Genndy Tartakovsky Has Said Goodbye to 'Popeye', But Sony's Feature Cancellation Rumors False

Despite what you may have read in the Hollywood trades or other animation news blogs, I'm here to tell you they've all got it wrong. Sony is still moving forward with Popeye, probably just not the version that director Genndy Tartakovsky wanted to make. Tartakovsky revealed in a Moviefone interview that he's no longer working on the film.
Putting a polite spin on the recent upheaval at the studio, Tartakovsky was quoted as saying, “We definitely won’t be talking about Hotel 3, with me at least. Popeye, at least, we put up a great screening, everybody really liked that sizzle, we got a positive reaction. I was in love with what we were doing, but I think the studio is going through changes and I don’t know if they want to make the 'Popeye' that I want to make.”  He went on to say, “Right now, I’m off that project and moving on to the other one we soft-announced, which is Can You Imagine?...It was hard to let Popeye go, but that’s the business.”
The "changes" at Sony that Tartakovsky alluded to in his comments are the canning of Sony Pictures Digital Productions president Bob Osher (and his enabler Amy Pascal) and the hiring of former DreamWorks producer Kristine Belson as president of Sony Pictures Animation.
The Animation Guild blog hinted that Kristine Belson "is likely itching to put her own stamp on SPA, so look for some previously-announced pictures to be pushed back....or pushed overboard."
I have read a lot of comments by folks, saying how upset they are over news that Sony has cancelled the Popeye movie, but I'm here the set the record straight.
Sony hasn't cancelled the film. What has happened is that Genndy Tartakovsky had moved on to completing Hotel Transylvania 2 and has started production on an original flick, Can You Imagine?
According to a Sony Pictures Animation spokesman: "Genndy has been developing both Popeye and his original idea Genndy Tartakovsky's Can You Imagine? (temp title) at the same time while directing Hotel Transylvania 2."
"It initially looked like Popeye would happen first but Imagine pulled ahead and is now scheduled to be his next directorial film at Sony Pictures Animation. That said Popeye is still very much in active development."
That's the official word. Beyond that, both King Features and producer Avi Arad remain dedicated to bringing the famed comic strip sailor man - hopefully at Sony - to the screen. Sony has not commented yet on whether they intend to continue making Popeye without Tartakovsky's participation.
It was sad news when I found out Genndy Tartakovsky was off the Popeye feature. It was one of the very few things that were truly separating from the usual business we see coming from the big studios in terms of style. I admit to having been a bit apathetic to the thought of one of my favorite animators doing a Popeye film in the first place; it would be an awful shame if the feature failed at the box office (a sad possibility, as the scrappy sailor is almost unknown among younger generations), which would leave Genndy in a more difficult position to get funding for projects of his own creation. If Sony wants to make a lot of money, they should give Genndy a blank check to produce an original action picture. Let him do what he is great at.
To sum up: The rumors of Popeye's death have been greatly exaggerated. His voyage to the screen has been delayed - but is still on course. So put that in your pipe and smoke it!

DreamWorks Animation Bonnie Arnold and Mireille Soria Co-Presidents of Feature Animation; Bill Damaschke Out

Major management shake-up at the creatively struggling DreamWorks Animation, appointing two veteran producers, Bonnie Arnold and Mireille Soria, as the new co-presidents of the studio's feature animation division. In their new roles, Arnold and Soria, respectively the lead producers behind the studio’s How to Train Your Dragon and Madagascar franchises, will oversee creative development and production for DreamWorks Animation’s theatrical releases. Between them, they have produced eight films at DreamWorks that have grossed more than $3.5 billion globally. As part of this transition, the studio's chief creative officer Bill Damaschke will step down from his role.
“Mireille and Bonnie are two of the most accomplished and prolific filmmakers working in feature animation today,” said DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg in a statement. “I am confident in their ability to marshal the extensive creative resources available at our studio and lead DreamWorks’s vast ranks of artists and filmmakers as they produce the highest quality entertainment.”
“As two of our most successful producers, Bonnie and Mireille bring substantial expertise to this new and well deserved leadership role at the studio,” said Ann Daly, DreamWorks Animation President. “Having worked alongside them both for many years at DreamWorks, I am thrilled that these established industry veterans will be providing creative oversight to our entire film slate.”
“Great storytelling is the heart of DreamWorks Animation, and we are honored and excited to help shape the movies that will entertain audiences around the world,” said Arnold and Soria in a joint statement. “DreamWorks has long been our home, and we can’t wait to begin working with all of the studio’s outstanding filmmakers and artists!”
Arnold is a twelve-year veteran at DreamWorks Animation with 31 years of filmmaking experience. She currently oversees DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon film franchise, the first two installments of which have grossed more than $1.1 billion at the worldwide box office. The original How to Train Your Dragon received two Academy Award nominations in 2010, including one for Best Animated Feature, as well as a Golden Globe® nomination in the same category. How to Train Your Dragon 2, the highest grossing animated film of 2014 also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Animated Feature Film and received praise as one of the best reviewed films of last year. In addition, Arnold produced the 2006 DreamWorks Animation release Over the Hedge, the Disney blockbuster Tarzan and the history-making film Toy Story, which combined have earned more than $1 billion in worldwide box office. An accomplished filmmaker in nearly every genre, she produced the Sony Pictures Classics release The Last Station, which garnered two Oscar nominations as well as nominations from the Screen Actors Guild; the Golden Globes; and the Independent Spirit Awards, including a nomination for Best Picture.
Soria also has 31 years of production leadership experience, including fifteen at DreamWorks Animation, where she has overseen the successful Madagascar franchise, including three films that collectively have grossed nearly $1.9 billion at the worldwide box office. She also produced the Academy Award-nominated animated adventure Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron following a successful career developing and producing a varied group of live-action feature film and television projects. Prior to joining DreamWorks Animation, Mireille held a deal at Fox Family Pictures, where she produced the romantic Cinderella story Ever After. She had previously held the post of vice president of production for Walt Disney Pictures. During her tenure, she oversaw the development and production of such projects as The Mighty Ducks and its two sequels, Cool Runnings and the live-action version of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book.
Honestly, I hate to see Bill go, but this is probably the best news for DreamWorks in the headlines for years. DreamWorks has LONG had difficulty picking the right projects to put into production. Plus, they probably should have fired Bill after "Shrek the Musical" flopped on Broadway. Furthermore, anyone that heard the pitch to TURBO and gave it the greenlight SHOULD go. No offense to the creatives that worked on it. It just didn't make biz sense as a feature film concept.
Bonnie Arnold is one of the best in the entire industry, and Mireille has a strong track record as well. However, no one person is the key to success of a collaborative effort such as animation. Although this seems like a good move, looking at their "resume" of movies, Bonnie Arnold's How to Train Your Dragon 2 under-performed domestically and Mireille Soria's Madagascar franchise is played out as witnessed by the under-performance of Penguins of Madagascar; besides, I don't see someone responsible for The Mighty Ducks and Cool Runnings as being the innovation that DreamWorks Animation needs to revive or turn around their fortunes. I am waiting for them to blame and say audiences are tired of CG as they did when there were a few hand drawn bombs several years ago. I don't personally believe that but why aren't they saying it as they said with drawn? No, people want good stories and stop being so close-minded about animation media.
Here's what they should do as an experiment: have a parallel development production team (side by side with the standard way things have been done), allow creative people to create and the execs, producers and marketers get out of their way. Nevertheless, good luck to these talented ladies!
Here's hoping this will be the change DreamWorks needs to get back on course.

MoMA Presents An Evening with Glen Keane and John Canemaker on April 6th

Mark your calendars. Glen Keane, a master of character animation at Disney for nearly four decades, will appear with John Canemaker, an Oscar-winning filmmaker, author and historian at an event next month at New York's Museum Of Modern Art to talk 'toons.
Glen Keane has been behind some of Disney's most beloved characters, including Ariel in The Little Mermaid, the Beast in Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, and Tarzan. This special Modern Mondays: An Evening with Glen Keane and John Canemaker event will feature Keane in an on-stage conversation with John Canemaker about his career.
Richly illustrated with accompaniment of film clips and other imagery, the conversation will trace Keane's career, from his apprenticeship with veteran Disney animators the Nine Old Men in the mid-1970s up to the New York theatrical premiere of his most recent project, Duet (2014). An independent short collaboratively produced with Google's Advance Technology and Projects Group (ATAP), Duet is among the first of its kind - and certainly one of the most advanced: an interactive hand-drawn animation that explores spatial and sensory awareness.

Keane, who retired from Disney in 2013, will also discuss his ground-breaking experiments in situating hand-drawn characters in computer-generated environments (including his 1982 collaboration with John Lasseter on a test film of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are; his use of "Deep Canvas" in the 1999 Disney feature Tarzan; and his sophisticated digital innovations as Animation Supervisor on Disney's Tangled, in 2010).
Do not miss this!
Earlier that afternoon, Keane will introduce a theatrical screening of Disney's 1991 feature Beauty and the Beast at 4pm. Modern Mondays: An Evening with Glen Keane with John Canemaker will take place on Monday, April 6, at 7pm. For more ticketing information, click the MoMA website.

Walt Disney Sunday Night on TCM with Leonard Maltin

Leonard Maltin is back hosting the next "Treasures from the Disney Vault" on Turner Classic Movies this Sunday at 8pm. The night starts with Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959). "It’s a delightful, often dark Irish fantasy that also serves a magnificent showcase for the ingenuity of the Disney team. Darby also features a young Sean Connery, just four years before he became internationally famous as James Bond." Since Patrick's Day is coming up, a movie about leprechauns seems appropriate.

Darby is followed by the Disneyland TV episode that promoted its release, but it doesn't take us behind the scenes; instead, Walt Disney stars as himself in I Captured the King of the Leprechauns. It is one of the very few times that "Walt stepped out of his traditional role as host and became an active participant in one of his shows." If you’re a Disney fan and you haven’t seen it, I think you're going to love this.

TCM then introduces a cartoon not about leprechauns, but about elves: the 1932 Silly Symphony Babes in the Woods. After that, we will be treated to another of the best television hours Walt ever produced, The Story of the Animated Drawing. In this episode, Walt educates the public with a lesson in the history of animation, dating back to cave drawings and Winsor McCay presenting Gertie the Dinosaur.

Next up, it is one of my favorite animated Disney films, The Three Caballeros (1945), a mixed blend of live action and animation AND colors and sounds inspired by Walt’s trip to Central and South America in 1941. Donald Duck, Jose Carioca and Panchito are the main characters in this musical, under appreciated picture. Coming up will be Ted Thomas' (son of Disney animator Frank Thomas) directed documentary Walt and El Grupo (2008), which retraces back to that milestone field trip Walt and his artists took South of the Border.
The Disney marathon will end with The Fighting Prince of Donegal (1966), one of Walt Disney’s many British swashbuckler films.
The next Disney showcase will be just before July 4th…and there will be more exciting, new stuff to come.

 8:00 PM      Darby O’Gill and the Little People

 9:45 PM      I Captured the King of the Leprechauns 

10:45 PM     Babes in the Woods

11:00 PM     The Story of the Animated Drawing (great history of animation)

12:00 AM     The Three Caballeros (animated classic not often seen)

  1:30 AM     Walt & El Grupo (documentary about Walt’s trip to South America)

  3:15 AM     The Fighting Prince of Donegal

Sam Simon, Co-Creator and Executive Producer of 'The Simpsons,' Dies at Age 59 R.I.P.

Comedy writer, director, consultant and producer Sam Simon, who was one of the major creative forces behind "The Simpsons," passed away yesterday at his home in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. Simon was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer since November 2012. He was 59 years old. The Simpsons were brought to life, first as a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987 and two year later, as a FOX network series that has since helped make TV animation history. Simpsons show-runner Al Jean confirmed the news via Twitter on Monday, followed by Mr. Simon's agent Andy Patman, Variety and numerous news outlets.

Beyond animation, Simon was quite accomplished as a writer/producer of TV comedy classics “Taxi,” “Cheers” and “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show” and served as EP of The Tracy Ullman Show before teaming up with Matt Groening and James L. Brooks to develop The Simpsons in 1989. Simon’s live-action TV writing-producing credits include The Drew Carey Show (executive producer, 1998-2003), The George Carlin Show (creator/executive producer, 1994-95), The Tracey Ullman Show (executive producer, 1988-1990), Cheers (1984-85), and Taxi (1982-83).

Simon grew up in Beverly Hills and Malibu, California, and began drawing professionally while he was a student at Stanford where he was the cartoonist for the school paper and also published sports cartoons in The San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner. After graduating, he eventually began to work at Filmation Studios in the 1970s - writing Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle cartoons. He soon left animation and moved into live action selling scripts in 1981, returning to cartoons with a vengeance to help launch The Simpsons.

He joined the Simpsons development team alongside cartoonist Matt Groening and James L. Brooks after a stint on The Tracy Ullman Show and was creatively involved since the record-breaking animated series' inception, helping to hire many of the show’s initial writers and insisting they work together on creating each episode. Simon co-wrote several Simpsons episodes during the show's first seasons, serving as co-showrunner, character designer, creative consultant, creative supervisor, developer, and writer. He left the show day-to-day in 1993 after just four seasons - but remained involved an executive producer and continued to receive royalties for nearly 500 episodes over the series’ nearly 25-year run, making it the longest-running American scripted prime time TV series of all time. Named “the 20th century’s best series” by Time Magazine and having received numerous industry accolades over the years, The Simpsons earned a #11 rank on the WGA’s own 101 Best Written TV Series list announced this past summer. “Sam Simon taught me everything about animation writing, and even more about life,” Al Jean said. He won nine Emmy Awards (seven for The Simpsons: Outstanding Animated Program for Programming Less Than One Hour in 2001, 2000, 1998, 1997, 1995, 1991, 1990 / two for Tracey Ullman: Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Program in 1989 and Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program in 1990) for his work. 

A 22-time Emmy nominee for The Simpsons, he shared multiple Emmy nominations for his work on Fox’s Ullman show (Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program, 1987, -88, -89) and on the comedy TV series It’s Garry Shandling’s Show (Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series, for the episode “Angelica II aka It’s Garry and Angelica’s Show”), in addition to Cheers (Outstanding Comedy Series, 1985), and Taxi (Outstanding Comedy Series, 1983), for which he served as showrunner at the young age of 24. He has also received a Peabody Award for his work, as well as earned a 1986 WGA Episodic Comedy nomination for penning the Cheers episode “Fairy Tales Can Come True.”

Since his terminal diagnosis, he was also a well-known and devoted philanthropist, especially dedicated to animal causes. Simon had been giving away most of his fortune to save animals from harmful and abusive situations worldwide. He created the Sam Simon Foundation (which funded numerous food for the hungry, animal rescue and global marine conservation projects among others; Providing service dogs for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan with PTSD as well as training dogs rescued from animal shelters to become hearing dogs for the deaf and hard of hearing were just a few of the foundation’s programs geared to enriching the lives of others), supported Save the Children, and donated much of his wealth to charities, including groups like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) (which named its Norfolk, Virginia offices the Sam Simon Center) and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Even after given three to six months to live, Simon began purchasing zoos and circuses in order to free the animals. The WGA presented him with the Valentine Davies Award for his humanitarian work in 2014.

In 2013, he appeared on comedian Marc Maron’s WTF podcast to speak about his cancer diagnosis, where he announced his intentions to donate most of his remaining Simpsons royalties to charity.

Many former Simpsons colleagues, like Conan O'Brien, Brad Bird, David Silverman, Al Jean, Bill Oakley, and Josh Weinstein have been expressing their condolences on Twitter, giving an indication of how highly he was valued as a creative person.

Other co-workers and admirers, like Garry Shandling, Ricky Gervais, Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, and Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch have also been expressing their condolences.

R.I.P. 'Sesame Street'/Lenny Bruce 'Thank You Mask Man'/'Heavy Metal' Animation Director Jeffrey Hale Dies in Oregon at Age 92, (1923-2015)

Jeff Hale, a prolific animation director with a career in animation spanning more than 50 years, passed away. Hale died in late February at age 92 years old at his home in Talent, Oregon. Karl Cohen, president of ASIFA-San Francisco president, has sent word of his death.
In the course of his artistic life, he directed and animated award-winning shorts. Hale's work ranged from Sesame Street to part of the 1981 feature Heavy Metal to his Emmy-winning directing on Jim Henson's Muppet Babies (1985-86), TV shows and commercials. He worked at the National Film Board of Canada, ran his own studios in London and San Francisco and freelanced. Among his better known works are The Great Toy Robbery (1963) and his controversial Lenny Bruce short project piece Thank You Mask Man.

Born in Margate, England on January 5, 1923, Hale began drawing as a teenager during a long hospital stay and graduated at the Royal College of Art in London at the end of WWII. His first animation job began at William M. Larkins and Comapny in England, where Hale trained under the guidance of German director-designer Peter Sachs. He formed his own commercial animation studio house Biographic Films with partners and Larkin co-workers Bob Godfrey and Keith Learner. 

After moving to Winnipeg Canada from his native England in 1956, he joined Phillips-Gutkin and Associates (PGA), and three years later was invited into the National Film Board of Canada in Montreal, working on a number of projects including short segments compiled for non-commercial Canadian TV, first in Hors-D'Oeuvre (1959-60) and then in Pot-pourri (1962). Along with Norman McLaren, Grant Munro and Gerald Potterton, Hale contributed to animating segments for the 1963 NFB Christmas holiday short project, Christmas Cracker, that went on to receive an Academy Award nomination.

In 1964, Hale Hale and Derek Lamb collaborated on the The Great Toy Robbery (1963), which pitted Santa Claus against gun-slinging outlaws in the American west, before he once again relocated, this time to San Francisco to team up with fellow NFB co-worker Cameron Guess, soon to be joined by Lamb and animator Barrie Nelson. The studio produced the films The Well (1965) and The Shepherd (1967). According to Hale, Guess invited him and Lamb to a Christmas Eve drink, shortly before The Shepherd was finished, which he directed. After they all enjoyed a drink together, Guess promptly fired them both. Hale never received credit for his efforts, claiming Guess wanted full credit for the film, which eventually was nominated for an Oscar in 1970.

In 1968, Hale and his wife Margaret then partnered with John Magnuson and Walt Kramer, who ran Imagination Inc. In addition to television commercials, the San Francisco studio began supplying a great amount of animated shorts for the Children’s Television Workshop, creators and producers of Sesame Street, for over 30 years, which included a series of famed Pinball Number Count spots, some of which are still seen on the program. Hale also developed a number of beloved recurring characters for Sesame Street, including the Ringmaster, Typewriter and Detective Man.

Magnuson was close friends with comic Lenny Bruce, and using audio from a Bruce routine based on the Lone Ranger and Tonto and live Bruce recordings from Kramer’s extensive library, Hale designed and directed the animation of the highly controversial Thank You Mask Man. Magnuson would continually court trouble with the film. The short had a controversial and unprofitable run; it was scheduled to premiere at the opening night of the San Francisco International Film Festival. After submitting the film to the Motion Picture Academy, he later found out from Bill Meléndez, chairman of the animation nomination committee, that the film was mysteriously taken off the program and never screened for consideration. Magnuson said he believed that the film's submission for Academy Awards consideration was sabatoged by an Academy member who hated Bruce so much he hid the entry; Hale’s version suggested that “the projectionist took it upon himself to act as a censor.” The short found an audience and attained cult status nonetheless, with regular pre-feature screenings over many years at Landmark Theatres.

Over the following decades, along with Geraldine Clarke and Prescott Wright, Jeff and Margaret Hale would be crucial to the founding of The San Francisco Animation Association in 1973, which eventually became ASIFA-San Francisco branch once ASIFA's European board accepted their application for chapter status in 1975. When Imagination Inc. closed in 1979, Hale later helped setup and run the animation department of San Francisco studio Mill Valley Animation. From 1979-1980, he worked on a number of  The Flintstones episodes.

Hale left Mill Valley and also animated the “B-17” segment of the animated feature Heavy Metal (1981), directed by Gerald Potterton, an old friend and co-director at the NFB. During the 1980s Hale moved to Los Angeles where he went back to work as a freelance animator and director for numerous episodic TV series and specials, including Here Comes Garfield and on “Stanley the Ugly Duckling,” an episode for the ABC Weekend Specials. He freelance animated on episodes of The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show (1983) and worked as an animation director on the first season of The Transformers (1985) and a series of Jim Henson’s The Muppet Babies (Emmy winners for Best Animation Director in 1985 and 1986), as well as G.I. Joe and My Little Pony.  Hale continued to work, with considerable artistic freedom, on Sesame Street until 1999. In 1986 he worked as the animation director on Solarman, a TV movie.

Hale eventually retired to Talent, Oregon in the late 80s, though he continued to illustrate, paint and draw into his later years until his death. He is survived by his daughter Margot and son Nick. His paintings and other work can be seen at his website.

Hale is featured in this 1982 PBS documentary called The Animators:

Little Golden Books Illustrator/Artist/Cartoonist Mel Crawford Dies at 89, RIP (1925-2015)

Sad news to report. Mel Crawford, a distinctive fine artist best known as one of the greatest illustrators for drawing and painting of comic strips and children's books relating to classic animation features and TV shows of the 1950s and 60s, has died peacefully. He passed away at Valerie Manor in Torrington, Connecticut, and had lived in nearby Washington, Connecticut. Crawford spent decades drawing the world’s most famous cartoon characters, but he didn’t do it at any animation studio. A painter and illustrator, he drew hundreds of comics and illustrated books (especially Little Golden Books) featuring characters like the Flintstones, Scrooge McDuck, Rocky and Bullwinkle, and Gerald McBoing Boing.

Mel Crawford, ca. early-1960s.

The Canadian artist was born on September 10, 1925 in Toronto, Canada, and spent his childhood in various provinces of Canada, including Alberta, as well as in Oklahoma. Mel began drawing professionally at the age of 16 when he illustrated the feature “The Three T’s” in Bell Features Publications’ Joke Comics. Crawford served in the Royal Canadian Navy as fighter pilot during World War II, and afterward attended Ontario College of Art. Following his schooling, he moved permanently to the United States. After a stint working in animation at Disney Studios in the 1950s, Crawford later found his talents better served as an illustrator for Disney, working extensively on items like record album covers, posters, comics and children's books for publishers like Western Publishing's Little Golden Books series. His association with Western led to drawing and painting hundreds of books and comics - representing almost every animation studio and pop culture icon of the 20th Century.

Crawford drew his first professional work, "The Three T's," when he was sixteen years old. (Image via Comic Book Daily)

In the late-1940s he began working regularly on licensed projects for animation studios through Western Publishing, and its subsidiaries like Whitman Publishing. A versatile artist who was equally comfortable working in both cartoonish and realistic styles, Mel drew and painted not only cartoon characters, but pop culture icons as diverse as Rootie Kazootie, Buck Rogers, Raggedy Ann & Andy, Roy Rogers, Howdy Doody, Rin Tin Tin, Smokey Bear, and Tarzan. A sampling of his work can be seen on the Golden Gems blog.

Among his many art jobs, Crawford painted Yogi Bear, Twinkles The Elephant, Tom & Jerry and drew just about every iconic animated character of his time along the way. He was the cover artist for The Golden Magazine and did much work for Jim Henson and Sesame Street.
In his later years he concentrated on fine art and his work has been widely exhibited.
He is a winner of the Franklin Mint Gold Medal for watercolor and a winner of several Grumbacher Gold Medals.
He lived and painted in New England for more than 40 years.

A strong influence to the current generation of animation artists working today, Crawford's beloved work will be long remembered and cherished. Crawford is survived by his wife, Virginia; three sons, Gregory of Gaysville, VT; Neil of Southfield, MA and Lindsey Crawford of Sheffield, MA; a daughter Anne Crawford of Litchfield, CT; stepson Trevor Reynolds of Farmington, CT; a stepdaughter Heather Feinsinger of Simsbury, CT, six grandchildren and one great-granddaughter. His family reported that he passed away on Monday, Feb. 23rd. He was at the age of 89 years old.
A more comprehensive biography of his life can be found at Comic Book Daily.