Dick Briefer
Encyclopedia
Richard "Dick" Briefer was an American
comic-book artist best known for his various adaptations, including humorous ones, of the Frankenstein monster
. Under the pseudonym
Dick Hamilton, he also created the superhero
team the Target and the Targeteers
for Novelty Press
.
in Manhattan
, New York City
, and debuted in comic books in 1936 with work in Wow, What A Magazine!, one of the era's proto-comics "Comic books": tabloid-sized collections of comic strip
reprints in color, which would later include occasional new comic strip-like material. Wow was edited by Jerry Iger
, and when the comic ceased publication with issue #4 (cover-dated Nov. 1936), Briefer freelanced for the newly formed Eisner & Iger
, one of the earliest "packagers" that produced complete comics on demand for publishers entering the fledgling medium.
Briefer's earliest recorded credit is as writer and artist of a five-page story beginning an adaptation of the Victor Hugo
novel
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
, in Jumbo Comics #1-8 & 10 (Sept. 1938 - July 1939 & Nov. 1939), for the Eisner-Iger client Fiction House
. Other seminal work includes drawing and possibly writing the science-fiction adventure feature "Rex Dexter of Mars", which ran in several issues of Fox Comics' Mystery Men Comics; "Dynamo" in Fox's Science Comics; "Biff Bannon" in Harvey Comics
' Speed Comics; "Storm Curtis" in Prize Comics' Prize Comics; and "Crash Parker" in Fiction House's Planet Comics
. For Timely Comics
, the precursor of Marvel Comics
during the 1930s to 1940s period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books
, Briefer created or co-created (writer credit unknown) the single-appearance superhero
the Human Top
in Red Raven
#1 (Aug. 1940).
Also during this time he also drew the comic strip
Pinky Rankin, about a Nazi-fighter, for the American Communist Party newspaper
The Daily Worker.
Dick Hamilton, created the superhero
team the Target and the Targeteers
for Novelty Press
in 1940. The Target first appeared in Target Comics #10 (Nov. 1940), and the Targeteers the following issue. The team starred in Target Comics through issue #95 / vol. 9, #5 (July 1948). Target itself ran 10 more issues.
"Frank N. Stein" in the latter role) introduced the eight-page feature "New Adventures of Frankenstein", an updated version of the much-adapted Frankenstein monster created by Mary Shelley
in her 1818 novel Frankenstein
. Considered by comics historians including Don Markstein as "America's first ongoing comic book series to fall squarely within the horror
genre", the feature, set in New York City
circa 1930, starred a guttural, rampaging creature actually dubbed "Frankenstein" (unlike Shelley's nameless original monster).
In Prize Comics #11 (June 1941), Briefer dropped the "Frank N. Stein" pen name of the previous three stories and introduced Denny "Bulldog" Dunsan as Frankenstein's ongoing antagonist
. Prize Comics #24 (Oct. 1942) pitted the monster against Bulldog and publisher Prize Comics' superheroes the Black Owl, the Green Lama, and Dr. Frost; the non-superpowered teens Yank and Doodle ("America's Fighting Twins"); and the namesake characters from the humor feature "General and the Corporal". As with many comics characters of the time, the monster found himself in the European theater of World War II fighting Nazis.
Now, like many returning veterans, Frankenstein settled into small-town life, becoming a genial neighbor who "began having delightful adventures with Dracula, the Wolfman and other horrific creatures. The only two times he was featured on the Prize Comics cover (both in 1947), he was referred to as 'The Merry Monster'". Briefer, with his trademark "loose and smooth ink and brush skills" began telling stories that would "straddle some amorphous line between pure children's humor and adventure and an adult sensibility about the world".
Author Dan Nadel, who included Briefer in his book Art Out of Time: Unknown Comics Visionaries 1900-1969 (Harry N. Abrams, 2006, ISBN 0-8109-5838-4, ISBN 978-0-8109-5838-8), described Briefer as,
Briefer's humorous Frankenstein ran through Prize Comics #68 (March 1948), and his humorous Frankenstein ran through issue #17 (Feb. 1949). Three years later, Briefer revived the series with his original, horrific Frankenstein from #18-33 (March 1952 - Nov. 1954). This latter version appears in the reprint The Monster of Frankenstein (Idea Men Productions, 2006, ISBN 1-4196-4017-8, ISBN 978-1-4196-4017-9), which includes commentary by Briefer’s granddaughter, Alicia Jo Rabins.
and other violent comic books, leading to the creation of the Comics Code, Briefer left the comic industry for commercial advertising art
.
At the time of his death, Briefer was living in Hollywood
, Florida
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comic-book artist best known for his various adaptations, including humorous ones, of the Frankenstein monster
Frankenstein (Prize Comics)
There have been many comic book adaptations of the Frankenstein monster story created by Mary Shelley in her 1818 novel Frankenstein. Writer-artist Dick Briefer presented two loose adaptations of the story in the Prize Comics series Prize Comics and Frankenstein from 1940 to 1954...
. Under 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...
Dick Hamilton, he also created the 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 —...
team the Target and the Targeteers
Target and the Targeteers
The Target and the Targeteers are fictional characters, a trio of superheroes who first appeared in 1940, in Target Comics from Novelty Press.-History:...
for Novelty Press
Novelty Press
Novelty Press was an American Golden Age comic-book publisher that operated from 1940–1949. It was the comic book imprint of Curtis Publishing Company, publisher of The Saturday Evening Post...
.
Early life and career
Dick Briefer studied at the Art Students LeagueArt Students League of New York
The Art Students League of New York is an art school located on West 57th Street in New York City. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists, and has maintained for over 130 years a tradition of offering reasonably priced classes on a...
in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, New York City
New 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...
, and debuted in comic books in 1936 with work in Wow, What A Magazine!, one of the era's proto-comics "Comic books": tabloid-sized collections of 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....
reprints in color, which would later include occasional new comic strip-like material. Wow was edited by Jerry Iger
Jerry Iger
Samuel Maxwell "Jerry" Iger was an American cartoonist. With business partner Will Eisner he co-founder of Eisner & Iger, a comic book packager that produced comics on demand for new publishers during the late-1930s and 1940s period known to fans and historians as the Golden Age of Comic...
, and when the comic ceased publication with issue #4 (cover-dated Nov. 1936), Briefer freelanced for the newly formed Eisner & Iger
Eisner & Iger
Eisner & Iger was a comic book "packager" that produced comics on demand for publishers entering the new medium during the late-1930s and 1940s period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books...
, one of the earliest "packagers" that produced complete comics on demand for publishers entering the fledgling medium.
Briefer's earliest recorded credit is as writer and artist of a five-page story beginning an adaptation of the Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame is a novel by Victor Hugo published in 1831. The French title refers to the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, on which the story is centered.-Background:...
, in Jumbo Comics #1-8 & 10 (Sept. 1938 - July 1939 & Nov. 1939), for the Eisner-Iger client Fiction House
Fiction House
Fiction House is an American publisher of pulp magazines and comic books that existed from the 1920s to the 1950s. Its comics division was best known for its pinup-style good girl art, as epitomized by the company's most popular character, Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.-History:-Jumbo and Jack...
. Other seminal work includes drawing and possibly writing the science-fiction adventure feature "Rex Dexter of Mars", which ran in several issues of Fox Comics' Mystery Men Comics; "Dynamo" in Fox's Science Comics; "Biff Bannon" in Harvey Comics
Harvey Comics
Harvey Comics was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alfred Harvey in 1941, after buying out the small publisher Brookwood Publications. His brothers Robert B...
' Speed Comics; "Storm Curtis" in Prize Comics' Prize Comics; and "Crash Parker" in Fiction House's Planet Comics
Planet Comics
Planet Comics was a science fiction comic book title produced by Fiction House and ran for 73 issues from January 1940 to Winter 1953. Like many of Fiction House's early comics titles, Planet Comics was a spinoff of a pulp magazine, in this case Planet Stories, which featured space operatic tales...
. For Timely Comics
Timely Comics
Timely Comics, an imprint of Timely Publications, was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics....
, the precursor of 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...
during the 1930s to 1940s period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books
Golden Age of Comic Books
The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books, generally thought of as lasting from the late 1930s until the late 1940s or early 1950s...
, Briefer created or co-created (writer credit unknown) the single-appearance 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 —...
the Human Top
Human Top
Human Top may refer to three Marvel Comics characters who have used the name:* Human Top , Bruce Bravelle, who first appeared in Red Raven Comics #1...
in Red Raven
Red Raven
Red Raven is a fictional comic-book superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. Created by Joe Simon and Louis Cazeneuve in Red Raven Comics #1 Red Raven is a fictional comic-book superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. Created by Joe Simon and Louis Cazeneuve in Red Raven Comics #1 Red Raven is a...
#1 (Aug. 1940).
Also during this time he also drew the 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....
Pinky Rankin, about a Nazi-fighter, for the American Communist Party newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
The Daily Worker.
Target and the Targeteers
Briefer, using the pen namePen 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...
Dick Hamilton, created the 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 —...
team the Target and the Targeteers
Target and the Targeteers
The Target and the Targeteers are fictional characters, a trio of superheroes who first appeared in 1940, in Target Comics from Novelty Press.-History:...
for Novelty Press
Novelty Press
Novelty Press was an American Golden Age comic-book publisher that operated from 1940–1949. It was the comic book imprint of Curtis Publishing Company, publisher of The Saturday Evening Post...
in 1940. The Target first appeared in Target Comics #10 (Nov. 1940), and the Targeteers the following issue. The team starred in Target Comics through issue #95 / vol. 9, #5 (July 1948). Target itself ran 10 more issues.
Comics' first horror feature
In Prize Comics #7 (Dec. 1940), writer-artist Briefer (using the pseudonymPseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
"Frank N. Stein" in the latter role) introduced the eight-page feature "New Adventures of Frankenstein", an updated version of the much-adapted Frankenstein monster created by Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus . She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley...
in her 1818 novel Frankenstein
Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
. Considered by comics historians including Don Markstein as "America's first ongoing comic book series to fall squarely within the horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
genre", the feature, set in New York City
New 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...
circa 1930, starred a guttural, rampaging creature actually dubbed "Frankenstein" (unlike Shelley's nameless original monster).
In Prize Comics #11 (June 1941), Briefer dropped the "Frank N. Stein" pen name of the previous three stories and introduced Denny "Bulldog" Dunsan as Frankenstein's ongoing antagonist
Antagonist
An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
. Prize Comics #24 (Oct. 1942) pitted the monster against Bulldog and publisher Prize Comics' superheroes the Black Owl, the Green Lama, and Dr. Frost; the non-superpowered teens Yank and Doodle ("America's Fighting Twins"); and the namesake characters from the humor feature "General and the Corporal". As with many comics characters of the time, the monster found himself in the European theater of World War II fighting Nazis.
Humor feature
Briefer's better-known version of the Frankenstein monster, however, developed upon the monster's return from the war, in Frankenstein #1 (undated, 1945), appearing roughly concurrently with the eight-page story "Enter Frances Stein" in Prize Comics # 53 (June 1945), which followed "possibly the last 'first version' story of Frankenstein" in Prize Comics # 52 (April 1945)Now, like many returning veterans, Frankenstein settled into small-town life, becoming a genial neighbor who "began having delightful adventures with Dracula, the Wolfman and other horrific creatures. The only two times he was featured on the Prize Comics cover (both in 1947), he was referred to as 'The Merry Monster'". Briefer, with his trademark "loose and smooth ink and brush skills" began telling stories that would "straddle some amorphous line between pure children's humor and adventure and an adult sensibility about the world".
Author Dan Nadel, who included Briefer in his book Art Out of Time: Unknown Comics Visionaries 1900-1969 (Harry N. Abrams, 2006, ISBN 0-8109-5838-4, ISBN 978-0-8109-5838-8), described Briefer as,
Briefer's humorous Frankenstein ran through Prize Comics #68 (March 1948), and his humorous Frankenstein ran through issue #17 (Feb. 1949). Three years later, Briefer revived the series with his original, horrific Frankenstein from #18-33 (March 1952 - Nov. 1954). This latter version appears in the reprint The Monster of Frankenstein (Idea Men Productions, 2006, ISBN 1-4196-4017-8, ISBN 978-1-4196-4017-9), which includes commentary by Briefer’s granddaughter, Alicia Jo Rabins.
Later life and career
Following the cancellation of Frankenstein during an era that put much pressure on horror comicsHorror 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...
and other violent comic books, leading to the creation of the Comics Code, Briefer left the comic industry for commercial advertising art
Commercial art
Commercial art is historically a subsector of creative services, referring to art created for commercial purposes, primarily advertising. The term has become increasingly anachronistic in favor of more contemporary terms such as graphic design and advertising art.Commercial art traditionally...
.
At the time of his death, Briefer was living in Hollywood
Hollywood, Florida
-Demographics:As of 2000, there were 59,673 households out of which 24.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.5% were married couples living together, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.2% were non-families. 34.4% of all households were made up of...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
.
Reprint collections
Briefer, Dick. The Monster of Frankenstein (Idea Men Productions, 2006) ISBN 1-4196-4017-8, ISBN 978-1-4196-4017-9External links
- Frankenstein #32 (vol. 5, #4 per indicia): "The Battle of the Monsters" (dead link; Archive.org archive (reprinted story)
- Dick Briefer's Frankenstein (fan site) WebCitation archive.