| Sheldon Moldoff | |
 |
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| Born | April 14, 1920 New York City, New York |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Penciller |
| Pseudonym(s) | Shelly Moldoff |
Sheldon "Shelly" Moldoff (born April 14, 1920, New York City, New York) is an American comic book artist best known for co-creating such DC Comics characters as Hawkgirl and Poison Ivy, and as one of Bob Kane's primary "ghost artists" (uncredited collaborators) on the superhero Batman. Events 43 BC - Battle of Forum Gallorum: Mark Antony, besieging Julius Caesar 's assassin Decimus Junius Brutus in Year 1920 ( MCMXX) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display 1920 of the Gregorian calendar The City of New York New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous Events 43 BC - Battle of Forum Gallorum: Mark Antony, besieging Julius Caesar 's assassin Decimus Junius Brutus in Year 1920 ( MCMXX) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display 1920 of the Gregorian calendar The City of New York New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A comic book (often shortened to simply comic and sometimes called a comic paper or comic magazine) is a Magazine or Book of narrative The definition of an artist is wide-ranging and covers a broad spectrum of Activities to do with creating Art, practicing the Arts and/or demonstrating DC Comics is an American comic book and related media company Hawkgirl is the name of several fictional Superheroines all owned by DC Comics and existing in that company's DC Universe. Poison Ivy ( Pamela Lillian Isley) is a Fictional character, a DC Comics Supervillainess who is primarily an enemy of Batman. Bob Kane (born Robert Kahn, October 24, 1915 &ndash November 3, 1998) was an American Comic book artist A superhero (sometimes rendered super-hero or super hero) is a Fictional character "of unprecedented physical prowess dedicated to acts of derring-do Batman (originally referred to as the Bat-Man and still referred to at times as the Batman) is a fictional Comic book Superhero co-created He is not to be confused with fellow Golden Age comics professional Sheldon Mayer. The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books generally thought as lasting from the 1930s until late 1940s during which Comic books Sheldon Mayer ( April 1, 1917 - December 21, 1991) was an American Comic book writer artist and editor
Contents |
Biography
Early life and career
Born in Manhattan but mostly raised in The Bronx, Sheldon Moldoff has two brothers, Sonny and Stan Moldoff. Manhattan Island, in New York Harbor, is much the largest part of the Borough of Manhattan, one of the Five Boroughs which form the City of New York He sold his first cartoon drawing at age 17. "My first work in comic books was doing filler pages for Vincent Sullivan, who was the editor at National Periodicals",[1] one of the three companies, with Detective Comics Inc. Vincent "Vin" Sullivan (born circa 1911 died February 3, 1999) was a pioneering American Comic book editor, Artist and All-American Comics, that eventually merged to form the modern-day DC Comics. All-American Comics was the flagship title of Comic book Publisher All-American Publications. Moldoff's debut was a sports filler that appeared on the inside front cover of the landmark Action Comics #1 (June 1938), the comic book that introduced Superman. Sport is an Activity that is governed by a set of rules or Customs and often engaged in competitively Action Comics is an American Comic book series which introduced Superman, the first major Superhero character as the term Superman is a fictional Comic book Superhero widely considered to be one of the most recognized of such characters and an American Cultural icon
Moldoff did military service in World War II. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including
Golden Age
During the late-1930s and 1940s Golden Age of comic books, Moldoff became a prolific cover artist for the future DC Comics. The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books generally thought as lasting from the 1930s until late 1940s during which Comic books His notable covers include issue #16 (July 1940) of All-American's flagship title All-American Comics, featuring the first appearance of the Golden Age Green Lantern. All-American Comics was the flagship title of Comic book Publisher All-American Publications. Alan Scott is a Fictional character, a Superhero from the DC Comics universe and the first superhero to bear the name Green Lantern In 1940, he created the Black Pirate, and became one of the earliest artists for the character Hawkman. The Black Pirate ( Jon Valor) is a fictional character from DC Comics, created by Sheldon Moldoff. For other meanings of the term see Hawkman (disambiguation Hawkman is a Superhero in the DC Comics universe.
When superhero comics went out of fashion in the postwar era, Moldoff became an early pioneer in horror comics, packaging two such ready-to-prints titles in 1948. Horror fiction is broadly Fiction in any medium intended to scare unsettle or horrify the audience He recalled in 2000 that, "I had shown This Magazine Is Haunted and Tales of the Supernatural to [Fawcett Comics'] Will Lieberson before I showed them to [EC Comics'] Bill Gaines, because I trusted Will Lieberson much more. This Magazine is Haunted was a horror comic published by Fawcett between 1951 and 1953 Fawcett Comics, a subsidiary of Fawcett Publications, was one of several successful Comics publishers during the Golden Age of Comic Books in the 1940s Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American Publisher of Comic books specializing in Crime fiction, William Maxwell Gaines ( March 1, 1922 &ndash June 3, 1992) (more frequently referred to as Bill Gaines) was the publisher and co-editor He showed it to the big guys at Fawcett, and he said, 'Shelly, Fawcett doesn't want to get into horror now; they don't want to touch that'". [2]
Moldoff then did approach Bill Gaines with the package, signing a contract stipulating that he would be paid a royalty percentage if the books were successful. Several months later, when EC's Tales From the Crypt hit the newsstands, Gaines reneged on the deal, Moldoff recalled in 2000, with EC attorney Dave Alterbaum threatening to blacklist Moldoff if he took legal action. [2] Afterward, said Moldoff, "Will Lieberson said, 'Let me bring it back to Fawcett again, and see if they'll take the title'. And so they did; they took This Magazine Is Haunted and Worlds of Fear and then Strange Suspense Stories. What they did was pay me $100 for the title, and give me as much work as I wanted, and I also did the covers. So that went on that way". [2]
Moldoff, who received no royalty there, either, created the cadaverous host Doctor Death, and was a major influence on Fawcett's horror line, which also included Beware! Terror Tales, and Unknown World.
The 1950s and '60s
In 1953, Moldoff became one of the primary Batman ghost artists who, along with Win Mortimer and Dick Sprang, drew stories credited to Bob Kane, following Kane's style and under Kane's supervision. James Winslow "Win" Mortimer (born May 1, 1919, Hamilton Ontario, Canada, died January 11, 1998) is a Richard W "Dick" Sprang ( July 28, 1915 - May 10, 2000) was an American Comic book Artist and While Sprang ghosted as a DC employee, Moldoff, in a 1994 interview given while Kane was alive, described his own clandestine arrangement:
| “ | I worked for Bob Kane as a ghost from ' 53 to ' 67. DC didn't know that I was involved; that was the handshake agreement I had with Bob: 'You do the work don't say anything, Shelly, and you've got steady work'. No, he didn't pay great, but it was steady work, it was security. I knew that we had to do a minimum of 350 to 360 pages a year. Also, I was doing other work at the same time for [editors] Jack Schiff and Murray Boltinoff at DC. They didn't know I was working on Batman for Bob. . . . So I was busy. Between the two, I never had a dull year, which is the compensation I got for being Bob's ghost, for keeping myself anonymous". [3] | ” |
Kane and Moldoff co-created the original, teen Betty Kane, the Bat-Girl, Poison Ivy, as well as the novelty characters Bat-Mite and Ace the Bat-Hound. Batgirl is the name of several Fictional characters appearing in Comic books published by DC Comics, depicted as female counterparts to the Superhero Poison Ivy ( Pamela Lillian Isley) is a Fictional character, a DC Comics Supervillainess who is primarily an enemy of Batman. Bat-Mite is a Character appearing in stories published by DC Comics. The Comic book character Ace the Bat-Hound was the canine crime-fighting partner of Batman and Robin in DC Comics of the 1950s and 1960s Ironically, all three were largely phased-out in 1964 after a change in editors.
Moldoff was let go from DC in 1967, along with such other Golden Age artists as George Papp and Wayne Boring. George Papp (1916-1989 was a US Cartoonist and Comic book artist Wayne Boring (born June 5 1905, Minnesota; died February 1987 Pompano Beach Florida) was an American Comic book He turned to animation, doing storyboards for such animated TV series as Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse, and wrote and drew promotional comic books given away to children at the Burger King and Red Lobster restaurant and fast-food chains, as well as through the Atlanta Braves Major League Baseball team. The bouncing ball animation (below consists of these 6 frames See also Pre-production Storyboards are graphic organizers such as a series of Illustrations or Images displayed in sequence for the purpose of An animated cartoon is a short hand-drawn (or made with computers to look similar to something hand-drawn Film for the cinema, Television or computer Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse was a children's Cartoon television show produced by Trans-Artists Productions that was syndicated by Tele Burger King ( often abbreviated to Red Lobster is a US chain of Seafood Restaurants It also operates in Canada and Japan. A restaurant is a retail establishment that serves prepared Food to Customers. Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly
Later life
Moldoff retired to Florida with his wife Shirley, and continued to appear as a guest at comic-book fan conventions into the mid-2000s. Florida ( is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the A fan convention, or con, is an event in which fans of a particular TV show, Comic book, or Actor, or an entire style of entertainment
Awards
- Inkpot Award: 1991
Footnotes
- ^ 1994 Sheldon Moldoff interview, first published in Alter Ego #59 (June 2006), p. The Inkpot Award, bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International, is given to professionals in Comic book, Comic strip, Animation, 15
- ^ a b c Alter Ego vol. 3, #4 (Spring 2000): "A Moon... A Bat... A Hawk: A Candid Conversation With Sheldon Moldoff"
- ^ Sheldon Moldoff interview, first published in Alter Ego #59 (June 2006), p. 15
References
- Lambiek Comiclopedia: Sheldon Moldoff
- Comic Art & Grafix Gallery: Sheldon "Shelly" Moldoff
- Sheldon Moldoff interview,Alter Ego #4 (Spring 2000)
- Sheldon Moldoff interview, Alter Ego #59 (June 2006), pp. 14-23; previously unpublished interview conducted in 1994 for Comics Interview magazine.
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