Neil Adams, the legendary comic book artist who revived Batman and other superheroes with his photorealistic styles and championed creators’ rights, has died. He was 80 years old.
Adams died Thursday of a sepsis complication in New York City, his wife, Marilyn Adams, told him. the hollywood reporter.
Adams shocked the comic book world with a toned and painful take on characters in the late 1960s and early 1970s, first with a character called Deadman at DC, then X-Men and Avengers at Marvel, and then with his biggest influence. , Bat Man.
During Batman, Adams and writer Dennis O’Neill revolutionized characters and comics, bringing realism, kinetics and a sense of danger to their narrative against the backdrop of Adam West’s 1960s ABC series The Hero Years. are aimed at children’s readers.
He created new villains for the robbers’ gallery: Man-Bat and Ra’s al Ghul, as well as the latter’s daughter Talia, who became Batman’s favorite. The father and daughter, played by Liam Neeson and Marion Cotillard, were the main characters in the Batman film trilogy, directed by Christopher Nolan.
Batman’s run has also revived some obsolete villains, including the Joker, who has become the least comical, most murderous maniac known and loved by modern readers and viewers, and has truly taken his place as Caped’s arch-nemesis.
“It was more difficult for us to take the lead. “We decided the Joker was a little crazy,” Adams told Abraham Reisman in 2019. Vulture An article that found that without this classic story, 1973’s “Five Joker Revenge” batman no 251comics like murder prank There will be no portraits of Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix.
“It was no secret that Batman was doing the right thing,” Adams said at a panel at San Diego Comic-Con in 2010. That we want it to be more realistic, more rigorous. And then we remember, whether it’s true or not, it must be Batman. And when we did, everyone was like, “Oh, that’s it. We don’t need comedy anymore.”
Adams, along with O’Neill, created a controversial version of Green Lantern/Green Arrow at the time, addressing social issues such as drug addiction, racism and overpopulation, and creating Green Lantern hero John Stewart, who became one of the first of the series. A.D. . Black icons. His 1971 two-part short story “Snowbirds Don’t Fly” remains a landmark evolution for more mature readers.
It was at this creative peak in the mid-1970s that Adams turned from painting for the Big Two, as DC and Marvel were known, and created Continuity Studios, an artists’ studio that produced comics, commercial art, screenplays, and other services. The comics section created independent characters like Bucky O’Hare and Mrs. Mystic
It has also proven to have influenced generations of artists, giving the industry many pushes. He mentored Bill Sienkevich, who painted the influential Moon Knight and New Mutants series, and Frank Miller, who reinvented Batman more than ten years later. The Dark Knight Returns.
“Until I sat at convention tables with the same people who saw my dad treated with such respect that I realized I was his dad,” said his son, Josh Adams. THR. “Neil Adams’ most undoubted characteristic was what I’d known about him all my life: he was a father. “Not just my father, but the father of everyone who knew him.”
Adams also worked tirelessly to promote better working conditions and, at the time, radically, the rights of creators, especially for their work. He had already realized the value of creators and was a thorn in the side of publishers, demanding compensation for himself and others when his characters were adapted on the sidelines.
He, along with Stan Lee, founded the Academy of Comics Arts, hoping to found an association that would fight for profits and ownership on behalf of writers and artists. Lee wanted an organization that was more like the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and split on both sides.
In the late 1970s, when a new federal labor law was enacted, Marvel and then-editor-in-chief Jim Souter published contracts stating that freelancers could not prove copyright to their creations. As detailed in Lee Reisman’s 2021 biography, true believersAdams sent a copy of the contract with the caption: “Do not sign this contract! You will sign your life!” While this caused agitation and awareness, the attempts failed as Marvel crushed the muscles and threatened anyone who tried to join by drying up a free well.
Adams had better luck in two other areas against corporate executives. He helped change the practice of comic book publishers of preserving the artist’s original art, or even fragmenting and discarding it, influencing companies to bring back art policies that allowed artists to enjoy a second source of income. Biggest case: Marvel has returned the art pages to the co-creators of Jack Kirby, Fantastic Four, Thor, X-Men and Hulk.
He also proved to be the champion of two writers and artists who laid the groundwork for DC, Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster. When he learned of their condition — one of the motivating factors was knowing they couldn’t make it to the Broadway musical starring “Steel Man” — he led the lobby, which eventually led to recognition of the couple, the creator’s hallmark. comics and others. media. It continues to this day, another pension.
Neil Adams at work in the early 1970s
Courtesy of the Adams family
Adams was born in New York City on June 15, 1941 and studied at the School of Industrial Arts in Manhattan. He had already applied to comics, and until he left DC in the late 1950s, he was creating fun games for Archie Comics. He also worked in commercial advertising, introducing a comic book art style that would later influence his works at DC and Marvel and help him stand out. Adams also worked for several years on the 1960s daily comics with Ben Casey.
By the end of the decade, he finally made it to DC, first doing covers, then supporting stories, and finally big stories. When assigned a title in the title strange adventuresHe pretty much exposed his style and it was only a matter of time before the industry caught on. Deadman became an unexpected hit and received the Alley Award for “New Perspective and Dynamic Vibrance”, which he performed in the medium.
During Batman’s heyday, when Adams was busting readers’ socks off every month, he also caused a stir in DC’s offices with his art.
“Back then, if a work came out early enough, it would be produced, maybe three or four weeks before someone picked it up and made corrections to the letter,” recalled Paul Levitz, then editor in 2010. Comic Con Panel. “Big books that were always coming, people would come and look. And when they started to publicize their art, they stopped producing; [saying,] “Do you have Neil’s latest work?” Or ‘Let’s see what’s inside detective Drawer. ‘ and becomes “Can you bet that?”
“My dad was a force,” said Josh Adams. His career was defined by his unrivaled artistic talent and unshakable character, which led him to constantly fight for his peers and those most in need. He will be recognized in the comic book industry as one of the most influential creators of all time and an advocate for creator and social rights. When he saw the problem, he didn’t hesitate. “It would be like telling a story and repeating a fight where my dad saw something wrong when he walked into a Marvel or DC salon and decided to do something right there.”
The artist also understood the importance of fan support and was on stage at the convention where he was a favorite, a tormentor and a repository of comic book history that he loved to counter.
In addition to his wife of 45 years and Josh, two other children, Jason and Joel, survived; daughters Chris and Zia; grandchildren Kelly, Courtney, Jade, Sebastian, Jane and Jellin; And grandson Maxime.
His three children work as cartoonists in the field of comics or fantasy.
Source: Hollywood Reporter

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