Archie Goodwin (September 8, 1937 – March 1, 1998) was an American
comic book
A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...
writer, editor, and artist. He worked on a number of
comic strip
A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...
s in addition to comic books, and is known for his
Warren and
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...
work. For Warren he was chief writer and editor of landmark horror anthology titles ''
Creepy'' and ''
Eerie'' between 1964 and 1967. At Marvel, he served as the company's editor-in-chief from 1976 to the end of 1977. In the 1980s, he edited the publisher's anthology magazine ''
Epic Illustrated'' and its
Epic Comics
Epic Comics (also known as the Epic Comics Group)Shooter, Jim. "Bullpen Bulletins: The Truth About the Epic Comics Group!" Marvel comics cover-dated November 1982. was an imprint of American publishing company Marvel Comics, active from 1982 to ...
imprint. He is also known for his work on ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...
'' in both comic books and newspaper strips. He is regularly cited as the "best-loved comic book editor, ever."
[Pilcher, Tim and Brooks, Brad, ''The Essential Guide to World Comics'' (Collins & Brown, 2005) , p. 42]
Biography
Early life and career
Archie Goodwin was born in
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...
, and lived in many small towns along the Kansas-Missouri border including
Coffeyville, Kansas. He considered
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...
as his home town. There he spent his teen years at
Will Rogers High School and in used magazine stores searching for
EC Comics
E.C. Publications, Inc., (doing business as EC Comics) is an American comic book publisher. It specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, nota ...
. and contributor to EC fanzines in the 50s. His classmates at Will Rogers included illustrator
Paul Davis and
''Broomhilda'' creator
Russell Myers forming a cartoonist's club that met daily at the Owl Drugstore at 11th Street and Pittsburg in Tulsa. After one year at the
University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...
, Goodwin moved to New York City to attend classes at what became the
School of Visual Arts
The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design.
History
This school was started by Silas ...
.
[DC Comics press release March 2, 1998 "Archie Goodwin dies at 60]
Online version
available at Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...
Goodwin began as an artist drawing cartoons for magazines and as a freelance "writer and occasional art assistant" to
Leonard Starr's newspaper
comic strip
A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...
''
Mary Perkins, On Stage''.
His first editorial work was for ''
Redbook'' magazine from 1960 to 1964, on which he worked both before and after his Army service as a draftee. He also did cartoons for ''Fishing World'' magazine in 1959.
"Comics writing is similar in form to writing a movie script or a play," Goodwin said in an article for the
Tulsa Tribune, December 17, 1986. "I write a description of the panel (stage setting), and then the captions (dialogue)," he said. "Since I have some art background, I might do a series of thumbnail drawings before I write anything. Comics writings is like any other kind of writing. You draw on everything that's around you. Watching people on the street, eavesdropping in restaurants – sooner or later, you're going to use all of that."
Warren
His first story written before he went into the Army was drawn by
Al Williamson and
Roy Krenkel and published in 1962 just after his discharge from the Army. He was never on staff at Harvey Comics. By 1964 he was the main script writer for
Warren's ''
Creepy'' magazine. Much of his work there, according to Batman editor Mark Chiarello, was a "homage to the favorite comics of his youth, the
E.C. line."
By the second issue he was co-credited (alongside Russ Jones) as editor, and soon became editor of the entire Warren line: ''Creepy'', ''
Eerie'' and ''
Blazing Combat''.
He worked for Warren between 1964 and 1967, as head writer and Editor-in-Chief, in which roles he is credited with providing a mythology for Warren's classic
Vampirella character, as well as penning her most compelling stories. ''
After his departure from Warren in 1967, Goodwin would occasionally contribute stories over the next 15 years and even returned for a short stint as editor in 1974.
Famous name
Archie Goodwin's first prose story was published by ''
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'', which warned him he could not use Archie Goodwin as a
pen name
A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...
because it was a
Rex Stout character in the
Nero Wolfe books. According to Goodwin's wife Anne T. Murphy, the magazine's editors "then were so delighted when he wrote back to say that it was his real name that they used the anecdote as the introduction to the story, which ran in the July 1962 issue." (It was actually the July 1964 issue.)
Comic strips
From 1967 to 1980, Goodwin wrote scripts for
King Features Syndicate, including the
daily strip Secret Agent X-9,
drawn by
Al Williamson and editor
Sylvan Byck, as well as working on other strips ghost writing ''
Captain Kate'' by Hale and Jerry Skelly. He also worked with Williamson on ''
Flash Gordon'' comics #3–7 published by
King Comics
King Comics, a short-lived comic book imprint of King Features Syndicate, was an attempt by King Features to publish comics of its own characters, rather than through other publishers. A few King Comics titles were picked up from Gold Key Comics ...
in 1966.
''
Star Hawks'' was a
comic strip
A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...
created by
Ron Goulart and
Gil Kane
Gil Kane (; born Eli Katz , ; April 6, 1926 – January 31, 2000) was a Latvian-born American comics artist whose career spanned the 1940s to the 1990s and virtually every major comics company and character.
Kane co-created the modern-day vers ...
, first published on October 3, 1977, that ran through May 2, 1981 by
United Feature Syndicate
United Feature Syndicate, Inc. (UFS) is a large American editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1919. Originally part of E. W. Scripps Company, it was part of United Media ( ...
. It was written through April 1979 by Goulart, followed by Archie Goodwin (1979–1980).
His experience ghost writing ''Dan Flagg'' inspired "The Success Story" (drawn by Williamson, who had ghosted on ''Flagg'') for ''
Creepy'' No. 1 (1964), famed among comic strip fans for its
EC style dark humor in depicting a creator whose only contribution to the strip that made him rich was his signature.
''Blackmark''
''
Blackmark
''Blackmark'' is a mass market paperback, paperback book (Bantam S5871) published by the American company Bantam Books in January 1971. It is one of the first American graphic novels, predating works such as Richard Corben's ''Bloodstar'' (197 ...
'' is a
paperback book
A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, also known as wrappers, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, ...
(Bantam S5871) published by the American company
Bantam Books
Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin Jr., Sidney B. K ...
in January 1971. It is one of the first American
graphic novels. It was conceived and drawn by
comic book
A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...
artist
An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...
Gil Kane
Gil Kane (; born Eli Katz , ; April 6, 1926 – January 31, 2000) was a Latvian-born American comics artist whose career spanned the 1940s to the 1990s and virtually every major comics company and character.
Kane co-created the modern-day vers ...
, and scripted by Archie Goodwin from an outline by Kane.
DC Comics
Goodwin worked briefly for
DC Comics
DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
during the 1970s, where he edited the war comics ''
G.I. Combat'', ''
Our Fighting Forces'', and ''
Star Spangled War Stories'',
and replaced
Julius Schwartz
Julius "Julie" Schwartz ( ; June 19, 1915 – February 8, 2004) was an American comic book editor, and a science fiction agent. He was born in The Bronx, New York. He is best known as a longtime editor at DC Comics, where at various times he ...
as editor of ''
Detective Comics
''Detective Comics'' (later retitled as ''Batman Detective Comics'') is an American comic book series published by Detective Comics, later shortened to DC Comics. The first volume, published from 1937 to 2011 (and later continued in 2016), is ...
''
for one year. Goodwin's collaboration with
Walt Simonson on the
"Manhunter" back-up feature in ''Detective Comics'' won several
awards. Goodwin also wrote the Batman lead feature in ''Detective Comics'', where his collaborators included artists
Jim Aparo,
Sal Amendola,
Howard Chaykin
Howard Victor Chaykin (; born October 7, 1950) is an Americans, American comics artist, comic book artist and writer. Chaykin's influences include his one-time employer and mentor, Gil Kane, and the mid-20th century illustrators Robert Fawcett an ...
, and
Alex Toth.
Marvel Comics
Goodwin first worked for Marvel Comics in 1968 and was the original writer on the ''
Iron Man
Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, the character first appearan ...
'' series which launched that year. According to Goodwin, when he entered editor
Stan Lee
Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book author, writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Comics which later bec ...
's office to apply for a job with Marvel, Lee was in the middle of writing an Iron Man story and handed him
photostats of the pages he was working on for his writer's test. Goodwin speculated, "I assume if he had been working on ''
Sgt. Fury'', I'd have been writing ''Sgt. Fury''. Thank God he wasn't writing ''
Millie the Model
''Millie the Model'' is Marvel Comics' longest-running humor title, first published by the company's 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and continuing through its 1950s forerunner, Atlas Comics, to 1970s Marvel. The comic book series deals with ...
'' when I walked in."
Goodwin and artist
George Tuska co-created the supervillain the
Controller in ''Iron Man'' No. 12 (April 1969).
Luke Cage, the first African American superhero to star in an
eponymous
An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''.
Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...
Marvel comic book series, was created by Goodwin and artist
John Romita Sr. in June 1972. While briefly writing ''
The Tomb of Dracula'' series, Goodwin and artist
Gene Colan
Eugene Jules Colan (; September 1, 1926 – June 23, 2011)[Eugene Colan]
at the Social Security Death Index via ...
introduced the supporting character
Rachel van Helsing
Vagabond
Vagabond (Priscilla Lyons) is the former partner and girlfriend of Jack Monroe (character), Nomad (Jack Monroe). She prevented Black Racer's assassination attempt on Sidewinder (character), Sidewinder. She thwarted and captured Dr. Karl ...
. Goodwin co-created (with
Marie Severin) the first
Spider-Woman, as well as writing her first appearance in ''
Marvel Spotlight
''Marvel Spotlight'' is a comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics as a try-out book. It stood out from Marvel's other try-out books in that most of the featured characters made their first appearance in the series. The series or ...
'' No. 32 (February 1977).
Goodwin also co-designed Marvel's
New Universe line and created four of the eight series in the line. He explained, "
arvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter keeps saying of me: 'Well, here's this guy, in one meeting, he suddenly spews out half the ideas for the New Universe.' What that doesn't take into account is that for about five or six years I've had these half-formed notions and finally here is a situation where they would all fit in. ...it wasn't like I just went into the meeting and suddenly four concepts sprang full-blown from my brow."
''Star Wars''
In 1976, Goodwin replaced
Gerry Conway to become the eighth
editor-in-chief
An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...
of Marvel Comics, with the understanding that it would only be temporary until a permanent replacement could be found. He ultimately resigned at the end of 1977 and was replaced by
Jim Shooter. While Goodwin was editor-in-chief, Marvel secured the rights to publish the ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...
'' film's
comic adaptation and tie-in series, which then sold phenomenally well (helped by a dearth of other ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...
'' merchandise at the time) at a point when the comics industry was in severe decline. Goodwin recalled about the ''Star Wars'' comic book, "That really worked ... but I can't take any credit for it.
Roy Thomas
Roy William Thomas Jr."Roy Thomas Checklist" ''Alter Ego'' vol. 3, #50 (July 2005) p. 16 (born November 22, 1940) is an American comic book writer and editor. He was Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics and possibly bes ...
is the one who brought it to Marvel, and he had to push a little bit to get them to do it." He followed Thomas in adapting the ''Star Wars'' characters into an ongoing comic book with artist
Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino (; May 24, 1925 – April 4, 2013) was an American comics artist and editing, editor, primarily for DC Comics, during the late 1950s and early 1960s period known as the Silver Age of Comic Books. Among his character creations are ...
, as well as continuing the story (pre-''
Return of the Jedi
''Return of the Jedi'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi'' is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas. The sequel to '' The Empire ...
'') in a daily
comic strip
A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...
. Goodwin wrote the strips under his own name, although many websites and other sources erroneously claim he used the pseudonyms R.S. Helm and Russ Helm. Writer
Mark Evanier corrected the matter by stating "Archie did write the ''Star Wars'' comic strip (as well as other ''Star Wars'' material) but only under his own name. Russ Helm was a completely different person writing under his own name." During Goodwin and Infantino's tenure on Marvel's ''Star Wars'' series, it was one of the industry's top selling titles. He wrote comic book adaptations for Marvel of the two ''Star Wars'' sequels as well as other science-fiction films such as ''
Close Encounters of the Third Kind'' and ''
Blade Runner''.
''Heavy Metal''
''Alien: The Illustrated Story'', or simply ''Alien'', is an American sixty-four-page
graphic novel
A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...
adaptation of the 1979 science fiction film ''
Alien'' published by ''
Heavy Metal'' magazine in 1979. It was scripted by Archie Goodwin and drawn by
Walt Simonson. The book was a major critical and commercial success and was the first comic to ever be listed on the ''
New York Times Bestsellers'' list.
While developing the comic, Goodwin worked from the original script. Simonson, as well, had access to
production stills and even saw a
rough cut
In filmmaking, the rough cut (also known as the first cut or editor's cut) is the second of three stages of offline editing. The term originates from the early days of filmmaking when film stock was physically cut and reassembled, but is still ...
of the film, which helped him capture the essence of the story. As a result, however, a few scenes that were cut from the final film ended up being included in the graphic novel.
One reviewer praised Archie Goodwin's script adaptation, which he felt improved on some flaws in the film: "Goodwin... seems to get more into the class divisions on board the ''Nostromo'' between
Ripley and Parker...
e characters are a bit more fleshed out..."
Heavy Metal published an eight-page teaser for the book in ''
Heavy Metal'' magazine in vol. 3, No. 1 (May 1979). A second eight-page preview was published in ''Heavy Metal'' vol. 3, No. 2 (June 1979). The original 64-page
trade paperback was released in June 1979 and distributed by
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...
. The comic was also translated in Japanese, Spanish and Dutch.
Epic
After Marvel Comics passed on publishing the American incarnation of ''
Metal Hurlant'' (''
Heavy Metal''), Editor-in-chief
Jim Shooter was charged with producing an alternate title, which became ''
Epic Illustrated''. It was initially edited by
Rick Marschall, but Shooter approached publisher
Stan Lee
Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book author, writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Comics which later bec ...
to urge a replacement: "I told Stan, 'There's one guy who could do this. I don't know if we can get him.' He said, 'Who's that?' 'Archie Goodwin.' The reason I didn't think we could get him is because he used to be my boss and I didn't know how he'd feel about coming back and me being his boss."
[Thomas, Michael]
"CBR News: Jim Shooter Interview: Part 1"
''Comic Book Resources
''CBR'', formerly ''Comic Book Resources'', is a news website primarily covering comic book news, comic book reviews, and comic book–related topics involving movies, television, anime, and video games. It is owned by Valnet, parent of publicat ...
'', October 6, 2000. Accessed August 2, 2008. Shooter on Goodwin: "First and foremost, everyone loved Archie. Archie had a manner about him that you just couldn't not like him. While he was tough as nails, and he was probably the best that passed through this business, he managed to do it without offending anyone. He managed to be respected and remain friends with everyone and do his job."
Goodwin was at the time still working for Marvel as a writer, and Shooter recalls concocting a plan whereby the company "pretended that Archie reported to Stan. In fact, I was doing all the paperwork and all the employee reviews and the budgets" so that Goodwin could have the illusion of not working for his successor.
In the autumn of 1979, Marschall was fired and Goodwin hired as ''Epics editor.
Shooter approached Goodwin after the moderate success of the ''Epic'' magazine and creator-owned graphic novels to produce a full-fledged line of creator-owned comics,
Epic Comics
Epic Comics (also known as the Epic Comics Group)Shooter, Jim. "Bullpen Bulletins: The Truth About the Epic Comics Group!" Marvel comics cover-dated November 1982. was an imprint of American publishing company Marvel Comics, active from 1982 to ...
. Goodwin initially balked at the additional workload, and Shooter turned the line over to
Al Milgrom
Allen L. Milgrom (born March 6, 1950) is an American comic book artist (penciller and inker), writer, and editor, primarily for Marvel Comics. He is known for his 10-year run as editor of '' Marvel Fanfare''; his long involvement as writer, penci ...
before Goodwin ultimately accepted editorship.
Goodwin introduced the first English translation of
Katsuhiro Otomo's ''
Akira'' and published English translations of the work of
Jean Giraud
Jean Henri Gaston Giraud (; 8 May 1938 – 10 March 2012) was a French artist, cartoonist, and writer who worked in the Franco-Belgian comics, Franco-Belgian ''bandes dessinées'' (BD) tradition. Giraud garnered worldwide acclaim predomin ...
, a.k.a. Moebius. Archie also gave many writers and artists their first jobs in comic including
Todd McFarlane in ''
Coyote
The coyote (''Canis latrans''), also known as the American jackal, prairie wolf, or brush wolf, is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the Wolf, gray wolf, and slightly smaller than the c ...
'' #11-14 with his first cover on issue 13.
Return to DC
Goodwin returned to
DC Comics
DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
as an editor and writer in 1989. He wrote the graphic novel ''
Batman: Night Cries'' painted by
Scott Hampton and published in 1992. Throughout the 1990s, Goodwin edited a number of Batman projects, including the
Elseworlds
Elseworlds is the publication imprint (trade name), imprint for American comic books produced by DC Comics for stories that take place outside the DC Universe Canon (fictional), canon. Elseworlds publications are set in alternate realities that ...
miniseries ''
Batman: Thrillkiller'', and the
Alan Grant-written/
Kevin O'Neill-illustrated parody one-shot ''Batman: Mitefall'', a take-off of the "
Knightfall" saga, filtered through the character of
Bat-Mite.
''
Armageddon 2001'' was a 1991
crossover event storyline. It ran through a self-titled, two issue limited series and most of the annuals DC published that year from May through October. Each participating annual explored potential possible futures for its main characters. The series was written by Goodwin and
Dennis O'Neil and drawn by
Dan Jurgens
Dan Jurgens (; born June 27, 1959) is an American comic book writer and artist. He is known for his work on the DC Comics, DC comic book storyline "The Death of Superman" and for creating characters such as Doomsday (DC Comics), Doomsday, Hank H ...
.
Among Goodwin's most notable last editorial projects were ''
Starman'', written by
James Robinson and first published by DC in 1994 and DC's ''
Batman: The Long Halloween'' by
Tim Sale and
Jeph Loeb
Joseph "Jeph" Loeb III () is an American film and television writer, producer and comic book writer. Loeb was a producer/writer on the TV series ''Smallville (TV series), Smallville'' and ''Lost (2004 TV series), Lost'', writer for the films ''C ...
. Loeb and Sale's first work on Batman appeared in ''
Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Special'' No. 1 (Dec. 1993) edited by Goodwin. It is a testament to Goodwin that Loeb has said that Goodwin inspired their portrayal of Gotham police chief Jim Gordon in ''The Long Halloween'' and its sequel ''
Batman: Dark Victory'', while Robinson (who considered Goodwin both a mentor and close personal friend), continued to list Goodwin as a "Guiding Light" on later issues of ''Starman'' published after Goodwin's death. Goodwin edited ''
Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight'' and ''
Azrael''.
Goodwin's ''Creepy'' work is cited by editor
Mark Chiarello as informing the creation of the ''
Batman: Black & White'' series.
[Chiarello, Mark. "Introduction" in Chiarello, Mark and Peterson, Scott (ed.s) ''Batman: Black and White'' (DC Comics, 1998) . Chiarello on Goodwin: "...probably the very best editor ever to work in comics, probably the very best writer ever to work in comics."]
Death
In the Spring of 1990 he was diagnosed as having cancer and undertook a course of chemo-therapy while still working at DC. Goodwin died on March 1, 1998, after battling the disease for 8 years.
Archives
The Archie Goodwin Archive and Collection are housed at OKPOP (Oklahoma Museum of Pop Culture) in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Donated by his children Jennifer and Seth Goodwin.
Awards
Goodwin's work won him a good deal of recognition in the industry, including both the 1973
Shazam Award for Best Writer (Dramatic Division), and the 1974 Shazam Award for Best Writer (Dramatic Division) for the
Manhunter series running in ''
Detective Comics
''Detective Comics'' (later retitled as ''Batman Detective Comics'') is an American comic book series published by Detective Comics, later shortened to DC Comics. The first volume, published from 1937 to 2011 (and later continued in 2016), is ...
'' #437–443. In the same years, he also won Shazam Awards for Best Individual Short Story for "The Himalayan Incident" in ''Detective Comics'' No. 437 and for "Cathedral Perilous" in ''Detective Comics'' No. 441. In 1974, he also won Best Individual Feature-Length Story for "Götterdämmerung" in ''Detective Comics'' No. 443. All story awards were shared with
Walt Simonson for ''Manhunter'' episodes). Goodwin's work on ''Manhunter'', in which he both updated an obscure Golden Age hero, and, in the series' last episode, took the daring approach of killing him off (one of the few comic book deaths that has actually "taken" and not been reversed or
retconned
Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in fictional story telling whereby facts and events established through the narrative itself are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subsequently published work ...
away in the decades since it occurred) is very well regarded by both fans and other comics professionals.
Goodwin stated in his final interview, "I think that ''Manhunter'' is one of just several projects that I've worked on that I consider a highlight in my career. It is something that I may never be able to top in a lot of ways. To have done that and for DC to have given me the opportunity to do that was great."
In 1980, he shared the Eagle Award for Favorite Comic Magazine given to ''
Epic Illustrated.''
In 1982, he received the
Inkpot Award given by
San Diego Comic-Con
San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...
.
He threepeated winning the Harvey Award for Best American Edition of Foreign Material given to Epic's collected Moebius albums in 1988, for Epic's Moebius series ''The Incal'' in 1989 and in 1990 for Best Foreign Reprint given to Epic's ''
Akira'' series.
He won "
Bob Clampett
Robert Emerson Clampett Sr. (May 8, 1913 – May 2, 1984) was an American animator, film director, director, film producer, producer and puppeteer best known for his work on the ''Looney Tunes'' animated series from Warner Bros. as well as the te ...
Humanitarian"
Eisner Award in 1992.
In 1993, he won the
Wizard Fan Award with
Denny O'Neil,
Joe Quesada
Joseph Quesada (; born January 12, 1962'' Comics Buyer's Guide'' #1650; February 2009; page 107) is an American comic book artist, writer, editor, and television producer. He became known in the 1990s for his work on various Valiant Comics books, ...
and
Kevin Nowlan for the Favorite Miniseries for ''
Batman: Sword of Azrael.''
He was named
Best Editor by the
Eisners in 1993.
As well as receiving the
UK Comic Art Award for Best Graphic Novel with
Scott Hampton for ''Batman: Night Cries.''
1997 brought more Harvey Awards to Archie by winning Best Domestic Reprint Project, with Bob Kahan, for ''
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns 10th Anniversary Edition Hardcover.''
Archie was also awarded two Eisner Awards in 1997. First with
Gary Gianni for Best Short Story for "Heroes" from ''
Batman: Black & White'' and another with
James Robinson,
Tony Harris and
Wade Von Grawbadger for Best Serialized Story for ''
Starman'' "Sand and Stars" ''(Issues #20-23)''
Goodwin was honored posthumously in 1998, by being named to the
National Comics Award Roll of Honour and he was entered into the
Eisner Hall of Fame.
In 2007, Goodwin was inducted into the Oklahoma Cartoonists Hall of Fame in
Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, located in the
Toy and Action Figure Museum.
In 2008, he was one of two recipients of that year's
Bill Finger Award, which annually honors one living and one deceased comics creator. The award was presented July 25, 2008, during the 2008
Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards ceremony at
San Diego Comic-Con
San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...
.
Appearances within comics
He makes a cameo appearance in a crowd scene on the splash page of ''
Ms. Marvel'' volume 1 No. 15, (March 1978) with thought balloons showing him trying out various nicknames for himself.
Archie appears in a crowd scene on the cover/back cover of DC ''All New Collectors' Edition #56'' "
Superman vs. Muhammad Ali" (1978) drawn by
Neal Adams
Neal Adams (June 15, 1941 – April 28, 2022) was an American comic book artist. He was the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates, and was a Creator ownership, creators-rights advocate who helped secure a pension and re ...
and edited by fellow Oklahoman
E. Nelson Bridwell. Archie is No. 15 on the key and is sitting in front of the
Jackson 5 on the back cover.
He is name-checked in issues of Marvel's ''Star Wars'' comics including in the alien-language words "Niwdoog Eihcra", his name in reverse.
A character based on him appears in issue No. 82 of ''
Cerebus'' (January 1986). He stands at the foot of the giant, living stone statue Tarim and repeats everything Tarim says – as if he is passing Tarim's commands to the masses. At the end, the annoyed Tarim threatens to kill "anyone pretending to speak for Tarim" when Archie's character looks up and stops repeating Tarim by telling the masses to get to work. The scene has often been interpreted as an allegory for Goodwin's relationship with
Jim Shooter, but ''Cerebus'' writer/artist
Dave Sim denies this and said "I have nothing but the greatest respect for Archie and in no way intended anything but a little 'hello' to one of my favorite New Yorkers."
In Marvel Comics', ''
What The--?!'' No. 5, (July 1989) Goodwin appears as King Archibald the First in the short story ''The Alien-Ated Legion,'' which parodies the mature approach of Epic Comics. In the last panels, King Archibald says that he had never been interested in superhero comics.
The airport in fictional
Gotham City
Gotham City ( ), or simply Gotham, is a fictional city in the Northeastern United States that serves as the primary city appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. It is best known as the home of the superhero Batman and his List ...
, home of the
Batman
Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...
, is named the Archie Goodwin International Airport. The airport made its first appearance in Batman No. 34 (April 1946) and remained unnamed until it was given a name on a Gotham City map made for the
Batman: No Man's Land crossover event in 1999.
In the first DC Comics spinoff of
Batman: The Animated Series called ''
The Batman Adventures.'' Goodwin appears as Mr. Nice, a super-strong, but childishly-innocent super-villain. He is one of a screwball trio of incompetent super-villains that includes The Mastermind (a caricature of
Mike Carlin
Michael Carlin (born October 6, 1958) is an American comic book writer, editing, editor, and executive. He has worked principally for Marvel Comics and DC Comics since the 1970s.
Early life
Carlin attended the High School of Art and Design in M ...
) and The Professor (a caricature of
Dennis O'Neil). Their first appearance comes in No. 10 (July 1993) with the Riddler. The trio's first cover appearance came in No. 20 (May 1994) and their last story came in No. 30 (March 1995).
''
Batman: Gotham Adventures'' No. 13 (June 1999) features the last appearance of the characters with Mr. Nice leaving the group to fulfill a prophecy, with the issue being dedicated to Archie Goodwin.
''Batman: Gotham Adventures'' #13
at the Grand Comics Database
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''Detective Comics'' (later retitled as ''Batman Detective Comics'') is an American comic book series published by Detective Comics, later shortened to DC Comics. The first volume, published from 1937 to 2011 (and later continued in 2016), is ...
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Marvel Comics
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''The Amazing Spider-Man'' is an ongoing American superhero American comic book, comic book series featuring the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man as its title character and main protagonist. Being in the Earth 616, mainstream continuity of t ...
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''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.
Public ...
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The Fantastic Four, often abbreviated as FF, is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in '' The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover-dated November 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism i ...
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Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, the character first appearan ...
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In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...
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Dr. Stephen Vincent Strange is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in ''Strange Tales'' #110 (cover-dated July 1963). Doctor Strange serves as ...
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* ''Marvel Spotlight
''Marvel Spotlight'' is a comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics as a try-out book. It stood out from Marvel's other try-out books in that most of the featured characters made their first appearance in the series. The series or ...
'' No. 32 ( Spider-Woman) (1977)
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''Return of the Jedi'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi'' is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas. The sequel to '' The Empire ...
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In Greek mythology, Medusa (; ), also called Gorgo () or the Gorgon, was one of the three Gorgons. Medusa is generally described as a woman with living snakes in place of hair; her appearance was so hideous that anyone who looked upon her wa ...
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Spider-Man is a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appearance, first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in ...
and Nick Fury
Colonel (United States), Colonel Nicholas Joseph "Nick" Fury Sr. is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer/artist Jack Kirby and writer Stan Lee, he first appeared in ''Sgt. Fury and ...
) (1990)
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* ''Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...
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* ''Wolverine
The wolverine ( , ; ''Gulo gulo''), also called the carcajou or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species, member of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscular carnivore and a solitary animal. The w ...
'' #17–23 (1989–1990)
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Warren
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References
External links
Archie Goodwin
at Mike's Amazing World of Comics
at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodwin, Archie
1937 births
1998 deaths
20th-century American writers
Artists from Missouri
Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award winners
American comic book editors
Inkpot Award winners
School of Visual Arts alumni
Silver Age comics creators
Marvel Comics editors-in-chief
United States Army soldiers
Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame inductees
Bill Finger Award winners
Writers from Kansas City, Missouri
Deaths from cancer in New York (state)
DC Comics people
Will Rogers High School alumni