years old. He continued there until he was 14, winning prizes annually in their competitions, including aJohn Wanamaker bronze medal. In 1941, he began attending the School of Industrial Art (later theHigh School of Art and Design), where he studied illustration. This school was a breeding ground for a number of comics artists, includingRichard Bassford,Sy Barry,Frank Giacoia,Carmine Infantino,Rocke Mastroserio,Alex Toth and future comicslettererGaspar Saladino. Infantino and Orlando remained close friends for decades.[3] While Orlando was still a student, he drew his first published illustrations, scenes of Mark Twain'sThe Prince and the Pauper for a high-school textbook.[1]
After his high school graduation, Orlando entered theU.S. Army and was assigned to themilitary police, doing stockade guard duty, followed by 18 months in Europe.[1] FromLe Havre, France, he was sent toAntwerp, Belgium and then to Germany, where he stenciled boxcars and guarded strategic supplies for the occupation forces.
After his 1947 discharge, he returned to New York and began study at theArt Students League on theGI Bill. He entered thecomic book field in 1949 when thepackagerLloyd Jacquet assigned him to draw for theCatholic-orientedTreasure Chest. This was a "Chuck White" story that paid nine dollars a page. At the Jacquet Studio he met fellow artistTex Blaisdell, and the two teamed later on many projects.[1]
In the early 1950s, he was an assistant toWally Wood on stories for several publishers, including Fox, Youthful, Avon andEC Comics, before becoming a regular staff artist with EC in mid-1951.[4] He was earning $25 a page at EC, and by mid-1951 saw his first EC stories published under his own name.
After EC, from 1956 to 1959, he drewClassics Illustrated adaptations, includingBen-Hur,A Tale of Two Cities and Rudyard Kipling'sKim.[4] In addition to many contributions to EC'sMad (1957–1969), Orlando also scripted theLittle Orphan Annie comic strip beginning in 1964.[5] He did covers forNewsweek andNew Times, and his work as an illustrator appeared inNational Lampoon,children's books and numerous comic books.[1][6]
ForWarren Publishing's black-and-whitehorror comics magazineCreepy, debuting in 1964, Orlando was not only an illustrator but also astory editor on early issues. His credit on the first issue masthead read: "Story Ideas: Joe Orlando."[4]
He also worked in toy design, packaging and advertising; sales ofHarold von Braunhut'sSea-Monkeys escalated considerably after Orlando drew a series of unusual advertisements visualizing the creatures' enchanted and peaceful undersea kingdom.[7] In 1992, the short-lived live-action television showThe Amazing Live Sea Monkeys withHowie Mandel used special effects make-up designs based on the character concepts created by Orlando for his Sea Monkeys illustrations.
In 1966, Orlando and writerE. Nelson Bridwell created theparodysuperhero teamTheInferior Five inShowcase #62 (June 1966).[8] This lighthearted feature would soon receive its own ongoing series. Orlando launched theSwing with Scooter series with writersBarbara Friedlander andJack Miller in July 1966.[9] After 16 years of freelancing, Orlando was hired in 1968 byDC Comics,[3] where he was the editor of a full line of comic books, includingAdventure Comics,[10]All-Star Western,Anthro,Bat Lash,House of Mystery,[11]Plop!,[12]Swamp Thing, andThe Witching Hour,[4] also scripting for several of these titles. He was one of the first artists to become an editor at DC.[13] Orlando coined the names of theWeird War Tales andWeird Western Tales titles.[14]
While serving as DC's vice president, he guided the company's Special Projects department. This included the creation of art for T-shirts and other licensed products, negotiating with such companies asAmerican Greetings andTopps, working with editorJoey Cavalieri onLooney Tunes Magazine[4] and supervising production of trading cards,Six Flags logos, DC character style guides and other items.[1]
In the late 1960s, Orlando hiredFilipino artistTony DeZuniga for work on some of DC's horror titles. In 1971, Orlando and DC publisherCarmine Infantino traveled to the Philippines on a recruiting trip for more artists.[3][15]Alfredo Alcala,Mar Amongo,Steve Gan,Ernie Chan,Alex Niño,Nestor Redondo, andGerry Talaoc were some of the Filipinokomik artists who would work for DC, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s.[1] For his long association with DC's horror titles,Vertigo Comics editorKaren Berger credited Orlando for sowing the "seeds that grew into Vertigo."[13]
During the 1980s, Orlando began teaching at theSchool of Visual Arts, continuing as an art instructor there for many years.[3]
In 1987, he created an illustration for the supplemental text piece fromWatchmen #5 (January 1987), a page from the comic-within-the-comic,Tales of the Black Freighter. Orlando's contribution was designed as if it were a page from the fake title; the conceit being that Orlando had been the artist for a run of stories from the fictionalTales of the Black Freighter comic.Watchmen writerAlan Moore chose Orlando because he felt that if pirate stories were popular in theWatchmen universe, DC editorJulius Schwartz would have lured Orlando into drawing a pirate comic book. The comic-within-a-comic pages were credited to the fictitious artist "Walt Feinberg", and all art attributed to Feinberg was actually drawn by series-artistDave Gibbons. The Orlando page was the only artwork for the series not by Gibbons.[16]
A limited series featuringThe Phantom published by DC in 1988 was written byPeter David and drawn by Orlando andDennis Janke.[4]
Orlando had a long working association with the prolific lettererBen Oda, roughing out display lettering effects which Oda would finish. During the 1990s (after Oda had died), Orlando was pleased to discover that designer-typographerRick Spanier, working on aMacintosh computer, could create polished Oda-like finishes of Orlando's roughs. These Orlando-Spanier collaborations were printed in DC'sSuperman Style Guide and other DC style guides.[1]
After the death ofMad founder-publisherWilliam Gaines in 1992, publishing company/ownerTime Warner positionedMad under the purview of fellow publishing subsidiary DC Comics. After this shift, Orlando became the magazine's Associate Publisher.[1] Concurrently, he was involved in creating exclusiveMad products for the then-new Warner Brothers Studio Store on Fifth Avenue.
Although he retired from DC in 1996, he nevertheless maintained an office atMad where he worked onMad cover concepts and other projects for the next two years. He illustrated four additional articles for publication inMad with the last appearing in the July 1997 issue.[17]
Orlando married his first wife, Gloria, in September 1951.
He died inGrand Central Terminal on December 23, 1998,[13] survived by his second wife, Karin, and four children.
Orlando's artwork for EC Comics has been reprinted extensively by publisherRuss Cochran. Following the 2006 culmination of Cochran'sComplete EC Library reprint series with theEC Picto-Fiction volumes, other EC reprint volumes featuring Orlando illustrations have been published by Steve Geppi'sGemstone Publishing in theirEC Archives series.[1]
He received theInkpot Award in 1980[18] and was chosen for theWill Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 2007.[19] His contributions to EC'sWeird Science earned him a ranking inEntertainment Weekly's "Sci-Fi Top 100".[20] He appeared in a taped segment onHorror Hall of Fame II, telecast October 17, 1991.
Writer E. Nelson Bridwell and artist Joe Orlando knew what was in a name when they unleashed the Inferior Five in Megalopolis.
'Carmine Infantino and I found out that the wordweird sold well.' [editor Joe] Orlando recalls. 'So DC createdWeird War andWeird Western.'
#35Weird Science (1950-53): This EC Comics title nurtured the fevered brains of countless sci-fi fans; its O. Henry-ish surprise endings antedatedThe Twilight Zone, and its artwork — especially that of Wally Wood and Joe Orlando — helped form the images we all share of what spaceships, aliens, and the terrain of other planets look like.
| Preceded by | House of Mystery editor 1968–1977 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | House of Secrets editor 1969–1977 | Succeeded by Paul Levitz |
| Preceded by | Adventure Comics editor 1971–1976 | Succeeded by Paul Levitz |
| Preceded by | Star Spangled War Stories editor 1974–1977 | Succeeded by Paul Levitz |
| Preceded by n/a | DC Universe Executive Editor 1976–1983 | Succeeded by |
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