EXTRACTS: Illustrators issue 16 © 2016 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition)

4 today. He is surrounded by reference, photos, notes, stacks of comic book pages, recent comic books, a collection of Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant reprints, paint palettes, brushes, pens, a jar of white paint, markers and the all-important can of Diet Coke . With music from iTunes, he can draw like this for hours. Neal Adams is a name synonymous with Batman , Green Lantern , Deadman , and Superman but his history is far more extensive. For the uninitiated, Neal Adams was the main architect of the Kree/Skrull War; was the first to bring back Professor X; had Superman box Muhammad Ali to save the planet; was one of the youngest comic strip artists, when he spent three and a half years drawing Ben Casey (a series based on a popular television show)), and painted covers for reprinted Tarzan novels. Listing this work is rather like withdrawing a single gallon of water from a swimming pool. There is so much more. Beyond the artwork, Neal plotted or assisted in writing most of the material he drew. He also fought for the rights of creators against being taken advantage of; helping negotiate a deal that gave money to the creators of Superman . He broke away from the two giants, Marvel and DC to draw comics for an independent company; financed and licensed work to and from Europe so the rights and ownership of the characters and work remained with the creative, and published his own line of comics, with all new characters, that reached sales of Adams' arrival at DC comics, initially required him to work on some of their lower profile offerings such as their war and mystery comics, but so great was the reception to his work that he soon found himself drawing major titles including Batman , Green Lantern/ Green Arrow as well as drawing the critically acclaimed Deadman. All Images © 1935-2016 DC Comics