Superboy (Kal-El) - Writers and Artists

Writers and Artists

Superboy/Superman's co-creator Joe Shuster had the initial responsibility for the artwork for the first couple years of the Superboy feature. Shuster himself pencilled the first story, and Shuster and artists from his studio pencilled and inked every story until 1947. The art graced stories written largely by Don Cameron, the author of the first Superboy story in More Fun Comics #101.

One of the artists from the Shuster studio, John Sikela, started drawing Superboy stories in late 1946, and in 1949, when Superboy #1 debuted, Sikela became DC's primary artist on Superboy, and he remained the primary artist until he retired in 1958. A frequent collaborator was fellow Shuster shop alumni Ed Dobrotka. Curt Swan, who would later dominate Superman artwork for nearly 30 years, first drew a Superboy story in Superboy #5 (1949) and would continue to draw Superboy stories, on and off, for twenty years. The primary Superman artist of the 1950s, Wayne Boring, also contributed to Superboy.

Cameron was the primary Superboy writer for the first few years after the character's debut. One of the earliest additional writers was Superboy/Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel, who wrote his first Superboy story in 1947 and would continue to contribute to the feature into the 1960s. Other early, notable Superboy writers included science fiction writer Edmond Hamilton and Batman co-creator Bill Finger. Finger left a permanent impression on the Superboy mythos when, in just the course of a few months, he introduced readers to Superbaby and Lana Lang, in stories illustrated by Curt Swan and John Sikela, respectively.

Editorial guidance for the earliest Superboy stories was provided by Jack Schiff, one of Detective Comics' major editors in their early years, and he continued editing Superboy until 1953, when Mort Weisinger took over on both Superboy and Adventure Comics. Weisinger would later edit the entire Superman line. Over the course of the next few years, Weisinger brought in new writers and artists to work on Superboy. Perhaps the most significant new additions were writer Otto Binder, former Fawcett Comics and Marvel Family scripter, who started writing Superboy stories in 1954, and artist Al Plastino, who drew Superboy starting in 1957. Together, the two men wrote the story "The Legion of Super-Heroes" in Adventure Comics #247 (1958), giving birth to perhaps the most successful spinoff from the Superman family of comics. Three years earlier, Binder had also introduced Krypto in a story illustrated by Curt Swan.

When John Sikela retired in 1958, George Papp took over the lead artistic chores. The co-creator of Green Arrow (with Weisinger), one of Papp's stories involved Superboy meeting the young Green Arrow. Though Otto Binder handled the most Superboy stories, writers contributing to Superboy during the Weisinger years included E. Nelson Bridwell, who also worked on Mad and created many DC characters, such as the Inferior Five, and Leo Dorfman.

In 1968, long-time DC editor Murray Boltinoff took over the editing chores on Superboy from Weisinger starting with issue #149. (By this time, Adventure Comics was no longer publishing original Superboy stories.) Stories published under his editorial guidance usually included credits, making writers and artists easier to track. Frank Robbins, best known for his work (as both writer and artist) on Batman, began writing the Superboy strip with Boltinoff's debut as editor, and remained the primary scripter for three years. Penciler Bob Brown began one issue later, and continued to pencil Superboy stories through the final Superboy feature in #197. Brown's pencils were inked by a number of artists, most notably Murphy Anderson from 1970-1973, who was simultaneously inking Curt Swan's pencils on Superman. After Robbins left, Leo Dorfman returned as the writer for Superboy, with occasional scripts by Bridwell and, toward the end, Cary Bates, later famous for his Superman stories. Boltinoff also made the editorial decision to switch the Legion backup feature from Action Comics to Superboy in 1971, and later to make the Legion feature the sole feature in the comic.

When The New Adventures of Superboy debuted in late 1979 under the guidance of Superman comics editor Julius Schwartz, Kurt Schaffenberger, perhaps most famous for his Lois Lane stories, became the main penciller, and contributed his artwork throughout the run of the series. Cary Bates returned to Superboy as the principal writer for the series for its first three years, with prolific DC writer Paul Kupperberg taking the scripting chores for the last third of the run. Bridwell and Bob Rozakis also contributed scripts. In addition, Rozakis wrote about Superboy's college years in the Superman backup series "Superman: The In-Between Years" in the early 1980s, with Schaffenberger providing the pencils; and the miniseries Superman: The Secret Years in 1984-1985, with Curt Swan providing the pencils and Schaffenberger, the inks.

The primary writer for the comic based on the Superboy television series was John Francis Moore, who also penned several screenplays for the TV series. Several other writers, including Kupperberg, also contributed. Experienced artist Jim Mooney (known for his work on Supergirl and Spider-Man) and Curt Swan split the pencilling chores for most of the series. Canadian artist Ty Templeton provided the majority of the inks.