Archie Goodwin (comics)

Archie Goodwin (September 8, 1937 – March 1, 1998)Stump, Greg. "News Watch: Archie Goodwin Dies at 60," The Comics Journal #202 (March 1998), p. 27-28. was an American comic book writer, editor, and artist. He worked on a number of comic strips in addition to comic books, and is best known for his Warren and Marvel Comics work. For Warren he was chief writer and editor of landmark horror anthology titles Creepy and Eerie, and for Marvel he set up the creator-owned Epic Comics as well as adapting Star Wars into both comics and newspaper strips. He is regularly cited as the "best-loved comic book editor, ever."Pilcher, Tim and Brooks, Brad, The Essential Guide to World Comics (Collins & Brown, 2005) ISBN 1-84340-300-5, p. 42
==Biography==
===Early life and career===
Archie Goodwin was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and lived in many small towns along the Kansas-Missouri border including Coffeyville. But he considered Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he spent his teen years at Will Rogers High School and in used magazine stores searching for EC Comics as his home town.Shooter, Jim. "Bullpen Bulletins," Marvel Comics cover-dated November 1983. Goodwin moved to New York City to attend classes at what became the School of Visual Arts.DC Comics press release March 2, 1998 "Archie Goodwin dies at 60" Online version available at Google Books
Goodwin began as an artist drawing cartoons for magazines and as a freelance "writer and occasional art assistant" to Leonard Starr's newspaper comic strip Mary Perkins, On Stage. His first editorial work was for Redbook magazine, on which he worked both before and after his Army service as a draftee.Cooke, Jon B. interview with Goodwin's wife Anne T. Murphy "Anne & Archie: Warren Days" The Warren Companion 2001 ISBN 1-893905-08-X p. 50 "He may have had something before but Redbook was the first long-standing job. That, of course, was interrupted when he was drafted into the Army." Online version available at Google Books
===Warren===
In 1962, he joined Harvey Comics, and two years later became the main script writer for Warren's Creepy magazine. Much of his work there, according to Batman editor Mark Chiarello, was a "homage to the favorite comics of his youth, the E.C. line." By the second issue he was co-credited (alongside Russ Jones) as editor, and soon became editor of the entire Warren line: Creepy, Eerie and Blazing Combat.Comic Book Db: Creepy #2 (1965). Accessed August 2, 2008 He worked for Warren between 1964 and 1967, as head writer and Editor-in-Chief, in which roles he is credited with providing a mythology for Warren's classic Vampirella character, as well as penning her most compelling stories. (Additional details about his time at Warren may be found in Jon B. Cooke's book The Warren Companion.) 
After his departure from Warren in 1967, Goodwin would occasionally contribute stories over the next 15 years and even returned for a short stint as editor in 1974.The James Warren Interview, Comic Book Artist #4 (Winter 1999). WebCitation archive.
===Famous name===
Archie Goodwin's first prose story was published by Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine which warned him he could not use Archie Goodwin as a pen name because it was a Rex Stout character in the Nero Wolfe books. According to Goodwin's wife, the magazine "then were so delighted when he wrote back to say that it was his real name that they used the ancedote as the introduction to the story, which ran in the July 1962 issue."Cooke, Jon B. interview with Goodwin's wife Anne T. Murphy p. 51
===Comic strips and DC Comics===
From 1967 to 1980, Goodwin also wrote scripts for King Features Syndicate, including the daily strip Secret Agent X-9, drawn by Al Williamson, as well as working on other strips including Captain Kate. His experience ghost writing Dan Flagg inspired "The Success Story" (drawn by Williamson, who also ghosted on Flagg) for Creepy #1 (1964), famed among comic strip fans for its EC style dark humor in depicting a creator whose only contribution to the strip that made him rich was his signature.The Warren Chronicles – (Pt.1) Not limited to newspaper strips, he found work at the major comics companies as both writer and editor, working for Marvel Comics on titles including Fantastic Four and Iron Man. Goodwin worked briefly for DC Comics during the 1970s, where he edited the war comics G.I. Combat,Archie Goodwin's editorial credits at DC Comics 1973-1974 and 1989-1998 at the Grand Comics Database Our Fighting Forces, and Star Spangled War Stories, and replaced Julius Schwartz as editor of Detective Comics for one year. Goodwin's collaboration with Walt Simonson on the Manhunter back-up feature in Detective Comics won several awards.
===Marvel Comics===
====Star Wars====
In 1976, Goodwin replaced Gerry Conway to become the eighth Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Comics, with the understanding that it would only be temporary until a permanent replacement could be found. He ultimately resigned at the end of 1977 and was replaced by Jim Shooter. While Editor-in-Chief, Marvel secured the rights to publish the Star Wars adaptation and tie-in series, which then sold phenomenally well (helped by a dearth of other Star Wars merchandise at the time) at a point when the comics industry was in severe decline. Goodwin recalled about the Star Wars comic book, "That really worked ... but I can't take any credit for it. Roy Thomas is the one who brought it to Marvel, and he had to push a little bit to get them to do it."Daniels, Les. Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics (Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 1991) ISBN 0-8109-3821-9, p. 177 He followed Thomas in adapting the Star Wars characters into an ongoing comic book, as well as continuing the story (pre-Return of the Jedi) in a daily comic strip. Goodwin wrote the strips under the pseudonyms R.S. Helm and Russ Helm. He wrote comic book adaptations for Marvel of the two Star Wars sequels as well as other science-fiction films such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Blade Runner. In 1979, Goodwin wrote an adaptation of the first Alien movie which was drawn by Walt Simonson and published by Heavy Metal.
====Epic====
After Marvel Comics passed on publishing the American incarnation of Metal Hurlant (Heavy Metal), Editor-in-chief Jim Shooter was charged with producing an alternate title, which became Epic Illustrated. It was initially edited by Rick Marschall, but Shooter in 2000 recalled approaching publisher Stan Lee to urge a replacement. "I told Stan, 'There's one guy who could do this. I don't know if we can get him.' He said, 'Who's that?' 'Archie Goodwin.' The reason I didn't think we could get him is because he used to be my boss and I didn't know how he'd feel about coming back and me being his boss."Thomas, Michael. "CBR News: Jim Shooter Interview: Part 1" Comic Book Resources, October 6, 2000. Accessed August 2, 2008. Shooter on Goodwin: "First and foremost, everyone loved Archie. Archie had a manner about him that you just couldn't not like him. While he was tough as nails, and he was probably the best that passed through this business, he managed to do it without offending anyone. He managed to be respected and remain friends with everyone and do his job."
Goodwin was at the time still working for Marvel as a writer, and Shooter recalls concocting a plan whereby the company "pretended that Archie reported to Stan. In fact, I was doing all the paperwork and all the employee reviews and the budgets" so that Goodwin could have the illusion of not working for his successor. In the autumn of 1979, Marschall was fired and Goodwin hired as Epic's editor."Marvel Fires Rick Marschall, Archie Goodwin Named to Edit Epic", The Comics Journal #51, November 1979, pp. 5-6.
In addition to Marvel's first creator-owned imprint Epic Illustrated, Goodwin set up the Marvel Graphic Novel series, giving a number of artists and writers their first break as well as allowing established Marvel staff to work with material too difficult or 'adult' for the monthly titles.
As Shooter recalls events, he approached Goodwin after the moderate success of the Epic magazine and creator-owned graphic novels to produce a full-fledged line of creator-owned comics, Epic Comics. Goodwin initially balked at the additional workload, and Shooter turned the line over to Al Milgrom before Goodwin ultimately accepted editorship.
Goodwin also introduced the first English translation of Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira and published English translations of the work of Jean Giraud aka Moebius.
===Return to DC===
Goodwin returned to DC Comics as an editor and writer in 1989."Archie Goodwin Quits Marvel Epic for DC," The Comics Journal #130 (July 1989), p. 26. He wrote the graphic novel Batman: Night CriesBatman: Night Cries at DC Comics.com painted by Scott Hampton and published in 1992. Throughout the 1990s, Goodwin edited a number of Batman projects, including the Elseworlds miniseries Batman: Thrillkiller, and the Alan Grant-written/Kevin O'Neill-illustrated parody one-shot Batman: Mitefall, a take-off of the Knightfall saga, filtered through the character of Bat-Mite.ComicBookDb: Batman: Mitefall (1995). Accessed August 2, 2008
Among Goodwin's most notable last editorial projects were Starman, written by James Robinson and first published by DC in 1994 and DC's Batman: The Long Halloween by Tim Sale and Jeph Loeb. It is a testament to Goodwin that Loeb has said that Goodwin inspired their portrayal of Gotham police chief Jim Gordon in The Long Halloween and its sequel Batman: Dark Victory, while Robinson (who considered Goodwin both a mentor and close personal friend), continued to list Goodwin as a "Guiding Light" on later issues of Starman. Goodwin also edited Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, and Azrael. Goodwin's Creepy work is cited by editor Mark Chiarello as informing the creation of the Batman: Black & White comics.Chiarello, Mark. "Introduction" in Chiarello, Mark and Peterson, Scott (ed.s) Batman: Black and White (DC Comics, 1998) ISBN 1-56389-439-4. Chiarello on Goodwin: "...probably the very best editor ever to work in comics, probably the very best writer ever to work in comics."
===Death===
Goodwin died of cancer in 1998. Goodwin was honored in a tribute issue of the magazine Comic Book Profiles.Comic Book Profiles: Archie Goodwin Tribute Issue
==Awards==
Goodwin's work won him a good deal of recognition in the industry, including both the 1973 Shazam Award for Best Writer (Dramatic Division), and the 1974 Shazam Award for Best Writer (Dramatic Division) for the Manhunter series running in Detective Comics #437 - 443, in addition to winning Shazam Awards for Best Individual Short Story for "The Himalayan Incident" in Detective Comics #437, "Cathedral Perilous" in Detective Comics #441 and "Götterdämmerung" in Detective Comics #443 (all with Walt Simonson; all for Manhunter episodes). Goodwin's work on Manhunter, in which he both updated an obscure Golden Age hero, and, in the series' last episode, took the daring approach of killing him off (one of the few comic book deaths that has actually "taken" and not been reversed or retconned away in the decades since it occurred) is very well regarded by both fans and other comics professionals.
Goodwin stated in his final interview, "I think that Manhunter is one of just several projects that I've worked on that I consider a highlight in my career. It is something that I may never be able to top in a lot of ways. To have done that and for DC to have given me the opportunity to do that was great."Cooke, Jon B. "Archie's Comics - Archie Goodwin talks about DC in his last interview", Comic Book Artist #1, Spring 1998, TwoMorrows Publishing, p. 71 Online version
He won the 1992 "Bob Clampett Humanitarian" Eisner Award,Past winners of the Clampett Award San Diego Comic-Con International and was named Best Editor by the Eisners in 1993.Complete List of Eisner Award Winners San Diego Comic-Con International In 1998 he was entered into the Eisner Hall of Fame.
In 2007, Goodwin was inducted into the Oklahoma Cartoonists Hall of Fame in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, located in the Toy and Action Figure Museum."Archie Goodwin (1937-1998) Artist/Writer/Editor, Tulsa" ActionFigureMuseum.com Retrieved April 7, 2011
==Appearances within comics==
In The Batman Adventures — the first DC Comics spinoff of Batman: The Animated Series — Goodwin appears as Mr. Nice, a super-strong but childishly-innocent super-villain. He is one of a screwball trio of incompetent super-villains that also includes The Mastermind (a caricature of Mike Carlin) and The Perfessor (a caricature of Dennis O'Neil). Batman: Gotham Adventures #13 (June 1999) features the last appearance of the characters with Mr. Nice leaving the group to fulfill a prophecy, with the issue being dedicated to Archie Goodwin.Batman: Gotham Adventures #13 at the Grand Comics Database
He is also name-checked in issues of Marvel's Star Wars comics (later rebranded "Classic Star Wars"), including in the Alien-language words "Niwdoog Eihcra," his name in reverse.
A character based on him also appears in issue #82 of Cerebus. He stands at the foot of the giant, living stone statue Thrunk and repeats everything Thrunk says - as if he is passing Thrunk's commands to the masses. Thrunk kills him when he steps on him.
The airport in fictional Gotham City, home of Batman, is named Goodwin, after Archie.
==References==
==External links==
Stiles, Steve "Archie Goodwin and his Golden Age at Warren", SteveStiles.com, n.d. WebCitation archive.
Category:1937 births
Category:1998 deaths
Category:People from Kansas City, Missouri
Category:School of Visual Arts alumni
Category:Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame inductees
Category:Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award winners
Category:Artists from Missouri
Category:Writers from Missouri