A BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE…
By PAUL KUPPERBERG
Before I knew their names, I recognized the distinct styles of the three lead Superman artists of the 1950s and 1960s. There was the solid realism of Curt Swan; the slightly dated and awkwardly stiff renderings of Wayne Boring; and the slick, verging on the cartoony style of Al Plastino. Frankly, deciding which one I liked best was often as close as it being the one who had drawn the last story I read.
The retirement of longtime Man of Steel editor Mort Weisinger also ended Plastino and Boring’s ongoing relationship with the character. Once the editorial reins were handed over to Julie Schwartz on Superman (beginning with #233, January 1971) and Murray Boltinoff (Action Comics #393, October 1970), it would be Curt Swan all the way for the foreseeable future. Not that there was anything wrong with that, especially in those early years when he was being inked by Murphy Anderson. “Swanderson” was about as good as it got.
While I’m happy that Curt lasted through the 1980s, long enough to draw a number of my scripts, he was displaced by the next editorial change and shift in the creative direction. I never did have the chance to work with either Boring or Plastino and only met Al once, briefly, when he was a guest of the Hero Initiative at the 2011 New York Comic Con. Neither my connection to Superman nor to a cousin of his with whom I had worked a couple of years earlier at Weekly World News impressed him.
Plastino’s (December 15, 1921 – November 25, 2013) association with Superman began in 1948 and he quickly became one of DC Comics’ most consistent artists on the character. Over the next 22 years he would illustrate stories (usually penciling and inking) in over 100 issues of Superman, almost 90 of Action, and a few score more of Superboy, Adventure Comics, Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane, Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen, and World’s Finest, for almost 280 stories, not to mention dozens of covers.
Plastino was on hand to co-create some of the most enduring 1950s contributions to the Superman mythos, including the villainous Brainiac and the Bottle City of Kandor (Action Comics #242, July 1958), the futuristic teenage Legion of Super-Heroes (Adventure Comics #247, April 1958), and Supergirl (Action Comics #252, May 1959), all with writer Otto Binder.
And, not for nothing, Al Plastino illustrated my favorite Silver Age Superman page ever, the infamous “foam-rubber arm in the sand” sequence from “When Lois First Suspected Clark Was Superman” (Superman #135, February 1960), scripted by Jerry Siegel.
Beyond monthly comics, Plastino’s versatility made him a valuable contributor to newspaper comic strips as well. He drew the Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder syndicated strip (Ledger Syndicate, March 17, 1968 – January 1, 1972) and also worked (uncredited) on the Superman strip in the early 1960s. After his retirement from comic books in 1970, Plastino took over the long running pantomime humor strip Ferd’nand, which he would continue on until 1989.
And it was Al Plastino that the United Features Syndicate turned to in the mid-1970s to commission a backlog of Peanuts strips as a contingency in case Charles Schulz left the feature during a contract dispute. Fortunately, the dispute was settled and Plastino’s Peanuts run could be hidden away in United Feature’s vault, never to be published, although a few samples have leaked over the years. Plastino was experienced at mimicking stylistic approaches from ghosting on other strips (including Nancy Sundays after the death of Ernie Bushmiller) so his art wasn’t jarring, but the heart of Charles Schulz’s humor was missing.
When it came to illustrating the Golden and Silver Age Superman, however, he had few equals. Here then, MY 13 FAVORITE AL PLASTINO (Mostly Superman) SPLASH PAGES:
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Action Comics #120 (May 1948). Perhaps Plastino’s first Superman story, written by Alvin Schwartz.
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Superman #61 (November/December 1949). Bill Finger’s classic tale, classically told by Plastino.
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Girls’ Love Stories (July/August 1951). And now for something completely different: an Al Plastino romance story.
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Action Comics #201 (February 1955). A bit of creative recycling here as “The Challenge of Stoneman” was an adaptation of TV’s The Adventures of Superman entry, “Through the Time Barrier” (Season 3, Episode 1.) Great Scott!
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Action Comics #249 (February 1959). How green was my Luthor!
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Action Comics #252 (May 1959). A story that will always be near and dear to my heart, introducing a favorite character that I would years later get to write in Superman Family and her own title. The magic of comic fandom!
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Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane #12 (October 1959). But of course, she does!
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Action Comics #294 (November 1962). A beauty of a splash, from an Edmond Hamilton script.
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Superman #170 (July 1964). A classic!
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Superman #184 (February 1966). This can’t end well.
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Action Comics #333 (February 1966). Ever have one of those days where nothing goes right? Jeepers!
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Superman #206 (March 1968). Al Plastino’s final Silver Age contribution to the Man of Steel, led off by a marvelously moody splash page, from a script by Jim Shooter.
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Superboy #168 (September 1970). Al Plastino’s final contribution to the Boy of Steel, in a story by Arnold Drake. The end of an era!
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MORE
— AL PLASTINO: 13 Great Moments Illustrated by the Late Artist. Click here.
— BATMAN ’71: The Love Child of Al Plastino & Neal Adams. Click here.
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PAUL KUPPERBERG was a Silver Age fan who grew up to become a Bronze Age comic book creator, writer of Superman, the Doom Patrol, and Green Lantern, creator of Arion Lord of Atlantis, Checkmate, and Takion, and slayer of Aquababy, Archie, and Vigilante. He is the Harvey and Eisner Award nominated writer of Archie Comics’ Life with Archie, and his YA novel Kevin was nominated for a GLAAD media award and won a Scribe Award from the IAMTW. Check out his new memoir, Panel by Panel: My Comic Book Life.
Website: https://www.paulkupperberg.net/
Shop: https://www.paulkupperberg.net/shop-1
