Sol Harrison (1917 – November 19, 1989) was an American comic book

colorist In comics, a colorist is responsible for adding color to black-and-white line art. For most of the 20th century this was done using brushes and dyes which were then used as guides to produce the printing plates. Since the late 20th century it is ...

, production manager, and executive whose career spanned nearly 50 years in the industry.

Career

Sol Harrison attended high school with Jack Adler and the two men often worked together doing

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...

work. In 1933, Harrison did the color separations on ''

Famous Funnies ''Famous Funnies'' is an American comic strip anthology series published from 1934 to 1955. Published by Eastern Color Printing, ''Famous Funnies'' is considered by popular culture historians as the first true American comic book, following semin ...

'' for

Eastern Color Printing The Eastern Color Printing Company was a company that published comic books, beginning in 1933. At first, it was only newspaper comic strip reprints, but later on, original material was published. Eastern Color Printing was incorporated in 19 ...

. ''Famous Funnies'' is considered the first true American comic book. Comics historian

Ron Goulart Ronald Joseph Goulart (; January 13, 1933 – January 14, 2022) was an American popular culture historian and mystery, fantasy, and science fiction author. He published novelizations and other work under various pseudonyms: Kenneth Robeson, Co ...

calls it "the cornerstone for one of the most lucrative branches of magazine publishing". Writer

Martin Pasko Martin Joseph "Marty" Pasko (born Jean-Claude Rochefort; August 4, 1954– May 10, 2020) was a Canadian comic book writer and television screenwriter. Pasko worked for many comics publishers, but is best known for his superhero stories for DC Com ...

noted in 2008 that Harrison was the "guy who helped Charlie Gaines figure out how to produce the modern comics format." Harrison became production manager for

All-American Publications All-American PublicationsThe name is spelled with a hyphen per its logo (pictured) and sources includinat Don Markstein's ToonopediaArchivedfrom the original on April 15, 2012. was one of two American comic book companies that merged to form t ...

in 1942. When All-American became part of National Comics (later known as

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

), Harrison continued to work for the newly merged publisher. He was the colorist for the company's covers for 15 years. In 1972, he suggested publishing comics in an oversized format stating that "We could create a tabloid size comic that would stand out on the newsstand." This led to the launch of the ''

Limited Collectors' Edition ''Limited Collectors' Edition'' is an American comic book series published by DC Comics from 1972 to 1978. It usually featured reprints of previously published stories but a few issues contained new material. The series was published in an overs ...

'' series later that year. He developed an internship program at DC which was later nicknamed the "

Junior Woodchucks The Junior Woodchucks of the World is a fictional scouting organization appearing in Disney comics and the '' DuckTales'' animated television franchise, most notably in adventures featuring Disney characters Huey, Dewey, and Louie as members. Th ...

" by

Bob Rozakis Robert "Bob" Rozakis (; born April 4, 1951) is an American comic book writer and editor known mainly for his work in the 1970s and 1980s at DC Comics, as the writer of Mazing Man'' and in his capacity as DC's "Answer Man". Career Bob Rozakis go ...

. In 1973, Harrison became DC's Vice-President in Charge of Operations and developed the idea of the DC Comicmobile, a van which sold comic books "like the ice cream man did". Harrison and Adler were featured on the cover of DC's self-produced fan magazine ''

The Amazing World of DC Comics ''The Amazing World of DC Comics'' was DC Comics' self-produced fan magazine of the mid-1970s. Running 17 issues, the fanzine featured DC characters and their creators, and was exclusively available through mail order. Primarily text articles, with ...

'' #10 (Jan. 1976). Harrison was promoted to president of the company in 1976 just as

Jenette Kahn Jenette Kahn (; born May 16, 1947) is an American comic book editor and executive. She joined DC Comics in 1976 as publisher, and five years later was promoted to president. In 1989, she stepped down as publisher and assumed the title of editor ...

became publisher. Kahn stated in a 2012 interview that "I can't really say that Sol and I had much of a working relationship. He, more than anybody, resented my being hired because he felt that the job was rightfully his." Harrison served as president of the

Comics Magazine Association of America The Association of Comics Magazine Publishers (ACMP) was an American industry trade group formed in the late 1940s to regulate the content of comic books in the face of public criticism during that time. It was a precursor to the Comics Magazine As ...

from 1979 to 1980. He retired from DC Comics at the end of February 1981 and moved to Florida.

Awards

In 1985, Harrison was named as one of the honorees by DC Comics in the company's 50th anniversary publication ''

Fifty Who Made DC Great ''Fifty Who Made DC Great'' is a one shot published by DC Comics to commemorate the company's 50th anniversary in 1985. It was published in comic book format but contained text articles with photographs and background caricatures. Publication h ...

''.

References

External links

* *
"DC Profiles #1: Sol Harrison"
at the Grand Comics Database *
Sol Harrison
at Mike's Amazing World of Comics * includes appearance by Sol Harrison {{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Sol 1917 births 1989 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople American business executives American comics artists Businesspeople from New York City Comic book editors Comics colorists DC Comics people Golden Age comics creators Silver Age comics creators