I wanted to write a quick blog post wishing Neal Adams a happy birthday. The legendary comic book artist was born 75 years ago today on June 15, 1941.
In a lengthy career that stretched from 1960 to the present, Adams has worked on numerous series, drawing some of the all-time greatest depictions of many different comic book characters. At DC Comics he worked on Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow and Deadman. Over at Marvel Comics he had short but extremely well-regarded runs on both Avengers and X-Men. At his company Continuity Studios he worked on several creator-owned characters, most notably Ms. Mystic and Samuree.
Adams has also long been a vocal champion of creators’ rights in the comic book industry. In the late 1970s he played a major role in DC finally awarding long-overdue public recognition & financial compensation to Superman co-creators Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster. Among the other creators who Adams aided over the years were Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers and Dave Cockrum. Adams was one of the first creators to strongly lobby publishers to return original artwork to artists.
Adams remains active in the biz. Recent projects include the bizarre Batman: Odyssey for DC and First X-Men for Marvel. Early this year he penciled a series of variant covers for DC Comics that paid homage to many of his now-classic Bronze Age covers. On these variants Adams was paired up with a number of talented artists inking him. Adams is currently working on the six issue miniseries Superman: The Coming of the Supermen, which features some really dynamic artwork.
I’ve only just scratched the surface of Adams’ prolific presence in the comic book biz. Perhaps in the future I will have a chance to take a closer look at some of his works.
If you’ve met Neal Adams any time in the last few years, you will probably find yourself saying that he doesn’t look like he’s in his 70s. Hopefully he will be with us for many more years to come, creating still more amazing artwork.
In My Not So Humble Opinion 
I’ve never met him… but he seems like a character, and he is an undeniable talent.
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