Fran Hopper (July 13, 1922 – November 29, 2017), née Frances R. Deitrick, 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 panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and written narrative, ...

artist active during the 1930s–1940s period known as the

Golden Age of Comic Books The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era in the history of American comic books from 1938 to 1956. During this time, modern comic books were first published and rapidly increased in popularity. The superhero archetype was created and ma ...

. One of the earliest women in the field, she drew primarily for the publisher

Fiction House Fiction House was an American publisher of pulp magazines and comic books that existed from the 1920s to the 1950s. It was founded by John B. "Jack" Kelly and John W. Glenister.Saunders, David"JACK BYRNE (1902-1972),"Field Guide to Wild American P ...

on features, including "Jane Martin", "Glory Forbes", "Camilla", "Mysta of the Moon", and "Gale Allen and Her All Girl Squadron".

Early life

Hopper was born in Maryland as the second oldest of five children of Stapelton C. and Emily R. Dietrick, and by age 7 was living in

Rutherford, New Jersey Rutherford is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 18,834, an increase of 773 (+4.3%) from the 2010 census count of 18,061, which in turn reflected a de ...

. By 1940, the family was living in

Nutley, New Jersey Nutley is a Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 30,143, an increase of 1,773 (+6.2%) from the 2010 United ...

Career

Hopper entered the

field in 1943 through the S. M. Iger Studio, one of the era's " packaging studios" that produced outsourced comics for publishers. Because comics creators were not routinely credited at the time, Hopper's first comics work is undetermined. Her first confirmed credit, under the name Fran Dietrick, is as

penciler 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 ...

and

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 ...

of the six-page

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 ...

feature "Norge Benson" in publisher

's ''

Planet Comics ''Planet Comics'' was a science fiction comic book title published by Fiction House from January 1940 to Winter 1953. It was the first comic book dedicated wholly to science fiction.Benton, Mike. ''Science Fiction Comics: The Illustrated History'' ...

'' #24 (

cover-date The cover date of a periodical publication is the date displayed on the cover, which is not necessarily the true date of publication (the on-sale date or release date); later cover dates are common in magazine and comic book publishing. More unusu ...

d May 1943).Fran Hopper
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 ...

. Page 1 and Page
archived
from the originals on December 14, 2017. For the same publisher, she went on to do the humor feature "Private Elmer Pippin and the Colonel's Daughter" and the adventure feature "Glory Forbes" in ''Rangers Comics''; the biographical feature "Yank Aces of World War II" in '' Wings Comics''; the science-fiction feature "Gale Allen and the Girl Squadron" in ''Planet Comics''; and the nature features "African Wild Life" and "Jungle Facts" in ''Jungle Comics''. Following her marriage, her first known work signed Fran Hopper is in two comics both cover-dated May 1944: "Monkey Business — The Tree-Folk of Africa" in ''Jungle Comics'' #53, and an illustrated text story plus the "Gale Allen" feature in ''Planet Comics'' #30. She is most associated with three features. In ''Planet Comics'', she quickly took over art for the science-fiction feature "Mysta of the Moon", created by pseudonymous writer Ross Gallun and artist Joe Doolin in issue #35 (March 1945), drawing it from #37–40, 42, 48–49 (July 1945 — July 1947). In ''Jungle Comics'', she drew the jungle-girl adventure feature "Camilla", created by an unknown writer and artist C.A. Winter in issue #1 (Jan. 1940), from issue #70-92 (Oct. 1945 – Aug. 1947). And in ''Wings Comics'', she drew the

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...

feature "Jane Martin", created by pseudonymous writer Fred Hawk and an unconfirmed artist in issue #1 (Sept. 1940), from #67–84 (March 1946 – August 1947). One source gives her last credited work as appearing in 1948, though the

gives it as the "Jane Martin" story in ''Wings Comics'' #84 (Aug. 1947). As well, one source says Hopper drew some

Patsy Walker Patricia "Patsy" Walker is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stuart Little and Ruth Atkinson, Patsy Walker first appeared in ''Miss America Magazine'' #2 (November 1944), published by Marvel prec ...

teen-humor stories from

Atlas Comics Atlas Comics may refer to: * Atlas Comics (1950s), one of the two comic publishing companies that would be the forerunner of Marvel Comics * Atlas/Seaboard Comics Atlas/Seaboard Comics is a line of comic books published by the American company S ...

, 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 ...

, but gives no specifics and no such work is listed at that database.

Personal life

She married Dr. John B. Hopper II (October 3, 1920–Feb. 19, 2010) in 1944 and started signing her name as "Fran Hopper." They had three children: John B. Hopper III, Peter B. Hopper, and his twin sister Dr Anne R. Knutson. she married Dr Eric Knutson. Her daughter Anne had four children Jonathan knutson, Elizabeth knutson, Mark Knutson and David Knutson. Peter hopper had two sons Andrew and Tim. The family lived in Mendham, New Jersey, until 1955, when they moved to

Chester, New Jersey Chester Borough is a borough in southwestern Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 1,681, an increase of 32 (+1.9%) from the 2010 census count of 1,649, which in tur ...

, where they raised and showed Arabian horses. They returned to Mendham in 1955, then moved to Thornton, New Hampshire, in 1974. In 2006, Hopper and her husband moved to the retirement home The Pines in the Whiting section of

Manchester Township, New Jersey Manchester Township is a township in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is noted for containing the Lakehurst Naval Air Station, the site of the infamous Hindenburg disaster of May 6, 1937. As of the 2020 United State ...

. Hopper died in New Jersey on November 29, 2017.

Accolades

In 2000, Hopper was nominated to the

Friends of Lulu Friends of Lulu (FoL) was a non-profit, national charitable organization located in the United States, designed to promote readership of comic books by women and the participation of women in the comic book industry. FoL operated from 1994 to 20 ...

Hall of Fame.

Bibliography

*''Jungle Comics'' (1940) #53–55, 58–62, 64, 66–68, 70–92 *''Movie Comics'' (1946) #1 *''Planet Comics'' (1940) #23–26, 28–42, 48–49, 68 *''Rangers Comics'' (1941) #11–18, 25–27, 31 * ''Wings Comics'' (1940) #41–44, 46–47, 49, 67–84

References

External links

*
Fran Hopper
at the

Lambiek Comiclopedia Galerie Lambiek is a Dutch comic book store and art gallery in Amsterdam, founded on November 8, 1968 by Kees Kousemaker (, – Bussum, ). His son Boris Kousemaker has been the owner since 2007. From 1968 to 2015, it was located in the Ke ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopper, Fran 1922 births 2017 deaths American female comics artists Golden Age comics creators Artists from Maryland 20th-century American artists Artists from New Jersey People from Chester Borough, New Jersey People from Manchester Township, New Jersey People from Thornton, New Hampshire