Sherrill David "Jerry" Robinson (January 1, 1922 – December 7, 2011) was an American comic book

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

known for his work on DC Comics'

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

line of comics during the 1940s. He is best known as the co-creator of

Robin Robin may refer to: Animals * Australasian robins, red-breasted songbirds of the family Petroicidae * Many members of the subfamily Saxicolinae (Old World chats), including: **European robin (''Erithacus rubecula'') **Bush-robin **Forest rob ...

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. His mother Mae was a bookkeeper born in

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...

. His father Benjamin Robinson was an entrepreneur who emigrated from Western Russia, near the

Baltic states The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...

, 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 (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

. He was of Jewish background. He attended Columbia University for 2.5 years before leaving to focus on comics.

Career

1939–1943

Robinson was a 17-year-old journalism 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. The penciller creates a drawing, the inker outlines, interprets, finalizes, retraces this drawing by using a pencil ...

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, had shortly before created the character

for National Comics, the future DC Comics. Robinson rented a room from a family in The Bronx 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 inking backgrounds. Batman quickly became a hit character, and Kane rented space for Robinson and Roussos in Times Square's

Times Tower The Times Tower, also known as the New Central Bank Tower, is an office tower in Nairobi, Kenya. At ,

Groth, Gary Gary Groth (born September 18, 1954) is an American comic book editor, publisher and critic. He is editor-in-chief of ''The Comics Journal'', a co-founder of Fantagraphics Books, and founder of the Harvey Awards. Early life Groth is the son ...

"Jerry Robinson: Been There, Done That"
'' The Comics Journal'' #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 Whiting is the name of *powdered and washed white chalk (calcium carbonate), used in metal polish, putty, and whitewash, and sometimes added to paint to improve the paint's opacity Fish *'' Merlangius merlangus'', the original fish species to r ...
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 of the borough of Manhattan in New York City that carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street to Gramercy Park at East 21st Street. Along it ...

office, alongside ''

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

'' creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, as well as Jack Kirby, Fred Ray, and

Mort Meskin Morton Meskin (May 30, 1916 – March 29, 1995)Social Security Death Index, SS# 071-16-1099. was an American comic book artist best known for his work in the 1940s Golden Age of Comic Books, well into the late-1950s and 1960s Silver Age. Early ...

, "one of my best friends, who I brought up from MLJ". By early 1940, Kane and Finger discussed adding a sidekick. Robinson suggested the name "

" after Robin Hood 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 the pupil 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 performer Dick Grayson, came to live with Bruce Wayne (Batman) as his young ward 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 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 many well-known char ...

. 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 film actor who attracted early attention for his roles in the films ''Different from the Others'' (1919), '' The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' (1920), and ''The Man Who Laugh ...

in the 1928 film, '' The Man Who Laughs''. 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 in New York City,

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

, from September 16, 2006 to January 28, 2007, and the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum in Atlanta, Georgia 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, and the villain Two-Face.Boucher, Geoff
"Jerry Robinson, key creator behind the Joker and Robin, dead at 89"
'' Los Angeles Times''. 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 sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

, Robinson took over the full penciling, along with others such as

Dick Sprang Richard W. Sprang (July 28, 1915 – May 10, 2000)Richard Sprang
United States

. 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 Spark Publications was a short-lived comic book publisher in the mid-1940s, during the Golden Age of Comic Books. The company was established and owned by Ken Crossen, who was the creator and writer of the Green Lama. Most of their comics was ...

. 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 created ''

True Classroom Flubs and Fluffs ''True Classroom Flubs and Fluffs'' was a non-fiction American comic strip by cartoonist and comic-book artist Jerry Robinson. It was syndicated from 1965 until 1967 in Sunday newspapers, most notably the ''New York Sunday News'' (later incorp ...

'', 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 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 show's pr ...

'' 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 Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in their long struggle with DC Comics to win full recognition and compensation as the creators of

. With comics artist and rights advocate Neal Adams, 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, 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 Central Park, hence ...

by their manga line CPM Manga as a comic book

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

and then a

trade paperback Trade paperback may refer to: * Trade paperback, a higher-quality softcover version of a book * Trade paperback (comics) In comics in the United States, a trade paperback (shortened: TPB or trade) is a collection of stories originally published ...

. 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 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 a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

. 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

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. He received the Inkpot Award at the 1989 Comic Con.Inkpot Award
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Notes

References

* Epstein, Daniel Robert
Newsarama.com: "The Joker, the Jewish Museum and Jerry: Talking to Jerry Robinson"
Newsarama, 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 creators Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame inductees DC Comics people