Dick Dillin
| Dick Dillin | |
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 Dick Dillin, from Amazing World of DC #11 (1976). |
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| Born | December 17, 1929 Watertown, New York |
| Died | March 1, 1980 (aged 50) |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Penciller |
| Notable works | Blackhawk Justice League of America World's Finest Comics |
Richard Allen "Dick" Dillin (December 17, 1929, Watertown, New York, United States – March 1, 1980) was an American comic book artist best known for an extraordinarily long 12-year run as the penciler of the DC Comics superhero-team series Justice League of America. He drew 115 issues from 1968 up until his death. DC Comics referred to Dillin as one of the "cornerstone talents" of the industry.[1]
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[edit] Early life and career
Determined since childhood to draw for comics, Dillin graduated from Watertown High School to become an art student at Syracuse University on the GI Bill, following his military service with the 8th U.S. Army in Tokyo, Yokohama, and Okinawa. Sometime after marrying wife Estella in 1948, Dillin left his job at a Watertown manufacturer of air brakes for trains, and sought an art career in New York City. Six months later, after having done magazine illustration and other commercial art and gaining a foothold at Fawcett Comics and Fiction House, he relocated his family to suburban Peekskill, New York.
Dillin's art at Fawcett (on features including "Lance O'Casey" and "Ibis the Invincible" in Whiz Comics) and Fiction House ("Buzz Bennett", "Space Rangers") led to drawing for Quality Comics, beginning in 1952. He worked particularly on the popular title Blackhawk but also on G.I. Combat, Love Confessions, and Love Secrets. When Quality went out of business, Dillin, searching for new work, eventually tried DC Comics — where he saw one or more issues of Blackhawk on the desk as he was being interviewed, and to his relief was told, "We've been trying to get in touch with you." [2]
[edit] DC Comics
Dillin returned to Blackhawk, now a DC property, and when the book's initial run ended, went on to draw issues of World's Finest Comics and Batman specials before being assigned Justice League of America, a superteam series featuring, at the time, Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, and the Atom. Dillin penciled the series from #64-183 (Aug. 1968 - Oct. 1980), except for the planned reprint issues #67, 76, 85 and 93, issue #153 which was pencilled by George Tuska, and issue #157 where he provided the intro and epilogue pages while Juan Ortiz pencilled the main story. He had completed the first 2½ pages of #184 when he died; penciler George Pérez and inker Frank McLaughlin took over the title, starting that issue from scratch.
Dillin's tenure on JLA included the reintroduction of Red Tornado. He and writer Dennis O'Neil made several changes to the membership of the JLA by removing founding members the Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman.[3] They also oversaw the migration of the Black Canary from Earth-2 to Earth-1; and the introduction of the JLA satellite. Dillin and writer Len Wein produced the return of the Seven Soldiers of Victory in issues #100-102[4] and the introduction of the Quality Comics characters to the DC continuity as the Freedom Fighters in issues #107-108.[5] In the fall of 1972, Dillin drew the DC chapter of a metafictional unofficial crossover crafted by writers Wein, Steve Englehart, and Gerry Conway spanning titles from both major comics companies. Each comic featured Englehart, Conway, and Wein, as well as Wein's first wife Glynis, interacting with Marvel or DC characters at the Rutland Halloween Parade in Rutland, Vermont. Beginning in Amazing Adventures #16 (by Englehart with art by Bob Brown and Frank McLaughlin), the story continued in Justice League of America #103 (by Wein, Dillin and Dick Giordano), and concluded in Thor #207 (by Conway and penciler John Buscema).[6][7][8] Libra, a supervillain created by Wein and Dillin in Justice League of America #111 (May–June 1974),[9] would play a leading role in Grant Morrison's Final Crisis storyline in 2008. Other highlights of Dillin's tenure included the 1976 integration of the defunct and newly acquired Fawcett Comics heroes, and the murder of the first Mr. Terrific, Terry Sloane.
[edit] Bibliography
Comics work (interior pencil art) includes:
[edit] DC
- Action Comics (Green Arrow) #424, 426, 431, 434, 436; (Atom): #425, 427, 430, 433, 435, 438-439, 448; (Private Life of Clark Kent): #477 (1973–77)
- Atom and Hawkman #40-45 (1968–69)
- Adventure Comics (Seven Soldiers of Victory): #438, 443 (1975–76)
- Batman #246 (with Irv Novick); (Robin): #252, 254 (1972–73)
- Blackhawk #108-241 (1957–68)
- Challengers of the Unknown #72 (1970)
- DC Comics Presents #7, 13-14, 18, 22, 25 (1979–80)
- DC Special Series (Aquaman): #1 (1977)
- DC Super-Stars #10 (1976)
- Detective Comics (Batman) #433, 483; (Hawkman): #428; (Green Arrow): #555 (1972–85)
- Flash (Kid Flash) #202, 204, 207, 209, 211, 216 (1970–72); (Green Lantern): #227-228, 230-231, 233-234, 245-246 (1974–77)
- Green Lantern, vol. 2, #67, 71 (1969)
- Hawkman #22-27 (1967–68)
- House of Mystery #197 (1971)
- House of Secrets #82, 84, 87-88, 92, 96 (1969–72)
- Justice League of America #64-66, 68-75, 77-84, 86-92, 94-152, 154-183 (1968–80)
- Spectre (Hourman) #7 (1968)
- Superman (Terra-Man): #249; (Fabulous World of Krypton): #257, 263, 266, 268 (1972–73)
- Unexpected #121-123, 126, 131, 133, 163, 165 (1970–75)
- Witching Hour #26 (1972)
- Wonder Woman #217 (1975) [10]
- World's Finest Comics (Superman team-ups): #198-205, 207-228, 231-233, 235-236, 238, 240, 257; (Green Arrow): #256 (1970–79)
[edit] Quality
- Blackhawk #37, 40, 64-65, 67-107 (1951–56)
- Plastic Man #45 (1954)
[edit] Other work
Dillin drew animation storyboards for the Trans-Lux/Joe Orolio syndicated TV series Johnny Zero (c. 1962), and The Mighty Hercules (1963), among other shows.[citation needed]
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ "Dick Dillin:1928–1980". The Comics Journal 1 (55): 15. April 1980. ISSN 0194-7869.
- ^ Alter Ego #30, Nov. 2003: Interview with the family of Dick Dillin
- ^ McAvennie, Michael; Dolan, Hannah, ed. (2010). "1960s". DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. Dorling Kindersley. p. 133. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. "In less than a year on the Justice League of America series, scribe Denny O'Neil and artist Dick Dillin had made major changes to the team. Two issues after Wonder Woman left the JLA, the Martian Manhunter did the same."
- ^ McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 152 "Through an impromptu team-up of the JLA and the Justice Society on Earth-2, writer Len Wein and artist Dick Dillin ushered in the return of DC's Seven Soldiers of Victory."
- ^ McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 156 "The annual Justice League-Justice Society get-together resulted in scribe Len Wein and artist Dick Dillin transporting both teams to the alternate reality of Earth-X. There, Nazi Germany ruled after winning a prolonged World War II and only a group of champions called the Freedom Fighters remained to oppose the regime."
- ^ Larnick, Eric (October 30, 2010). "The Rutland Halloween Parade: Where Marvel and DC First Collided". ComicsAlliance.com. Archived from the original on December 5, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/63ia1MoQZ. Retrieved December 5, 2011.
- ^ Cronin, Brian (October 1, 2010). "Comic Book Legends Revealed #280". ComicBookResources.com. Archived from the original on December 5, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/63iZZ9PQQ. Retrieved December 5, 2011.
- ^ Amazing Adventures #16 (Jan. 1973), Justice League of America #103 (Dec. 1972), and Thor #207 (Jan. 1973) at the Grand Comics Database
- ^ McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 160 "Through the words of scripter Len Wein and the art of Dick Dillin, the masked menace of Libra established himself as a grave threat to the World's Greatest Heroes."
- ^ Per Amazing World of DC Comics #15 at the Grand Comics Database, this issue was originally assigned to John Rosenberger, who would pencil only the first four pages before he was stricken with the illness that was to claim his life. Subsequently, this issue was redrawn by Dillin completely. The Rossenberger pages were later published in Amazing World of DC Comics #15 (Aug. 1977).
[edit] External links
- Dick Dillin at the Lambiek Comiclopedia. Archived October 18, 2011
- Dick Dillin at the Grand Comics Database
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