Two days ago, on the same day that film critic Roger Ebert died, another icon of a different sort also passed away – namely, comic book artist (and former DC publisher) Carmine Infantino, who began his career during the Golden Age of Comics, and continued it right through the industry’s Silver, Bronze and Modern Ages.
Infantino will be always be remembered for co-creating the Silver Age Flash, who helped launched the Silver Age of Comics in 1956 (and who helped bring back the Golden Age Flash, a character whom he illustrated in the 1940’s, and thus helping to set up DC’s Multiverse – parallel Earths with their own set of super-heroes and villains), as well as helping to artistically revitalize Batman in the 1960’s, paving the way for subsequent and equally-successful artistic renditions of the Dark Knight. Not to mention adding his artistic talent to a parade of other comic book characters who are still fondly remembered today – including, to name a few examples, the Elongated Man, Deadman, and Adam Strange.
Of course, Infantino will also be fondly remembered for his work as DC’s Editorial Director/Publisher from 1966-76, by helping to introduce to a generation of fans the various talents who’d go on to make their mark on the industry as a whole – including Denny O’Neil, Neal Adams, Dick Giordano, Bernie Wrightson, Mike Friedrich, and Walt Simonson. Which proved that Infantino, more often than not, a great judge of talent (even if he wasn’t perfect).
It’s important to remember that Carmine Infantino was one of the last all-time greats who worked in comic books since the 1940’s, as the industry itself reached tremendous heights of popularity during its very first decade. It’s also important to remember that we’ll probably never see an artist of Infantino’s caliber ever again – but the legacy that he leaves behind, and not just in his artwork, is just as precious as the many comic books that he contributed to during a career that remains the stuff of legend.
John Lavernoich is the author of the novels Code Name: Chameleons (published by iUniverse/Writers Club Press) and Chameleons To The Rescue (published by Lulu Books/Highroad Books), and the recently published short story e-book collection Tales Of The Psychiatrist (published by Booktango), as well as various non-fiction articles and short stories that have been published in print and on the Internet. To learn more about Mr. Lavernoich and his writing achievements, please visit his official website (http://johnlavernoich.sharepoint.com), as well as his pages on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/john.lavernoich?ref=name), MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/jlavernoich), Twitter (http://twitter.com/JLav65), and WordPress (https://johnlav.wordpress.com). Mr. Lavernoich also maintains his own video channel on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/JLav65?feature=mhsn), his own Author Spotlight page on Lulu Books‘ website (http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/Highroad), and his own Profile Page on Amazon Studios‘ website (http://studios.amazon.com/users/59488).
©2013 John Lavernoich.
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