Vincent "Vin" Sullivan (June 5, 1911 – February 3, 1999) was a pioneering American

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...

 editor

Editing

Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...

, 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...

 and publisher.
As an editor for National Allied Publications

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...

, the future 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...

, he was responsible for buying 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...

 from creators Jerry Siegel

Jerry Siegel

Jerome "Jerry" Siegel , who also used pseudonyms including Joe Carter, Jerry Ess, and Herbert S...

 and Joe Shuster

Joe Shuster

Joseph "Joe" Shuster was a Canadian-born American comic book artist. He was best known for co-creating the DC Comics character Superman, with writer Jerry Siegel, first published in Action Comics #1...

, and edited that archetypcal 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 —...

 in his first appearance

First appearance

In comic books and other stories with a long history, first appearance refers to the first occurrence to feature a fictional character.-Monetary value of first appearance issues:...

, in Action Comics

Action Comics

Action Comics is an American comic book series that introduced Superman, the first major superhero character as the term is popularly defined...

#1 (1938), and in the following year's 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...

, the first American comic book

American comic book

An American comic book is a small magazine originating in the United States and containing a narrative in the form of comics. Since 1975 the dimensions have standardized at 6 5/8" x 10 ¼" , down from 6 ¾" x 10 ¼" in the Silver Age, although larger formats appeared in the past...

 devoted to a single character. In addition, Sullivan drew the premiere cover of Detective Comics

Detective Comics

Detective Comics is an American comic book series published monthly by DC Comics since 1937, best known for introducing the iconic superhero Batman in Detective Comics #27 . It is, along with Action Comics, the book that launched with the debut of Superman, one of the medium's signature series, and...

, the series that in issue #27 launched the hit character 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...

.

After leaving National in 1940, Sullivan was hired by the McNaught Newspaper Syndicate to form a new comic book publishing house. This became the Columbia Comic Corporation (Columbia Comics

Columbia Comics

The Columbia Comics Corporation was formed in 1940 as a partnership between Vin Sullivan and the McNaught Newspaper Syndicate. The idea was to publish comics featuring a mix of McNaught-owned comic strip reprints like Joe Palooka and Charlie Chan as well as original features.The first title...

), where Sullivan launched the superhero omnibus Big Shot Comics

Big Shot Comics

Big Shot Comics was an American comic book series published by Columbia Comics during period in the 1940s that fans and historians refer to as the Golden Age of comic books. It ran 104 issues, cover-dated May 1940 to August 1949. With issue #30 , the title was shortened to simply Big Shot...

, publishing early work by Gardner Fox

Gardner Fox

Gardner Francis Cooper Fox was an American writer best known for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. Comic-book historians estimate that he wrote over 4,000 comics stories....

, Creig Flessel

Creig Flessel

Creig Valentine Flessel was an American comic book artist and an illustrator and cartoonist for magazines ranging from Boys' Life to Playboy...

, and Ogden Whitney

Ogden Whitney

Ogden Whitney was an American comic-book artist and sometime writer active from the 1930s-1940s Golden Age of comics through the 1960s Silver Age. He is best known as co-creator of the aviator hero the Skyman and of the superpowered novelty character Herbie Popnecker and his alter ego, the satiric...

, among others. Columbia Comics' several superhero features included Skyman

Skyman (Columbia Comics)

The Skyman is a fictional comic book superhero that appeared in 1940s comics during what historians and fans call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Ogden Whitney, the character first appeared in the Columbia Comics omnibus title Big Shot Comics #1...

.

Unhappy with the reluctance of the owners to develop more original series, Sullivan left Columbia in 1943 and formed Magazine Enterprises

Magazine Enterprises

Magazine Enterprises was an American comic book company lasting from 1943 to 1958, which published primarily Western, humor, crime, adventure, and children's comics, with virtually no superheroes...

. This company lasted until 1958, after which Sullivan left comics.

Sullivan was a special guest at the August 1998 Comic-Con International

Comic-Con International

San Diego Comic-Con International, also known as Comic-Con International: San Diego , and commonly known as Comic-Con or the San Diego Comic-Con, was founded as the Golden State Comic Book Convention and later the San Diego Comic Book Convention in 1970 by Shel Dorf and a group of San Diegans...

 in San Diego, California

San Diego, California

San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...

, where he was reunited with some of his former colleagues. He died six months later.