THE STAR OF
CELEBRITY COMICS
Comics artist Bob Oksner was born October 14, 1916 in Paterson, New Jersey. He became known for both adventure comic strips and for superhero and humor comic books, mainly at DC Comics.
Oksner's early work includes creating the second version of Marvel Boy in 1943 for Timely Comics, the 1930s-'40s predecessor of Marvel Comics.
He went on to write and draw the syndicated newspaper comic strip Miss Cairo Jones (1945–1947), after which DC editor Sheldon Mayer hired him as an artist on comics adapted from other media, and he moved from adventure strips to teen-oriented strips.
Oksner's accomplishments in this field included the Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis and its successor, Adventures of Jerry Lewis; Adventures of Bob Hope; The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis; Sgt. Bilko; Pat Boone; and Welcome Back, Kotter; and, for the King Features syndicate, the newspaper comic-strip spin-off of the 1950s TV sitcom I Love Lucy.
Other work includes drawing the original humor comics Angel and the Ape and Stanley and His Monster.
|
Dobie Gillis 18.
Copyright © DC Comics
(Click pic to enlarge.)
When the demand for that type of humor comics fell off by the 1970s, Oksner began drawing such DC superhero series as Superman,Supergirl, Wonder Woman, Shazam!, Black Orchid, Lois Lane, Ambush Bug, and others.
His other journeys in the comic strip world included succeeding Gus Edson as writer of artist-creator Irwin Hasen's Dondi for a time beginning in 1965; and drawing and co-creating Soozi (1967), with Don Weldon. He retired from comics in 1986, and passed away at 89 on February 18, 2007.
Ironically, Doom Patrol co-creator Arnold Drake, who was also the writer on many of the Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis comics that Oksner worked on, passed away at 83 on March 12, 2007, only about three weeks after Oksner.
Bibliography-wise, comics work (interior pencils) includes:
DC
* Adventure Comics (Supergirl) #410-411, 414-415, 417 (1971–72)
* Adventures of Bob Hope
* Adventures of Jerry Lewis
* Angel and the Ape #1-7 (1968–69)
* Detective Comics (Batgirl) #483-484 (1979); (Tales of Gotham) #492 (1980)
* House of Mystery #199 (1972)
* Lois Lane #119 (1972)
* Shazam! #10-13, 15, 16, 18, 19 (1974–75)
* Showcase #77, 81 (1968–69)
* Stanley and His Monster #109, 111 (1968)
* Supergirl, vol. 2 (Lois Lane) #2-12 (1982–83)
* Superman Family (Lois Lane) #196-200, 202-204, 206-222 (1979–82)
Awards
Oksner won the National Cartoonists Society Award for the Comic Book Division in 1960 and 1961, and in 1970 the Shazam Award for Best Pencil Artist (Humor Division) for his work on Adventure Comics and other DC titles.
|