| Neal Adams | |
|---|---|
 Adams in 2019 | |
| Born | (1941-06-15)June 15, 1941 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | April 28, 2022(2022-04-28) (aged 80) New York City, U.S. |
| Area | Writer,Penciller,Inker, Editor, Publisher |
Notable works | Batman The Brave and the Bold Detective Comics Green Lantern/Green Arrow Strange Adventures (Deadman) Superman vs. Muhammad Ali X-Men |
| Awards | Alley Awards
Shazam Awards
Inkwell Awards
|
| Spouse(s) | Cory McGuire (m. 1963;div. 19??) |
| Children | 5, includingJosh Adams |
| nealadams.com | |
Neal Adams (June 15, 1941 – April 28, 2022)[1][2][3] was an American comic book artist. He was the co-founder of thegraphic design studioContinuity Associates, and was acreators-rights advocate who helped secure a pension and recognition forSuperman creatorsJerry Siegel andJoe Shuster. During his career, Adams co-created the charactersJohn Stewart,Man-Bat, andRa's al Ghul forDC Comics.
After drawing the comic strip based on the television dramaBen Casey in the early 1960s, Adams was hired as a freelancer by DC Comics in 1967. Later that year, he became the artist for the superhero characterDeadman in the science fiction comic bookStrange Adventures. Adams and writerDennis O'Neil collaborated on influential runs onBatman andGreen Lantern/Green Arrow in the early 1970s. ForBatman, the duo returned theBatman character to his gothic roots as a contrast to theBatman television series of the 1960s.[4] During theirGreen Lantern/Green Arrow run, O'Neil and Adams introduced a mature, realistic tone through stories such as "Snowbirds Don't Fly", in whichGreen Arrow's wardRoy Harper is revealed to have become addicted to drugs.[3] The duo created and introduced theGreen Lantern character John Stewart in 1971.
Following his runs onBatman andGreen Lantern, Adams drew other books for DC such asSuperman vs. Muhammad Ali in 1978. In addition to his work with DC, Adams simultaneously freelanced forMarvel Comics on books such asUncanny X-Men andThe Avengers. In 1971, Adams established the art and illustration studio Continuity Associates withDick Giordano. In 1984, Adams founded his own comic book companyContinuity Comics, which was in business until 1994.
Adams was inducted into theEisner Awards'Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1998, theHarvey Awards'Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1999, and theInkwell Awards Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame in 2019.
Neal Adams was born June 15, 1941, onGovernors Island, New York City,[2][5][6] to Frank Adams, a writer for the military, and Lilian, who ran a boardinghouse.[7] Raised in a military family, he grew up in a series of army bases, ranging fromBrooklyn to Germany.[8] His father was largely absent from his life.[7] Adams attended theSchool of Industrial Art high school inManhattan,[9][10] graduating in 1959.[11]
After graduation in 1959, he unsuccessfully attempted to find freelance work atDC Comics,[11] and turned then toArchie Comics, where he wanted to work on the publisher's fledglingsuperhero line, edited byJoe Simon. At the suggestion of staffers, Adams drew "three or four pages of [the superhero] theFly", but did not receive encouragement from Simon.[12] 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."[12]
That panel ran inAdventures of the Fly #4 (Jan. 1960).[12] Afterward, Adams began writing,penciling,inking, andlettering[9] humorous full-page and half-page gag fillers forArchie's Joke Book Magazine.[12] In a 1976 interview, he recalled earning "[a]bout $16.00 per half-page and $32.00 for a full page. That may not seem like a great deal of money, but at the time it meant a great deal to myself as well as my mothers ... as we were not in a wealthy state. It was manna from heaven, so to speak." A recommendation led him to artistHoward Nostrand, who was beginning theBat Masterson syndicated newspapercomic strip, and he worked as Nostrand's assistant for three months, primarily drawing backgrounds at what Adams recalled as $9 a week and "a great experience".[9]
Having "not left Archie Comics under the best of circumstances",[9] Adams turned tocommercial art for the advertising industry. After a rocky start freelancing, he began landing regular work at theJohnstone and Cushing agency, which specialized in comic-book styled advertising.[13] Helped by artistElmer Wexler, who critiqued the young Adams' samples, Adams brought his portfolio to the agency, which initially "didn't believe I had done those particular samples since they looked so much like Elmer Wexler's work. But they gave me a chance and ... I stayed there for about a year".[14]
In 1962, Adams began his comics career in earnest at theNewspaper Enterprise Associationsyndicate. From a recommendation, writer Jerry Caplin, a.k.a. Jerry Capp, brother ofLi'l Abner creatorAl Capp, invited Adams to draw samples for Capp's proposedBen Caseycomic strip, based on the popular television medical-drama series.[12] On the strength of his samples and of his "Chip Martin, College Reporter"AT&T advertising comic-strip pages inBoys' Life magazine, and of his similarGoodyear Tire ads,[15] Adams landed the assignment.[12] The first daily strip, which carried Adams' signature, appeared November 26, 1962; a color Sunday strip was added September 20, 1964.[16] Adams continued to do Johnston & Cushing assignments duringBen Casey's3+1⁄2-year run.[17]
Comics historianMaurice Horn said the strip "did not shrink from tackling controversial problems, such as heroin addiction, illegitimate pregnancy, and attempted suicide. These were usually treated in soap opera fashion ... but there was also a touch of toughness to the proceedings, well rendered by Adams in a forceful, direct style that exuded realism and tension and accorded well with the overall tone of the strip".[16]
In addition to Capp, Jerry Brondfield also wrote for the strip, with Adams stepping in occasionally.[18]
TheABC series, which ran five seasons, ended March 21, 1966, with the final comic strip appearing Sunday, July 31, 1966.[16] Despite the end of the series, Adams has said the strip, which he claimed at different points to have appeared in 365 newspapers,[14] 265 newspapers,[19] and 165 newspapers,[20] ended "for no other reason that it was an unhappy situation":
We ended the strip under mutual agreement. I wasn't happy working on the strip nor was I happy giving up a third of the money to [the TV series' producer,]Bing Crosby Productions. The strip I should have been making twelve hundred [dollars] a week from was making me three hundred to three-fifty a week. On top of that, I was not able to express myself artistically when I wanted to. But we left under very fine conditions. I was even offered a deal in which I would be paid so much a month if I would agree not to do any syndicated strip for anyone else, in order that I might save myself for anything they have for me to do.[14]
Adams' goal at this point was to be a commercial illustrator.[12] While drawingBen Casey, he had continued to do storyboards and other work for ad agencies,[12] and said in 1976 that after leaving the strip he had shopped around a portfolio for agencies and for men's magazines, "but my material was a little too realistic and not exactly right for most. I left my portfolio in an advertising agency promising they were going to hold on to it. In the meantime I needed to make some money ... and I thought, 'Why don't I do some comics?'"[21] In a 2000s interview, he remembered the events slightly differently, saying "I took [my portfolio] to various advertising people. I left it at one place overnight and when I came back to get it the next morning it was gone. So six months worth of work down the drain. ... "[12]
He worked as aghost artist for a few weeks in 1966 on the comic stripPeter Scratch (1965–1967), ahardboiled detective serial created by writerElliot Caplin, brother of Al Capp and Jerry Capp, and artistLou Fine.[22] Comics historians also credit Adams with ghosting two weeks of dailies forStan Drake'sThe Heart of Juliet Jones, but are uncertain on dates; some sources give 1966, another 1968, and Adams himself 1963.[18] As well, Adams drew 18 sample dailies (three weeks' continuity) of a proposed dramatic serial,Tangent, about construction engineer Barnaby Peake, his college-student brother Jeff, and their teenaged sibling Chad, in 1965, but it was not syndicated.[23] Adams later said that Elliot Caplin offered Adams the job of drawing a comic strip based on authorRobin Moore'sThe Green Berets, but that Adams, who opposed theVietnam War, where the series was set, suggested longtimeDC Comicswar comics artistJoe Kubert, who landed that assignment.[20]
Turning to comic books, Adams found work atWarren Publishing's black-and-whitehorror-comics magazines, under editorArchie Goodwin.[24] Adams debuted there aspenciler andinker of writer Goodwin's eight-page story "Curse of the Vampire" inCreepy #14 (April 1967). He and Goodwin quickly collaborated on two more stories, "Fair Exchange" inEerie #9 (May 1967) and "The Terror Beyond Time" inCreepy #15 (June 1967), and Adams reapproachedDC Comics.[25]
With DCwar comics stalwartJoe Kubert now concentrating on the comic stripThe Green Berets, Adams, despite his opposition to then-current U.S. military involvement in Vietnam,[20] saw an opening:
I really didn't like most of the comics [at DC] but I did like war comics, ... so I thought, 'You know, now that Joe is not working there, they've gotRuss Heath and they are plugging other people in where Joe used to be. Maybe I could kind of shift into a Joe Kubert kind of thing and do some war comics, and kind of bash them out [quickly]'. ... So I went over to see [DC war-comics editor]Bob Kanigher and I showed him my stuff, and I did have that feeling that they were missing Joe – a guy who could draw and do that rough, action stuff. So he gave me some work".[20]
Adams made his DC debut as penciler-inker of the8+1⁄2-page story "It's My Turn to Die", written byHoward Liss, in the anthology seriesOur Army at War #182 (July 1967). He did a smattering of additional horror and war stories, respectively, for the two publishers, and then, after being turned down by DC'sBatman editorJulius Schwartz, approached fellow DC editorMurray Boltinoff in the hopes of drawing for Boltinoff's Batman team-up titleThe Brave and the Bold.[20] Boltinoff instead assigned him toThe Adventures of Jerry Lewis #101 (July–August 1967) and its full-length story "Jerry the Asto-Nut", written byArnold Drake.[26][27] It became the first of a slew of stories and covers Adams would draw for that series andThe Adventures of Bob Hope, two licensed titles starring fictional versions of the TV, film and nightclub comedians.[28]
During this period near the end of the industry revival historians call theSilver Age of comic books, Adams was soon assigned his firstsuperhero covers, illustrating that of theSuperman flagshipAction Comics #356 (Nov. 1967) and the same month'sSuperman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #79 (Nov. 1967), featuring Superman and a mysterious new costumed character, Titanman. Also that month, Adams drew his first superhero story, teaming with writerGardner Fox on the lighthearted backup feature "TheElongated Man" inDetective Comics #369 (November 1967), the flagship Batman title. Shortly afterward, he drew Batman himself, along with the supernatural superhero theSpectre, on the cover ofThe Brave and the Bold #75 (Jan. 1968) – 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" inWorld's Finest Comics #175 (May 1968).[29]
Another signature character, in what would prove Adams' breakout series, was the supernatural heroDeadman, who had debuted in DC'sStrange Adventures #205 (Nov. 1967). Adams succeeded co-creator artistCarmine Infantino with the following issue's 17-page story "An Eye for an Eye",[30] written by Arnold Drake, withGeorge Roussos inking Adams' pencils. Adams went on to draw both the covers and stories for issues 207–216 (Dec. 1967 – Feb. 1969), and taking over the scripting with #212 (June 1968). The series became a fan sensation,[31] winning many awards and being almost immediately inducted into theAlley Award Hall of Fame, with Adams himself receiving a special award "for the new perspective and dynamic vibrance he has brought to the field of comic art".[32]
Adams concurrently drew covers and stories forThe Spectre #2–5 (Feb.-Aug. 1968), also writing the latter two issues, and became DC's primary cover artist well into the 1970s. Adams recalled that Infantino "was appointed art director, and decided I was going to be his spark plug. I also thought it was a good idea, and was promised a number of things which were never fulfilled. But I thought it would be an adventure anyway, so I knuckled down to things like 'Deadman',The Spectre and whatever odd things would come my way. I was also doing large amounts of covers".[33]
Adams was called upon to rewrite and redraw aTeen Titans story which had been written by then-newcomersLen Wein andMarv Wolfman. The story, titled "Titans Fit the Battle of Jericho!", would have introduced DC's first African American superhero but was rejected by publisher Carmine Infantino.[34] The revised story appeared inTeen Titans #20 (March–April 1969).[35]
Adams' art style, honed in advertising and in thephotorealistic school of dramatic-serial comics strips,[36] marked a signal change from most comics art to that time. Comics writer and columnistSteven Grant wrote in 2009 that,
Jim Steranko atMarvel and Neal Adams were the most prominent new artists of the late '60s to enter a field that had been relatively hostile to new artists ... and breaths of modernism, referencing advertising art andpop art as much as comics. Despite vastly different styles, both favored designs that drew on depth of focus and angularity that put the reader in the center of the action while slightly disorienting them to increase the tension, and placed special emphasis on lighting and body language as emotion cues. Not that these things were unknown in comics by any stretch, but publishers traditionally deemphasized them. As well, both were hugely influential on how a new generation of artists thought about what comics should look like, though Adams was arguably more influential; his approach was more visceral and, more importantly, he ran a studio in Manhattan [Continuity Associates] where many young artists started their professional careers.[37]
While continuing to freelance for DC, Adams in 1969 also began freelancing forMarvel Comics, where he penciled several issues of themutant-superhero team titleX-Men and one story for ahorror anthology title. The Marvel "Bullpen Bulletins" column ofFantastic Four #87 (June 1969) described Adams as having "one foot planted in our Marvel doorway. We're guessing your ecstatic comments, when you see the way he illustrated our latestX-Men bombshell, will transform him into a Marvel madman from head to toe." Such freelancing across the two leading companies was rare at the time; most DC creators who did so worked pseudonymously.[38] Adams recalled in 1976:
The first time I got away from DC was when I went to Marvel to do the X-Men. It didn't stop me from working at DC; they were a little annoyed at me, but that was a calculated plan. ... If people saw that I would do such a thing, then other people might do it. Beyond that, it seemed like working for Marvel might be an interesting thing to do. It was, as matter of fact. I enjoyed working on the X-Men. [The company was] more friendly, a lot more real and I found myself delighting in the company ofHerb Trimpe,John Romita andMarie Severin. I found them to be people who were not as oppressed as the people atNational [i.e., DC Comics] were.[39]
He teamed with writerRoy Thomas onX-Men, then on the verge of cancellation,[40] starting with issue #56 (May 1969).[41] Adams penciled,colored, and collaborated on plotting, including the entire plot for issue #65.[42] In that issue, his final work on the series, Adams and writerDennis O'Neil, in one of that creative team's earliest collaborations,[43] revived theProfessor X character.[44] While working on the series, Adams was paired for the first time withinkerTom Palmer, with whom he would collaborate on several acclaimed Marvel comics; the duo's work here netted them1969 Alley Awards for Best Pencil Artist and Best Inking Artist, respectively. Thomas won that year for Best Writer. Though the team failed to save the title, which ended its initial run with #66 (March 1970), the collaboration here and on the "Kree-Skrull War" arc ofThe Avengers #93–97 (Nov. 1971 – May 1972) produced what comics historians regard as some of Marvel's creative highlights of the era.[45][46][47][48] Adams also wrote and penciled the horror story "One Hungers" inTower of Shadows #2 (Dec. 1969), and co-wrote with Thomas, but did not draw, another inChamber of Darkness #2 (Dec. 1969). Thomas and Adams collaborated again along with scripterGerry Conway and pencilerHoward Chaykin to introduce the series "The War of the Worlds" and its central character,Killraven, inAmazing Adventures vol. 2 #18 (May 1973).[49]
Continuing to work forDC Comics during this sojourn, while also contributing the occasional story toWarren Publishing's black-and-whitehorror-comics magazines (including theDon Glut-scripted "Goddess from the Sea" inVampirella #1, Sept. 1969), Adams had his first collaboration onBatman with writerDennis O'Neil.[50] The duo, under the direction of editor Julius Schwartz,[51] would help revitalize the character with a series of noteworthy stories reestablishing Batman's dark, brooding nature and taking the books away from thecampy look and feel of the 1966–68ABCTV series.[52] Their first two stories were "The Secret of the Waiting Graves" inDetective Comics #395 (Jan. 1970) and "Paint a Picture of Peril" in issue #397 (March 1970), with a short Batman backup story, written byMike Friedrich, coming in-between, inBatman #219 (Feb. 1970). Adams introduced new characters to the Batman mythos beginning withMan-Bat co-created with writerFrank Robbins inDetective Comics #400 (June 1970).[53] O'Neil and Adams' creationRa's al Ghul was introduced in the story "Daughter of the Demon" inBatman #232 (June 1971)[54] and the character would later become one of Batman's most common adversaries. The same creative team would reviveTwo-Face inBatman #234 (Aug. 1971)[55] and revitalize theJoker in "The Joker's Five-Way Revenge!" inBatman #251 (Sept. 1973), a landmark story bringing the character back to his roots as a homicidal maniac who murders people on a whim and delights in his mayhem.[56][57]
Batman's enduring makeover was contemporaneous[43] with Adams and O'Neil's celebrated and, for the time, controversial revamping of the longstanding DC charactersGreen Lantern andGreen Arrow.[58]
RechristeningGreen Lantern vol. 2 asGreen Lantern/Green Arrow with issue #76 (April 1970), O'Neil and Adams teamed these two very different superheroes in a long story arc in which the characters undertook a social-commentary journey across America.[58] A few months earlier, Adams updated Green Arrow's visual appearance by designing a new costume and giving him a distinctive goatee beard for the character inThe Brave and the Bold #85 (Aug.-Sept 1969).[59] A major exemplar of what the industry and the public at the time called "relevant comics",[60] the landmark run began with the 23-page story "No Evil Shall Escape My Sight" and continued to "... And through Him Save a World" in the series' finale, #89 (May 1972). It was during this period that one of the best known O'Neil/Adams stories appeared, inGreen Lantern #85–86, when it was revealed that Green Arrow's wardSpeedy was addicted to heroin.[61][62] Wrote historianRon Goulart,
These angry issues deal with racism,overpopulation, pollution, anddrug addiction. The drug abuse problem was dramatized in an unusual and unprecedented way by showing Green Arrow's heretofore clean-cut boy companion Speedy turning into a heroin addict. All this endeared DC to the dedicated college readers of the period and won awards for both artist and writer. Sales, however, weren't especially influenced by the praise, and by 1973 the crusading had ceased. I remember dropping in on [editor] Julius Schwartz about this time and asking him how relevance was doing. 'Relevance is dead', he informed me, not too cheerfully.[52]
AfterGreen Lantern was cancelled, the adventures of both super-heroes continued in the pages ofThe Flash #217–219 and #226 (1972–74).[63]
AfterGreen Lantern/Green Arrow, Adams' contributions to DC, apart from his work onBatman, were sporadic, limiting to draw a Clark Kent back-up story inSuperman #254 (1972) and sharing credits withJim Aparo pencilling theTeen Titans inThe Brave and the Bold #102 (1972). Adams also drew a few stories forWeird Western Tales andHouse of Mystery and covers forAction Comics andJustice League of America as well. Adams worked on the firstintercompany superhero crossoverSuperman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man. Several of the Superman figures were redrawn by him.[64]
The last complete story that Adams drew at DC before opening his own company,Continuity Associates, was the oversizeSuperman vs. Muhammad Ali (1978) which Adams has called a personal favorite.[65][66] After this, Adams' production for DC and Marvel was mainly limited to new covers for reprint editions of some of his work, such asGreen Lantern/Green Arrow,The Avengers:The Kree-Skrull War,X-Men: Visionaries,Deadman Collection andThe Saga of Ra's al Ghul, which were variously published as reprintminiseries[67] ortrade paperback collections. In 1988, he designed a new costume for DC'sRobin character Dick Grayson.[68] DC loved the redesign and adopted it to the comics years later when they introduced new Robin Tim Drake. a miniposter included in the first issue of theRobin limited series.[69]
In 2005 Adams returned to Marvel (his last collaboration for this publisher had been in 1981 drawing a story for theBizarre Adventures magazine) to draw an eight-page story for theGiant-Size X-Men #3.[70] The following year Adams (among other artists) provided art toYoung Avengers Special #1.[70]
In 2010, Adams returned to DC Comics as writer and artist on the miniseriesBatman: Odyssey.[71][72] Originally conceived as a 12-issue story, the series ran for six issues,[70][73] being relaunched with vol. 2, #1 in October 2011.[74] A total of seven issues were published for the second series until its end in June 2012.[70]
Apart from those assignments for DC, Adams penciledNew Avengers vol. 2, #16.1 (Nov. 2011) for Marvel Comics.[75] In May 2012, Marvel announced that Adams would work on the X-Men again withThe First X-Men, a five-issue miniseries drawn and plotted by him and written byChristos Gage.[76][77] Adams produced short stories forBatman Black and White vol. 2 #1 (Nov. 2013)[78] andDetective Comics vol. 2 #27 (March 2014).[79]
In February 2016, Adams revisited some of his most notable covers done for DC Comics in the 1960s and 1970s,[80] replacing the original characters with some of theNew 52 ones.[81] Later that same year, Adams wrote and drew the six-partSuperman: Coming of the Supermen miniseries.[82] In 2017, Adams wrote and drew aDeadman limited series.[83][84] He drew a new five-page story titled "The Game", which was written byPaul Levitz, for theAction Comics: 80 Years of Superman hardcover collection.[85]
In August 2020, Adams and writerMark Waid releasedFantastic Four: Antithesis, a four issue miniseries starring the Fantastic Four in a battle with a new cosmic threat.[86] This would be his final work as an interior artist.[87][88] Adams' final work as a writer (in addition to providing the artwork) would beBatman vs Ra's al Ghul, a miniseries that was originally published in November 2019 before the final two issues were delayed to March 2021 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[89]
Adams' pencil drawings on his laterBatman stories were frequentlyinked byDick Giordano, with whom Adams formedContinuity Associates,[90] a company that suppliedstoryboards for motion pictures and interior artwork for comics publishers.
In the early 1970s, Adams was the art director, costume designer, as well as the poster/playbill illustrator forWarp!, a science fictionstage play by directorStuart Gordon and playwright Lenny Kleinfeld under the pseudonym Bury St. Edmund.[91]
In 1980, Neal Adams directed and starred inNannaz, later released byTroma under the titleDeath to the Pee Wee Squad. The film co-starred Adams' children Jason and Zeea as well as fellow comics professionalsDenys Cowan,Ralph Reese,Larry Hama, andGray Morrow.[92]
In late 2013 Adams appeared in thePBS TV documentarySuperheroes: A Never-Ending Battle.[93]
During the 1970s, Adams was politically active in the industry, and attempted to unionize its creative community. His efforts, along with precedents set byAtlas/Seaboard Comics' creator-friendly policies and other factors, 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.[94][95] Adams helped lead lobbying efforts that resulted inSuperman creatorsJerry Siegel andJoe Shuster receiving decades-overdue credit and financial remuneration.[96]
InkerBob McLeod recalled in the 2000s the unique place Adams held in the industry when McLeod entered the comics industry in 1973:
Pat [Broderick] told me I really ought to meet Neal Adams, whom he had met at DC. ... At that time, Neal held a position of respect in the industry that no one in comics since then has achieved. He was the single most respected artist in the business. ... Neal looked at one of my samples and asked me what kind of work I was looking for. I said, "Anything that pays." (By that time, I was down to my last $10. ... ) He just picked up the phone and called the production manager at Marvel and said, "I've got a guy here who has some potential as, well, some potential as an artist, but I think he has a lot of potential as a letterer." I was immediately hired at Marvel in the production department on Neal's recommendation, and they still didn't even want to see my portfolio. If I was good enough for Neal, I was good enough for them.[97]
In 1978, Adams helped form theComics Creators Guild, which over three dozen comic-book writers and artists joined.[98]
Also during the 1970s, Adams illustrated paperback novels in theTarzan series forBallantine Books.[99] With theindependent-comic publishing boom of the early 1980s, he began working forPacific Comics (where he produced the poorly receivedSkateman)[100] and other publishers, and founded his ownContinuity Comics as an offshoot of Continuity Associates. His comic-book company's characters includeMegalith,Bucky O'Hare, Skeleton Warriors, CyberRad, andMs. Mystic. He and fellow artistMichael Netzer entered into a dispute over intellectual property rights to Ms. Mystic, a character they had worked on jointly in 1977, which Adams had published under the Pacific Comics and Continuity Comics imprints, leading to a lawsuit against Adams inUnited States District Court in 1993.[101] The case was dismissed in 1997, citing thestatute of limitations.[102]
In collaboration withRafael Medoff, director of theDavid S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, Adams championed an effort to get theAuschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, which is operated by the government ofPoland, to return the original artwork ofDina Babbitt. In exchange for his sparing her mother and herself from the gas chambers, Babbitt worked as an illustrator forNazi death camp doctorJosef Mengele, who wanted detailed paintings to demonstrate his pseudoscientific theories aboutRomani racial inferiority.[103] Using text from Medoff, Adams illustrated a six-page graphic documentary about Babbitt that was inked byJoe Kubert and contains an introduction byStan Lee.[104] However, Adams deemphasized any comparison between the Babbitt case and his struggle for creator rights, saying that her situation was "tragic" and "an atrocity."[103]
In 2010, Adams and Medoff teamed withDisney Educational Productions to produceThey Spoke Out: American Voices Against the Holocaust, an online educational motion comics series that tells stories of Americans who protested Nazis or helped rescue Jews during the Holocaust. Each standalone episode, which runs from five to ten minutes, utilizes a combination of archival film footage andanimatics drawn by Adams (who also narrates), and focus on a different person. The first episode, "La Guardia's War Against Hitler" was screened in April 2010 at a festival sponsored by theMuseum of Comic and Cartoon Art, and tells the story of the forceful stand New York City MayorFiorello La Guardia took against Nazi Germany. La Guardia's actions stood in contrast to the relative passivity of PresidentFranklin Roosevelt, who historians such as David S. Wyman believe did not do as much as he could have to save European Jews,[105] a point underlined in the episode "Messenger from Hell". Other episodes include "Voyage of the Doomed", which focuses on theS.S.St. Louis, the ship that carried more than 900 German-Jewish refugees but was turned away by Cuban authorities and later the Roosevelt administration, and "Rescue Over the Mountains", which depictsVarian Fry, the young journalist who led an underground rescue network that smuggled Jewish refugees out ofVichy France.[106][107]
Adams' first Deadman cover won the1967 Alley Award for Best Cover.[108] A Batman/Deadman team-up inThe Brave and the Bold #79 (Sept. 1968), by Adams and writerBob Haney, tied with another comic for the1968 Alley Award for Best Full-Length Story; and in1969, Adams won the Alley Award for Best Pencil Artist, the feature "Deadman" was elected to the Alley Award Hall of Fame, and Adams received a special award "for the new perspective and dynamic vibrance he has brought to the field of comic art".[32]
He also wonShazam Awards in 1970 for Best Individual Story ("No Evil Shall Escape My Sight" inGreen Lantern vol. 2, #76, with writerDennis O'Neil), and Best Pencil Artist (Dramatic Division); and in 1971 for Best Individual Story ("Snowbirds Don't Fly" inGreen Lantern vol. 2, #85, with O'Neil).[109][110]
Adams won the 1971Goethe Award for Favorite Pro Artist,[111] as well as the 1971 Goethe Award for Favorite Comic-Book Story for "No Evil Shall Escape My Sight" (written byDenny O'Neil) inGreen Lantern/Green Arrow #76.[112]
He won anInkpot Award in 1976[113] and was voted the "Favourite Comicbook Artist" at the 1977[114] and the 1978Eagle Awards.[115]
In 1985, DC Comics named Adams as one of the honorees in the company's 50th anniversary publicationFifty Who Made DC Great.[116]
Adams was inducted into theEisner Awards'Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1998, and theHarvey Awards'Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1999.[117]
In 2019, Adams was inducted into theInkwell Awards Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame for his lifetime achievement and outstanding accomplishments.[118]
Adams believed theEarth is growing[119] through a process called pair production.[120] Adams held the work of Australian geologistSamuel Warren Carey in high esteem, but considered the term "Expanding Earth" a misnomer.[121][122] While Carey did advocate an expanding Earth in the mid-20th century, his model was rejected following the development of the theory ofplate tectonics.[123][124][125] Adams advocated his ideas in a DVD documentary he wrote and produced, clips of which are available on his YouTube channel.[126][127] Planet growth animations were created by Neal's daughter Zeea Adams.
Adams appeared on theradio showCoast to Coast AM several times to discuss his claims.[128] He was also interviewed bySteven Novella on aSkeptics Guide podcast in 2006, and afterward continued the debate on Novella's blog.[129]Japan Times columnist Jeff Ogrisseg wrote a three-part feature promoting Adams's ideas,[130][131][132] which was roundly criticized by Novella for being an example of "outright promotion ofpseudoscience as if it were news."[133] Adams also used the concept as the basis for hisBatman: Odyssey series, in which the planet's expansion has produced aHollow Earth, the inside of which is inhabited by dinosaurs andNeanderthal versions of the main characters.[134]
Adams' first wife was comics colorist Cory Adams. Their children are Kristine (Neal's business right hand), Joel (artist and character designer onKing of the Hill), Jason (works in toy and fantasy sculpture), and Zeea (colorist, painter, digital artist and animator).
Adams and his second wife Marilyn[93] lived in New York.[135] Adams had their sonJosh.[136] Josh illustrated a pinup of Batman inBatman: Odyssey #1 (Sept. 2010).[137]
Adams died in New York on April 28, 2022, at the age of 80. Marilyn, his wife of 45 years, toldThe Hollywood Reporter that Adams had died from complications ofsepsis.[3]
Adams commandeered his first DC work as a penciler/inker with 'It's My Turn to Die' a nine-page back-up tale written by Howard Liss forOur Army at War #182 in July [1967] ... The following month,The Adventures of Jerry Lewis #101 perfectly illustrated how Adams was equally adept at delivering the art of laughter. In his first full-length story for DC, he provided writer Arnold Drake's space odyssey 'Jerry the Astro-Nut' with a photo-realistic flare not seen in comics.
Adams took over Jerry's art (and covers) with #101.
Writer Dennis O'Neil revealed that it was not Xavier who had perished but a shape-shifter called the Changeling. ... This epic tale provided an appropriately grand finale for the work of legendary artist Neal Adams."
This wild tale ... attempted to tie together more than thirty years of the company's stories ... More than any previous work, 'The Kree-Skrull War' solidified the idea that every comic book Marvel had ever published was part of an endless, ongoing saga.
Editor Julius Schwartz had decided to darken the character's world to further distance him from the camp environment created by the 1966 ABC show. Bringing in the talented O'Neil as well as the innovative Frank Robbins and showcasing the art of rising star Neal Adams ... Schwartz pointed Batman in a new and darker direction, a path the character still continues on to this day.
Two-Face was reintroduced for the Bronze Age in this collaboration by writer Dennis O'Neil and artist Neal Adams.
Arlen Schuer: Do you feel Superman vs. Muhammad Ali is the best comic you ever did?
Neal Adams: I would have to say yes. I've been asked lots of times, but I must admit, even I enjoy reading this book over and over again.
...he and Neal Adams opened the advertising and comics packaging agency Continuity Associates.
In Skateman, Adams created what is one [of] the least-acclaimed heroes of all time.
Batman (or as we dubbed him in his shirtless days, Nude Bruce) is forever telling a mysterious Exposition Hostage a long series of a stories that jump forward and backward in time to other stories that seem to have little or no connection to each other, and often involve Adams' deeply held pseudo-scientific belief that the earth is actually hollow and expanding. For the purposes of the comic, the hollow center of the Earth is where Neanderthal Batman lives.
| Preceded by | Strange Adventures artist 1967–1969 | Succeeded by n/a |
| Preceded by | The Brave and the Bold artist 1968–1970 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | TheX-Men artist 1969–1970 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Bob Brown | Detective Comics artist 1970–1971 | Succeeded by Bob Brown |
| Preceded by | Batman artist 1970–1974 | Succeeded by Irv Novick |
| Preceded by | Green Lantern/Green Arrow artist 1970–1972 | Succeeded by Mike Grell (in 1976) |
| Preceded by Sal Buscema | The Avengers artist 1971–1972 | Succeeded by |
