Comic book artist Dan Spiegle passed away on Saturday, at the age of 96. He had been ill for some time.
Dan was, simply, a drawing machine. Best known for his prolific comic book art, he worked for all of the major companies, drawing movie adaptations for Dell and Gold Key comics, Hanna Barbera and Disney comic books, westerns such as Maverick and Rex Allen, as well as superhero books such as Blackhawk, Crossfire, and many others.
Mark Evanier has a touching remembrance of his friend here. Here are just a couple of paragraphs:
His editor for much of this period [at Dell Comics] was a man named Chase Craig, who was also my editor (and mentor) for many years. I once asked Chase, "Of all the hundreds of artists you've employed, who was the most reliable?" Without pausing to think, he replied, "Dan Spiegle." Then he added, "It's always on time and it's always wonderful." (A moment later, he added, "…and Mike Royer.")
Later, when I became Dan's editor, I had the same experience…and until you're an editor of comic books, you don't realize how rare and precious it is to have someone like that available to you. One time, another artist — a good one, not a newcomer — was six weeks late with a job and then handed in a few, unusable pages. I immediately went to Dan who did the entire job in eight days…and it was perfect.
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