Mort Meskin

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Mort Meskin
BornMorton Meskin
Will Eisner Hall of Fame Award
(2013)

Morton Meskin (May 30, 1916 – March 29, 1995)

Silver Age
.

Early life

Meskin was born in

high school newspaper, and later to attend the Art Students League of New York and Brooklyn's Pratt Institute
, from which he graduated in 1938.

Comics work

After finishing school, Meskin went to work for

The Shield, Wizard
, and Dick Storm between 1939 and 1942.

In 1941, Meskin started at

Starman and Johnny Quick. He told comics historian and artist Jim Steranko that during this period his art style was heavily influenced by film: "Citizen Kane (1941) influenced us a great deal, all of us. We were very excited about it and spent quite a bit of time discussing it, employing its elements in our work. There was a contest as to who saw it the most times".[5]

In his "Johnny Quick" superhero feature, which appeared from Sept. 1941 through Jan. 1946 in More Fun Comics, Meskin uniquely conveyed the flash-like quick moving actions of Johnny Quick by drawing close knit snapshot-like drawings one next to the other, of the hero in motion. He did not copy DC Comics' "The Flash" or Timely Comics' "The Whizzer" rendering technique of blurred windstreams following those superheroes' every move.

During his time at National, Meskin also did work for

Nedor Comics, Spark Publications, and other publishers. At Nedor he worked on the Black Terror as well as on the Fighting Yank together with Jerry Robinson
. From 1944 to 1946, he and Robinson formed a studio which produced material for the short-lived publisher Spark Publications.

In 1949, Meskin left National and joined the Simon & Kirby studio where he worked on a variety of titles such as Boys' Ranch[6] and Prize Comics.

He returned to National in 1956, where he created the feature "

Mark Merlin" and also worked on a large number of war, science fiction and horror
titles.

In 1965, Meskin left the comics world and became a commercial illustrator and storyboard artist in the advertising industry, working at BBD&O until his retirement in 1982. For the next 13 years, he worked as a volunteer at St. Josephs Nursing Home in Yonkers.

Awards

In July 2013, during the

Will Eisner Hall of Fame. The award was presented by Mad magazine cartoonist and Groo the Wanderer creator Sergio Aragonés. The award was accepted posthumously by his son, Peter Meskin. The other inductees were Lee Falk, Al Jaffee, Spain Rodriguez, Joe Sinnott, and Trina Robbins.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c Social Security Death Index, SS# 071-16-1099.
  2. ^ "United States Social Security Death Index," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JBPY-WZD : accessed 02 Mar 2013), Morton Meskin, 29 March 1995.
  3. ISBN 9781793637130
    . Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  4. ^ Packer, Sharon (2010). Superheroes and Superegos: Analyzing the Minds Behind the Masks. ABC-CLIO. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  5. ^ Steranko, Jim, The Steranko History of Comics
  6. ^ "Boys' Ranch – Simon & Kirby's Most Successful Failure, Part 2". Simon & Kirby Blog-Jack Kirby Museum. Retrieved 2009-06-16.
  7. Comic-Con International: San Diego
    . Retrieved September 11, 2013.

External links

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