Nick Cardy
Encyclopedia
Nick Cardy a.k.a. Nick Cardi, is an American
comic book
artist
best known for his DC Comics
work on Aquaman
, the Teen Titans and other major characters.
Cardy was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2005.
, studying painting
and sculpture
. As did many early comics professionals, he entered the field working for Eisner & Iger
, one of a handful of comic book "packagers" that would create comics on demand for publishers testing the waters of the emerging medium. Joining the studio in 1939, at age 18, he worked on Fight Comics, Jungle Comics, Kaanga Comics, and Wings for Fiction House Publications
. He wrote and drew the four-page backup feature "Lady Luck
" in Will Eisner
's 16-page, newspaper
Sunday-supplement comic book colloquially called "The Spirit Section
", from the May 18, 1941 strip through February 22, 1942. Though his Lady Luck stories were credited under the house pseudonym
Ford Davis, Viscardi would subtly work in the initials "NV" somewhere into each tale.
He began signing his name simply "Cardy" on the feature "Quicksilver" in National Comics. Using both that shortened form and his original name concurrently for a time, he eventually adopted Nick Cardy for his comic-book work.
Cardy recalled of his start at Eisner & Iger that he worked alongside
military service
from 1943 to 1945, earning two Purple Heart
s for wounds suffered as a tank
driver in the armored
cavalry
. He began his Army
career with the 66th Infantry Division, during which time he won a competition to design its patch, creating its snarling black panther
logo. His art talent led to his being assigned an office job at division headquarters. This lasted, Cardy recalled in an interview, because a general who had seen Cardy's cartoons in an Officers Club had Cardy assigned to his own corps. (Cardy gave the name as "General Shelby Burke", but no one by that name or similar is found in the federal archives.) As the artist tells it, the only opening was for a corporal in the motor pool, so Private Cardy was promoted and assigned to that duty. This, he said, led in turn, upon his being shipped to the European theater, to Cardy's assignment as an assistant tank driver for the Third Armored Division, under General Courtney Hodges
. Later, between the end of the war and his discharge, Cardy said he worked for the Army's Information and Education office in France
.
Back in civilian life, Cardy begin doing advertising
art as well as covers for crossword puzzle
magazines and other periodicals. Though he hadn't planned on returning to comics, he landed the assignment of drawing the black-and-white daily Tarzan
comic strip
of writer
-artist Burne Hogarth
. Cardy also worked on Warren Tufts
' comic strip Casey Ruggles
.
, starting with the comic book Gang Busters
, based on the dramatic radio show. He began developing his breakout reputation with Tomahawk
, his most prominent series at the time, which starred a white American colonist fighting the British
undercover as an Iroquois
Indian during the American Revolutionary War
.
From 1962–1968, he drew the first 39 issues of Aquaman
(whose character had previously starred in a backup feature in Adventure Comics
), and all its covers through the final issue (#56, April 1971). In the book The Art of Nick Cardy, he recalled that, "Ramona Fradon
had been drawing the character but was moving on for some reason. I remember being in [editor] Murray's [Boltinoff] office with Ramona during the transition. ... Anyway, they must have liked my work because when the character got his own series, they made me the artist".
From 1966-73, Cardy penciled or inked
— sometimes both — all 43 issues of Teen Titans, a light-adventure series featuring the superhero
sidekicks
Robin
, Wonder Girl
, Kid Flash
, Aqualad
and Green Arrow
-protégé Speedy
. In 1968-69, he drew the fondly remembered but short-lived, quirky Western
series Bat Lash
, about an expert gunslinger who was nonetheless a dandy, and who, in a nod to 1960s counterculture
, wore a flower in his hat. Cardy during this time also assisted artist Al Plastino
, a childhood friend, on the Batman
syndicated
comic strip
.
Cardy became the primary DC cover artist from the early to mid-1970s.
A popular but apocryphal anecdote
, told by DC editor Julius Schwartz
, concerned Cardy being fired by DC editorial director Carmine Infantino
for not following a cover layout, only to be rehired moments later when Schwartz praised the errant cover art. Cardy said in 2005,
. There, under the name Nick Cardi, he did magazine art and ad illustrations, including advertising art (though not necessarily the "one-sheet" movie posters) for films including The Street Fighter
(1974), The Night They Robbed Big Bertha's (1975), Neil Simon
's California Suite
(1978), Stanley Donen
's Movie Movie (1978), Martin Ritt
's Casey's Shadow (1978), and Francis Ford Coppola
's Apocalypse Now
(1979).
In 2011 a full color hardcover collection of Nick Cardy's World War II field-combat sketches, Nick Cardy: The Artist At War, was published by Little Eva Ink publishing.
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...
best known for his 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...
work on 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...
, the Teen Titans and other major characters.
Cardy was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2005.
Early career
Nicholas Viscardi attended the Art Students League of New YorkArt 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...
, studying painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
and sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
. As did many early comics professionals, he entered the field working for 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 a handful of comic book "packagers" that would create comics on demand for publishers testing the waters of the emerging medium. Joining the studio in 1939, at age 18, he worked on Fight Comics, Jungle Comics, Kaanga Comics, and Wings for Fiction House Publications
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...
. He wrote and drew the four-page backup feature "Lady Luck
Lady Luck (comics)
Lady Luck is a fictional, American comic-strip and comic book crime fighter and adventuress created and designed in 1940 by Will Eisner with artist Chuck Mazoujian . Through 1946, she starred in a namesake, four-page weekly feature published in a Sunday-newspaper comic-book insert colloquially...
" in Will Eisner
Will Eisner
William Erwin "Will" Eisner was an American comics writer, artist and entrepreneur. He is considered one of the most important contributors to the development of the medium and is known for the cartooning studio he founded; for his highly influential series The Spirit; for his use of comics as an...
's 16-page, 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...
Sunday-supplement comic book colloquially called "The Spirit Section
The Spirit
The Spirit is a crime-fighting fictional character created by writer-artist Will Eisner. He first appeared June 2, 1940 in "The Spirit Section", the colloquial name given to a 16-page Sunday supplement, distributed to 20 newspapers by the Register and Tribune Syndicate and reaching five million...
", from the May 18, 1941 strip through February 22, 1942. Though his Lady Luck stories were credited under the house pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Ford Davis, Viscardi would subtly work in the initials "NV" somewhere into each tale.
He began signing his name simply "Cardy" on the feature "Quicksilver" in National Comics. Using both that shortened form and his original name concurrently for a time, he eventually adopted Nick Cardy for his comic-book work.
Cardy recalled of his start at Eisner & Iger that he worked alongside
Military and return to civilian life
Cardy did World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
military service
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
from 1943 to 1945, earning two Purple Heart
Purple Heart
The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York...
s for wounds suffered as a tank
Tank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
driver in the armored
Armoured warfare
Armoured warfare or tank warfare is the use of armoured fighting vehicles in modern warfare. It is a major component of modern methods of war....
cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
. He began his Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
career with the 66th Infantry Division, during which time he won a competition to design its patch, creating its snarling black panther
Black panther
A black panther is typically a melanistic color variant of any of several species of larger cat. Wild black panthers in Latin America are black jaguars , in Asia and Africa they are black leopards , and in North America they may be black jaguars or possibly black cougars A black panther is...
logo. His art talent led to his being assigned an office job at division headquarters. This lasted, Cardy recalled in an interview, because a general who had seen Cardy's cartoons in an Officers Club had Cardy assigned to his own corps. (Cardy gave the name as "General Shelby Burke", but no one by that name or similar is found in the federal archives.) As the artist tells it, the only opening was for a corporal in the motor pool, so Private Cardy was promoted and assigned to that duty. This, he said, led in turn, upon his being shipped to the European theater, to Cardy's assignment as an assistant tank driver for the Third Armored Division, under General Courtney Hodges
Courtney Hodges
General Courtney Hicks Hodges was an American military officer, most prominent for his role in World War II, in which he commanded the First United States Army in Northwest Europe.-Early life and military career:...
. Later, between the end of the war and his discharge, Cardy said he worked for the Army's Information and Education office in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Back in civilian life, Cardy begin doing 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 as well as covers for crossword puzzle
Crossword Puzzle
For the common puzzle, see CrosswordCrossword Puzzle was the second to last album made by The Partridge Family and was not one of the most popular albums. It was released in 1973 and did not produce a U.S. single. This album was finally released on CD in 2003 on Arista's BMG Heritage label...
magazines and other periodicals. Though he hadn't planned on returning to comics, he landed the assignment of drawing the black-and-white daily Tarzan
Tarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
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....
of writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
-artist 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:...
. Cardy also worked on Warren Tufts
Warren Tufts
Warren Tufts , born Chester Tufts, was an American comic strip and comic book artist-writer best known for his syndicated Western adventure strip Casey Ruggles which ran from 1949 to 1954....
' comic strip Casey Ruggles
Casey Ruggles
Casey Ruggles is a Western comic strip written and drawn by Warren Tufts. The Sunday strip was launched 22 May 1949. Four months later, the daily strip began September 19, 1949.-Characters and story:...
.
DC Comics
In 1950, Cardy began his decades-long association with DC ComicsDC 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...
, starting with the comic book Gang Busters
Gang Busters
Gang Busters was an American dramatic radio program heralded as "the only national program that brings you authentic police case histories." It premiered as G-Men, sponsored by Chevrolet, on July 20, 1935.-History:...
, based on the dramatic radio show. He began developing his breakout reputation with Tomahawk
Tomahawk (comics)
Tomahawk is a comic book character whose adventures were published by DC Comics during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s as a backup feature in Star Spangled Comics and World's Finest Comics and in his own eponymous series...
, his most prominent series at the time, which starred a white American colonist fighting the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
undercover as an Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
Indian during the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
.
From 1962–1968, he drew the first 39 issues of 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...
(whose character had previously starred in a backup feature in Adventure Comics
Adventure Comics
Adventure Comics was a comic book series published by DC Comics from 1935 to 1983 and then revamped from 2009 to 2011. In its first era, the series ran for 503 issues , making it the fifth-longest-running DC series, behind Detective Comics, Action Comics, Superman, and Batman...
), and all its covers through the final issue (#56, April 1971). In the book The Art of Nick Cardy, he recalled that, "Ramona Fradon
Ramona Fradon
Ramona Fradon is an American comic book and comic strip artist, known for her work illustrating Aquaman and Brenda Starr, and co-creating the superhero Metamorpho. Her career began in 1950, when it was even more unusual for women to illustrate superhero comics.-Career:Fradon entered cartooning...
had been drawing the character but was moving on for some reason. I remember being in [editor] Murray's [Boltinoff] office with Ramona during the transition. ... Anyway, they must have liked my work because when the character got his own series, they made me the artist".
From 1966-73, Cardy penciled or inked
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...
— sometimes both — all 43 issues of Teen Titans, a light-adventure series featuring 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 —...
sidekicks
Sidekick
A sidekick is a close companion who is generally regarded as subordinate to the one he accompanies. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, Sherlock Holmes' Doctor Watson, The Lone Ranger's Tonto, The Green Hornet's Kato and Batman's Robin.-Origins:The origin of the...
Robin
Dick Grayson
Dick Grayson is a fictional superhero that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger and illustrator Jerry Robinson, he first appeared in Detective Comics #38 in April 1940....
, Wonder Girl
Donna Troy
Donna Troy is a comic book superheroine published by DC Comics. She first appeared in The Brave and the Bold vol. 1 #60 , and was created by Bob Haney and Bruno Premiani...
, Kid Flash
Wally West
The Flash is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. He is the first Kid Flash and the third Flash....
, Aqualad
Aqualad
Aqualad is the name of two fictional comic book superheroes appearing in books published by DC Comics. The first Aqualad, Garth, debuted in Adventure Comics #269 , and was created by writer Robert Bernstein and artist Ramona Fradon...
and Green Arrow
Green Arrow
Green Arrow is a fictional superhero that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Mort Weisinger and George Papp, he first appeared in More Fun Comics #73 in November 1941. His secret identity is Oliver Queen, billionaire and former mayor of fictional Star City...
-protégé Speedy
Roy Harper (comics)
Roy Harper is a fictional superhero in the DC Comics Universe. He was known for over fifty years as Green Arrow's teenage sidekick Speedy. He first appeared alongside his mentor in More Fun Comics #73...
. In 1968-69, he drew the fondly remembered but short-lived, quirky Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
series Bat Lash
Bat Lash
Bartholomew "Bat" Alouysius Lash is a fictional Western character in the DC Universe. A self-professed pacifist, ladies' man, and gambler, Bat Lash's adventures have been published by DC Comics since 1968.-Character origin:...
, about an expert gunslinger who was nonetheless a dandy, and who, in a nod to 1960s counterculture
Counterculture
Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...
, wore a flower in his hat. Cardy during this time also assisted artist Al Plastino
Al Plastino
Al Plastino is an American comic book artist best known as one of the most prolific Superman artists of the 1950s, along with his DC Comics colleague Wayne Boring...
, a childhood friend, on the Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
syndicated
Print syndication
Print syndication distributes news articles, columns, comic strips and other features to newspapers, magazines and websites. They offer reprint rights and grant permissions to other parties for republishing content of which they own/represent copyrights....
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....
.
Cardy became the primary DC cover artist from the early to mid-1970s.
A popular but apocryphal anecdote
Anecdote
An anecdote is a short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person. It may be as brief as the setting and provocation of a bon mot. An anecdote is always presented as based on a real incident involving actual persons, whether famous or not, usually in an identifiable place...
, told by DC editor Julius Schwartz
Julius Schwartz
Julius "Julie" Schwartz was a comic book and pulp magazine editor, and a science fiction agent and prominent fan. He was born in the Bronx, New York...
, concerned Cardy being fired by DC editorial director Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino (born May 24, 1925, in Brooklyn, New York is an American comic book artist and editor who was a major force in the Silver Age of Comic Books...
for not following a cover layout, only to be rehired moments later when Schwartz praised the errant cover art. Cardy said in 2005,
Later career
Cardy left comics in the mid-1970s for the more lucrative field of commercial artCommercial 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...
. There, under the name Nick Cardi, he did magazine art and ad illustrations, including advertising art (though not necessarily the "one-sheet" movie posters) for films including The Street Fighter
The Street Fighter
, literally Clash, Killer Fist!, is a Japanese martial arts film released in 1974 and produced by Toei Company Ltd. It was released in the US by New Line Cinema and became one of the first films to be a commercial success for the distributor....
(1974), The Night They Robbed Big Bertha's (1975), Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
's California Suite
California Suite (film)
California Suite is a 1978 American comedy film directed by Herbert Ross. The screenplay by Neil Simon is based on his play of the same title...
(1978), Stanley Donen
Stanley Donen
Stanley Donen ; is an American film director and choreographer whose most celebrated works are Singin' in the Rain and On the Town, both of which he co-directed with Gene Kelly. His other noteworthy films include Royal Wedding, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Funny Face, Indiscreet, Damn...
's Movie Movie (1978), Martin Ritt
Martin Ritt
Martin Ritt was an American director, actor, and playwright who worked in both film and theater. He was born in New York City.-Early career and influences:...
's Casey's Shadow (1978), and Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
's Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American war film set during the Vietnam War, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The central character is US Army special operations officer Captain Benjamin L. Willard , of MACV-SOG, an assassin sent to kill the renegade and presumed insane Special Forces...
(1979).
In 2011 a full color hardcover collection of Nick Cardy's World War II field-combat sketches, Nick Cardy: The Artist At War, was published by Little Eva Ink publishing.
Awards
On July 15, 2005, Cardy was one of four professionals that year inducted into the comics industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame.Audio/video
External links
- Evanier, MarkMark EvanierMark Stephen Evanier is an American comic book and television writer, particularly known for his humor work. He is also known for his columns and blogs, and for his work as a historian and biographer of the comics industry, in particular his award-winning Jack Kirby biography, Kirby: King of...
. Transcript excerpt, 1998 Comic-Con International Nick Cardy panel, part 1, POV Online, column of March 2, 2001. WebCitation archive. - Panel above, part 2. WebCitation archive.
- Where Monsters Dwell interview