Wayne Boring
Encyclopedia
Wayne Boring is a city in Broward County, Florida, along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean just to the north of Fort Lauderdale. The nearby Hillsboro Inlet forms part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 99,845...
) was an 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...
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 work on 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 the late 1940s to 1950s. He occasionally used 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...
Jack Harmon.
Early life and career
Boring attended the Minnesota School of Art and the Chicago Art Institute. In 1937, he began "ghosting" (drawing for hire without credit) on such comic-book features as Slam BradleySlam Bradley
Samuel Emerson "Slam" Bradley is a fictional character that has appeared in various comic book series published by DC Comics. He is a private detective who exists in DC's main shared universe, known as the DC Universe...
and Doctor Occult
Doctor Occult
Doctor Occult is a fictional character, a magic user in the . Created by Superman's creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Doctor Occult is the earliest character created by DC Comics still currently in use in its shared universe fiction....
for the Jerry Siegel
Jerry Siegel
Jerome "Jerry" Siegel , who also used pseudonyms including Joe Carter, Jerry Ess, and Herbert S...
-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...
studio. In 1938, Siegel and Shuster's character Superman was published 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, for 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...
predecessor National Allied Publications, and Boring became a ghost on the soon spun off Superman 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...
, eventually becoming the credited artist.
Superman comic books
In 1942, the by-then-named National Comics hired Boring as a staff artist, teaming him as penciler the following year with inker Stan Kaye. The two would work together for nearly 20 years. In 1948, following Siegel and Shuster's departure from the company over a Superman rights lawsuit, Mort WeisingerMort 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...
, new editor of the Superman line, brought in Boring as well as 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...
and Curt Swan
Curt Swan
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.-Early life and career:Curt Swan, whose Swedish...
, with Win Mortimer
Win Mortimer
James Winslow "Win" Mortimer was a comic book and comic strip artist best known as one of the major illustrators of the DC Comics superhero Superman...
taking over the newspaper 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....
. During this mid-1940s period, he often signed his work for rival 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...
' Blue Bolt Comics as Jack Harmon.
Boring was let go from DC in 1967, along with other artists from the 1930s and 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...
. From 1968 to 1972, Boring ghosted backgrounds for Hal Foster's Prince Valiant
Prince Valiant
Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur, or simply Prince Valiant, is a long-run comic strip created by Hal Foster in 1937. It is an epic adventure that has told a continuous story during its entire history, and the full stretch of that story now totals more than 3700 Sunday strips...
Sunday 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....
, and took over the art on writer Sam Leff's 1961-71 United Feature Syndicate strip Davy Jones. Afterward, Boring did a small amount of work on 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...
' Captain Marvel
Captain Marvel (Marvel Comics)
Captain Marvel is the name of several fictional superheroes appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Most of these versions exist in Marvel's main shared universe, known as the Marvel Universe.- Publication history :...
, then left the field to semi-retire as a bank security guard
Security guard
A security guard is a person who is paid to protect property, assets, or people. Security guards are usually privately and formally employed personnel...
, though he would continue to draw commissioned work. He briefly returned to DC to pencil some stories in Superman #402 (1984), and Action Comics #561 & 572 (1984–85). In 1985, DC Comics named Boring as one of the honorees in the company's 50th anniversary publication Fifty Who Made DC Great
Fifty 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...
.
Boring died of a heart attack, following a brief comeback announced in one of his last published works, penciling a Golden Age Superman story written by Roy Thomas
Roy Thomas
Roy William Thomas, Jr. is an American comic book writer and editor, and Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. He is possibly best known for introducing the pulp magazine hero Conan the Barbarian to American comics, with a series that added to the storyline of Robert E...
and inked by Jerry Ordway
Jerry Ordway
Jeremiah "Jerry" Ordway is an American writer, penciller, inker and painter of comic books.He is known for his inking work on a wide variety of DC Comics titles, including the continuity-redefining classic Crisis on Infinite Earths , his long run working on the Superman titles from 1986–1993, and...
in Secret Origins
Secret Origins
Secret Origins is the title of three American comic book series published by DC Comics.The title began in 1961 and for one issue, all reprints. The title Secret Origins of Super Heroes went onto a second series, also reprints, which ran for seven issues from 1973-1974...
#1 (April 1986). His final work was All-Star Squadron
All-Star Squadron
The All-Star Squadron is a DC Comics superhero team that debuted in a special insert in Justice League of America #193 . Created by Roy Thomas, Rich Buckler and Jerry Ordway.-The concept:...
#64 (December 1986) a recreation of Superman #19.
DC
- Action ComicsAction ComicsAction Comics is an American comic book series that introduced Superman, the first major superhero character as the term is popularly defined...
#35-36, 121, 132-276, 342-344, 346-353, 355-357 (1941-67); #561, 572 (1984-85) - Adventure ComicsAdventure ComicsAdventure 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...
#42-43 (1939) - All-Star SquadronAll-Star SquadronThe All-Star Squadron is a DC Comics superhero team that debuted in a special insert in Justice League of America #193 . Created by Roy Thomas, Rich Buckler and Jerry Ordway.-The concept:...
#64, Annual #3 (1984-86) - Jimmy Olsen #43 (1960)
- Lois Lane #2-13, Annual #2 (1958-63)
- Secret OriginsSecret OriginsSecret Origins is the title of three American comic book series published by DC Comics.The title began in 1961 and for one issue, all reprints. The title Secret Origins of Super Heroes went onto a second series, also reprints, which ran for seven issues from 1973-1974...
(SupermanSupermanSuperman 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...
) #1 (1986) - ShowcaseShowcase (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...
#10 (1957) - Superboy #7 (1950)
- SupermanSuperman (comic book)Superman is an ongoing comic book series featuring the DC Comics hero of the same name. The character Superman began as one of several anthology features in the National Periodical Publications comic book Action Comics #1 in June 1938...
#5-143, 155, 183-184, 187, 189-190, 193, 195-197, 200, 202, 207-208, 215, 217, 229, Annual #1-5, 7-8 (1940-70); #402 (1984) - World's Finest ComicsWorld's Finest ComicsWorld's Finest Comics was an American comic book series published by DC Comics from 1941 to 1986. The series was initially titled World's Best Comics for its first issue; issue #2 switched to the more familiar name...
#35-69 (1948-54)
Marvel
- Captain MarvelMar-VellCaptain Marvel is a fictional character owned by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and designed by artist Gene Colan and first appeared in Marvel Super-Heroes #12 Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) is a fictional character owned by Marvel Comics. The character was created...
#22-24 (1972-73) - Creatures on the Loose #19 (along with Gil KaneGil KaneEli Katz who worked under the name Gil Kane and in one instance Scott Edward, was a comic book artist whose career spanned the 1940s to 1990s and every major comics company and character.Kane co-created the modern-day versions of the superheroes Green Lantern and the Atom for DC Comics, and...
) (1972) - ThorThor (Marvel Comics)Thor is a fictional superhero who appears in publications published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Journey into Mystery #83 and was created by editor-plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, and penciller Jack Kirby....
#280 (1979)