Wayne Howard

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This article is about the comic book artist. For the American football coach, see Wayne Howard (American football).
Wayne Howard
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
DiedDecember 9, 2007(2007-12-09) (aged 58)
Derby, Connecticut, U.S.
Area(s)Penciller, Inker
Notable works
Midnight Tales (Charlton Comics)
Spouse(s)Carol (Zavednak) Howard

Wayne Wright Howard

American comic books' first series creator known to be credited by the publisher on covers, with the horror anthology Midnight Tales announcing "Created by Wayne Howard" on each issue — "a declaration perhaps unique in the industry at the time".[4]

Biography

Midnight Tales #6 (Nov. 1973), with industry-first cover credit "Created by Wayne Howard" (lower left). Cover art by Howard.

Early life and career

Wayne Howard was born in

Long Island, New York, studio of influential comics artist Wally Wood circa 1969.[5]

Howard made his credited comics debut as a

penciler and inker with writer Marv Wolfman's three-page story "Cain's True Case Files: Grave Results" in DC Comics' House of Mystery #182 (Oct. 1969). He contributed to later issues, as well as to Major Publications' black-and-white horror-comics magazine Web of Horror #1 (Dec. 1969).[6]

Charlton Comics

That story marked his first collaboration with

gothic horror romance anthology Haunted Love. With writer Cuti, he contributed the backup feature "Travis: The Dragon Killer" in the cult-hit superhero series E-Man #3 (June 1974).[6]

Midnight Tales

Main article: Midnight Tales

Howard's most notable legacy is providing the precedent for comic-book "created by" credits, which became common years later beginning with DC's Vertigo imprint.[4]

Charlton writer-editor Cuti described Howard's credit for the horror anthology Midnight Tales being granted since "it was his idea, his concept, his everything". This ranged from horror host Professor Coffin, The Midnight Philosopher, and his niece, Arachne — who in a twist on the horror-host convention would themselves star in a story each issue — to the notion of having each issue be themed: "One time it would be blob monsters, and I wrote three stories about blob monsters, and another time it was vampires ... and that sort of thing".[8] Howard penciled and inked every cover and virtually every story, and occasionally scripted a tale. The three-issue reprint series Prof. Coffin #19-21 (Oct. 1985 – Feb. 1986) retains the "created by" credit.[6]

The critic Mark Andrew observed of Midnight Tales,

Old dude and his sexy niece traipse across the countryside, bumping into oddball characters who invariably have a story to tell. ... Sadly, since Charlton didn't want to do anything that'd offend your average 9-year-old, you can feel this book fighting against the uber-restrictive comics code. Kinda sad, really. What is good, however, are the artists in this book, easily the equal of anyone workin' at Marvel or DC at the time. You got Wayne Howard ... probably the most deft practitioner of the Wally Wood school ever.[7]

Other work and later career

Howard seldom ventured to other publishers. He penciled a story in

sword-and-sorcery title Warlord #64 (Dec. 1982), his last known original comics work. His only major-publisher penciling was a story in DC's Weird Mystery Tales #4 (Feb. 1973).[6]

For the industry leader

science-fiction anthology Worlds Unknown #3 (Sept. 1973); Gil Kane's Spider-Man / Sub-Mariner story in Marvel Team-Up #14 (Oct. 1973); Val Mayerik's "Thongor! Warrior of Lost Lemuria" feature in Creatures on the Loose #26 (Nov. 1973); and a Syd Shores story in the black-and-white comics magazine Haunt of Horror #4 (Nov. 1974).[6]

Personal life

Howard died at age 58 at the Griffin Hospital in Derby, Connecticut.[2] He lived in Oxford, Connecticut, at the time, married to Carol (Zavednak) Howard.[2]

Nicola Cuti said the artist, a heavy smoker, "always wore the same outfit: a white shirt, a kind of tan bush jacket, black hat, black pants and black tie. ...I was over at his apartment, and he opened up his closet, and there were 20 white shirts, 20 bush jackets, 20 black pants...."[8] The magazine Comic Book Artist in 2001 attempted to contact Howard for an issue devoted to Charlton Comics, and reported that while he "apparently still resides in Connecticut ... a third party indicated the artist/writer had no interest in delving into the past".[4]

See also

  • List of African-American firsts

References

  1. ^ a b c "An Interview with Wayne Howard". Midnight Tales. No. 1. Charlton Comics. December 1972.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Wayne W. Howard obituary". Ralph E. Hull Funeral Home. Archived from the original on February 20, 2008. Retrieved December 13, 2007.
  3. FamilySearch.org
    .
  4. ^ a b c Cooke, Jon B. (March 2001). "Lest We Forget: Celebrating Four that Got Away". Comic Book Artist. No. 12. p. 112.
  5. Lambiek Comiclopedia
    .
  6. ^ a b c d e Wayne Howard at the Grand Comics Database
  7. ^ a b Andrew, Mark (March 3, 2006). "Nine Things I Read This Week. A (hopefully) Weekly Column". Comics Should Be Good. Archived from the original on June 9, 2011.
  8. ^ a b Nicola Cuti interview, Comic Book Artist #12 (March 2001), p. 41-42
  9. ^ George Wildman interview, Comic Book Artist #12 (March 2001), p. 24
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