Norman Nodel (1922 – February 22, 2000) was an American

comics artist 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 literar ...

, mostly known for his work in ''

Classics Illustrated ''Classics Illustrated'' is an American comic book/magazine series featuring adaptations of literary classics such as '' Les Misérables'', ''Moby-Dick'', ''Hamlet'', and '' The Iliad''. Created by Albert Kanter, the series began publication ...

''.

Biography

Norman Nodel was born Nochem Yeshaya in 1922. The son of an

Orthodox Rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

, Nodel served as a field artist in the U.S. Army, drawing military maps and other firsthand accounts of the war during

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 ...

for which he received the

Bronze Star medal The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious a ...

. Many of his WWII illustrations are currently at the US Library of Congress. During the 1940s, Nodel worked as assistant to George Marcoux, the newspaper cartoonist known for creating '' Supersnipe'', and started creating comic-book art for True Comics and Sun Publications. In ''

'', a

comic book series a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

that began in 1941 and featured adaptations of literary classics, he created the illustration for many issues, such as ''Ivanhoe'', ''Faust'', ''Lion of the North'', ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' (, ) is a 19th-century French literature, French Epic (genre), epic historical fiction, historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published on 31 March 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. '' ...

'', and ''The Invisible Man''. In 1962, he illustrated '' Dr No'', the ''Classics'' adaptation of the eponymous

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 ...

spy thriller. The same year, Nodel worked on the ''Classics revised adaptation of ''

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 ...

'', where his artwork showed a Gwynplaine far more disfigured than the character's appearance in either the 1928 film or the 1950, original ''Classics'' edition. He received the Thomas Alva Edison Award for Best Children's Illustration circa 1960 for the Ten Commandments Classics Illustrated for which the Hollywood film starring Charlton Heston based their costume designs. He began working, in 1988, for the Tzivos Hashem organisation and ''The Moshiach Times'', a Jewish children’s magazine, creating comics for the

Jewish-American American Jews (; ) or Jewish Americans are Americans, American citizens who are Jews, Jewish, whether by Jewish culture, culture, ethnicity, or Judaism, religion. According to a 2020 poll conducted by Pew Research, approximately two thirds of Am ...

market, such as "Labels for Laibel" for Hachai Publishing. Nodel died on 25 February 2000, after realizing his plan to visit

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

References

External links

''Ivanhoe''

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nodel, Norman 1922 births 2000 deaths American comics artists Golden Age comics creators Jewish American comics artists United States Army personnel of World War II