Earl H. Norem (April 17, 1923 – June 19, 2015), who signed his work simply Norem, was an American artist primarily known for his painted covers for

men's-adventure Men's adventure is a literary genre, genre of magazine that was published in the United States from the 1940s until the early 1970s. Catering to a male audience, these magazines featured pin-up girls and lurid tales of adventure that typically fea ...

magazines published by Martin Goodman's

Magazine Management Company Magazine Management Co., Inc. was an American publishing company lasting from at least 1947 to the early 1970s, known for men's-adventure magazines, risque men's magazines, humor magazine, humor, Romance novel, romance, puzzle, celebrity/film and ...

and for Goodman's line of black-and-white comics magazines affiliated with his

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

division. Over his long career, Norem also illustrated covers for novels and gaming books, as well as movie posters, baseball programs, and trading cards.

Early life

Norem was born on April 17, 1923. He saw military action in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

with the 85th Regiment of the

10th Mountain Division The 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) is a light infantry division in the United States Army based at Fort Drum, New York. Formerly designated as a mountain warfare unit, the division was the only one of its size in the US military to re ...

. He trained in Colorado and Texas, and fought the Germans in the Northern Apennine Mountains of Italy. By age 20, Norem was a squad leader and staff sergeant who in the Italian Campaign fought alongside famed skier

Torger Tokle Torger Tokle (March 7, 1919 – March 3, 1945) was a Norway, Norwegian-born United States, American ski jumper and military officer. During his six-year jumping career he won 42 of 48 tournaments and set 24 hill records. He died in action dur ...

, whom he had seen

ski jumping Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the fina ...

at Bear Mountain, New York when Norem was 12. After Tokle was killed in action on March 3, 1945, Norem was one of the men assigned to retrieve his body from the mountain. Norem himself later was wounded going into the Po Valley, ending his military stint. Upon returning to the US, Norem embarked on an illustration career.

Career

Norem throughout the 1950s and 1960s worked extensively for

men's adventure Men's adventure is a genre of magazine that was published in the United States from the 1940s until the early 1970s. Catering to a male audience, these magazines featured pin-up girls and lurid tales of adventure that typically featured wartime fe ...

magazines, producing covers and interior-art spreads. In addition, he produced illustrations for such magazines such as ''

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wif ...

'', ''Field and Stream'', ''Ski'', ''Real West'', and ''Discover''. He worked on such

projects as '' Savage Sword of Conan'', ''

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe ''He-Man and the Masters of the Universe'' is an American animated television series produced by Filmation based on Mattel's toy line ''Masters of the Universe''. The show, often referred to as simply ''He-Man'', was one of the most popular anim ...

Magazine'', ''

Marvel Preview ''Marvel Preview'' is a black-and-white comics magazine published by Magazine Management for fourteen issues and the affiliated Marvel Comics Group for ten issues. The final issue additionally carried the imprint Marvel Magazines Group. Publica ...

'', ''

Tales of the Zombie ''Tales of the Zombie'' was an American black-and-white horror comics magazine published by Magazine Management, a corporate sibling of Marvel Comics. The series ran 10 issues and one '' Super Annual'' from 1973 to 1975, many featuring stories of t ...

'', '' Monsters Unleashed'', ''

Planet of the Apes ''Planet of the Apes'' is an American science fiction media franchise consisting of films, books, television series, comics, and other media about a world in which humans and intelligent apes clash for control. The franchise is based on Frenc ...

'', ''

Rampaging Hulk ''The Rampaging Hulk'' is a comic book series published by Marvel Comics. The first volume was a black and white magazine published by Curtis Magazines (an imprint of Marvel) from 1977–1978. With issue #10, it changed its format to color and its ...

'', ''The

Silver Surfer The Silver Surfer is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character also appears in a number of movies, television, and video game adaptations. The character was created by Jack Kirby and first a ...

'', and storybooks featuring Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four. His

Transformers ''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Tomy, Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the Autobots and the Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms ...

work consisted of four Marvel Big Looker storybooks (published 1984–1986), some of which were later adapted into "read along" storybooks: ''

Battle for Cybertron There have been many publishers of a book (some with accompanying audio cassettes) bearing the name ''Transformers'' based on the Transformers (toy line), toy lines of the same name. Most common are Ballantine Books and Ladybird Books. Novels ''T ...

'', ''The Great Car Rally'', ''Car Show Blow Up'', and ''The Story of Wheelie, The Wild Boy of Quintesson''

Covers and trading cards

In addition to his work for Marvel, Norem painted illustrations and covers for the

Worlds of Power The ''Worlds of Power'' books are a series of novelizations of video games for the Nintendo Entertainment System released in the early 1990s by Scholastic."8-Bit Lit: Behind the Worlds of Power. ''1up.com''1. Retrieved on November 23, 2008. Th ...

, Wizards Warriors & You book series, ''

Mars Attacks ''Mars Attacks'' is a science fiction-themed trading card series released in 1962 by Topps. The cards feature artwork by science fiction artists Wally Wood and Norman Saunders. The cards form a story arc, which tells of the invasion of Earth by ...

'' comics and trading cards, and

Charlton Comics Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1945 to 1986, having begun under a different name: T.W.O. Charles Company, in 1940. It was based in Derby, Connecticut. The comic-book line was a division of Charlton ...

' ''The

Six Million Dollar Man ''The Six Million Dollar Man'' is an American science fiction and action television series, running from 1973 to 1978, about a former astronaut, USAF Colonel Steve Austin, portrayed by Lee Majors. After a NASA test flight accident, Austin is re ...

''. The U.S. release of the ''Wizards Warriors & You'' series illustrated by Norem included covers in color. In 2013, he had contributed paintings to the company's "Mars Attacks: Invasion" card set. At the time of his death, he was working on a trading card assignment for

Topps The Topps Company, Inc. is an American company that manufactures chewing gum, candy, and collectibles. Formerly based in New York City, Topps is best known as a leading producer of American football, baseball, basketball, ice hockey, soccer, a ...

franchise, presumably the "Mars Attacks" Occupation" set being produced in 2015.

Other work

Norem also painted movie posters for Conforte Graphics; package designs and artwork for Mego Toys,

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...

, and

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of K ...

; murals for the

Military Museum of Southern New England A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

, in Danbury, Connecticut; and two

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

program covers.

Personal life

Norem favored painting in acrylics. Suffering from arthritis, he had retired as of 2005, only painting for his own amusement and for his grandchildren. He said in a 2005 interview, "All the contacts that I had in the commercial art field are either retired or dead, and the younger art buyers don't want anything to do with an 81-year-old artist." According to posts on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

accounts attributed to Norem family-members, the artist died in Danbury, Connecticut on June 19, 2015, shortly after undergoing surgery. His family announced the news on Norem's Facebook fan page.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Norem, Earl American illustrators 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century American male artists American speculative fiction artists United States Army personnel of World War II Fantasy artists Science fiction artists Film poster artists 1923 births 2015 deaths United States Army soldiers 20th-century American male artists