Ken Battefield (1905–1966) was a prolific

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 and illustrators of

pulp fiction ''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American independent crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino from a story he conceived with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; It tells four intertwining tales of crime and violence ...

in the 1940s and early 1950s, during 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 ...

. He is most associated with the

Nedor Publishing Standard Comics was a comic book imprint (trade name), imprint of United States, American publisher Ned Pines, who also published pulp magazines (under a Thrilling Publications, variety of company names that he also used for the comics) and pape ...

line of books where, at various times, he illustrated Pyroman, Doc Strange,

Black Terror The Black Terror is a fictional comic book superhero debuting in ''Exciting Comics'' #9, published by Nedor Comics in January 1941. The character was popular and, on the strength of the Black Terror's sales, Nedor made ''Exciting Comics'' a month ...

, American Eagle, The Scarab, Captain Future, and many others. In the latter days of working with that company he was hired to produce large amounts of work which was then "punched" up by Rafael Astarita and Graham Ingels. Through the Chessler, Funnies Inc., Iger, and Benjamin W. Sangor studios, as well as freelance, he also did work for Ace Periodicals, Fox Publications,

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

, Novelty Press, Ajax-Farrell, Hillman Periodicals, Holyoke Publishing,

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 ...

Quality Comics Quality Comics was an American comic book publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, ...

Street and 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 fiction. They also published comic books and sporting yearbooks. Among t ...

, and more. Among Battefield's other projects was the January 1958 revised edition of ''Classics Illustrated'' #54, ''The Man in the Iron Mask''. While working for the Chesler Shop, Battefield met a young

Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino (; May 24, 1925 – April 4, 2013) was an American comics artist and editing, editor, primarily for DC Comics, during the late 1950s and early 1960s period known as the Silver Age of Comic Books. Among his character creations are ...

in a coffee shop, and subsequently got him his first comics job in that studio.

References

American comics artists American illustrators Pulp fiction artists 1905 births 1966 deaths Golden Age comics creators {{US-comics-artist-stub