The Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis

Last updated
Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis
Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis 1.jpg
The Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis #1 (1952).
Publication information
Publisher National Periodical Publications, an imprint of DC Comics
ScheduleSemi-monthly
Format Ongoing series
Publication date1952-1971
No. of issues124
Main character(s) Jerry Lewis
Dean Martin
Creative team
Written by Arnold Drake
Cal Howard
Artist(s) Bob Oksner
Neal Adams

The Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis is the title of a celebrity comic book published by DC Comics and featuring the popular team of comedians Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. The series ran for forty issues from 1952 through 1957, [1] at which time the title was renamed The Adventures of Jerry Lewis due to the real life breakup of the team. [2]

The series continued as a Jerry Lewis solo title for issues #41-124. [3] The new series featured Lewis in a variety of humorous situations. Infrequent guest stars included Batman, [4] Bob Hope, Lex Luthor, Superman, [5] the Flash, [6] and Wonder Woman. [7] Notable artists who worked on the series include Bob Oksner and Neal Adams. [8]

In 1964, Jerry's genius nephew Renfrew joined the book, and a year later, the cast included a fairy-tale witch housekeeper named Witch Kraft. [9]

The entire DC humor line was cancelled between 1971 and 1972, including Jerry Lewis, Leave It to Binky , Date with Debbi and Swing with Scooter . [10]

In 2007, Bob Oksner stated that he had had a greater role in writing the comic than previously acknowledged, explaining that the comic's editor, Larry Nadle, had persuaded Oksner to allow his writing credit (and thus payment) to be transferred to "another cartoonist" who Nadle described as being in debt to DC; in reality, Nadle was keeping the money. When this was discovered after Nadle's death in 1963, Oksner was nearly fired. [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Action Comics</i> American comic book

Action Comics is an American comic book/magazine series that introduced Superman, one of the first major superhero characters. The publisher was originally known as National Allied Publications, and later as National Comics Publications and as National Periodical Publications, before taking on its current name of DC Comics. Its original incarnation ran from 1938 to 2011 and stands as one of the longest-running comic books with consecutively numbered issues. The second volume of Action Comics beginning with issue #1 ran from 2011 to 2016. Action Comics returned to its original numbering beginning with issue #957.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dan Jurgens</span> American comics artist and writer

Dan Jurgens is an American comic book writer and artist. He is known for his work on the DC comic book storyline "The Death of Superman" and for creating characters such as Doomsday, Hank Henshaw, Jon Kent, and Booster Gold. Jurgens had a lengthy run on the Superman comic books including The Adventures of Superman, Superman vol. 2 and Action Comics. At Marvel, Jurgens worked on series such as Captain America, The Sensational Spider-Man and was the writer on Thor for six years. He also had a brief run as writer and artist on Solar for Valiant Comics in 1995.

Terry Kevin Austin is an American comic book creator working primarily as an inker.

<i>Worlds Finest Comics</i> Comic book series by DC Comics

World's Finest Comics was an American comic book series published by DC Comics from 1941 to 1986. The series was initially titled World's Best Comics for its first issue; issue #2 switched to the more familiar name. Michael E. Uslan has speculated that this was because DC received a cease and desist letter from Better Publications, Inc., who had been publishing a comic book entitled Best Comics since November 1939. Virtually every issue featured DC's two leading superheroes, Superman and Batman, with the earliest issues also featuring Batman's sidekick, Robin.

<i>DC Comics Presents</i> Comic book series

DC Comics Presents is a comic book series published by DC Comics from 1978 to 1986 which ran for 97 issues and four Annuals. It featured team-ups between Superman and a wide variety of other characters in the DC Universe. A recurring back-up feature "Whatever Happened to...?" had stories revealing the status of various minor and little-used characters.

<i>Showcase</i> (comics) Title of several comic anthology series published by DC Comics

Showcase is a comic anthology series published by DC Comics. The general theme of the series was to feature new and minor characters as a way to gauge reader interest in them, without the difficulty and risk of featuring untested characters in their own ongoing titles. Showcase is regarded as the most successful of such tryout series, having been published continuously for more than 14 years, launching numerous popular titles, and maintaining a considerable readership of its own. The series ran from March–April 1956 to September 1970, suspending publication with issue #93, and then was revived for eleven issues from August 1977 to September 1978.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carmine Infantino</span> American comic book artist (1925-2013)

Carmine Michael Infantino was an American comics artist and editor, primarily for DC Comics, during the late 1950s and early 1960s period known as the Silver Age of Comic Books. Among his character creations are the Black Canary and the Silver Age version of DC superhero the Flash with writer Robert Kanigher, the stretching Elongated Man with John Broome, Barbara Gordon the second Batgirl with writer Gardner Fox, Deadman with writer Arnold Drake, and Christopher Chance, the second iteration of the Human Target with Len Wein.

Arnold Drake was an American comic book writer and screenwriter best known for co-creating the DC Comics characters Deadman and the Doom Patrol, and the Marvel Comics characters the Guardians of the Galaxy, among others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E. Nelson Bridwell</span> American comic book artist (1931-1987)

Edward Nelson Bridwell was a writer for Mad magazine and various comic books published by DC Comics. One of the writers for the Batman comic strip and Super Friends, he also wrote The Inferior Five, among other comics. He has been called "DC's self-appointed continuity cop."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanley and His Monster</span> DC Comics comic book series

Stanley and His Monster is an American comic-book humor feature and later series from DC Comics, about a boy who has a monster as his companion instead of a dog. Created by writer Arnold Drake and artist Winslow Mortimer as a backup feature in the talking animal comic The Fox and the Crow #95, it went to its own 1960s title and a 1990s revival limited series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Dillin</span>

Richard Allen Dillin was an American comics artist best known for a 12-year run as the penciler of the DC Comics superhero-team series Justice League of America. He drew 115 issues from 1968 until his death in 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Oksner</span> American comics artist (1916–2007)

Bob Oksner was an American comics artist known for both adventure comic strips and for superhero and humor comic books, primarily at DC Comics.

<i>The Adventures of Bob Hope</i> Comic book series

The Adventures of Bob Hope is an American celebrity comics comic book series that was published by National Periodical Publications. The series featured stories based on comedian Bob Hope, as well as assorted other humorous stories. The series ran for 109 issues from 1950 through 1968.

This article lists major events in the field of comics during the 1980s.

Robert Loren Fleming is an American comic book writer. He is best known as the co-creator of Thriller with Trevor Von Eeden and for his collaborations with Keith Giffen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Haney</span> American comic book writer (1926–2004)

Robert Gilbert Haney, Jr. was an American comic book writer, best known for his work for DC Comics. He co-created the Teen Titans as well as characters such as Metamorpho, Eclipso, Cain, and the Super-Sons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murray Boltinoff</span> American comic book artist (1911-1994)

Murray Boltinoff was a writer and editor of comic books, who worked for DC Comics from the 1940s to the 1980s, in which role he edited over 50 different comic book series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Larry Nadle</span>

Lawrence Malcolm Nadle was a comic book editor and writer who was known for his work for DC Comics' romance comics, celebrity comics, and other humor-centric titles. Todd Klein has noted that Nadle's career in comics began "around 1943-44", as an editor for All-American Publications.

National Comics Publications and All-American Publications, two precursors to DC Comics, were formed publishing American comic books such as superhero comics starting in the 1930s. Primary Comic book anthology titles created by the company was More Fun Comics, Adventure Comics, Detective Comics, Action Comics, All-American Comics and Superman. Other companies like Quality Comics and Fawcett Comics would later be merged into DC. Quality started by introducing comic books like Feature Comics and Smash Comics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Canary (Dinah Drake)</span> Fictional character

Black Canary is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by the writer-artist team of Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino, the character debuted in Flash Comics #86 as the first Black Canary in the Golden Age of Comic Books. Strong, mysterious, gutsy and romantic, she has been called "the archetype of the new Film Noir era heroine."

References

  1. The Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the Grand Comics Database
  2. Schelly, William (2013). American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1950s. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 66. ISBN   9781605490540.
  3. The Adventures of Jerry Lewis at the Grand Comics Database
  4. Drake, Arnold  ( w ), Oksner, Bob  ( p ),Oksner, Bob ( i )."Batman Meets Jerry"The Adventures of Jerry Lewis,no. 97(Nov.-Dec. 1966).
  5. Drake, Arnold ( w ),Oksner, Bob ( p ),Oksner, Bob ( i )."Superman Meets Jerry"The Adventures of Jerry Lewis,no. 105(March–April 1968).
  6. "The Flash Meets Jerry Lewis"The Adventures of Jerry Lewis,no. 112(May–June 1969).
  7. The Adventures of Jerry Lewis,no. 117(March–April 1970).
  8. McAvennie, Michael (2010). "1960s". In Dolan, Hannah (ed.). DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. Dorling Kindersley. p. 124. ISBN   978-0-7566-6742-9. [In July–August 1967], The Adventures of Jerry Lewis #101 perfectly illustrated how Adams was equally adept at delivering the art of laughter. In his first full-length story for DC, he provided writer Arnold Drake's space odyssey 'Jerry the Asto-Nut' with a photo-realistic flare not seen in comics.
  9. Wells, John (2014). American Comic Book Chronicles: 1965-1969. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 38. ISBN   978-1605490557.
  10. Sacks, Jason; Dallas, Keith (2014). American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1970s. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 57. ISBN   978-1605490564.
  11. "My Women Had Saturday Night Bodies And Sunday School Faces": Cartoonist Par Excellence BOB OKSNER Drew Angels, Apes - And Everything In Between!, by Jim Amash; in Alter Ego #67 (April 2007) (via Issuu)