Bernard Baily

Bernard Baily (April 5, 1916 – January 19, 1996) was an American comic book artist best known as co-creator of the DC Comics characters the Spectre and Hourman, and a comics publisher, writer, and editor.

Biography

Early life and career More Fun Comics #52 (Feb. 1940). Debut of the Spectre. Art by Baily. Bernard Bailynson was the son and the oldest of four children of two immigrant parents from Vitebsk. His father's name was Anglicized from Beilinsohn to Bailynson, which Bernard shortened to Baily. He began his comics career under S. M. "Jerry" Iger, editor of Wow - What a Magazine!, one of the seminal American comic books. The title ran four issues (cover-dated July-Sept. & Nov. 1936). Like many other creators during the late-1930s and 1940s period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books, Baily transitioned to the newly formed studio Eisner & Iger, a prominent comic book packager that produced comics on demand for publishers entering the new medium. There through the late 1930s, Baily worked on such fillers as the one-page movie-star biographies "Star Snapshots" for publisher Quality Comics' Smash Comics, as well as on a syndicated comic strip, Phyllis. The spirit of Jim Corrigan sees his own corpse: More Fun Comics #52 (Feb. 1940). Script by Jerry Siegel, art by Baily. In More Fun Comics #52 (Feb. 1940), Baily and writer Jerry Siegel, Superman's co-creator, introduced DC's violent spirit of vengeance, the Spectre. The afterlife alter ego of murdered police detective Jim Corrigan, the character would become one of the longest-enduring comic-book creations, revived during the mid-1950s to 1960s Silver Age of Comic Books and continuing into the 21st century. One compilation of the top hundred American comics artists writes that, "Baily crafted a mood of menace and suspense, using bravura layouts featuring the Spectre's otherworldly powers and size. He was also a fabulous cover artist who contributed reams of great images."

Baily co-created the frequently revived DC superhero Hourman (dubbed Hour-Man in his earliest appearances), with writer Ken Fitch, in Adventure Comics #48 (April 1940). and, with artist Mac Raboy, the comics packager Bernard Baily Studio. The latter concern, which lasted through 1946, was the outsource producer of such comics as Cambridge House Publishers' single-issue Star Studded Comics and Gold Medal Comics (both 1945). Other publishers for whom his studio created comics included the Rural Home Publishing imprint Croyden; Jay Burtis; Narrative; Lindsay Baird; Feature Comics; Neal Publications; the Spotlight Comics imprint Novack '45; R.B. Leffingwell; and Holyoke Publications. Among the fledgling artists gaining a foothold in the industry at Baily's studio were Gil Kane, Carmine Infantino, Other personnel included Dan Barry, Dick Briefer, Manny Stallman, and Nina Albright, one of a handful of Golden Age women comic-book artists.

Baily himself drew for a number of companies in the 1950s, including DC Comics (House of Mystery, House of Secrets, Tales of the Unexpected, and the TV-series adaptations Mr. District Attorney and Gang Busters); Fawcett Comics (This Magazine is Haunted, Beware! Terror Tales); Key Publications (Mister Mystery, Weird Mystieres, Weird Chills, Weird Tales of the Future); St. John Publications (Strange Terrors); and Marvel Comics precursor Atlas Comics (Astonishing, Journey into Mystery, Strange Tales, Tales of Justice, Uncanny Tales, World of Fantasy, and others).