Jay Scott Pike
Encyclopedia
Jay Scott Pike is an American
comic book artist
and commercial illustrator known for his 1950s and 1960s work for Marvel Comics
and DC Comics
, advertising
art, and as a Playboy
-affiliated good girl art
ist. He created the DC character Dolphin
and co-created the Marvel character Jann of the Jungle
.
, Jay Scott Pike enrolled at the Art Students League in Manhattan
, New York City
at the age of 16. After military service in the United States Marines, he went on to study at the Parsons School of Design, Syracuse University
, and the Ringling School of Art in Sarasota
, Florida
.
His earliest confirmed comic book
art is the five-page story "The Living Dead", by an unknown writer, in Adventures into Terror #3 (April 1951), from Atlas Comics
, the 1950s forerunner of Marvel Comics
. Tentative earlier credits exist, but because it was not standard practice during this period to list complete writer/artist comic-book credits, confirmation is difficult.
Black Rider
, Red Warrior, Texas Kid, and Wild Western; such crime comics
as All True Crime Cases Comics, Amazing Detective Cases, Crime Must Lose, and Justice; romance comics
, including Girl Confessions, Love Romances, Love Tales, My Own Romance, Secret Story Romance, and True Secrets; war comics
such as Battle, Battlefield, Battlefront, Combat Casey, Men's Adventures, Men in Action, and War Action; and horror comics
including Adventures into Weird Worlds, Journey into Mystery
, Mystic, and Uncanny Tales
; and jungle
adventure such as Jungle Tales
, and Lorna, the Jungle Girl, among other comics. With writer Don Rico
, he co-created the character Jann of the Jungle
in Jungle Tales #1 (Sept. 1954), and drew her adventures in numerous issues of that title and her own series. His final Atlas/Marvel works were the six-page story "When a Romance Ends" in Love Romances #87 (May 1960), and the five-page "Love Or Infatuation?", written by Stan Lee
, years later in issue #105 (May 1963). (Many of Pike's 1950s Atlas stories were reprinted by Marvel Comics in the 1970s.)
Pike began drawing for rival DC Comics
in the mid-1960s, beginning with the 12-page story "In the Name of Love", starring Wendy Winthrop, Television Model, by an unknown writer, in Girls' Romances #99 (March 1964). He primarily drew for the publisher's romance comics
, including Heart Throbs
, Our Love Story, Secret Hearts, and Young Love. For Heart Throbs, Pike and inker Russ Jones
illustrated the long-running feature "3 Girls—Their Lives—Their Loves," which ran from 1966–1970.
In addition to his DC romance work, Pike as both writer and artist created the undersea superheroine Dolphin
in Showcase
#79 (Dec. 1968). His stories continued to appear in DC Comics through Girls' Love Stories #180 (Dec. 1973).
.
His good girl art
pinup work included succeeding Art Frahm
on the "panties-falling-down" series for the A. Fox calendar company. The last in this series, featuring a brunette and her dog outside a construction site, is entitled "Dog Tied".
As an advertising
artist, he worked on campaigns for clients including Borden
, Ford Motor Company
, General Mills
, Pepsi
, Procter & Gamble
, and Trans World Airlines
. Near the end of his commercial career, Pike began painting fine art
canvases of nudes, as well as pencil drawings of nudes that appeared in Playboy
clubs before being published.
After a long hiatus from comic books, Pike returned in 1993 to draw layouts for two issues and then do full penciling for an issue on the DC Comics
series Scarlett #12-14 (Dec. 1993 - Feb. 1994). He also penciled the 58-page story "All Good Things" in DC's one-shot comic Star Trek: The Next Generation The Series Finale (1994)
Pike is now retired and living in Florida, where he still paints every day.
People of the United States
The people of the United States, also known as simply Americans or American people, are the inhabitants or citizens of the United States. The United States is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
comic book artist
Comic Book Artist
Comic Book Artist was an American magazine founded by Jon B. Cooke devoted to anecdotal histories of American comic books, with emphasis on comics published since the 1960s...
and commercial illustrator known for his 1950s and 1960s work for 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...
and 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...
, advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
art, and as a Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
-affiliated good girl art
Good girl art
Good girl art is found in drawings or paintings which feature a strong emphasis on attractive women no matter what the subject or situation. GGA was most commonly featured in comic books, pulp magazines and crime fiction...
ist. He created the DC character Dolphin
Dolphin (comics)
Dolphin is a fictional character, a superheroine in the DC Comics universe. Created by writer-artist Jay Scott Pike, she debuted in Showcase #79 Dolphin is a fictional character, a superheroine in the DC Comics universe. Created by writer-artist Jay Scott Pike, she debuted in Showcase #79 Dolphin...
and co-created the Marvel character Jann of the Jungle
Jann of the Jungle
Jann of the Jungle is a fictional comic book jungle girl protagonist created by writer Don Rico and artist Jay Scott Pike in the anthology title Jungle Tales #1 , published by Marvel Comics' 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics....
.
Early life and career
Born in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, Jay Scott Pike enrolled at the Art Students League 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...
at the age of 16. After military service in the United States Marines, he went on to study at the Parsons School of Design, Syracuse University
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
, and the Ringling School of Art in Sarasota
Sarasota, Florida
Sarasota is a city located in Sarasota County on the southwestern coast of the U.S. state of Florida. It is south of the Tampa Bay Area and north of Fort Myers...
, 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...
.
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...
art is the five-page story "The Living Dead", by an unknown writer, in Adventures into Terror #3 (April 1951), from Atlas Comics
Atlas Comics (1950s)
Atlas Comics is the term used to describe the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and paperback novel publisher Martin Goodman, whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporate entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic...
, the 1950s forerunner 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...
. Tentative earlier credits exist, but because it was not standard practice during this period to list complete writer/artist comic-book credits, confirmation is difficult.
Comic books
Pike quickly became a regular Atlas Comics contributor, drawing in a variety of genres for such titles as the WesternsWestern comics
Western comics is a comics genre usually depicting the American Old West frontier and typically set during the late nineteenth century...
Black Rider
Black Rider (comics)
The Black Rider is a fictional Western character in comic books published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared in All-Western Winners #2 , from the company's 1940s forerunner, Timely Comics.-Publication history:...
, Red Warrior, Texas Kid, and Wild Western; such crime comics
Crime comics
Crime comics is a genre of American comic books and format of crime fiction. The genre was originally popular in the 1940s and 1950s and is marked by a moralistic editorial tone and graphic depictions of violence and criminal activity. Crime comics began in 1942 with the publication of Crime Does...
as All True Crime Cases Comics, Amazing Detective Cases, Crime Must Lose, and Justice; romance comics
Romance comics
Romance comics is a comics genre depicting romantic love and its attendant complications such as jealousy, marriage, divorce, betrayal, and heartache. The term is generally associated with an American comic books genre published through the first three decades of the Cold War...
, including Girl Confessions, Love Romances, Love Tales, My Own Romance, Secret Story Romance, and True Secrets; war comics
War comics
War comics is a genre of comic books that gained popularity in English-speaking countries following World War II.-American war comics:Shortly after the birth of the modern comic book in the mid- to late 1930s, comics publishers began including stories of wartime adventures in the multi-genre...
such as Battle, Battlefield, Battlefront, Combat Casey, Men's Adventures, Men in Action, and War Action; and 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...
including Adventures into Weird Worlds, 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...
, Mystic, and Uncanny Tales
Uncanny Tales
Uncanny Tales may refer to one of the following publications:* Uncanny Tales , an American pulp magazine* Uncanny Tales , a Canadian pulp magazine...
; and jungle
Jungle
A Jungle is an area of land in the tropics overgrown with dense vegetation.The word jungle originates from the Sanskrit word jangala which referred to uncultivated land. Although the Sanskrit word refers to "dry land", it has been suggested that an Anglo-Indian interpretation led to its...
adventure such as Jungle Tales
Jungle Tales
Jungle Tales was an American comic book title published by Atlas Comics, the 1950s predecessor to Marvel Comics. It was an anthology title of stories set in an African jungle.-Publication history:...
, and Lorna, the Jungle Girl, among other comics. With writer Don Rico
Don Rico
Donato Francisco Rico II was an American paperback novelist, screenwriter, and comic book writer-artist, who co-created the Marvel Comics characters Jann of the Jungle, with artist Jay Scott Pike, and Leopard Girl, with artist Al Hartley. His pen names include Dan Rico, Donella St...
, he co-created the character Jann of the Jungle
Jann of the Jungle
Jann of the Jungle is a fictional comic book jungle girl protagonist created by writer Don Rico and artist Jay Scott Pike in the anthology title Jungle Tales #1 , published by Marvel Comics' 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics....
in Jungle Tales #1 (Sept. 1954), and drew her adventures in numerous issues of that title and her own series. His final Atlas/Marvel works were the six-page story "When a Romance Ends" in Love Romances #87 (May 1960), and the five-page "Love Or Infatuation?", written by Stan Lee
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
, years later in issue #105 (May 1963). (Many of Pike's 1950s Atlas stories were reprinted by Marvel Comics in the 1970s.)
Pike began drawing for rival 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...
in the mid-1960s, beginning with the 12-page story "In the Name of Love", starring Wendy Winthrop, Television Model, by an unknown writer, in Girls' Romances #99 (March 1964). He primarily drew for the publisher's romance comics
Romance comics
Romance comics is a comics genre depicting romantic love and its attendant complications such as jealousy, marriage, divorce, betrayal, and heartache. The term is generally associated with an American comic books genre published through the first three decades of the Cold War...
, including Heart Throbs
Heart Throbs
Heart Throbs was a romance comic published by Quality Comics and DC Comics from 1949 to 1972. Quality published the book from 1949–1957, when it was acquired by DC. Most issues featured a number of short comics stories, as well advice columns, text pieces, and filler...
, Our Love Story, Secret Hearts, and Young Love. For Heart Throbs, Pike and inker Russ Jones
Russ Jones
Russ Jones is a Canadian novelist, illustrator, and magazine editor, active in the publishing and entertainment industries over a half-century, best known as the creator of the magazine Creepy for Warren Publishing...
illustrated the long-running feature "3 Girls—Their Lives—Their Loves," which ran from 1966–1970.
In addition to his DC romance work, Pike as both writer and artist created the undersea superheroine Dolphin
Dolphin (comics)
Dolphin is a fictional character, a superheroine in the DC Comics universe. Created by writer-artist Jay Scott Pike, she debuted in Showcase #79 Dolphin is a fictional character, a superheroine in the DC Comics universe. Created by writer-artist Jay Scott Pike, she debuted in Showcase #79 Dolphin...
in Showcase
Showcase (comics)
Showcase has been the title of several comic anthology series published by DC Comics. The general theme of these series has been to feature new and minor characters as a way to gauge reader interest in them, without the difficulty and risk of featuring "untested" characters in their own ongoing...
#79 (Dec. 1968). His stories continued to appear in DC Comics through Girls' Love Stories #180 (Dec. 1973).
Later career
By the early 1960s, Pike was drawing covers for such magazines as True DetectiveTrue Detective
True Detective has been the name of several different magazines.The first was an American true crime magazine featuring articles about crime and criminals, created by publisher Bernarr Macfadden in 1924; it's considered the first true crime magazine. Although generally lurid, True Detective did...
.
His good girl art
Good girl art
Good girl art is found in drawings or paintings which feature a strong emphasis on attractive women no matter what the subject or situation. GGA was most commonly featured in comic books, pulp magazines and crime fiction...
pinup work included succeeding Art Frahm
Art Frahm
Art Frahm was an American painter of campy pin-up girls and advertising. Frahm lived in Chicago, and was active from the 1940s to 1960s. Today he is best known for his “ladies in distress” pictures involving beautiful young women whose panties mysteriously flutter to the ground in public...
on the "panties-falling-down" series for the A. Fox calendar company. The last in this series, featuring a brunette and her dog outside a construction site, is entitled "Dog Tied".
As an advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
artist, he worked on campaigns for clients including Borden
Borden (company)
Borden, Inc., was an American producer of food and beverage products, consumer products, and industrial products. At one time, the company was the largest U.S. producer of dairy and pasta products. Its food division, Borden Foods, was based in Columbus, Ohio, and focused primarily on pasta and...
, Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
, General Mills
General Mills
General Mills, Inc. is an American Fortune 500 corporation, primarily concerned with food products, which is headquartered in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. The company markets many well-known brands, such as Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Colombo, Totinos, Jeno's, Pillsbury, Green...
, Pepsi
Pepsi
Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink that is produced and manufactured by PepsiCo...
, Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....
, and Trans World Airlines
Trans World Airlines
Trans World Airlines was an American airline that existed from 1925 until it was bought out by and merged with American Airlines in 2001. It was a major domestic airline in the United States and the main U.S.-based competitor of Pan American World Airways on intercontinental routes from 1946...
. Near the end of his commercial career, Pike began painting fine art
Fine art
Fine art or the fine arts encompass art forms developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than practical application. Art is often a synonym for fine art, as employed in the term "art gallery"....
canvases of nudes, as well as pencil drawings of nudes that appeared in Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
clubs before being published.
After a long hiatus from comic books, Pike returned in 1993 to draw layouts for two issues and then do full penciling for an issue on the 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...
series Scarlett #12-14 (Dec. 1993 - Feb. 1994). He also penciled the 58-page story "All Good Things" in DC's one-shot comic Star Trek: The Next Generation The Series Finale (1994)
Pike is now retired and living in Florida, where he still paints every day.
External links
- Stroud, Bryan. Jay Scott Pike interview, The Silver Age Sage, 2010. WebCitation archive.