Vincent Fago

Vincenzo Francisco Gennaro Di Fago (; November 28, 1914 – June 13, 2002), known professionally as Vince Fago, was an American comic-book artist and writer who served as interim editor of Timely Comics, the Golden Age predecessor of Marvel Comics, during editor Stan Lee's World War II service.

Fago headed the Timely animator bullpen, which was largely separate from the superhero group that produced comics featuring the Human Torch, the Sub-Mariner and Captain America. This group, which featured such movie tie-in and original talking animal comics as Terrytoons Comics, Mighty Mouse and Animated Funny Comic-Tunes, included Ernie Hart, David Gantz, Chad Grothkopf, George Klein, Pauline Loth, Jim Mooney, Kin Platt, Mike Sekowsky, Moss Worthman (a.k.a. Moe Worth) and future Mad cartoonists Dave Berg and Al Jaffee.

Later in his career, Fago oversaw Pendulum Press' Now Age Books line of comic book adaptations of literary classics.

Biography

Early career

Fago was born in 1914 in Yonkers, New York, of parents who had immigrated from Naples, Italy. He had two sisters and a 10-year-older brother, Al Fago. Sometime after Lee's return, Fago left to work in independent comic-book production; he and his brother Al self-published the one-shot Kiddie Kapers (under the company name Kiddie Kapers Company). He also worked as a children's-book illustrator for Golden Press.

In 1948, he took over the syndicated Sunday comic strip Peter Rabbit (based not on the Beatrix Potter books but on a character from the Thornton Burgess series that began with The Adventures of Peter Cottontail), continuing with that strip until it was cancelled in 1957.

Later career For the entire decade of the 1970s, Fago worked under a ten-year contract for West Haven, Connecticut-based Pendulum Press. Based in his Bethel studio, Fago adapted, edited, and handled production for Pendulum's extensive line of Now Age Books comic book adaptation of literary classics. Specifically designed for classroom use, the Pendulum classics used typeset instead of hand lettering, vocabulary appropriate for grade levels, and included word lists and questions at the back. After having difficulty finding American artists to illustrate the comics, In 1970, Fago and his wife traveled to the Philippines and, with Redondo as their guide, found many artists who would illustrate most of the hundred or more titles Pendulum eventually produced.

Other books include Zhin or Zhen (Charles Tuttle Publishing, 1972).

Personal life and family For most of his adult life Fago and his wife, D'Ann Calhoun, whom he married in 1941, lived in a rural section of Rockland County, New York. They moved to Bethel, Vermont, in 1968, following D'ann's appointment as director of Vermont's Arts and Crafts Service (a division of the Vermont Department of Education). with his wife before dying of cancer at age 87.

Fago's brother Al Fago was also a cartoonist who created the Charlton Comics character Atomic Mouse.