Douglas Samuel WildeyDouglas S. Wildey
SSN 052-18-2593, at the Social Security Death Index via GenealogyBank.com and vi
FamilySearch.org. Retrieved on March 6, 2013 (May 2, 1922 – October 4, 1994) was an American cartoonist
and comic book">cartoonist">FamilySearch.org. Retrieved on March 6, 2013 (May 2, 1922 – October 4, 1994) was an American cartoonist
and comic book artist best known for originally conceptualizing and co-creating the classic 1964 American

animated television series An animated series, or a cartoon series, is a set of Animation, animated films with a common title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same main heroes, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series ...

'' Jonny Quest'' for Hanna-Barbera Productions.

Biography

Early life and career

Wildey was born and raised in

Yonkers Yonkers () is the List of municipalities in New York, third-most populous city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the most-populous City (New York), city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County. A centrally locate ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, adjacent 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 ...

. He did

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

military service at

Naval Air Station Barbers Point Naval Air Station Barbers Point , on O'ahu, home to John Rodgers (naval officer, World War I), John Rodgers Field (the original name of Honolulu International Airport), is a former United States Navy airfield closed in 1999, and renamed Kalaeloa ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, where he began with his artistic talent and creative animation career as a

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

for the base newspaper.Quatto
p. 2
/ref> He recalled his professional start as freelancing for the magazine and

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 ...

company

Street & Smith Street & Smith or Street & Smith Publications, Inc., was a New York City publisher specializing in inexpensive paperbacks and magazines referred to as dime novels and pulp magazine, pulp fiction. They also published comic books and sporting year ...

in 1947. Because comic book writer and artist credits were not routinely given during this era, the earliest confirmed Wildey works are the two signed pieces in this publisher's ''Top Secret'' #9 (June 1949): a one-page house ad and the 10-page adventure story "Queen in Jeopardy", by an unknown writer.Doug Wildey
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 ...

He went on to draw primarily

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

stories for Youthful Magazines comics including ''

Buffalo Bill William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), better known as Buffalo Bill, was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. One of the most famous figures of the American Old West, Cody started his legend at the young age ...

'', ''Gunsmoke'' (unrelated to the later television series), and ''Indian Fighter''. He also contributed to the publishers Master Comics, Story Comics, Cross Publications and possibly others, puckishly observing that he'd worked for every publisher except EC, "the good one". In 1952, Wildey moved, with his whole family—wife Ellen and oldest daughter, Debbie and —to

Tucson Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

. Two years later, he began a regular stint at Atlas Comics, the 1950s forerunner of

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 ...

, where he drew dozens of

stories through 1957, primarily four- to five-page tales in such titles as ''Frontier Western''. His art also appeared in the Atlas horror-

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, ...

comics '' Journey into Unknown Worlds'', '' Marvel Tales'', '' Mystery Tales'', '' Mystic'', ''

Strange Tales ''Strange Tales'' is a Marvel Comics comics anthology, anthology series. The title was revived in different forms on multiple occasions. Doctor Strange and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (feature), Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. made their d ...

'', '' Uncanny Tales'', and others. Animation historian Ken Quattro favorably describes Wildey's most "noteworthy" Western classic style as the 19-issue Atlas Comics series '' Outlaw Kid'', "his take on the classic Western

antihero An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero or two words anti hero) or anti-heroine is a character in a narrative (in literature, film, TV, etc.) who may lack some conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism and morality. Al ...

", in which Wildey had creatively illustrated a three- to four-story arc per comic book issue: Much of this work was reprinted by Marvel from 1970 through 1974, exposing Wildey's work to a younger generation. After an Atlas Comics retrenchment in 1957—during which the company mixed a trove of inventory stories by Wildey and many others with new material for about two to three years—Wildey freelanced on a small number of standalone anthology stories for two other publishers:

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 ...

, in the

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, space ...

titles ''Alarming Tales'' #3-5 (Jan.-Sept. 1958), and '' Black Cat Mystic'' #62 (March 1958), ''Hi-School Romance'' #73 (March 1958) and ''Warfront'' #34 (Sept. 1958); and

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 ...

, in '' Tales of the Unexpected'' #33 & 35 (Nov. 1958, March 1959), '' House of Secrets'' #17 (Feb.1959), '' My Greatest Adventure'' #28 & 32 (November 1958 & June 1959), and ''

House of Mystery ''The House of Mystery'' is the name of several horror comics, horror, fantasy comics, fantasy, and mystery fiction, mystery comics anthology, comics anthologies published by DC Comics. It had a companion series, ''The House of Secrets (DC Comi ...

'' #89 (Aug. 1959). He also later drew the first issue of

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 ...

TV series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platf ...

spin-off '' Dr. Kildare'' (a.k.a. ''4 Color'' #1337, June 1962). In either 1959 or 1961at The Comic Strip Project.. (sources vary) he took over the art for writer

Leslie Charteris Leslie Charteris (; born Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin; 12 May 1907 – 15 April 1993), was a British-Chinese author of adventure fiction, as well as a screenwriter.''New York Herald Tribune'' Syndicate

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 ...

'' The Saint''. Some of their strips were inked by

Dick Ayers Richard Bache Ayers (; April 28, 1924 – May 4, 2014) was an American comic book artist and cartoonist best known for his work as one of Jack Kirby's inkers during the late-1950s and 1960s period known as the Silver Age of Comics, including on s ...

as the deadlines of producing a daily and Sunday strip proved daunting. The strip ended in 1962. Adding credence to the latter date is Wildey spending part of 1960, possibly only a month, penciling his idol Milton Caniff's famed ''

Steve Canyon ''Steve Canyon'' is an American Action-adventure comics, action-adventure comic strip by cartoonist Milton Caniff. Launched shortly after Caniff retired from his previous strip, ''Terry and the Pirates (comic strip), Terry and the Pirates'', ''S ...

'' comic stripQuatto
p. 3
/ref> and trying unsuccessfully to launch his own syndicated strip. Two such proposed strips would help provide a character name and some narrative background to Wildey's later

, ''Jonny Quest''. As he described in 1986,

Television Animation Work

Following the end of '' The Saint'' comic strip in 1962, Wildey found, through an ad in the

National Cartoonists Society The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...

newsletter, what was initially a one-week

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

animation Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

job in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, working under artist

Alex Toth Alexander Toth (; June 25, 1928 – May 27, 2006) was an American cartoonist active from the 1940s through the 1980s. Toth's work began in the American comic book industry, but he is also known for his animation designs for Hanna-Barbera through ...

on Cambria Productions' 1962

animated series An animated series, or a cartoon series, is a set of Animation, animated films with a common title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same main heroes, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series ...

'' Space Angel''.Herman, Daniel. ''Silver Age: The Second Generation of Comic Artists'' (Hermes Press, Neshannock Township,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, 2004) p. 195. Trade paperback Wildey eventually worked on the animated series for about 12 to 14 weeks, after which, he then recalled and carried on and over in 1986. Wildey also wrote and drew a presentation, using such magazines as ''

Popular Science Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written ...

'', ''

Popular Mechanics ''Popular Mechanics'' (often abbreviated as ''PM'' or ''PopMech'') is a magazine of popular science and technology, featuring automotive, home, outdoor, electronics, science, do it yourself, and technology topics. Military topics, aviation an ...

'', and '' Science Digest'' "to project what would be happening 10 years hence", and devising or fancifully updating such devices as a "snowskimmer" and

hydrofoil A hydrofoil is a lifting surface, or foil, that operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to aerofoils used by aeroplanes. Boats that use hydrofoil technology are also simply termed hydrofoils. As a hydrofoil craft gains sp ...

s. When Hanna-Barbera could not obtain the rights to Jack Armstrong, the studio had Wildey rework the concept. Wildey "went home and wrote ''Jonny Quest'' that night — which was not that tough." For inspiration he drew on Jackie Cooper and Frankie Darrow movies, Milton Caniff's

Terry and the Pirates ''Terry and the Pirates'' is an action-adventure comic strip created by cartoonist Milton Caniff, which originally ran from October 22, 1934, to February 25, 1973. Captain Joseph Patterson, editor for the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndica ...

'', and, at the behest of Hanna-Barbera, the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

movie '' Dr. No''. Hanna-Barbera refused to give him a "created by" credit, Wildey said in 1986, and he and studio "finally arrived on 'Based on an idea created by', and that was my credit." The prime-time TV animated series '' Jonny Quest'' originally debuted on ABC on September 18, 1964. And as American comics historian Daniel Herman then wrote: Although, Wildey did not design the more cartoonishly drawn

comic relief Comic Relief is a British charity, founded in 1986 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Sir Lenny Henry in response to the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The concept of Comic Relief was to get British comedians to make t ...

pet dog, Bandit, which was otherwise designed by animator Dick Bickenbach. Wildey then went on to work on several other animated series including '' Herculoids'', '' Jana of the Jungle'', '' Return to the Planet of the Apes'' (1975), '' The Godzilla Power Hour'' (1978), '' Mister T'' (1983), and '' Chuck Norris: Karate Kommandos'' (1986).

Return to Comics

In the mid-1960s, Wildey eventually returned to

s, drawing stories for the premiere issues of

' ''Thrill-O-Rama'', ''Unearthly Spectaculars'' (both October 1965 series) and ''Double-Dare Adventures'' (December 1965). Most significantly during this time, he collaborated with writer Gaylord DuBois on

Gold Key Comics Gold Key Comics was an imprint of American company Western Publishing, created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984. History Gold Key Comics was created in 1962, when its ...

' licensed series ''

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, a feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer. Creat ...

'' when that long-running comic, which had been reprinting stories drawn by Russ Manning, began producing new work beginning with issue #179 (September 1968). The duo's work appeared through issue #187 (September 1969). After a short hiatus from comic books, broken only by 3 1971 stories for Skywald's black-and-white horror-comics magazines ''Psycho'' and ''Nightmare'', plus the Haunted Tank story "The Armored Ark" in

' ''

G.I. Combat ''G.I. Combat'' is an American comics anthology featuring war comics, war stories. It was published from 1952 until 1956 by Quality Comics, followed by DC Comics until its final issue in 1987. In 2012 it was briefly revived. Publication histor ...

'' #153 (May 1972), Wildey created the

''Ambler'', which ran from 1972 to 1975. at The Comic Strip Project. . Syndicated to newspapers by the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate, the contemporary strip chronicled the adventures of an itinerant

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

ian. Afterwards, Wildey then returned to comic books to do stories for

Archie Comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc. (often referred to simply as Archie Comics) is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the village of Pelham, New York. The company's many titles feature the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Jug ...

' horror-humor anthology series ''Mad House'', Gold Key's ''Mystery Comics Digest'', and DC's '' Our Army at War'' and '' Sgt. Rock'', among other titles. Returning to his Western roots, he drew the feature "

Jonah Hex Jonah Woodson Hex is a fictional antihero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer John Albano and artist Tony DeZuniga. Hex is a surly and cynical bounty hunter whose face is scarred on the r ...

" in DC's '' Weird Western Tales'' #26 (February 1975) and co-created with writer Larry Lieber the feature "Kid Cody, Gunfighter" in

Atlas/Seaboard Comics Atlas/Seaboard Comics is a line of comic books published by the American company Seaboard Periodicals in the 1970s. Though the line was published under the brand Atlas Comics, comic book historians and collectors refer to it as Atlas/Seaboard Com ...

' ''Western Action'' #1 (February 1975). As both writer and comic book artist, Wildey also created his own Western feature, "Rio", that ran in

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 ...

' ''Eclipse Monthly'' #1-10 (Aug. 1983 - July 1984), and he returned to his most prominent creation that decade with a '' Jonny Quest'' comic book series published by Comico. Wildey wrote and drew the stories in ''Jonny Quest'' #1 (July 1986) and ''Jonny Quest Classics'' #1-3 (May 1987 — July 1987), and provided several covers. Comico also reprinted several of his Rio stories in a June 1987 one-shot, and Wildey produced new Rio stories for

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, manga and Artist's book, art book publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon, by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, O ...

' two-issue

miniseries In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...

''Rio at Bay'' (July 1992 — August 1992). Wildey's last original comics work was the painted art for the short 8-page Western tale "The End of the Time of Leinard" by writers Faye Perozich and

Harlan Ellison Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave science fiction, New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. His published wo ...

in Dark Horse's ''Harlan Ellison's Dream Corridor Special'' (January 1995).

Death

Wildey died of a congenital heart failure in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, on October 4, 1994. He was around 72 years old at the time of his death. He was surrounded by numerous family members and working colleagues by his side.Quatto
p. 5
/ref>

Bibliography

In 1971, Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. published a Wildey portfolio, ''The Movie Cowboy'', consisting of around 26 illustrations sized 12x18 inches. Said historian Quattro, "Wildey had shifted seamlessly between pen and brush, from the finest pen strokes imaginable, to the soft nuances of wash, from the monumental close-up of a grizzled

Martin Landau Martin James Landau (; June 20, 1928 – July 15, 2017) was an American actor. His career began in the 1950s, with early film appearances including a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's '' North by Northwest'' (1959). His career breakthrough c ...

, to the sunny sweetness of 2 women waiting for a stage coach."Quatto
p. 4
/ref>

References

External links

*

Comicartille Library

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wildey, Doug 1922 births 1994 deaths American comics artists American storyboard artists Hanna-Barbera people