Paul Reinman

Paul J. Reinman ; 2 September 1910 – 27 September 1988) was an American comic book artist best known as one of Jack Kirby's frequent inkers during the period comics fans and historians call the Silver Age of Comic Books. This included the first issues of The Incredible Hulk and The X-Men.

Biography

Early life and career Paul Reinman was born in Germany and raised in Pfiffligheim, a borough of Worms, seat of one of the oldest Ashkenazi Jewish communities. The second of five children, and the eldest son, of real-estate agent and farm-produce broker Bernhard and his wife, he began drawing at age 3. By his early twenties, he was creating pen-and-ink drawings of such subjects as the Rashi Synagogue, which was destroyed by the Nazis in 1938. Emigrating, he arrived in New York City on June 15, 1934, joining an aunt, Johanna, who had come to the United States circa 1890, and a cousin, Willi, who had arrived in 1927. Reinman eventually brought his younger brother Friedrich and sister Emmy in 1936; their parents and Willi's brother Ludwig, an artist, in 1937; and his older sister Alice in March 1938. Another younger brother, Hans, remained in Germany, but eventually escaped and made his way to the U.S. in November 1945, and changed his name to John. Because credits were not routinely given in the early days of comic books, a comprehensive bibliography of early creators is difficult to ascertain. Reinman's earliest known confirmed work was at Timely Comics, the precursor of Marvel Comics, where he penciled and inked a seven-page story starring the superhero the Falcon (no relation to the Marvel superhero introduced in 1969) in The Human Torch #2 (Fall 1940). His earliest known signed story is the 12-page "Plague of the Poisoned Jewelry", starring super-speedster the Whizzer, in Timely's All Winners Comics #2 (Fall 1941).

Also during this time, Reinman created or co-created (the writer is unknown) the superhero the Fireball in MLJ's Pep Comics #12 (Feb. 1941), the first known of many characters and stories he would draw for that company throughout the 1940s period known as the Golden Age of Comic Books. Reinman drew for such MLJ titles as Blue Ribbon Comics, Hangman Comics, Jackpot Comics, Shield-Wizard Comics, Top-Notch Comics, and Zip Comics, on such characters as the Black Hood, the Hangman, and the Wizard.

With the late-1950s return of comics legend Jack Kirby to Atlas Comics, on the cusp of its becoming Marvel, Reinman became a frequent Kirby inker in such "pre-superhero Marvel" science-fiction/fantasy anthologies as Strange Tales and Journey into Mystery, as well as on the espionage series Yellow Claw. After the advent of the company's first superheroes and its evolution into Marvel, Reinman would ink Kirby on numerous landmark books, including The Incredible Hulk #1 (May 1962), The X-Men #1-5 (Sept. 1963 – May 1964), and The Avengers #2, 3 & 5 (Nov. 1963, Jan. & May 1964). He taught at the C. & I. Art School for one year. He had a number of exhibits of his fine art paintings in water color and oils.

Personal life Reinman married wife Dora (born April 18, 1912, Reichelsheim, Germany) in New York City on September 4, 1938. He was naturalized a United States citizen on June 10, 1940, with Dora naturalized the following year.

Reinman's sister Alice and her husband Alex Leopold moved to Boca Raton, Florida, in Palm Beach County, and Reinman, following the death of wife Dora in September 1967 and his leaving comics in the mid-1970s, settled nearby with his second wife, Celia. There, Reinman drew courtroom sketches for television-news broadcasts, as well as movie posters and advertising art. Reinman died September 27, 1988, in Lake Worth, Florida.