Elmer C. Stoner

The first commercial version of Mr. Peanut created by E. C. Stoner from the competition entry of 14-year-old Antonio Gentile in 1916. Elmer Cecil Stoner (October 20, 1897 – December 16, 1969) was an American comics artist and commercial illustrator. Stoner was one of the first African-American comic book artists, and is believed to have created the iconic Mr. Peanut mascot. He produced pencil art for the first issue of Detective Comics, published by National Comics Publications (the company that later became DC Comics), and worked for a variety of other golden age companies such as Timely Comics, Street & Smith, EC Comics, Fawcett Comics, and Dell Comics. Near the end of his life, Stoner was also a spokesman for Gordon's Gin.

Early life Stoner was born on October 20, 1897, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to Mary Alice and George W. Stoner. His mother was a pianist, and his father a church sexton at the local St. Stephen's Episcopal Church. According to the company website, the drawing was "enhanced" by a "professional illustrator," who added the top hat, monocle, and cane. While Planters never revealed the identity of the artist who made a new version of Gentile's design. Stoner's widow Henriette noted the creation of Mr. Peanut as one of Stoner's accomplishments when submitting a questionnaire for Who's Who of American Comic Books. While at the school, he earned a number of awards, including the school's Packard Prize (awarded for best sketches of animals at the Philadelphia Zoo), a Cresson Traveling Scholarship, and a Prix de Rome.

Stoner married his first wife Vivienne in 1922 and moved to Harlem, where his work was featured in a "Negro artist" exhibition at the Harlem branch of the New York Public Library. According to the head librarian, his work was "splendidly planned and executed."

Shop work After working on Detective Comics, Stoner moved between multiple comics "shops", or small workshops where artists would produce art and send it to a publisher. According to Ken Quattro, working in shops offered a secondary bonus for Stoner, as it provided a buffer between him and the publisher should they be reluctant to employ a black man," However, he also pencilled some stories in Dell Comics's War Heroes and War Comics series. Despite its short run, the EC revival was adapted into a radio drama series, Blackstone, the Magic Detective ,which ran from 1948 to 1950. After the conclusion of the comic series, Stoner illustrated at least one souvenir program for Harry Blackstone Sr., the namesake of the series.

Personal life and death Outside of comics, Stoner was an "accomplished pianist" and patron of the arts, and also owned the apartment building in which he lived, at 228 W. 13th Street. According to an article in the Daily Worker, Stoner spent time entertaining United Service Organizations (USO) personnel and providing them with drawing lessons, in addition to "occasionally [giving] art lectures as a means of improving Negro-white relations."

Style and reception As a classically-trained illustrator who transitioned into comic art in the middle of his life, Stoner's comic art was sometimes criticized for not matching up with other artists of the time, as relayed by Ken Quattro: "...Stoner’s work was not in the league of Eisner or Kirby or Fine. He was, after all, a middle-aged fine artist, who had only worked in advertising and magazine illustration, trying to make the jarring transition to comic books. The techniques and requirements of sequential storytelling were new to him and it was apparent."

Works