Ernie Colón Explained

Birth Date:13 July 1931
Birth Place:San Juan, Puerto Rico
Death Place:Huntington, New York, U.S.
Spouse:Ruth Ashby
Art:y
Pencil:y
Ink:y
Edit:y
Letter:y
Notable Works:Arak, Son of Thunder
Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld
Casper the Friendly Ghost
Richie Rich
The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation

Ernesto Colón Sierra[1] (July 13, 1931 – August 8, 2019) was a stateside Puerto Rican comics artist, known for his wide-ranging career illustrating children's, superhero, and horror comics, as well as mainstream nonfiction.

Early life

Colón was born July 13, 1931,[2] in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the son of Ernesto Colón, a police detective, and Isabel Sierra, a textile worker and bank teller.[3] He has eight siblings, all sisters. Raised in the mainland US[4] from age 10, he listed among his early influences the newspaper adventure-strip writer-artists Milton Caniff and Will Eisner, and the lighthearted 1940s Fawcett Comics superhero Captain Marvel, saying, ”I never enjoyed superheroes – with the exception of the early Captain Marvel. That character had humor and didn't take itself as seriously as all the other snarling, furious products of DC and Marvel,” Colón said in 2011. He attended high school at what was then New York City's School of Industrial Art.

Career

1950s to 1970s

In 1955, cartoonist Ham Fisher hired Colón to ink backgrounds on the long-running comic strip Joe Palooka, an assignment that ended after approximately one month following Fisher's suicide that December. Colón began his career in earnest at Harvey Comics, recalling in 2011,

Working uncredited at Harvey Comics for much of that time, Colón met editor Sid Jacobson, who became his frequent creative partner. Colón' earliest attributed work appears in two comics each cover-dated December 1960: the 15-page story "Spellbound" in Harvey's The Friendly Ghost, Casper #28, and, in a one-off for Archie Comics, the two-page featurette "Madhouse Stamps for Teens" in Archie's Madhouse #9. In addition to much work for Harvey in the 1960s and 1970s, Colón also drew and possibly wrote the two-page story "Kaleidoscope of Fear" in Wham-O Giant Comics #1 (April 1967), published by the toy company Wham-O). drew three issues of Gold Key Comics' Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom (#24–26, July 1968 - Jan. 1969), and contributed to Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror-comics magazines Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella. Under the pen name Jack Purcell, he drew and lettered a story for rival Skywald Publications' Psycho #3 (May 1971).

In 1979, he collaborated with writer Roger McKenzie on an adaptation of Battlestar Galactica for Marvel Comics.[5]

1980s-on

At DC Comics, Colón co-created the historical fantasy Arak, Son of Thunder with writer Roy Thomas, with the character introduced in a special insert in The Warlord #48 (Aug. 1981).[6] Two years later, he introduced Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld with writers Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn in a similar preview in The Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 2 #298 (April 1983).[7] Colón was an editor for DC Comics from 1982 to 1985 and oversaw titles such as Arion, Lord of Atlantis, The Flash, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman.

His other artistic credits include Grim Ghost for Atlas/Seaboard Comics; Airboy for Eclipse Comics; for Valiant Comics; and Damage Control and Doom 2099 for Marvel Comics. Also for Marvel, Colón wrote, drew, colored and lettered the 1988 science-fiction graphic novel Ax.In the late 1980s, Colón penciled the short-lived Bullwinkle and Rocky series for Marvel's children's imprint Star Comics, edited by Sid Jacobson. Colón returned to Harvey with Jacobson in the early 1990s and worked on such projects as Monster in My Pocket and Ultraman. From 2005 until the tabloid's demise in 2007, he drew the weekly comic strip "SpyCat" in the Weekly World News.[8]

Colón and Jacobson created a graphic novel version of the 9/11 Commission Report titled The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation (cover-dated Aug. 2006).[9] They released a 160-page follow-up, After 9/11: America's War on Terror (Aug. 2008). The duo's A Graphic Biography: Che was released in 2009. The following year, Farrar, Straus and Giroux published their next collaboration, Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography, published by Hill & Wang.[10] [11]

He collaborated with his author wife, Ruth Ashby, on the 2005 comic book A Spy for General Washington, telling the story of Revolutionary War secret agent Robert Townsend, and on the graphic novel The Great American Documents: Volume 1, published by Hill and Wang in May 2014.[12] Colón reunited with writer Dan Mishkin to produce The Warren Commission Report: A Graphic Investigation Into the Kennedy Assassination in 2014.[13]

Personal life

In the US, Colón lived initially in Brooklyn, New York City, and later moved to the Long Island town of Huntington, New York.[14]

He was married four times, his last to children's-book and young adult fiction author Ruth Ashby. He had four children, daughters Amanda, Suzan and Luisa Colón and Rebecca Ashby-Colón. He died in Huntington, New York on August 8, 2019, at the age of 88,[15] [16] of colorectal cancer diagnosed the previous year.

Bibliography

Works by Colón:

Atlas/Seaboard Comics

DC Comics

Eclipse Comics

Gold Key Comics

Harvey Comics

Malibu Comics

Marvel Comics

Valiant Comics

External links

Audio/video

Notes and References

  1. Colón in English translation of News: Dossier Ernie Colon. Scarce. 77. 7. 2011. fr. August 17, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190817175158/https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fgjIEvyNuVo/WdPgQMLXs5I/AAAAAAAAJXs/2mhh9eWM1FgcJJta3JaW0bW4I4mvhKFEwCLcBGAs/s1600/Scarce_77page7.jpg. live. Via Web site: Ernie Colon Interview Part 1: Who is Ernie?. October 4, 2017. Ernie Colon Unlimited. August 10, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190810174401/http://erniecolonunlimited.blogspot.com/2017/10/ernie-colon-interview-in-scarce-77-2011.html. live.
  2. Web site: Miller. John Jackson. John Jackson Miller. Comics Industry Birthdays . . June 10, 2005 . Iola, Wisconsin . December 12, 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110218031356/http://cbgxtra.com/knowledge-base/for-your-reference/comics-industry-birthdays . February 18, 2011 . dead.
  3. News: Ernie Colón, Comic Book Artist Who Drew 9/11, Dies at 88. George Gene. Gustines. The New York Times. August 16, 2019. August 17, 2019.
  4. Web site: Ernie Colón . July 9, 2010 . . https://web.archive.org/web/20140218205340/http://www.lambiek.net/artists/c/colon_ernie.htm . February 18, 2014 . live.
  5. Brown. Jonathan Rikard. Battlestar Galactica. Back Issue!. 89. 52–54. TwoMorrows Publishing. July 2016. Raleigh, North Carolina.
  6. Catron. Michael. Michael Catron. Thomas's Indian/Viking to Roam Medieval Europe. Amazing Heroes. 1. 29–30. Fantagraphics Books. June 1981. Stamford, Connecticut. Arak, Son of Thunder, described as an 'Indian/Viking,' makes his debut in a preview insert in Warlord #48, on sale in May..
  7. Book: Manning. Matthew K.. Dolan. Hannah, ed.. 1980s. DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. Dorling Kindersley. 2010. London, United Kingdom. 978-0-7566-6742-9. 201. The other-dimensional Gemworld found a new princess in the form of Amy Winston, an ordinary young girl from a distant reality, in the pages of a sixteen-page insert comic by writers Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn, and artist Ernie Colón." "Standing strong against the forces of the nefarious Dark Opal, Amethyst was gearing up for her own self-titled maxiseries in May..
  8. Web site: RIP: Weekly World News . Heidi . MacDonald . July 23, 2007 . ComicsBeat.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20130807004212/http://comicsbeat.com/rip-weekly-world-news/ . August 7, 2013 . live.
  9. The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón . Sid Jacobson . Sid . Jacobson . Ernie . Colón . September 7, 2006 . . https://web.archive.org/web/20130413060205/http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2006/08/the_911_report.html . April 13, 2013 . live.
  10. http://www.comics.org/series/53288/ Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography
  11. Web site: Graphic account of Anne Frank story set for debut . Paul . Armstrong . July 9, 2010 . . https://web.archive.org/web/20121021152301/http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/07/09/anne.frank.biography/index.html?fbid=Ul0RxCWLIoh . October 21, 2012 . live . July 9, 2010.
  12. Fall 2013 Announcements: Comics – More Than Words. Heidi. MacDonald. Heidi MacDonald. June 21, 2013. Publishers Weekly. https://web.archive.org/web/20141021053509/http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/new-titles/adult-announcements/article/57920-fall-2013-announcements-comics-more-than-words.html. October 21, 2014. live.
  13. Bort. Ryan. A Graphic Novel That Breathes New Life into Our Understanding of the Kennedy Assassination. Esquire. Hearst Corporation. September 12, 2014. New York, New York. https://web.archive.org/web/20160325163928/http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a23541/kennedy-assassination-graphic-novel/. March 25, 2016. live.
  14. News: Artist uses comic talents to tell history. July 5, 2005. August 17, 2019. United Press International. September 10, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150910171037/https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2005/07/05/Artist-uses-comic-talents-to-tell-history/43401120604709/. live.
  15. News: Comic Book Creator Ernie Colón Dies at 88. August 9, 2019. Graeme. McMillan. The Hollywood Reporter.
  16. News: I'm posting today with a heavy heart.. Ernie Colon Facebook page. August 9, 2019.

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