| Pat Boyette | |
|---|---|
| Born | Aaron P. Boyette (1923-07-23)July 23, 1923 San Antonio,Texas |
| Died | January 14, 2000(2000-01-14) (aged 76) Fort Worth, Texas |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Artist, Writer, Broadcasting personality |
Notable works | ThePeacemaker |
| Awards | Inkpot Award (1980)[1] |
Aaron P. "Pat"Boyette (July 27, 1923 – January 14, 2000)[2][3] was an Americanbroadcasting personality and news producer, and later acomic book artist best known for two decades of work forCharlton Comics, where he co-created the character thePeacemaker. He sometimes used thepen namesSam Swell,Bruce Lovelace, andAlexander Barnes.[3]
Born and raised inSan Antonio,Texas,[4] Pat Boyette enteredradio drama as a youngster, performing on a localsoap opera. He became a broadcast journalist at radio stationWOAI, and returned to this career following hisWorld War II military service as acryptographer. He later segued intotelevision, becoming a TVnews anchor inSan Antonio, Texas. Additionally, Boyette became theproducer of a daytimetalk show, a puppet show, and TV commercials.[3][4]
Boyettedirected, co-wrote, scored and narrated the low-budget 1962horror movieThe Dungeon of Harrow (Dungeons of Horror), which was reminiscent ofRoger Corman'sEdgar Allan Poe cycle of films.[5] He also wrote, produced and directed thescience-fictioncomedyThe Weird Ones a.k.a.The Weird One (1962), and co-directed the Korean War pictureNo Man's Land (1964).[4] All the films were shot in Texas. In 1970 he wrote the screenplay forDavid L. Hewitt's girl moonshiners vs. bikers filmThe Girls from Thunder Strip.
While continuing to work in television, he wrote and drew the short-livedWesterncomic stripCaptain Flame for asyndicate owned byCharlie Plumm. He returned to comics after first leaving broadcasting and spending most of the 1960s shooting movies in San Antonio.[4]
Turning to comic books, Boyette began a two-decade stint as a freelance artist for theDerby, Connecticut-based, low-budgetCharlton Comics. His first known work for the company is the nine-page story "'Spacious' Rooms for Rent" in thesupernatural-suspenseanthologyShadows from Beyond #50 (Oct. 1966). The Grand Comics Database also tentatively identifies an additional nine-page story that issue, "Reprieve!", as being penciled by Boyette.
On his next assignment, Boyette co-created with staff writerJoe Gill the non-superpoweredsuperheroThe Peacemaker in the backup story inFightin' 5 #40 (Nov. 1966). The Peacemaker was Christopher Smith, apacifistdiplomat so committed topeace that he was willing to use force to advance the cause, employing an array of specialnon-lethal weapons, and also founding the Pax Institute. Most of his antagonists were dictators and warlords. The Peacemaker received his own title which lasted five issues, cover-dated March to November 1967, with the Fightin' 5 as a backup series.DC Comics acquired the character following Charlton's demise in the mid-1980s, and the Peacemaker became the basis for the character theComedian in writerAlan Moore'sDC ComicsminiseriesWatchmen.[6]
Boyette drew, and often wrote, hundreds of stories for Charlton through to at least 1976, for such supernatural series asGhost Manor,Ghostly Tales, andThe Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves;science fiction series likeOuter Space,Strange Suspense Stories,Space: 1999 andSpace Adventures; Western series such asBilly the Kid,Cheyenne Kid, andOutlaws of the West;romance comics such asLove Diary andSecret Romance;war comics likeAttack andFightin' Marines; and the licensed-character seriesFlash Gordon,Jungle Jim andThe Phantom fromKing Features, theprehistoric adventure seriesKorg: 70,000 B.C. andThe Six Million Dollar Man. Boyette also took on the writing and art for the superhero seriesPeter Cannon, Thunderbolt, succeeding creatorPete Morisi. His work continued to be published at Charlton as reprints through to at least 1986. Some of his Charlton work was reprinted as late as 2002 inAvalon Communications'Enemies and Aces #1.
For a brief period in 1968, Boyette drew issues of the DC Comics aviator seriesBlackhawk. That same year, his friend and Charlton colleagueRocke Mastroserio helped Boyette join the stable of artists freelancing forWarren Publishing's black-and-whitehorror-comics magazines, initially having himghost-pencil, uncredited, "The Rescue of the Morning Maid" inCreepy #18 (Jan. 1968), which credited artist Mastroserio inked.[7] Boyette would go on to do credited work for such other Warren titles asEerie occasionally through 1970[8] before making Charlton his base. In the mid-1970s, he drew the feature "The Tarantula" inAtlas Comics'Weird Suspense.[8]
Boyette's other comic work includes aBlack Hood story forArchie Comics' eponymous costumed crime-fighter comic, in 1983;[8] an issue of the science-fiction seriesRevolver forRenegade Press in 1986;[8] his self-published SF/fantasy anthologyThe Cosmic Book #1 (Dec. 1986), under the imprintWandering Star Press;[8] issues ofBlood ofDracula forApple Press in 1988 and 1989;[8] and inking pencilerHoward Simpson on the 21-page story "White Men Speak with Forked Tongue (Jurassic Politics part 2)" inAcclaim Comics'Turok, Dinosaur Hunter #18 (Dec. 1994).[8]
His last known comics work was penciling and inking the three-page story "The Head of Joaquin Murieta" inThe Big Book of the Weird Wild West (Aug. 1998), one ofDC Comics/Paradox Press'sThe Big Book of...trade paperback series.[8]
Boyette died inFort Worth, Texas, of cancer of theesophagus. He was predeceased by his wife, Betty or Bette (sources differ). The couple had a daughter, Melissa.[4]
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