| Dick Rockwell | |
|---|---|
| Born | Richard Waring Rockwell December 11, 1920 |
| Died | April 18, 2006 (aged 85) |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Penciller; Inker |
| Awards | Inkpot Award (1981)[1] |
Richard Waring Rockwell (December 11, 1920 – April 18, 2006)[2] was an Americancomic strip andcomic bookartist best known asMilt Caniff's uncredited art assistant for 35 years on the adventure stripSteve Canyon. Rockwell was a nephew of the famedpainter andillustratorNorman Rockwell.
Raised inKane,[3]Pennsylvania, Dick Rockwell was the son of Jerry Rockwell — brother ofpainter andillustratorNorman Rockwell — and Carol Rockwell. He had a brother, John.[3] Rockwell began his career afterWorld War II, during which he'd served as aU.S. Army Air Corps pilot who flewAllied troops toFrance onD-Day and to theArdennes Forest for theBattle of the Bulge.[4] His first known comic-book credit ispenciling andinking the one-page "Little Know [sic.] Facts About Well-Known Animals" in publisherFiction House'sJungle Comics #113 (May 1949), and his first known story art is the seven-page "The Masquerading Bandits" in thePrize Comicscrime seriesHeadline Comics #36 (Aug. 1949).[5]
He went on to draw forLev Gleason Publications'Crime Does Not Pay andBlack Diamond Western.[5] As Rockwell told the story, samples of this work, which he supplied with his membership application to theNational Cartoonists Society in 1952, caught the attention of Milt Caniff, the organization's president at the time. Soon afterward, Caniff hired Rockwell to assist on Caniff's classicsyndicatednewspaper stripSteve Canyon, penciling and inking secondary characters and backgrounds; Caniff wrote, drew the main characters, and did finishing touches. He served as the uncredited art assistant onSteve Canyon for 35 years, continuing for a brief time after Caniff's death in 1988.[6]
Rockwell's other comic-book work includes at least one story each in 1951 forMan Comics,Girl Comics,Crime Exposed andSusepense, fromAtlas Comics, the 1950s precursor ofMarvel Comics; and, in 1983 and 1988, a smattering of work forDC Comics, including on the military adventure titleBlackhawk.[5] His final comic-book work was penciling and inking a six-page story and a two-page character profile, both featuring the "Blackhawk Express", inBlackhawk Annual #1 (1989).[5]
Rockwell additionally worked as a courtroom artist doing trial sketches, starting with the 1957U.S. Supreme Court case involving schooldesegregation inLittle Rock,Arkansas. His courtroom work remained a minor sideline until 1983. Rockwell covered therobbery andmurder trial of members of theWeather Underground and theBlack Liberation Army who had robbed aBrinksarmored truck inNyack,New York.[4]
Like his famous uncle, Rockwell also did magazine illustrations. As well, he drew editorial cartoons and he taught atNew York University, theParsons School of Design,[6] and theFashion Institute of Technology,[6] all inManhattan,New York City.
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