Danny L. AdkinsDanny L. Adkins
at the

Social Security Death Index The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) was a database of death records created from the United States Social Security Administration's Death Master File until 2014. Since 2014, public access to the updated Death Master File has been via the Limit ...

via FamilySearch.org. Retrieved December 30, 2013. Adkins' death date is sometimes given erroneously as March 8, which was instead the date on which his death the week earlier had been announced. (March 15, 1937 – May 3, 2013) was an American illustrator who worked mainly for

comic books 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 ...

and

science-fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, sp ...

magazines A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

Biography

Early life and career

Dan Adkins was born in

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

, in the basement of an unfinished house. He left the state "when I was about 7" as his family moved to Pennsylvania;

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

;

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

; New York; Ohio; and New Jersey.Adkins in Reprinted in When he was "about 11" years old, Adkins said, he had a bout with rheumatic fever that left him paralyzed from the waist down for six months. Serving in the

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

in the mid-1950s, stationed at Luke Field outside Phoenix, Adkins was a draftsman. As he described the job, Launched in 1956, that publication was ''Sata'', filled with

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

illustrations and reproduced on a

spirit duplicator A spirit duplicator (also Rexograph and Ditto machine in North America, Banda machine and Fordigraph machine in the U.K. and Australia) is a printing method invented in 1923 by Wilhelm Ritzerfeld, which was used for most of the 20th century. Th ...

. In

, Adkins met artist-writer Bill Pearson who signed on as ''Satas co-editor. In 1959, Pearson became the sole editor of ''Sata'', ending the 13-issue run with several offset-printed issues . Adkins contributed to numerous other fan publications, including ''Amra'', ''Vega'' and '' Xero''. At 19, Adkins began doing freelance illustration for science-fiction magazines. He moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and when he was "about 24" years old was an art director for the

Hearst Corporation Hearst Corporation, Hearst Holdings Inc. and Hearst Communications Inc. comprise an American multinational mass media and business information conglomerate owned by the Hearst family and based in Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan in New York ...

's ''American Druggist'' and ''New Medical Material'' magazines. As he recalled:

Silver Age of comic books

In 1964, during the period comic-book fans and historians call the

Silver Age of Comics The Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and widespread commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those featuring the superhero archetype. Following the Golden Age of Comic Books, the Silver ...

, Adkins joined the

Wally Wood Wallace Allan Wood (June 17, 1927 – November 2, 1981) was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, widely known for his work on EC Comics's titles such as ''Weird Science (comic), Weird Science'', ''Weird Fantasy'', an ...

Studio as Wood's assistant. Wood and Adkins collaborated on a series of stories for

Warren Publishing Warren Publishing was an American magazine company founded by James Warren (publisher), James Warren, who published his first magazines in 1957 and continued in the business for decades. Magazines published by Warren include ''After Hours (magazin ...

's black-and-white horror-comics magazines ''

Creepy Creepiness is the state of being creepy, or causing an unpleasant feeling of fear or unease to someone and/or something. Certain traits or hobbies may make people seem creepy to others; interest in horror or the macabre might come across as 'c ...

'' and ''

Eerie Eerie may refer to: * Feeling of creepiness * Eerie (magazine), ''Eerie'' (magazine), an American horror comic first published in 1966 * Eerie (Avon), ''Eerie'' (Avon), a 1947 horror comic * Eerie (film), ''Eerie'' (film), a 2018 Filipino horror fi ...

''. Adkins was among the original artists of Wood's '' T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents'', for

Tower Comics Tower Comics was an American comic book publishing company that operated from 1965 to 1969, best known for Wally Wood's '' T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents'', a strange combination of secret agents and superheroes; and Samm Schwartz's ''Tippy Teen'', an Arch ...

, drawing many Dynamo stories during his 16 months in the Wood Studio. He joined

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 ...

in 1967. working primarily as an

inker The inker (sometimes credited as the finisher or embellisher) is one of the two line artists in traditional comic book production. After the penciller creates a drawing with pencil, the inker interprets this drawing by outlining and embellishing ...

but also

penciling A penciller (or penciler) is an artist who works on the creation of comic books, graphic novels, and similar visual art forms, with a focus on the initial pencil illustrations. In the American comic book industry, the penciller is the first step ...

several stories for ''

Doctor Strange 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 ...

'' and other titles. Adkins additionally worked for a variety of comics publishers, including

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 (comics), line was a divi ...

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 ...

(''Aquaman'', ''Batman''),

Dell Comics Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1973. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark"Wh ...

Western Publishing Western Publishing, also known as Western Printing and Lithographing Company, was an American company founded in 1907 in Racine, Wisconsin, best known for publishing the Little Golden Books. Its Golden Books Family Entertainment division also ...

Eclipse Comics Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book store, comic book specialty stor ...

Harvey Comics Harvey Comics (also known as Harvey World Famous Comics, Harvey Publications, Harvey Comics Entertainment, Harvey Hits, Harvey Illustrated Humor, and Harvey Picture Magazines) was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alf ...

, Marvel, and

Pacific Comics Pacific Comics was a comic book Distribution (marketing), distributor and Comic book publisher, publisher active from 1971 to 1984. The company began as a San Diego, California, comic book shop owned by brothers Bill Schanes, Bill and Steve Schan ...

.Dan Adkins
at the

Grand Comics Database The Grand Comics Database (GCD) is an Internet-based project to build a database of comic book information through user contributions. The GCD project catalogues information on creator credits, story details, reprints, and other information use ...

. In addition to penciling and inking, Adkins also did cover paintings, including for ''Amazing Stories'', ''Eerie'' (issue 12) and ''Famous Monsters of Filmland'' (issues 42, 44). His magazine illustrations were published in ''Argosy'' (with Wood), ''Amazing Stories'', ''Fantastic'', ''Galaxy Science Fiction'', ''Infinity'', ''Monster Parade'', ''Science-Fiction Adventures'', ''Spectrum'', ''Worlds of If'' and other magazines. In the 2000s, he illustrated

Parker Brothers Parker Brothers (known as Parker outside of North America) was an American toy and game manufacturer which in 1991 became a brand of Hasbro. More than 1,800 games were published under the Parker Brothers name since 1883. It remained family owne ...

products, and his artwork for ''Xero'' was reprinted in the hardback ''The Best of Xero'' (Tachyon, 2004).Lupoff. Dick. ''The Best of Xero''. Tachyon, 2004.

Awards

In 2019, Adkins was inducted into the Inkwell Awards Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame for his lifetime achievement and outstanding accomplishments.

Personal life

Adkins was married to Jeanette Strouse.Photo caption
''ALter Ego'' interview above: "Dan with Jeanette Strouse in 1956, at age nineteen. Photos courtesy of Dan & Jeanette Adkins." Adkins died May 3, 2013, at age 76.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Adkins, Dan 1937 births 2013 deaths American comics artists American illustrators American science fiction artists American horror artists Comics inkers Marvel Comics people People from East Liverpool, Ohio People from Reading, Pennsylvania Silver Age comics creators