Luciana Giussani (19 April 1928 – 31 March 2001, Italy) was a comics writer and publisher.

In 1962, her sister Angela Giussani (10 June 1922 – 12 February 1987) founded the publishing house Astorina, whose first title was Angela’s own creation, “Diabolik”.

Luciana joined the company the following year, also writing for “Diabolik”. She stayed until her retirement in 1999, having taken over as publisher on Angela’s death in 1987.

“Diabolik” was the first Italian comic in pocket-book format. The character is a master thief, created as an anti-hero but over time becoming more inclined to steal from and to thwart only other criminals.

He became very popular and the comic is still published. He has appeared in a movie and on the radio, as a TV series and as an animated TV series, and in a video game.

At Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_and_Luciana_Giussani
“Diabolik” in the GCD — https://tinyurl.com/y74tphop

Do you collect “Diabolik”? The entire series needs to be indexed in the GCD. If you are interested in contributing, go to the Grand Comics Database website (www.comics.org) and click “How To Help” on the left side of the page.

(The cover artist and date of “Diabolik” v40#3 are uncertain)

Carl Burgos (18 April 1917 – 1 March 1984, USA) was a comics creator in the early USA industry, beginning his career at the Chesler shop in 1938. He produced work for Centaur Publications, creating ‘Iron Skull’ in “Amazing-Man Comics”, among other work.

In 1939 he moved to a new studio, Funnies, Inc., joining Bill Everett there. They created ‘The Human Torch’ and ‘Sub-Mariner’, respectively, for publisher Martin Goodman’s also-new Timely Comics.

Burgos wrote and drew ‘The Human Torch’ in “Marvel Mystery Comics”, “The Human Torch”, and “All-Winners Comics” through 1942, as well as other stories for Timely.

During this time, he also created ‘The White Streak’ in “Target Comics” (Novelty, 1940–1941).

Burgos joined the US Air Force in 1942 and served in World War II. After the war, he worked primarily in advertising, with occasional freelance work in comics.

In the 1950s, he published with Goodman again, whose company was now called Atlas Comics. In particular, he drew ‘Human Torch’ stories and covers in the brief Atomic Age super-hero revival, in “Young Men” and “Human Torch” (1953–1954).

He did little comics work in the 1960s, although he did draw one Johnny Storm ‘Human Torch’ story in “Strange Tales” for the publisher now called Marvel Comics.

He also created “Captain Marvel” in 1966 for MF Enterprises, his last comics art.

During the 1970s, he edited the line of black-and-white horror magazines from Eerie Publications.

Burgos was inducted into the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1996.

At Comiclopedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Burgos
At Wikipedia —https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Burgos
In the GCD — http://ow.ly/4mNt23

(Burgos created the cover of “Journey into Unknown Worlds” #34, April 1955)

Ben Dunn (born 17 April 1964, USA) is a comics creator who spent his early years in Taiwan, where he read Japanese manga.

In 1984 he founded Antarctic Press, a publisher of original comics in manga style. His own significant works there include “Ninja High School” (1987–2010?) and “Warrior Nun Areala” (1994–2001). In 2003, he sold Antarctic to start the development company Sentai Studios.

He was one of the primary artists on the Marvel Mangaverse project (2000–2002). He also worked as an animator on the science-fiction film “A Scanner Darkly” (2006).

At Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Dunn
In the GCD — https://tinyurl.com/ybs4gg4k

(Dunn created the cover of “Warrior Nun Areala” #1, December 1994)

#InMemoriam2018
R.I.P. F'murr

David Aja (born 16 April 1977, Spain) is a comics creator whose career began in 2000.

He is an illustrator and designer with cartoons in “El Pais”, covers in “Planeto”, book illustrations, and CD covers.

He is on the Faculty of Fine Arts at both Universidad de Salamanca and Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

About 2005, he began publishing in the USA market, primarily with Marvel. He has notably drawn “The Immortal Iron Fist” (2007–2008) and “Hawkeye”(2012–2014) there, as well as covers for “Scarlet Witch” (2016–2017) and the limited series “Red Skull” (2011) and “Karnak” (2015–2017).
At Comiclopedia — https://www.lambiek.net/artists/a/aja_david.htm
At Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Aja
In the GCD — https://tinyurl.com/y7ghthqj

(Aja created the cover of “Scarlet Witch” #1, February 2016)

Jerry Grandenetti (15 April 1926 – 19 February 2010, USA) was a comics creator who is best known for drawing war stories at DC Comics in the 1950s and 1960s.

His career began in the late 1940s as an assistant to Will Eisner, primarily on the syndicated strip ‘The Spirit’. He also drew ‘Secret Files of Dr. Drew’ in “Rangers Comics” and ‘Señorita Rio’ in “Fight Comics”, both of which the Eisner Studio supplied to Fiction House.

From 1951, Grandenetti began working nearly two decades at DC. He drew stories for a lot of genre anthology series — “Western Comics”, “Mr. District Attorney”, “Strange Adventures”, “House of Mystery”.

His signature work was on war stories and covers. From 1952 to 1974, he drew some 260 covers for DC, almost all of them on the Big Five war titles.

He drew the ‘Gunner and Sarge’ feature in “All-American Men of War” and then “Our Fighting Forces” (1959–1965). Also in 1959, he and writer Robert Kanigher created ‘Mlle. Marie’ in “Star Spangled War Stories”.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he drew for Warren’s black-and-white magazines using a looser and more expressionist style than the stark realism that was demanded for the war stories.

At DC, he drew “The Spectre” (1966–1969), revived ‘The Phantom Stranger’ in “Showcase” (1969) with Mike Friedrich, and co-created ‘Nightmaster’ in “Showcase” (1969) with Dennis O’Neil.

He and his longtime friend Joe Simon created “Prez” (1973), provided all the stories in “Champion Sports” (1973–1974), and created ‘The Green Team’ in “1st Issue Special” (1975).

While he continued to publish occasional freelance comics work in the 1980s, he turned primarily to advertising. From 1990, he was an art director at Young & Rubicon. He also painted, in a variety of media.

Grandenetti is one of the artists whose comics work was sampled by Pop Art painter Roy Lichtenstein in 1962 and 1964.

At Comiclopedia — https://www.lambiek.net/artists/g/grandenetti_jerry.htm
At Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Grandenetti
In the GCD — https://tinyurl.com/ycdxr7au

(Grandenetti created the cover of “Our Fighting Forces” #1, October-November 1954)

Sheldon Moldoff (14 April 1920 – 29 February 2012, USA) was born in New York City in 1920. He learned how to draw with a piece of chalk, using the sidewalks of Manhattan as his canvas.

At the age of seventeen he sold his first cartoon and soon afterward he became first assistant to Bob Kane on the ‘Batman’ series, working with Kane on this series on and off for thirty years.

In 1940 Moldoff created both the ‘Black Pirate’ and the ‘Hawkman’ for DC Comics. From about 1939 he was one of DC’s most prolific cover artists, illustrating many covers, including the cover to All American #16, the first appearance of ‘Green Lantern’. His style at the time was very illustrative.

In 1953 he became one of the lead artists on the ‘Batman’ with Dick Sprang and Win Mortimer, which he drew for the next 14 years.

At Comiclopedia — https://www.lambiek.net/artists/m/moldoff_sheldon.htm
At Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheldon_Moldoff
In the GCD — https://tinyurl.com/yas9bjf7

(Moldoff created the cover art on “Adventure Comics” #49, April 1940)

Tanino Liberatore (born 12 April 1953, Italy) is an illustrator and comics creator who began his career in the mid-1970s, designing record covers at RCA.

In 1978, he met Stefano Tamburini (18 August 1955 – April 1986), who had been creating comics and publishing comics magazines since 1974.

Liberatore, Tamburini, and Liberatore’s childhood friend and fellow artist Andrea Pazienza (23 May 1956 – 16 June 1988) created ‘Rank Xerox’ in Tamburini’s “Cannibale” in 1978.

The cyber-punk character proved durable, returning in “Frigidaire” (another Tamburini publication) in 1979 and being translated in “L’Écho des savanes” in 1981.

Liberatore moved to Paris and during the first half of the 1980s he published single stories with a variety of writers in Europe and in the USA, as well as working on “Rank Xerox”.

When Tamburini died in 1986, at age 30, Liberatore stopped working in comics. He has illustrated album covers and done art direction for films.

At Comiclopedia — https://www.lambiek.net/artists/l/liberatore.htm (some explicit images)
At Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanino_Liberatore
In the GCD — http://ow.ly/10yNlm (some explicit covers)
In the IMDb — http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0508791/

(Liberatore created the cover art on “Tex Willer” #9 - Skyggene truer, 2017, a Norwegian edition)

Dale Messick (11 April 1906 – 5 April 2005, USA) was a comics creator who worked primarily in syndicated strip.

From the mid-1920s, she earned a living as a commercial illustrator while submitting proposals to the strip syndicates. She eventually stopped using her given name, ‘Dalia’, and used the more-ambiguous nickname ‘Dale’ instead.

In 1940, she created her most popular feature, ‘Brenda Starr, Reporter’. Starr was glamorous (her appearance modeled after Rita Hayworth) and also adventurous, traveling the world in pursuit of stories.

She continued to draw ‘Starr’ through 1980 (with a series of assistants) and wrote it for two more years before retiring. She also drew a short-lived ‘Perry Mason’ strip from 1950 to 1952.

Messick received a National Cartoonists Society award for ‘Brenda Starr’ in 1975 and their Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997.

At Women in Comics — http://womenincomics.wikia.com/wiki/Dale_Messick
At Comiclopedia — https://www.lambiek.net/artists/m/messick_d.htm
In the GCD — https://tinyurl.com/y7wwljaa

(Messick created the cover art on “Brenda Starr” #15, October 1955, perhaps in one of the strips the book reprints)

Peter O’Donnell (11 April 1920 – 3 May 2010, UK) was a comics writer, novelist, essayist, script-writer, and playwright.

He began his comics career writing for syndicated strips such as ‘Garth’ (1953–1966) and ‘Romeo Brown’ (1956–1962). He adapted the James Bond novel “Dr. No” as a strip (1960).

His best-known work was the newspaper strip ‘Modesty Blaise’ (1963–2001), drawn first by Jim Holdaway and then by Enrique Badia Romero. It has been translated globally and much of it remains in print.

He wrote a screenplay adaptation in 1965 for a film that ended up using little of his material. He revised it and published it as the first of a dozen novels and short-story collections featuring ‘Modesty Blaise’.

From 1971 to 1986, he also wrote romance adventure novels under the pen-name ‘Madeleine Brent’. He won the 1978 Novel of the Year award from the (UK) Romantic Novelists’ Association for one of them, “Merlin’s Keep”.

At Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_O%27Donnell
In the GCD — http://ow.ly/FoIv30aKrh6
‘Modesty Blaise’ in the GCD — http://ow.ly/FIxy30aKrgH

(“The James Bond Omnibus”, October 2009, include’s O’Donnell’s “Dr. No” adaptation)