Billy Graham

William Henderson Graham was an African-American comics artist best known for his work on the Marvel Comics series Luke Cage, Hero for Hire and the Jungle Action feature "Black Panther".

Biography Early career A graduate of New York City's Music & Art High School, Billy Graham was influenced artistically by the work of Al Williamson, Frank Frazetta, Burne Hogarth, and George Tuska.

One of his earliest comics projects was illustrating writer Don Glut's "Death Boat!" in Vampirella #1 (Sept. 1969), one of Warren Publishing's influential black-and-white horror-comics magazines. Graham would pencil and self-ink a story in nearly each of the first dozen issues of Vampirella, and an additional tale in issue #32 (April 1970) of its brethren publication Creepy.

Publisher James Warren recalled in 1999 that he promoted Graham to art director shortly after recruiting him as an artist:

In a 2005 interview, Warren mentions tweaking a Rolling Stone reporter who asked about his decision to hire an African-American art director, a rarity in comics at the time: "'What!?' mock-screamed Warren. 'Is Billy black? I didn't know that. Get him in here! Billy, are you black? You're fired!'"

Move to Marvel and later career Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #15 (Nov. 1973). Cover art by Graham. Graham eventually left Warren and joined the creative team that launched Marvel's Luke Cage, Hero for Hire, inking the premiere issue (June 1972) over pencilers John Romita Sr. and George Tuska. He either inked or himself penciled every issue of the book's 16–issue run under its original title, and the first as the retitled Luke Cage, Power Man (Feb. 1974).

Steve Englehart, who wrote issues #5–16, said Graham "helped me plot, so that by the end it was pretty much a co-production." Graham is formally credited as co-writer of issues #14–15, though as Englehart's writing collaborator for those issues, Tony Isabella, recalled, "Billy Graham is credited as the co-scripter of my first issue [#15] and, try as I might, I simply do not recall getting anything other than the usual penciled pages to script. I skimmed a little of that issue and, making no judgment as to whether this is a good or bad thing, the writing does strike me as all mine."

Graham collaborated with writer Don McGregor on the critically lauded "Black Panther" series that ran in Jungle Action #6–24 (Sept. 1973–Nov. 1976), becoming the series' regular penciler with issue #11 (Sept. 1974) and leaving after penciling the first five pages of issue #22 (July 1976). In 2010, Comics Bulletin ranked McGregor and Graham's run on Jungle Action third on its list of the "Top 10 1970s Marvels".

Graham illustrated issues #3–9 of McGregor's 1980s Eclipse Comics series Sabre, and played the artist father of one of the lead characters in McGregor's unreleased, low-budget film adaptation of his Detectives Inc. graphic novels. Graham wrote several plays and received awards for his set design work as well.