Creig Flessel

Creig Valentine Flessel (February 2, 1912 – July 17, 2008) was an American comic book artist and an illustrator and cartoonist for magazines ranging from Boys' Life to Playboy. One of the earliest comic book illustrators, he was a 2006 nominee for induction into the comics industry's Will Eisner Hall of Fame.

Biography Early life and career The son of Frank John Flessel, a blacksmith, and his wife Ida Hawkins Bunce, Flessel was born in Huntington, Long Island, New York. He was the youngest of two boys and two girls, Flessel graduated high school in 1930 then attended Grand Central Art School, at Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan, working as a door monitor in exchange for art lessons from instructors including the painter Harvey Dunn. Afterward, he worked one summer as a gardener on William K. Vanderbilt's estate, earning $25 a week. He broke into comics after answering an ad in The New York Times by Major Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, Flessel recalled, I don't think they were looking for any pedigree or "Would you do this?" More like, "You're a live body. What do you want to do? Take this and do it, then." I realized they were desperate so I had to go out and buy a drawing table. They had just one table that they were doing all of the mechanical work on. So I got a table and managed to find a chair and sat down and they said, "Here. Do this." I think I did a couple of center spreads for More Fun. I did [the feature] "Fishy Frolics", I did an "Acorn and Andy" double-spread. Little nonsense cartoons.

Flessel drew the cover of Action Comics #1 Ashcan.

Flessel, who drew many early adventures of the Golden Age Sandman and is closely associated with that character, has sometimes been credited as the character's co-creator. While Flessel drew the Sandman cover of Adventure Comics #40, generally considered the character's first appearance, the character was created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Bert Christman.

When DC Comics editor Vin Sullivan left the company in 1940 to work for Columbia Comics, Flessel, Fox and others freelanced for his Big Shot Comics. In 1943, when Sullivan formed his own comic book publishing company, Magazine Enterprises, Flessel signed on as associate editor. Among its other publications, the firm produced at least three issues of the highly violent, wartime propaganda comic The United States Marines, which presented "Authentic U.S. Marine Corps Picture Stories" as well as graphic government photographs of such subjects as burned and bayoneted Japanese soldiers. Alter Ego #45 (Feb. 2005): New Sandman cover art by then 93-year-old Flessel Flessel drew illustrations for several issues of the pulp magazine Clues Detective Stories in 1939 and 1940. During the late 1950s he also provided uncredited artwork for Al Capp's Li'l Abner comic strip.

Later life and career Flessel continued to draw comics, often uncredited, through the 1950s, including Superboy stories in both that character's namesake title and in Adventure Comics; and anthological mystery and suspense tales in American Comics Group (AGC's) Adventures into the Unknown. Flessel's final regular comic-book work was penciling and inking the 6-page story "The Flying Girl of Smallville" in Superboy #72 (April 1959). He returned in the 1970s to do occasional inking for writer-penciler Joe Simon, as on Prez #4 (March 1973). In 1993, Flessel donated the original art for 2,677 strips to the Ohio State University Cartoon, Graphic and Photographic Arts Research Library. After David Crane ceased publication in 1971, Flessel unsuccessfully attempted several other strips, including Cy Poppins, about the owner of a country store; Willie Wildwood, an environmentally aware strip; and The Other Foot.

In 2000, Flessel and his wife Marie moved from the East Coast to Mill Valley, California, where he continued to create art for local events and talent shows.

In his final years, Flessel was rediscovered by comic fandom and was the recipient of many honors. He was a guest of honor at the fan convention Wondercon in San Francisco, California, in February 2005, speaking on the Golden/Silver Age Panel. Flessel is also mentioned in Michael Chabon's 2000 novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (though his name is misspelled "Craig" in early editions).

Flessel suffered a stroke and shortly afterward died at his home in Mill Valley, California, on July 17, 2008. 2007 The Sparky Award given by Jeannie Schulz and the Cartoon Art Museum, San Francisco

Books Along the Shore by Elizabeth F. Weidner, illustrated by Creig Flessel (Behrman House, 1985) Draw 50 People by Lee J. Ames with Creig Flessel (Doubleday, 1993; Sagebrush reissue, 1994) (reissue)