WIN MORTIMER

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James Winslow “Win” Mortimer (1919 – 1998) is best known as one of the key Golden Age illustrators of Superman. He additionally drew for Marvel Comics, Gold Key, and other publishers.

Mortimer began working for DC Comics in 1945 and quickly became the cover artist for comics featuring Superman, Superboy and Batman. His first known comics work is as the uncredited penciler and inker of the 12-page lead Batman story, “The Batman Goes Broke” by writer Don Cameron, in Detective Comics #105 (Nov. 1945). In 1949, he succeeded Wayne Boring on the Superman newspaper strip and drew the series until 1956. Of his numerous covers, of particular note is Mortimer’s cover to Superman #76 from 1952, where Superman and Batman learn each other’s secret identities.

In the early 1970’s Mortimer began freelancing and, at Marvel Comics, he drew Nightnurse and other characters but is best remembered there for his work on the companies flagship character: Spider-Man.

Mortimer also worked on such titles as Gold Key’s Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery, Battle of the Planets, and The Twilight Zone, as well as The Honeymooners from Triad Comics.

Without question, though, Moritmer is most remembered by fans for his tremendous body of work on The Man of Steel.  After the John Byrne revamp of Superman in 1986, Mortimer once again penciled the Last Son of Krypton in the DC mini-series World of Metropolis.  The only Golden Age Superman artist to revisit the character in a published, in-continuity story after the revamp, it would, fittingly, be his last published super-hero story.  It would also ring down the final curtain on the simpler, more primal stories and artistic style of the Golden Age Superman.

In 2006, Mortimer was inducted into the Joe Shuster Hall of Fame.

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