Sherrill David "Jerry" Robinson (January 1, 1922 – December 7, 2011) 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 ...

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 ...

known for his work on

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 ...

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 ...

line of comics during the 1940s. He is best known as the co-creator of Robin and the Joker and for his work on behalf of creators' rights. He was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2004.

Early life

Jerry Robinson was born the youngest of five children in

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County. It was the federal capital, capital of the United States from November 1 until D ...

. His mother Mae was a bookkeeper born in

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan, also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York City, is the southernmost part of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is History of New York City, the historical birthplace o ...

. His father Benjamin Robinson was an

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

who emigrated from

Western Russia European Russia is the western and most populated part of the Russian Federation. It is geographically situated in Europe, as opposed to the country's sparsely populated and vastly larger eastern part, Siberia, which is situated in Asia, encomp ...

, near the

Baltic states The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

, in 1895. The couple opened the first theater in Trenton. Ben Robinson immigrated to the United States to avoid conscription in the Russian Empire, which would have lasted 25 years, and

antisemitism in Russia Antisemitism in Russia is expressed in acts of hostility against Jews in Russia and the promotion of antisemitic views in the Russian Federation. This article covers the events since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Previous time periods a ...

. He was of

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

background. He attended

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

for 2.5 years before leaving to focus on comics.

Career

1939–1943

Robinson was a 17-year-old

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

student at Columbia University in 1939 when he was discovered by Batman co-creator Bob Kane, who hired him to work on that fledgling comic 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 ...

and letterer.Sacks, Ethan
"Jerry Robinson, comic book legend and creator of Batman nemesis, the Joker, dead at 89"
'' Daily News''. December 8, 2011 Kane, with writer

Bill Finger Milton "Bill" Finger (February 8, 1914 – ) was an American comic book writer who co-created the DC Comics character Batman with Bob Kane. Despite making major (sometimes, signature) contributions as an innovative writer, visionary mythos/world ...

, had shortly before created the character

for National Comics, the future

. Robinson rented a room from a family in

The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

near Kane's family's Grand Concourse apartment, where Kane used his bedroom as an art studio. He started as a letterer and a background inker, shortly graduating to inking secondary figures. Within a year, he became Batman's primary inker, with

George Roussos George Roussos (; August 20, 1915 – February 19, 2000), also known under the pseudonym George Bell, was an American comic book artist best known as one of Jack Kirby's Silver Age of comic books, Silver Age inkers, including on landmark early is ...

inking backgrounds. Batman quickly became a hit character, and Kane rented space for Robinson and Roussos in

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and Neighborhoods in New York City, neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway (Manhattan), ...

's Times Tower. Groth, Gary
"Jerry Robinson: Been There, Done That"
''

The Comics Journal ''The Comics Journal'', often abbreviated ''TCJ'', is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels. Known for its lengthy interviews with comic creators, pointed editorials and scathing r ...

'' #271 & 272. February 5, 2011 In addition to Batman, Robinson and Roussos did inks and backgrounds on ''

Target and the Targeteers The Target and the Targeteers are fictional characters, a trio of superheroes who first appeared in 1940, in ''Target Comics'' (after which the characters were named) from Novelty Press. History ''Target Comics'' debuted with a premiere issue cov ...

'' for Novelty Press. Roussos recounted of his collaboration with Robinson:

It was hard to make the deadlines, because Jerry was a heavy sleeper. I used to have to go to the Bronx to get him to come to work. I'd go and wake him up 2 o'clock in the afternoon so we could work all night. ... We were committed to do about 13 pages a week. Jerry was always behind - he was always whiting out things and re-inking them. Bob's stuff was so sketchy, Jerry had to do a lot of work.

Approximately a year and a half after Robinson, Roussos, and Finger were hired by Kane, National Comics lured them away, making them company staffers. Roussos has claimed that their work on ''Target and the Targeteers'' made the series look "almost identical to Kane's Batman", and National hired them as staffers because they saw that it had become a significant competition for Batman. Robinson recalled working in the bullpen at the company's 480

Lexington Avenue Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated as "Lex", is an avenue on the East Side (Manhattan), East Side of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street (Manhattan), 131st Street to Gra ...

office, alongside ''

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

'' creators

Jerry Siegel Jerome "Jerry" Siegel ( ; October 17, 1914 – January 28, 1996) Roger Stern. ''Superman: Sunday Classics: 1939–1943'' DC Comics/ Kitchen Sink Press, Inc./ Sterling Publishing; 2006 was an American comic book writer. He was the co-creator of ...

and

Joe Shuster Joseph Shuster ( ; July 10, 1914 – July 30, 1992) was a Canadian-American comic book artist best known for co-creating the DC Comics character Superman, with Jerry Siegel, in ''Action Comics'' #1 ( cover-dated June 1938). Shuster was involv ...

, as well as

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (; born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comics artist, comic book artist, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew ...

, Fred Ray, and Mort Meskin, "one of my best friends, who I brought up from MLJ". By early 1940, Kane and Finger discussed adding a

sidekick A sidekick is a close companion or colleague who is, or is generally regarded as, subordinate to those whom they accompany. Origins The first recorded use of the term dates from 1896. It is believed to have originated in pickpocket slang of ...

. Robinson suggested the name " Robin" after

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary noble outlaw, heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature, theatre, and cinema. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions o ...

books he had read during boyhood, saying (in a 2005 interview) that he was inspired by one book's

N.C. Wyeth Newell Convers Wyeth (October 22, 1882 – October 19, 1945), known as N. C. Wyeth, was an American painter and illustrator. He was a student of Howard Pyle and became one of America's most well-known illustrators. Wyeth created more than 3,000 ...

illustrations. The new character, orphaned

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicy ...

performer

Dick Grayson Richard John "Dick" Grayson is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Batman, Teen Titans and Justice League. Created by writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane, he first appeared in ' ...

, came to live with Bruce Wayne (Batman) as his young

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

in ''Detective Comics'' #38 (April 1940). Robin would inspire many similar sidekicks throughout the remainder of 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 ...

. Batman's nemesis, the Joker, was introduced around the same time, in ''Batman'' #1 (Spring 1940). Though Kane claimed he and writer Bill Finger came up with the idea for the Joker, most comic historians credit Robinson for the iconic villain, modeled after

Conrad Veidt Hans Walter Conrad Veidt ( , ; 22 January 1893 – 3 April 1943) was a German and British actor. He attracted early attention for his roles in the films ''Different from the Others'' (1919), ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' (1920), and ''The Man ...

in the 1928 film, ''

The Man Who Laughs ''The Man Who Laughs'' (also published under the title ''By Order of the King'' from its subtitle in French) is a Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, originally published in April 1869 under the French title ''L'Homme qui rit''. It takes place in Engl ...

''. Credit for that character's creation, however, is disputed. Robinson has said he created the character. Kane's position was that: Robinson, whose original Joker playing card was on public display in the exhibition "Masters of American Comics" at the

Jewish Museum A Jewish museum is a museum which focuses upon Jews and may refer seek to explore and share the Jewish experience in a given area. Notable Jewish museums include: Albania * Solomon Museum, Berat Australia * Jewish Museum of Australia, Melbourn ...

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 ...

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 * ...

, from September 16, 2006 to January 28, 2007, and the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

from October 24, 2004 to August 28, 2005, has countered that: Finger provided his own account in 1966: Robinson was also a key force in the creation of Bruce Wayne's butler,

Alfred Pennyworth Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth, originally Alfred Beagle and commonly known simply as Alfred, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, most commonly in association with the superhero Batman. Alfred is ...

, and the villain

Two-Face Two-Face is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Bob Kane, and first appeared in ''Detective Comics'' #66 (August 1942). He has become one of the superhero Batman's most enduring e ...

.Boucher, Geoff
"Jerry Robinson, key creator behind the Joker and Robin, dead at 89"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

''. December 8, 2011 In 1943, when Kane left the Batman comic books to focus on penciling the daily ''Batman'' 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 ...

, Robinson took over the full penciling, along with others such as Dick Sprang. Only Kane's name appeared on the strip.

1944–2007

From 1944 to 1946, Robinson and his friend Meskin formed a studio which produced material for the short-lived Spark Publications. Robinson worked on numerous other characters for several publishers, at one point doing freelance illustrations for a textbook publisher. After leaving superhero comics, he became a newspaper cartoonist and drew the science fiction strip ''Jet Scott'', which was written by Sheldon Stark and ran from 1953 to 1955, and created '' True Classroom Flubs and Fluffs'', which ran during the 1960s in the ''New York Sunday News'' (later incorporated into the '' Daily News''). Robinson also did a political satire cartoon panel feature, ''Still Life'' which began national syndication on June 3, 1963. Jerry Robinson by David Shankbone

Robinson never saw himself only as a comic-book artist. In the 1950s, he started drawing cover illustrations for ''

Playbill ''Playbill'' is an American monthly magazine for Audience, theatergoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most copies of ''Playbill'' are printed for particular productions and distributed at the door as the ...

'' and tried his hand at political sketches, producing what he considered his best work: "I did 32 years of political cartoons, one every day for six days a week. That body of work is the one I'm proudest of. While my time on Batman was important and exciting and notable considering the characters that came out of it, it was really just the start of my life." Robinson was president of 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 ...

from 1967 to 1969 and served a two-year term as president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists starting in 1973. During the mid-1970s, Robinson was a crucial supporter of

and

in their long struggle with

to win full recognition and compensation as the creators of

. With comics artist and rights advocate

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 ...

, Robinson organized key support around Siegel and Shuster, to whom DC, in December 1975, granted lifetime stipends and a credit in all broadcast and published Superman works. In 1978, he founded CartoonArts International, which as of 2010 has more than 550 artists from over 75 countries. During 1999, Robinson created an original manga series, ''Astra'', with the help of manga artist Shojin Tanaka and Ken-ichi Oishi. This was later on released in English through

Central Park Media Central Park Media Corporation, often abbreviated as CPM, was an American multimedia entertainment company based in New York City, New York and was headquartered in the 250 West 57th Street building in Midtown Manhattan (on the corner of Centra ...

by their manga line CPM Manga as a comic book

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 ...

and then a trade paperback. On May 26, 2007, DC Comics announced that Robinson had been hired by the company as a "creative consultant". The press release accompanying this announcement did not describe his duties or responsibilities. Robinson was among the interview subjects in ''Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle'', a three-hour documentary narrated by Liev Schreiber that premiered posthumously on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

in October 2013.

Death

Robinson died in his sleep at age 89 on the afternoon of December 7, 2011 in

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

. His survivors were his wife, Gro (née Bagn) and two children.

Books

In 1974, Robinson wrote ''The Comics'', a comprehensive study of the history of newspaper

s. His biography was published in 2010, titled: ''Jerry Robinson: Ambassador of Comics''.

Awards

Robinson won the National Cartoonists Society Award for the Comic Book Division in 1956, their 1963 Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award for ''Still Life'', their 1965 Special Features Award for ''Flubs and Fluffs'' and their Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000. Robinson was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2004. Robinson received the Sparky Award for lifetime achievement from the Cartoon Art Museum at the 2011

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 received the

Inkpot Award The Inkpot Award is an honor bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International. It is given to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of popular culture, at Comic-Con Internati ...

at the 1989 Comic Con.Inkpot Award
/ref>

Notes

References

* Epstein, Daniel Robert
Newsarama.com: "The Joker, the Jewish Museum and Jerry: Talking to Jerry Robinson"

Newsarama ''Newsarama'' is an American website that publishes news, interviews, and essays about the American comic book industry. It is owned by Future US. In June 2020, Newsarama was merged with the website ''GamesRadar+'', also owned by Future US. Hi ...

, October 18, 2006.
The Jewish Museum

*

External links

Jerry Robinson official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Jerry 1922 births 2011 deaths American comics artists Artists from New York City Artists from Trenton, New Jersey Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award winners Columbia University alumni Golden Age comics creators Inkpot Award winners Jewish American comics artists Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame inductees DC Comics people