Murphy Anderson
Murphy Anderson was a comic book writer and artist, best known for his work on the comics Superman, Hawkman, Elongated Man and Phantom Stranger, and for creating the character Adam Strange and Zatanna Zatara.
Zatara would later be featured on the television shows Batman: The Animated Series, Smallville and Young Justice.
Anderson got his start in the comic book industry in 1944 at the age of 18 on the series Suicide Smith, Sky Rangers and Star Pirate. From ’47 to ’49 he worked as an assistant on Buck Rogers, then he began his relationship with DC in 1951, where he began work on Mystery in Space and Strange Adventures.
He continued to serve under the tutelage of artists Carmine Infantino for Flash, Gil Kane for Green Lantern and Curt Swan for Superman. His partnership with Swan was so synonymous with Superman that the artists were referred to by fans as “Swanderson.”
Anderson also contributed to the technical aspect of comic book production. Most notably he revolutionized the industry standard for drawing size, making it easier to photograph multiple pages at once. Later in life he worked on the coloring and production side of the business through his company Murphy Anderson Visual Concepts.
Murphy Anderson was a comic book writer and artist, best known for his work on the comics Superman, Hawkman, Elongated Man and Phantom Stranger, and for creating the character Adam Strange and Zatanna Zatara.
Zatara would later be featured on the television shows Batman: The Animated Series, Smallville and Young Justice.
Anderson got his start in the comic book industry in 1944 at the age of 18 on the series Suicide Smith, Sky Rangers and Star Pirate. From ’47 to ’49 he worked as an assistant on Buck Rogers, then he began his relationship with DC in 1951, where he began work on Mystery in Space and Strange Adventures.
He continued to serve under the tutelage of artists Carmine Infantino for Flash, Gil Kane for Green Lantern and Curt Swan for Superman. His partnership with Swan was so synonymous with Superman that the artists were referred to by fans as “Swanderson.”
Anderson also contributed to the technical aspect of comic book production. Most notably he revolutionized the industry standard for drawing size, making it easier to photograph multiple pages at once. Later in life he worked on the coloring and production side of the business through his company Murphy Anderson Visual Concepts.
Anderson was inducted into the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1998, the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Inkwell Awards Joe Sinnot Hall of Fame in 2013.
He died October 23, 2015, in Somerset, New Jersey. He was 89.
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