A BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE: Plus, other stuff too! By PAUL KUPPERBERG According to my records, I wrote seven stories totaling 146 pages that were drawn by Irv Novick (April 11, 1916 – October 15, 2004). Unfortunately, American readers never got the chance to see two of those tales, both 46-page Superman stories, which appeared overseas in comics from DC’s German publishing partner, Egmont Ehapa. Those seven stories, done in a five year span, represent only a fraction of the output of this pioneer comic book artist. Irv got his start in the Golden Age sweatshop, er, studio of comics packager Harry “A” Chesler and was MLJ Comics’ (later Archie Comics) lead superhero artist from 1939, including co-creating with Harry Shorten the Shield—comics’ first star-spangled hero, beating out Captain America by more than a year. He worked steadily in comics and advertising (with a timeout for the Army, 1943-46) until he retired in 1990 due to failing eyesight. Irv made the jump to DC in 1952, hooking up with editor and writer Robert Kanigher with whom he worked for the next 15 years on cores of war stories and features, including Johnny Cloud, Mademoiselle Marie, Gunner and Sarge, Sgt. Rock, and Captain Storm, as well as such adventure strips as the Silent Knight, Robin Hood and the Sea Devils. He left comics to return to advertising in the 1960s but was eventually, according to Mark Evanier, lured back to DC by Kanigher with a freelance contract that guaranteed work and the highest rate the publisher paid. Irv was worth his weight in gold, and with the 1968 reshuffling of assignments under new editorial director Carmine Infantino, Irv got his honorable discharge from war comics and got back to his superhero roots on such titles as Wonder Woman, Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane, The Flash (for a nine year run) and, of course, Batman and Detective Comics. The publication a couple of weeks back of the Limited Collectors’ Edition #C-59 Facsimile Edition: Batman’s Strangest Cases reminded me that Irv Novick drew one hell of a great Batman. And it made me wonder why his Caped Crusader isn’t often included in the Bat-Hall of Fame with Neal Adams, Jim Aparo, Dick Giordano, and the rest of the lauded Batman artists of the Silver and Bronze Ages. Count me lucky I was a fledging writer at...