KRIS ADAMS’ warm recollections of tagging along with her father in the 1970s…
Batman by Neal Adams Absolute Edition: 1967-1970 is out this week and you can find an EXCLUSIVE SNEAK PEEK over here.
But in tandem with that, we’re presenting this wonderfully warm reminiscence by Adams’ daughter Kris about what it was like visiting the DC Comics offices as a kid with her Dad in the 1970s. It’s included in the edition in a different format.
Enjoy.
The slipcase design
DAY IN THE OFFICE, With KRIS ADAMS
Before “Take Your Daughter to Work Day” became a new thing, my dad (Neal Adams), during the summers, would take me along to the various companies he worked for as a freelance artist. I loved it because it meant a trip into Manhattan. I would ask, “DC?”
I always loved going to DC Comics because it was the nicest building and the biggest place we ever went to. 909 Third Ave., National Periodicals, a building an entire block big. It had at least four elevator banks, if not more. When you got off the floor, you were greeted by big glass doora. DC was made up of a long hallway with offices to the right and left-hand sides, and they had the biggest Production room at the very end.
My dad would always promise this would be quick. He was just dropping off pages. I knew what that meant. I could judge how long we had to stay by how far down the hall we started.
909 Third Ave.
Somehow, everybody knew when he was there. Guys would float through the hallway and say, “Neal, make sure and stop in with me.” “Neal do you have all my pages?” I knew some offices we would stay in longer than others.
Murray Boltinoff was always a pretty quick stop. Joe Orlando — Neal would always say hi to Joe. Usually, Joe would get covers from my dad. Then we would head to Julie Schwartz’s office. Now, this could be a deal-breaker, meaning a long or short day. I remember it was a turn to the right. Julie had the biggest office. He shared it at the time with Nelson Bridwell, the man who knew comic, panel, page, and what the balloons said in that panel, by heart. You think I’m kidding. I am not.
Julie was always mad at Neal for something, usually for not having the art he wanted that day. However, they did secretly love each other. Neal would be yelled at for not having whatever, and at the same time, Julie would give him more work. Even at my young age, I never understood this. You just spent 10 minutes being upset with him, and now you are giving him more to do? Oh well.
After we would leave Julie, I only had one more door to maybe get by, and then we would leave…???????
Nope, not today. Carmine Infantino would yell from his office, “Hey, Adams, come in here.” Carmine’s office was nice to go into; he had the dark brown corkboard walls with all the comic covers hung up with pushpins. Something to look at as Carmine went over cover ideas with Neal. Now, the problem with this is that I knew we were close enough to Production, and Dad would probably need more paper, so we are now staying, I just knew it.
Then we leave Carmine and yep, we are heading into Production. Now I knew we are here for another hour or two. Jack Adler would come over, and Neal and Jack would start talking. Neal loved Jack because Jack loved production and photography. He would always give Neal a hard time about cover production ideas that Neal was looking for, and in the end, he would always go along with it. Like the cover for Ra’s al Ghul with the filter behind him. Neal was used to this because of Ben Casey and advertising pieces he had done. Comics at this time never did things like this, so Jack became Neal’s Robin and pushed for unique ideas in Production. Ideas like more colors. I don’t think we would have some of the great covers as we know them if he didn’t have Jack.
An original
Neal was at home in Production. He would ask Jack what was around. Jack would say, “I have this great job by ‘fill in the blank.'” Neal would say, “Let me see it,” and now I am here for another hour. Neal would sit down with his box of dyes and start recoloring jobs of his favorite artists. He did this all the time. A panel here, a panel there. Then he would ask about the covers.
“What’s in the covers?” Oh, now I would scream like Deadman in my head. Add another hour or two. OK, now I have to pull out my secret weapons. Hmm, Gerda Gattel was there. I could always get candy off of her. She was always my savior. Gerda was DC’s proofreader, librarian, and maker of production schedules in those years, but I didn’t know what she did back then. But I did know she was a very sweet older lady with candy. She always saved me. She would pull some comics for me to read while I waited.
Hmmm, maybe we are getting close to leaving? Jack is handing those black-and-white Xeroxes of pages at comic size that both Dad and Mom (Cory Adams) colored. I know that my Dad would work on convincing Jack to let him color jobs that he had done that really meant something to him. It would usually be a Friday, and Dad would convince Jack he would be in Monday morning with the guides colored. Like no one would know. That would mean a more-than-usual busy weekend for both my parents. One of the first jobs I remember this happening to was the House of Mystery story “Nightmare,” which I don’t believe my parents got credited for doing, but it is colored by both of them.
The little girl in “Nightmare” was modeled on Kris. Written by Robert Kanigher. Pencilled and inked by Neal Adams.
Finally, Dad would say, “Kris, get ready to go, get your stuff together,” and then we would walk out of DC Comics with a full portfolio of work and head to the train to go back home. But we would always stop for a chocolate egg cream and a pretzel rod and comics and papers at the candy store by the train before heading up the big hill for home.
This was my introduction to the working world.
— Kris Adams, February 2026
Kris, age 12
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Batman by Neal Adams Absolute Edition: 1967-1970, a 408-page hardcover, lists for $100.
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MORE
— Dig This EXCLUSIVE SNEAK PEEK at BATMAN BY NEAL ADAMS ABSOLUTE EDITION: 1967-1970. Click here.
— EXCLUSIVE SNEAK PEEK at the Complete BATMAN BY NEAL ADAMS: ABSOLUTE EDITION Table of Contents. Click here.
— EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK at the BATMAN BY NEAL ADAMS: ABSOLUTE EDITION Cover. Click here.
— Dig This SNEAK PEEK Video That Shows Off BATMAN BY NEAL ADAMS: THE ABSOLUTE EDITION. Click here.
— Second BATMAN BY NEAL ADAMS: ABSOLUTE ADAMS Volume Slated for JUNE 2027. Click here.
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Kris Adams Stone has been a rep or agent for Neal Adams since the early 1980s to the present day. She is well known in the comics industry either for being Neal Adams’ daughter or for being tougher than Neal in meetings sometimes. (A fierce team; ask around.) She was the associate publisher of Continuity Comics; producer of They Spoke Out: American Voices Against the Holocaust, for Disney; a producer on the Astonishing X-Men motion comic for Marvel; and a very important part of the Nasonex bee commercial mascot. She refers to herself as the UN of characters because she has worked with everyone’s characters: DC, Marvel, Disney, King Features, Campbell’s, and so many more. She is an award-winning needlepointer in her spare time.
