Murphy Anderson

**Murphy Anderson** (July 9, 1926 – October 2015) was an American comic book artist, known as one of the premier inkers of his era, who worked for companies such as DC Comics for over fifty years, starting in the Golden Age of Comic Books in the 1940s. He worked on such characters as Hawkman, Batgirl, Zatanna, the Spectre, and Superman, as well as on the *Buck Rogers* daily syndicated newspaper comic strip. Anderson also contributed for many years to *PS*, the preventive maintenance comics magazine of the U.S. Army.

## Career

Murphy Anderson was born in 1926 in Asheville, North Carolina. He entered the comic-book industry in 1944, drawing the "Suicide Smith", "Sky Rangers", and "Star Pirate" features for Fiction House. From 1947 to 1949, Anderson was the artist on the *Buck Rogers* comic-book series. During the 1950s, Anderson worked for several publishers including Pines Comics, St. John Publications, Ziff Davis, DC Comics, and Atlas Comics, that decade's predecessor of Marvel Comics.

Anderson succeeded artist and co-creator Carmine Infantino on the superhero feature "Captain Comet" beginning with the story "The Girl from the Diamond Planet" in *Strange Adventures* #12 (cover-dated Sept. 1951). Years later, Anderson and writer John Broome created the feature "Atomic Knights" in *Strange Adventures* #117 (June 1960), which Anderson later described as his favorite assignment. Anderson and writer Gardner Fox launched the *Hawkman* series in May 1964 and introduced the Zatanna character in issue #4 (Nov. 1964). Comics historian Les Daniels noted that "Hawkman really took off when artist Murphy Anderson took over...Anderson came into his own with his elegantly ornamental version of the Winged Wonder." The Spectre was revived by Fox and Anderson in *Showcase* #60 (Feb. 1966) and was given his own series in December 1967. In the 1960s Anderson proposed that comics pages be drawn at 10x15 inches rather than the prevailing standard of 12x18 inches, which allowed two pages to be photographed at the same time, and this subsequently became the industry standard.

As an inker, Anderson designed the costume of Adam Strange.Template:Fix/category[*vague*] With his frequent collaborator, penciler Curt Swan, the pair's artwork on *Superman* and *Action Comics* in the 1970s came to be called "Swanderson" by fans. He often hide his initials somewhere within the stories he inked. In the early 1970s, DC assigned Anderson, among other artists, to redraw the heads of Jack Kirby's renditions of Superman and Jimmy Olsen, fearing Kirby's versions were too different from the established images of the characters. In 1973, he established Murphy Anderson Visual Concepts, which provided color separations and lettering for comic books.

## Awards

Anderson's accolades include the 1962 Alley Award for "Best Inker"; a 1963 Alley for "Artist Preferred on *Justice League of America*"; 1964 Alleys for "Best Inking Artist" and for "Best Comic Book Cover" (*Detective Comics* #329, with penciler Carmine Infantino); 1965 Alleys for, again, "Best Inking Artist" and "Best Comic Book Cover" (*The Brave and the Bold* #61), as well as for "Best Novel" (an untitled story in *Showcase* #55, with writer Gardner Fox).

Anderson was inducted into the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1998 and the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 1999.

In 2013, Anderson was inducted into the Inkwell Awards Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame.

### Aida-Zee Comics

* *Aida-Zee* #1 (inker, assisted by Dan Zolnerowich; also color separations)(1990)

### DC Comics

* *Action Comics* #379, 393-424, 426-428, 430-433, 485, 544, 600, 700 (inker) (1969-1994)
* *Action Comics Weekly* #613-641 (inker) (1988-1989)
* *Adventure Comics* #383, 453 (inker) (1969-1977)
* *The Atom* #1-11, 13 (inker) (1962-1964)
* *The Atom and Hawkman* #39-41, 43-44 (1968–69)
* *Batman* #254 (inker) (1974)
* *The Brave and the Bold* #28, 47 (inker); #61-62 (1960-1965)
* *DC Comics Presents* #5, 8; #67-68, 95 (inker) (1979-1986)
* *DC Special Series* #11 (inker) (1978)
* *DC Super Stars* #12 (inker) (1977)
* *Detective Comics* (Elongated Man) #357, 359-360, 377; (Batgirl) #384-385, 388-389, 392-393, 396-397 (inker); (Robin) #390-391, 394-395 (inker); (Batman) #431-432 (inker) (Jason Bard) #431, 433 (inker); (the Atom) #432 (1973); (Hawkman) 480 (1966–1978)
* *Falling In Love* #118 (1970)
* *The Flash* #110-111, 114-115, 117-119, 121, 148-150, 152, 195, 200-204, 206-208 (inker) (1959-1971)
* *Girls' Love Stories* #150 (inker) (1970)
* *Girls' Romances* #149, 151 (1970)
* *Green Lantern* #1, 4, 9-10, 16, 21, 71, 73-74, 137 (inker) (1960-1981)
* *Hawkman* #1-21 (1964–1967)
* *Heroes Against Hunger* #1 (inker) (1986)
* *House of Mystery* #37; #198, 212, 302 (inker) (1955-1982)
* *House of Secrets* #91 (1971)
* *Korak, Son of Tarzan* #52-56 (1973–1974)
* *My Greatest Adventure* #42 (1960)
* *Mystery in Space* #2, 4, 7-17, 45-48; (Adam Strange) #56-59, 61-70, 72, 74-83, 85, 87-91 (inker) (1951-1964)
* *The New Teen Titans* vol. 2 #15 (inker) (1985)
* *Our Army at War* #28, 31 (1954-1955)
* *Phantom Stranger* #1, 4-6 (1952-1953)
* *Phantom Stranger* vol. 2 #4-5 (1969-1970)
* *Secret Origins* (Doll Man) #8; (Uncle Sam) #19; (Black Condor) #21 (1986–1987)
* *Showcase* (the Atom) #34-36 (inker); (I-Spy) #50 (inker); (Doctor Fate) #55-56; (Spectre) #60-61, 64 (1965–66)
* *Spectre* #1; 6-8 (inker) (1967-1969)
* *Strange Adventures* #9-11, 44, 53, 55, 94, 96, 99, 111, 115, 119, 121-122, 124-125, 127-128, 130-131, 133, 13-137, 139-140, 142-143, 145-146, 148-149, 151-152, 154-155, 159, 161-163, 227; (Captain Comet) #12-44; (Atomic Knights) #117, 120, 123, 126, 129, 132, 135, 138, 141, 144, 147, 150, 153, 156, 160; (Adam Strange) #222, 226 (1951-1970)
* *Superboy* #167-172, 175-184, 186-195, 197 (inker) (1970-1973)
* *Superman* #233-238, 241-244, 246-251, 253-270, 411, *Annual* #10 (inker); (Fabulous World of Krypton) #233; (Private Life of Clark Kent) #270 (1970–1985)
* *The Superman Family* #186 (inker) (1977)
* *Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen* (full art) #129-130, 132; (Superman and Jimmy Olsen heads re-drawn over Jack Kirby layouts) #136-139, 141-145, 148 (1969–1972)
* *Superman: The Wedding Album* #1 (inker) (1996)
* *Tales of the Unexpected* #50 (1960)
* *Tarzan* (backup stories) #207, 209, 217-218 (1972–1973)
* *The Unexpected* #118-119, 122, 208 (1970-1981)
* *Weird Worlds* (John Carter of Mars) #1-3 (1972–1973)
* *Witching Hour* #38 (1974)
* *World's Finest Comics* (Tommy Tomorrow) #121-122; (Super-Sons) #216, 221 (inker); (Superman and Batman) #217, 220, 244-246, 256 (inker); (Hawkman) #256 (1961-1979)

## References

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5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Murphy Anderson at the Grand Comics Database
6. ↑ McAvennie, Michael "1960s" in Dolan, p. 100: "'The Rise of the Atomic Knights', ushered in by scribe John Broome and illustrator Murphy Anderson, transported fans to a post-World War III Earth ravaged by atomic radiation."
7. ↑ **Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration' not found.**
8. ↑ McAvennie "1960s" in Dolan, p. 113
9. ↑ McAvennie "1960s" in Dolan, p. 112
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11. ↑ McAvennie "1960s" in Dolan, p. 117: "Scribe Gardner Fox and artist Murphy Anderson recruited the ethereal entity in time for #60 of *Showcase*."
12. ↑ McAvennie "1960s" in Dolan, p. 125
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## External links

* Murphy Anderson at the Comic Book DB
* Murphy Anderson at Mike's Amazing World of Comics
* *Showcase* #55: The Glory of Murphy Anderson
* Tribute website

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 Alternative names
 Date of birth
 Place of birth