Curt Swan
Encyclopedia
Douglas Curtis Swan was an American
comic book
artist
. The artist most associated with Superman
during the period fans and historians call the Silver Age of comic books
, Swan produced hundreds of covers and stories from the 1950s through the 1980s.
; mother Leotine Hanson had worked in a local hospital. As a boy, Swan's given name — Douglas — was shortened to "Doug," and, disliking the phonetic similarity to "Dog," Swan thereafter reversed the order of his given names and went by "Curtis Douglas," rather than "Douglas Curtis."
Having enlisted in Minnesota's National Guard's 135th Regiment, 34th Division in 1940, Swan was sent to Europe when the "federalized" division was shipped initially to Northern Ireland and Scotland. While his comrades in the 34th eventually went into combat in North Africa and Italy, Swan spent most of World War II working as an artist for the G.I. magazine Stars and Stripes
. During this period he also married the former Helene Brickley, who he had met at a dance at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and who was stationed near him in Paris in 1944 as a Red Cross worker. Shortly after returning to civilian life in 1945 he moved from Minnesota to New Jersey and began working for DC Comics
. Apart from a few months of night classes (at the Pratt Institute
) under the G.I. Bill, Swan was an entirely self-taught artist. After a stint on Boy Commandos
he began to just pencil pages, leaving the inking to others.
Initially, Swan drew many different features, including "Tommy Tomorrow
" and "Gangbusters", but slowly he began gravitating towards the Superman
line of books. His first job pencilling the iconic character was for Superman #51 (March–April 1948). Many comics of the 1940s and 1950s lacked contributor credits, but research shows that Swan began pencilling the Superboy
comic book with its fifth issue in 1949. Swan always felt, however, that his breakthrough came when he was assigned the art duties on Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen, in 1954.
It wasn't all smooth sailing, as Swan at first didn't take to line editor Mort Weisinger
's controlling style. Swan discussed this period in an interview: "I was getting terrible migraine headaches and had these verbal battles with Mort. So it was emotional, physical. It just drained me and I thought I'd better get out of here before I go whacko." After leaving comics for the advertising world in 1951, Swan soon returned, for National's higher paychecks. And as biographer Zeno notes, "The headaches went away after [Swan] gained Weisinger's respect by standing up to him." There were other times when Swan got frustrated at DC, and years later Marvel Comics
attempted to lure him to their company, but he stayed loyal to DC, as their benefits were good and the work was steady.
Around 1954, Swan unsuccessfully pitched an original comic strip
for newspaper syndication. Called Yellow Hair, it was about a blond boy raised by Native American
s. A couple of years later, starting with the episode of June 18, 1956, Swan drew the Superman daily newspaper comic strip
, which he continued on until November 12, 1960.
Over the years, Swan was a remarkably consistent and prolific artist, often illustrating two or more titles per month.
After DC's 1985 12-issue limited series
Crisis on Infinite Earths
and with the impending 1986 revision of Superman by writer/artist John Byrne, Swan was released from his duties on the Superman comics. Critic Wallace Harrington summed up Swan's dismissal this way:
Swan's swan song
on Superman was the non-canonical 1986 story "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?
", written by Alan Moore
.
After this, Swan continued to do occasional minor projects for DC, including an Aquaman
limited series and special in 1989, and various returns on illustrating Superman. Unfortunately, he had not planned well for retirement, and needed to keep working to survive. His marriage dissolved, in some ways due to a recurring drinking problem. Swan's last published story was five pages published posthumously in the 1996 special Superman: The Wedding Album.
Swan was living in Wilton, Connecticut
, at the time of his death. He was survived by his former wife Helene, daughters Karen and Cecilia, and son Christopher.
, his Golden Age predecessor. Critic Arlen Schumer praises Swan's ability to depict "the spectrum of human emotion, from agony to anger, mournful to mirthful." As characterized by critic Paul Gravett, Swan's Superman made ". . . Krypton's last son in exile, the alien in our midst, into someone like us, who would think and feel as well as act, who was approachable, big-hearted, considerate, maybe physically superpowerful yet gentle, noble yet subtly tragic." In a similar vein, Swan biographer Eddy Zeno calls Swan "the Norman Rockwell
of . . . comics."
With his frequent inker Murphy Anderson
from 1970–1974 (and then again from 1988–1989), the pair's collaborative artwork came to be called "Swanderson" by the fans. (Despite his and Anderson's success together, however, Swan's favorite inker was Al Williamson
, with whom he only worked a short time, from 1985–1986.)
.
Swan's favorite story — one of the few he both pencilled and inked — was "I Flew With Superman" from Superman Annual #9 (1983), in which Swan himself appears and helps Superman solve a case.
In a story titled "Swan's Way," issue #92 of the Legion of Super-heroes
(May 1997) memorialized Swan with a cameo appearance as an art teacher.
In the Superman-based television show Smallville (TV Series)
, Christopher Reeve
made a guest-appearance in two episodes as character Dr. Virgil Swann, who knows all about Kal-El and his origins. This was an allusion to Swan.
Mark Hamill
's character "Don Swan" in Comic Book: The Movie
is likely a tribute to Swan.
Wallace Harrington:
Elliot S! Maggin
:
Alan Moore
:
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
. The artist most associated with Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
during the period fans and historians call the Silver Age of comic books
Silver Age of Comic Books
The Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those in the superhero genre. Following the Golden Age of Comic Books and an interregnum in the early to mid-1950s, the Silver Age is considered to cover the...
, Swan produced hundreds of covers and stories from the 1950s through the 1980s.
Early life and career
Curt Swan, whose Swedish grandmother had shortened the original family name of Swanson, was the youngest of five children. Father John Swan worked for the railroadsRail transport
Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...
; mother Leotine Hanson had worked in a local hospital. As a boy, Swan's given name — Douglas — was shortened to "Doug," and, disliking the phonetic similarity to "Dog," Swan thereafter reversed the order of his given names and went by "Curtis Douglas," rather than "Douglas Curtis."
Having enlisted in Minnesota's National Guard's 135th Regiment, 34th Division in 1940, Swan was sent to Europe when the "federalized" division was shipped initially to Northern Ireland and Scotland. While his comrades in the 34th eventually went into combat in North Africa and Italy, Swan spent most of World War II working as an artist for the G.I. magazine Stars and Stripes
Stars and Stripes (newspaper)
Stars and Stripes is a news source that operates from inside the United States Department of Defense but is editorially separate from it. The First Amendment protection which Stars and Stripes enjoys is safeguarded by Congress to whom an independent ombudsman, who serves the readers' interests,...
. During this period he also married the former Helene Brickley, who he had met at a dance at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and who was stationed near him in Paris in 1944 as a Red Cross worker. Shortly after returning to civilian life in 1945 he moved from Minnesota to New Jersey and began working for DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
. Apart from a few months of night classes (at the Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...
) under the G.I. Bill, Swan was an entirely self-taught artist. After a stint on Boy Commandos
Boy Commandos
Boy Commandos was a 1940s comic book series created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby for DC Comics. A combination of "kid gang" comics and war comics, the title starred an international cast of little tough guys fighting the Nazis — or in their own parlance, "the Ratzies".-Creation:Simon & Kirby, hired...
he began to just pencil pages, leaving the inking to others.
Superman
Tommy Tomorrow
Tommy Tomorrow was a long-running science fiction hero published by DC Comics in several of their titles from 1947 to 1963. He first appeared in Real Fact Comics #6...
" and "Gangbusters", but slowly he began gravitating towards the Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
line of books. His first job pencilling the iconic character was for Superman #51 (March–April 1948). Many comics of the 1940s and 1950s lacked contributor credits, but research shows that Swan began pencilling the Superboy
Superboy (Kal-El)
The original Superboy is a fictional superhero who appears in DC Comics. The name of Superman as a boy, Superboy has adventures that occur in the relative past to those of Superman and take place predominantly in his hometown of Smallville...
comic book with its fifth issue in 1949. Swan always felt, however, that his breakthrough came when he was assigned the art duties on Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen, in 1954.
It wasn't all smooth sailing, as Swan at first didn't take to line editor Mort Weisinger
Mort Weisinger
Mortimer Weisinger was an American magazine and comic book editor best known for editing DC Comics' Superman during the mid-1950s to 1960s, in the Silver Age of comic books...
's controlling style. Swan discussed this period in an interview: "I was getting terrible migraine headaches and had these verbal battles with Mort. So it was emotional, physical. It just drained me and I thought I'd better get out of here before I go whacko." After leaving comics for the advertising world in 1951, Swan soon returned, for National's higher paychecks. And as biographer Zeno notes, "The headaches went away after [Swan] gained Weisinger's respect by standing up to him." There were other times when Swan got frustrated at DC, and years later Marvel Comics
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...
attempted to lure him to their company, but he stayed loyal to DC, as their benefits were good and the work was steady.
Around 1954, Swan unsuccessfully pitched an original comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
for newspaper syndication. Called Yellow Hair, it was about a blond boy raised by Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
s. A couple of years later, starting with the episode of June 18, 1956, Swan drew the Superman daily newspaper comic strip
Superman (comic strip)
Superman was a daily newspaper comic strip which began on January 16, 1939, and a separate Sunday strip was added on November 5, 1939. These strips ran continuously until May 1966. In 1941, the McClure Syndicate had placed the strip in hundreds of newspapers...
, which he continued on until November 12, 1960.
Over the years, Swan was a remarkably consistent and prolific artist, often illustrating two or more titles per month.
Later life and career
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
Crisis on Infinite Earths
Crisis on Infinite Earths
Crisis on Infinite Earths is a 12-issue American comic book limited series and crossover event, produced by DC Comics in 1985 to simplify its then 50-year-old continuity...
and with the impending 1986 revision of Superman by writer/artist John Byrne, Swan was released from his duties on the Superman comics. Critic Wallace Harrington summed up Swan's dismissal this way:
Swan's swan song
Swan song
"Swan song" is a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement. The phrase refers to an ancient belief that the Mute Swan is completely silent during its lifetime until the moment just before death, when it sings one beautiful song...
on Superman was the non-canonical 1986 story "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?
Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?
"Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" is a 1986 comic book story featuring the DC Comics character of Superman. The story was published in two parts, beginning in Superman #423 and ending in Action Comics #583, both published in September 1986...
", written by Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
.
After this, Swan continued to do occasional minor projects for DC, including an Aquaman
Aquaman
Aquaman is a fictional superhero who appears in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger, the character debuted in More Fun Comics #73 . Initially a backup feature in DC's anthology titles, Aquaman later starred in several volumes of a solo title...
limited series and special in 1989, and various returns on illustrating Superman. Unfortunately, he had not planned well for retirement, and needed to keep working to survive. His marriage dissolved, in some ways due to a recurring drinking problem. Swan's last published story was five pages published posthumously in the 1996 special Superman: The Wedding Album.
Swan was living in Wilton, Connecticut
Wilton, Connecticut
Wilton is a town nestled in the Norwalk River Valley in southwestern Connecticut in the United States. It is located in Fairfield County. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 18,062. In 2007, it was voted as one of CNN Money's "Best Places to Live" in the United States.Located along...
, at the time of his death. He was survived by his former wife Helene, daughters Karen and Cecilia, and son Christopher.
Art style
Swan's artwork on Superman was a contrast to Wayne BoringWayne Boring
Wayne Boring was an American comic book artist best known for his work on Superman from the late 1940s to 1950s. He occasionally used the pseudonym Jack Harmon....
, his Golden Age predecessor. Critic Arlen Schumer praises Swan's ability to depict "the spectrum of human emotion, from agony to anger, mournful to mirthful." As characterized by critic Paul Gravett, Swan's Superman made ". . . Krypton's last son in exile, the alien in our midst, into someone like us, who would think and feel as well as act, who was approachable, big-hearted, considerate, maybe physically superpowerful yet gentle, noble yet subtly tragic." In a similar vein, Swan biographer Eddy Zeno calls Swan "the Norman Rockwell
Norman Rockwell
Norman Percevel Rockwell was a 20th-century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of American culture. Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening...
of . . . comics."
With his frequent inker Murphy Anderson
Murphy Anderson
Murphy Anderson is an American comic book artist, known as one of the premier inkers of his era, who has worked for companies such as DC Comics for over fifty years, starting in the 1930s-'40s Golden Age of Comic Books...
from 1970–1974 (and then again from 1988–1989), the pair's collaborative artwork came to be called "Swanderson" by the fans. (Despite his and Anderson's success together, however, Swan's favorite inker was Al Williamson
Al Williamson
Alfonso "Al" Williamson was an American cartoonist, comic book artist and illustrator specializing in adventure, Western and science-fiction/fantasy...
, with whom he only worked a short time, from 1985–1986.)
Legacy
In 1985, DC Comics named Swan as one of the honorees in the company's 50th anniversary publication Fifty Who Made DC GreatFifty Who Made DC Great
Fifty Who Made DC Great is a one shot published by DC Comics to commemorate the company's 50th anniversary in 1985. It was published in comic book format but contained text articles with photographs and background caricatures...
.
Swan's favorite story — one of the few he both pencilled and inked — was "I Flew With Superman" from Superman Annual #9 (1983), in which Swan himself appears and helps Superman solve a case.
In a story titled "Swan's Way," issue #92 of the Legion of Super-heroes
Legion of Super-Heroes
The Legion of Super-Heroes is a fictional superhero team in the 30th and 31st centuries of the . The team first appears in Adventure Comics #247 , and was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino....
(May 1997) memorialized Swan with a cameo appearance as an art teacher.
In the Superman-based television show Smallville (TV Series)
Smallville (TV series)
Smallville is an American television series developed by writers/producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar based on the DC Comics character Superman, originally created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The television series was initially broadcast by The WB Television Network , premiering on October...
, Christopher Reeve
Christopher Reeve
Christopher D'Olier Reeve was an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, author and activist...
made a guest-appearance in two episodes as character Dr. Virgil Swann, who knows all about Kal-El and his origins. This was an allusion to Swan.
Mark Hamill
Mark Hamill
Mark Richard Hamill is an American actor, voice artist, producer, director, and writer, best known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy of Star Wars. More recently, he has received acclaim for his voice work, in such roles as the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, Firelord...
's character "Don Swan" in Comic Book: The Movie
Comic Book: The Movie
Comic Book: The Movie is a 2004 direct-to-DVD mockumentary directed by and starring Mark Hamill who is best known for his role as Luke Skywalker, the main character in the original trilogy of Star Wars feature films...
is likely a tribute to Swan.
Quotes
Dennis O'Neil:Wallace Harrington:
Elliot S! Maggin
Elliot S! Maggin
Elliot S. Maggin, also spelled Elliot S! Maggin , is an American writer of comic books, film, television and novels. He was a main writer for DC Comics during the Bronze and early Modern ages of comics in the 1970s and 1980s...
:
Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
:
External links
- Curt Swan at LambiekLambiekLambiek is a comic book store and art gallery in Amsterdam, founded in 1968 by Kees Kousemaker .It has held exhibitions of art by comic creators, including Robert Crumb, Daniel Clowes, Erik Kriek, André Franquin, Tanino Liberatore and Chris Ware...
's Comiclopedia - Swan, Curt. "Drawing Superman", Superman Through the Ages (1986)
- Curt Swan, Superman Home Page
- Broertjes, Harry. "Curt Swan, 1920–1996", InterlacInterlac (APA)Interlac is a bimonthly amateur press association devoted to the DC Comics science fiction superhero team the Legion of Super-Heroes. It was the first APA devoted to the Legion and, despite the decline of APAs due to Internet forums, continues to operate to this day.Interlac’s name comes from the...
(August 1996) - Nightwing of Kandor, "Curt Swan!", Confessions of a Superman Fan
- Reed, Bill. (July 22, 2007) "365 Reasons to Love Comics: #203", Comics Should be Good, Comic Book ResourcesComic Book ResourcesComic Book Resources, also known as CBR is a website dedicated to the coverage of comic book-related news and discussion.-History:Comic Book Resources was founded by Jonah Weiland in 1996 as a development of the Kingdom Come Message Board, a message forum that Weiland had created to discuss DC...
- Curt Swan at Vanguard http://www.vanguardproductions.net/swan
- Hogan, Billy. "Curt Swan: I Flew With Superman!", Superman Fan Podcast #61 (February 19, 2009)
- Hughes, Bob. "Who Inked Curt Swan on Superman", Who's Whose in the DC Universe?
- Kimball, Kirk. "Super Artist Curt Swan!", Dial B for Blog #231
- Gravett, Paul. "Curt Swan: A Superman walked among Us"