John Prentice (cartoonist)

John Franklin Prentice, Jr. (October 17, 1920 – May 23, 1999)[1] was an American cartoonist most known for taking over the comic strip Rip Kirby upon the death of the strip's creator, Alex Raymond.

For other people with the same name, see John Prentice.
John Prentice
Born(1920-10-17)October 17, 1920
Whitney, Texas
DiedMay 23, 1999(1999-05-23) (aged 78)
Westport, Connecticut
NationalityAmerican
Notable works
Rip Kirby
Young Romance
Showcase #1

Early life

John Prentice was born in Whitney, Texas, on October 17, 1920, on his family's farm. Some of Prentice's relatives were willing to help him pay for college, but on the condition that he would study "medicine, law, or business." However, as Prentice always wanted to be an artist, he joined the Navy in 1939 to help pay for college, and served until 1945.[2] During his service, he was stationed at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, when it was attacked by Japanese forces.[3]

Early work

After his time in the Navy, Prentice briefly attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, and then moved to New York City, where he worked in a variety of illustrator and comic-book jobs.[3]

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Prentice worked for Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's romance comics series Young Romance, which is often considered the first romance comic.[4][5] Originally published by Crestwood Publications, the series eventually moved to DC Comics, for which Prentice then worked in the mid-1950s.

Among the most notable of his comic-book illustration work for DC Comics were for titles such as House of Secrets, Tales of the Unexpected, Gang Busters, and the first issue of Showcase. Showcase's inaugural issue's story introduced the character Fireman Farrell, a co-creation of Prentice and writer Arnold Drake's.[6] The character went on to cameo in such titles as Crisis on Infinite Earths #7, putting out a fire,[7] and Batman & Superman: World's Finest #4, where he is shown to be a captain in the Metropolis Fire Department.[8]

Rip Kirby

On September 6, 1956, Flash Gordon creator Alex Raymond was killed in a car crash, leaving his current comic strip, Rip Kirby, without an illustrator. Sylvan Byck, editor for King Features Syndicate (which published Rip Kirby) originally approached Prentice's longtime friend Leonard Starr to take over, though when he turned it down in hopes of getting his own strip picked up, Starr recommended Prentice, instead.[9] Prentice drew the strip for the next 43 years, until just before his own death in 1999.[3]

Prentice had several notable assistants on Rip Kirby: Al Williamson (1960–63),[10] Al McWilliams (1964–65),[11] and Gray Morrow (1970s).[12]

Prentice received the National Cartoonist Society Story Comic Strip Award for Rip Kirby in 1966, 1967, and 1986.[13]

Personal life

John Prentice married his first wife, Marge, in 1945, and their only child, John III, was born in 1948. The two officially divorced in 1956. Prentice married his second wife, Cathy, in 1957, with whom he had three more children.[2] Eventually, the two of them divorced, as well.[14] (Cathy went on to marry Beetle Bailey creator Mort Walker.[15])

Prentice married a third time to Antonia,[14] and the two were married until his death in 1999 from mesothelioma.[2] This condition was attributed to his time working as a fireman in the Navy, as the pipes had asbestos around them.[14]

References
  1. "United States Social Security Death Index," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/J1L7-Z2Q : accessed 02 Mar 2013), John Prentice, 23 May 1999.
  2. Walker, Brian (2013). "Introduction". In Mullaney, Dean (ed.). Rip Kirby Volume Six (1959–1962). IDW Publishing. pp. 5–11.
  3. John Prentice Cartoons 1956-1968 Syracuse University, 29 Jun 2010, Retrieved 11/29/2010
  4. Ro, Ronin. Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and the American Comic Book Revolution (Bloomsbury, 2004)
  5. Young Romance, at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Accessed May 7, 2020
  6. Showcase #1 (March 1956)
  7. Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 (October 1985)
  8. Batman & Superman: World's Finest #4 (July 1999)
  9. NCS Spotlight On: John Prentice, at the National Cartoonists Society; published August 26, 2010; retrieved May 7, 2020
  10. Yeates, Thomas, "Chapter 4: Atlas" in Yeates, Ringgenberg, pp. 81–84
  11. Leiffer, Paul; Ware, Hames, eds. "McWilliams, Al". "Who's Who of American Comic Strip Producers" at The Comic Strip Project. Archived from the original on April 13, 2014. Retrieved 2014-04-12.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  12. Gray Morrow at the Lambiek Comiclopedia. Archived from the original on November 10, 2013.
  13. NCS Awards Archived 2010-12-31 at the Wayback Machine National Cartoonist Society, 2008, Retrieved 11/29/2010
  14. Walker, Brian (2012). ""Getting Rip Kirby was the natural way for him to go"". In Mullaney, Dean (ed.). Rip Kirby, Volume Five (1956–1959). pp. 5–13.
  15. "Mort Walker, Whose 'Beetle Bailey' Was A Comic-Page Staple For Decades, Dies at 94". NDTV. 28 January 2018.


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