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Billy Graham (comics)
Encyclopedia
Billy Graham was an African-American comic-book artist best known for his work on the Marvel Comics
series Luke Cage, Hero for Hire
, and Jungle Action
feature, "Black Panther
", considered the first modern black superhero
.
, Billy Graham had a specifically recognizable style which drew its artistic influences from the work of Al Williamson
, Frank Frazetta
, Burne Hogarth
, and George Tuska
.
One of his earliest comics projects was illustrating writer Don Glut's "Death Boat!" in Vampirella
#1 (Sept. 1969), one of the earliest of Warren Publishing
's influential black-and-white horror-comics
magazines. Graham went on to pencil
and self-ink
a story in nearly each of the first dozen issues of Vampirella, and an additional tale in issue #32 (April 1970) of its brethren publication Creepy
.
Publisher James Warren
recalled in 1999 that he promoted Graham to art director shortly after recruiting him as an artist:
In a 2005 newspaper interview, Warren mentions tweaking a Rolling Stone
reporter who asked about his decision to hire an African-American art director, a rarity in comics at the time: "'What!?' mock-screamed Warren. 'Is Billy black? I didn't know that. Get him in here! Billy, are you black? You're fired!'"
. He either inked or himself penciled every issue of the book's 16-issue run under its original title, and the first as the retitled Luke Cage, Power Man
(Feb. 1974). One reviewer of the reprint collection Essential Luke Cage, Power Man wrote, "The majority of the art is by George Tuska, initially inked by Billy Graham (with several solo pieces by Graham [that] give an intriguing record of his progression as an artist: His initial work has a rough, half-finished look to it, but his later issues are clean and beautifully detailed)....
Steve Englehart
, who wrote issues #5-16, said Graham "helped me plot, so that by the end it was pretty much a co-production." Graham is formally credited as co-writer of issues #14-15, though as Englehart's writing collaborator for those issues, Tony Isabella
recalled, "Billy Graham is credited as the co-scripter of my first issue [#14] and, try as I might, I simply do not recall getting anything other than the usual penciled pages to script. I skimmed a little of that issue and, making no judgment as to whether this is a good or bad thing, the writing does strike me as all mine."
Graham's scratchy yet increasingly lyrical style became honed in collaboration with writer Don McGregor
on the critically lauded "Black Panther" series that ran in Jungle Action
#6-24 (Sept. 1973 - Nov. 1976). Bob Almond
, inker for much of the run of The Black Panther
vol. 3, dedicated his work in memoriam to Graham in an introductory note to issue #17 (April 2000). The pseudonym
ous Buzz Maverik wrote in Ain't It Cool News
, "I know the [Jungle Action] artist, Billy Graham, was black. His cool Marvel Bullpen
name was 'The Irreverent' Billy Graham. For me, even though I later learned that Jack Kirby created the Panther, Graham will always be the definitive Panther artist. His art, even more than McGregor's writing, made T'Challa one of what I call the 'grown men' of the Marvel Universe, the others being Daredevil
and Iron Man
. Those three seemed like the kind of adult I aspired to be, with cool jobs, cool hobbies (superheroing), and cool chicks."
Graham penciled issues #10-22, the bulk of that series' run, and went on to illustrate issues #3-9 of McGregor's 1980s Eclipse Comics
series Sabre
, a spin-off of one the first graphic novels. He also illustrated a story each by McGregor in Marvel's black-and-white horror-comics magazine Monsters Unleashed #11 (April 1975); an issue of the 1980s anthology Eclipse Monthly; and two issues of the black-and-white Eclipse magazine. He was both writer and artist of the six-page story "The Hitchhiker" in Eclipse magazine #5 (March 1982).
He additionally illustrated the Marvel story "More Than Blood", scripted by science-fiction author George Alec Effinger
, in Journey into Mystery
vol. 2, #2 (Dec. 1972); and two "Gabriel: Devil-Hunter" stories by Doug Moench
in the black-and-white magazine Haunt of Horror #2-3 (July-Aug. 1974), as well as a Moench story in the black-and-white Vampire Tales #2 (Oct. 1974).
Graham's last comics work was co-penciling, with Steven Geiger, Power Man and Iron Fist
(the again-retitled Luke Cage series) #114 (Feb. 1985), written by fellow African American Jim Owsley, better known under his pen name
, Christopher Priest.
-filmed movies, Scenes from a Mall, directed by Paul Mazursky
, and The Super (both 1991). He appeared as an extra in TV commericials for products including beer and chewing gum, and played the artist father of one of the lead characters in McGregor's unreleased, low-budget film adaptation of his Detectives Inc.
graphic novels.
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
series Luke Cage, Hero for Hire
Luke Cage
Luke Cage is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Archie Goodwin and artist John Romita, Sr., he first appeared in Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1...
, and Jungle Action
Jungle Action
Jungle Action is the name of two comic book series published by Marvel Comics and its 1950s precursor, Atlas Comics. The latter-day version is the first series starring the Black Panther, the first Black superhero in mainstream comics, created by the writer/artist team of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in...
feature, "Black Panther
Black Panther (comics)
The Black Panther is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and penciller-co-plotter Jack Kirby, he first appeared in Fantastic Four #52...
", considered the first modern black superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
.
Early career
A graduate of New York City's Music & Art High SchoolFiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts
Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts is a high school specializing in teaching visual arts and performing arts, located near Lincoln Center and the Juilliard School in the Lincoln Center district of Manhattan, on Amsterdam Avenue...
, Billy Graham had a specifically recognizable style which drew its artistic influences from the work of Al Williamson
Al Williamson
Alfonso "Al" Williamson was an American cartoonist, comic book artist and illustrator specializing in adventure, Western and science-fiction/fantasy...
, Frank Frazetta
Frank Frazetta
Frank Frazetta was an American fantasy and science fiction artist, noted for work in comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, LP record album covers and other media...
, Burne Hogarth
Burne Hogarth
Burne Hogarth was an American cartoonist, illustrator, educator, author and theoretician, best known for his pioneering work on the Tarzan newspaper comic strip and his series of anatomy books.-Biography:...
, and George Tuska
George Tuska
George Tuska , who early in his career used a variety of pen names including Carl Larson, was an American comic book and newspaper comic strip artist best known for his 1940s work on various Captain Marvel titles and the crime fiction series Crime Does Not Pay, for and his 1960s work illustrating...
.
One of his earliest comics projects was illustrating writer Don Glut's "Death Boat!" in Vampirella
Vampirella
Vampirella is a fictional character, a comic book vampire heroine created by Forrest J Ackerman and costume designer Trina Robbins in Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror comics magazine Vampirella #1 . Writer-editor Archie Goodwin later developed the character from horror-story hostess, in...
#1 (Sept. 1969), one of the earliest of Warren Publishing
Warren Publishing
Warren Publishing was an American magazine company founded by James Warren, who published his first magazines in 1957 and continued in the business for decades...
's influential black-and-white horror-comics
Horror comics
Horror comics are comic books, graphic novels, black-and-white comics magazines, and manga focusing on horror fiction. Horror comic books reached a peak in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, when concern over content and the imposition of the self-censorship Comics Code Authority contributed to...
magazines. Graham went on to pencil
Penciller
A penciller is an artist who works in the creation of comic books, graphic novels, and similar visual art forms.The penciller is the first step in rendering the story in visual form and may require several steps of feedback with the writer. These artists are concerned with layout to showcase...
and self-ink
Inker
The inker is one of the two line artists in a traditional comic book or graphic novel. After a pencilled drawing is given to the inker, the inker uses black ink to produce refined outlines over the pencil lines...
a story in nearly each of the first dozen issues of Vampirella, and an additional tale in issue #32 (April 1970) of its brethren publication Creepy
Creepy
Creepy was an American horror-comics magazine launched by Warren Publishing in 1964. Like Mad, it was a black-and-white newsstand publication in a magazine format and thus did not require the approval or seal of the Comics Code Authority. The anthology magazine was initially published quarterly but...
.
Publisher James Warren
James Warren (publisher)
James Warren is a magazine publisher and founder of Warren Publishing.Magazines published by Warren include Creepy, Vampirella and Famous Monsters of Filmland...
recalled in 1999 that he promoted Graham to art director shortly after recruiting him as an artist:
In a 2005 newspaper interview, Warren mentions tweaking a Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
reporter who asked about his decision to hire an African-American art director, a rarity in comics at the time: "'What!?' mock-screamed Warren. 'Is Billy black? I didn't know that. Get him in here! Billy, are you black? You're fired!'"
Marvel Comics
Graham eventually left Warren and joined the creative team that launched Marvel's Luke Cage, Hero for Hire, inking the premiere issue (June 1972) over pencilers John Romita Sr. and George TuskaGeorge Tuska
George Tuska , who early in his career used a variety of pen names including Carl Larson, was an American comic book and newspaper comic strip artist best known for his 1940s work on various Captain Marvel titles and the crime fiction series Crime Does Not Pay, for and his 1960s work illustrating...
. He either inked or himself penciled every issue of the book's 16-issue run under its original title, and the first as the retitled Luke Cage, Power Man
Luke Cage
Luke Cage is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Archie Goodwin and artist John Romita, Sr., he first appeared in Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1...
(Feb. 1974). One reviewer of the reprint collection Essential Luke Cage, Power Man wrote, "The majority of the art is by George Tuska, initially inked by Billy Graham (with several solo pieces by Graham [that] give an intriguing record of his progression as an artist: His initial work has a rough, half-finished look to it, but his later issues are clean and beautifully detailed)....
Steve Englehart
Steve Englehart
Steve Englehart is an American novelist. In his earlier career he was a comic book writer best known for his work at Marvel Comics and DC Comics, particularly in the 1970s...
, who wrote issues #5-16, said Graham "helped me plot, so that by the end it was pretty much a co-production." Graham is formally credited as co-writer of issues #14-15, though as Englehart's writing collaborator for those issues, Tony Isabella
Tony Isabella
Tony Isabella is an American comic book writer, editor, artist and critic, known as the creator and writer of Marvel Comics' Black Goliath, DC Comics' first major African American superhero, Black Lightning, and as a columnist and critic for the Comics Buyer's Guide.-Marvel Comics:Before he joined...
recalled, "Billy Graham is credited as the co-scripter of my first issue [#14] and, try as I might, I simply do not recall getting anything other than the usual penciled pages to script. I skimmed a little of that issue and, making no judgment as to whether this is a good or bad thing, the writing does strike me as all mine."
Graham's scratchy yet increasingly lyrical style became honed in collaboration with writer Don McGregor
Don McGregor
Donald Francis McGregor is an American comic book writer best known for his work for Marvel Comics, and the author of one of the first graphic novels.-Early life and career:...
on the critically lauded "Black Panther" series that ran in Jungle Action
Jungle Action
Jungle Action is the name of two comic book series published by Marvel Comics and its 1950s precursor, Atlas Comics. The latter-day version is the first series starring the Black Panther, the first Black superhero in mainstream comics, created by the writer/artist team of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in...
#6-24 (Sept. 1973 - Nov. 1976). Bob Almond
Bob Almond
Bob Almond is an American comic book inker whose credits include the Marvel Comics publications Warlock and the Infinity Watch, Black Panther and Annihilation: Conquest: Quasar.-Early life:...
, inker for much of the run of The Black Panther
Black Panther (comics)
The Black Panther is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and penciller-co-plotter Jack Kirby, he first appeared in Fantastic Four #52...
vol. 3, dedicated his work in memoriam to Graham in an introductory note to issue #17 (April 2000). The pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
ous Buzz Maverik wrote in Ain't It Cool News
Ain't It Cool News
Ain't It Cool News is a website founded and run by Harry Knowles, dedicated to news, rumors and reviews of upcoming and currently playing films and television projects, with an emphasis on science fiction, fantasy, horror, comic-book and action genres...
, "I know the [Jungle Action] artist, Billy Graham, was black. His cool Marvel Bullpen
Bullpen Bulletins
"Bullpen Bulletins" was the news and information page that appeared in most regular monthly comic books from Marvel Comics...
name was 'The Irreverent' Billy Graham. For me, even though I later learned that Jack Kirby created the Panther, Graham will always be the definitive Panther artist. His art, even more than McGregor's writing, made T'Challa one of what I call the 'grown men' of the Marvel Universe, the others being Daredevil
Daredevil (Marvel Comics)
Daredevil is a fictional character, a superhero in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett, with an unspecified amount of input from Jack Kirby, and first appeared in Daredevil #1 .Living in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood...
and Iron Man
Iron Man
Iron Man is a fictional character, a superhero in the . The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, first appearing in Tales of Suspense #39 .A billionaire playboy, industrialist and ingenious engineer,...
. Those three seemed like the kind of adult I aspired to be, with cool jobs, cool hobbies (superheroing), and cool chicks."
Graham penciled issues #10-22, the bulk of that series' run, and went on to illustrate issues #3-9 of McGregor's 1980s Eclipse Comics
Eclipse Comics
Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market...
series Sabre
Sabre (graphic novel)
Sabre , published in August 1978, is one of the first modern graphic novels and the first to be distributed in comic book shops...
, a spin-off of one the first graphic novels. He also illustrated a story each by McGregor in Marvel's black-and-white horror-comics magazine Monsters Unleashed #11 (April 1975); an issue of the 1980s anthology Eclipse Monthly; and two issues of the black-and-white Eclipse magazine. He was both writer and artist of the six-page story "The Hitchhiker" in Eclipse magazine #5 (March 1982).
He additionally illustrated the Marvel story "More Than Blood", scripted by science-fiction author George Alec Effinger
George Alec Effinger
George Alec Effinger was an American science fiction author, born in 1947 in Cleveland, Ohio.-Writing career:...
, in Journey into Mystery
Journey into Mystery
Journey into Mystery was an American comic book series published by Atlas Comics, and later its successor Marvel Comics. It featured horror, monster, and science fiction stories...
vol. 2, #2 (Dec. 1972); and two "Gabriel: Devil-Hunter" stories by Doug Moench
Doug Moench
Douglas Moench , better known as Doug Moench, is an American comic book writer notable for his Batman work and as the creator of Black Mask, Moon Knight and Deathlok.-Biography:...
in the black-and-white magazine Haunt of Horror #2-3 (July-Aug. 1974), as well as a Moench story in the black-and-white Vampire Tales #2 (Oct. 1974).
Graham's last comics work was co-penciling, with Steven Geiger, Power Man and Iron Fist
Power Man and Iron Fist
Power Man and Iron Fist was a Marvel comic book featuring the superheroes Power Man and Iron Fist.-Hero For Hire/Power Man:...
(the again-retitled Luke Cage series) #114 (Feb. 1985), written by fellow African American Jim Owsley, better known under his pen name
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
, Christopher Priest.
Actor and playwright
A playwright and occasional actor, Graham had small roles in the New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
-filmed movies, Scenes from a Mall, directed by Paul Mazursky
Paul Mazursky
Paul Mazursky is an American film director, screenwriter and actor.-Personal life:He was born Irwin Mazursky in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Jean , a piano player for dance classes, and David Mazursky, a laborer. Mazursky was born to a Jewish family; his grandfather was an immigrant from...
, and The Super (both 1991). He appeared as an extra in TV commericials for products including beer and chewing gum, and played the artist father of one of the lead characters in McGregor's unreleased, low-budget film adaptation of his Detectives Inc.
Detectives Inc.
Detectives Inc. is a series of two original graphic novels written by Don McGregor and published by Eclipse Enterprises in 1980 and 1985.The first, Detectives Inc.: A Remembrance of Threatening Green, featured black-and-white art by penciler-inker Marshall Rogers...
graphic novels.
External links
- Billy Graham at The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
- Luke Cage, Hero for Hire at Don Markstein's ToonopediaDon Markstein's ToonopediaDon Markstein's Toonopedia was a web encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation. Don D...
. Archived October 25, 2011 - Billy Graham at The Marvel Universe wiki