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C. C. Beck

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C. C. Beck
Early 1940s publicity photo of C.C. Beck, signed to his niece
BornCharles Clarence Beck
(1910-06-08)June 8, 1910[1]
Zumbrota, Minnesota,U.S.
DiedNovember 22, 1989(1989-11-22)(aged 79)
Gainesville, Florida,U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Area(s)Penciller
Notable works
Captain Marvel
Spy Smasher

Charles Clarence Beck(June 8, 1910 – November 22, 1989) was an Americancartoonistandcomic bookartist, best known for his work onCaptain Marvel(today known as Shazam!) atFawcett ComicsandDC Comics.

Early life

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C. C. Beck was born on June 8, 1910, inZumbrota, Minnesota.Beck's father was aLutheranminister and his mother was a schoolteacher.[2][3]He had two older sisters. When he was 15, his family moved toWest Bend, Wisconsin.[4]He studied at theChicago Academy of Fine Artsand theUniversity of Minnesota,[5]and also took an art correspondence course.[4]

Career

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Fawcett Comics

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In 1933, Beck joinedFawcett Publicationsas a staff artist, where he created pulp magazines. When the company began producing comic books in autumn 1939, Beck was assigned to draw a character created by writerBill Parkercalled "Captain Thunder". Before the first issue ofWhiz Comicscame out, the character's name was changed toCaptain Marvel.[6][7]Besides Captain Marvel, Beck also drew other Fawcett series, including the adventures ofSpy SmasherandIbis the Invincible.[8]

His early Captain Marvel stories set the style for the series. Beck favored a cartoony versus realistic rendering of character and setting, which also came to be reflected in the whimsical scripting (byOtto Binderand others). The Captain Marvel stories boasted a clean style which facilitated Beck's assistants and other Fawcett artists emulating Beck's style (one exception wasMac Raboywhose work onCaptain Marvel, Jr.was more in the style ofAlex Raymond). While Beck oversaw the visual aspects of the various comics featuring Captain Marvel, he emphatically stated in an interview with Tom Heintjes published inHogan's Alley#3 that he and his fellow artists had no input or influence on the scripts they illustrated, noting "In the 13 years I spent drawing Captain Marvel, I wrote only one story, about Billy's trip to a Mayan temple [Whiz Comics22, "Capt. Marvel and the Temple of Itzalotahui" ], which had to be submitted in typed form and edited and approved before I was allowed to illustrate it. "At most he allowed the art and editorial departments" did develop an interplay of ideas... that kept Captain Marvel changing and developing. "[9]

The popularity of Captain Marvel allowed Fawcett to produce a number of spin-off comic books and Beck to open his own New York City comics studio in 1941. He later expanded his studio, adding one inEnglewood,New Jersey. Beck's studio supplied most of the artwork in the Marvel Family line of books. In this he acted as Chief Artist (akin to anart director), a role Fawcett formally recognized on the contents page ofCaptain Marvel Adventures.[10]This facilitated Beck's efforts to bring a coherent look to the stories with Captain Marvel and related characters, ensuring they adhered to the style he originated. The studio also did commercial art, most prominently a series of advertisements in comic strip form starring Captain Tootsie promoting Tootsie Roll. Done in the style of the Marvel Family books and similarly whimsical (this Captain had a large T on his shirt instead of a lightning bolt),[11]the ads appeared in comic books published by both Fawcett and its rivals, and in Sunday comic strip sections of newspapers.

After years of litigation due to a suit lodged byNational Comics Publications(one of the companies that would later becomeDC Comics) against Fawcett forcopyright infringementclaiming that Captain Marvel was a copy of Superman (seeNational Comics Publications, Inc. v. Fawcett Publications, Inc.), Fawcett in the early 1950s (partly in response to flagging sales) reached a settlement with DC in which it agreed to discontinue its comic line.[12]

Later work

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C. C. Beck in 1982

After Fawcett Comics folded, Beck left the comic book industry but continued doing commercial illustrations. With Otto Binder, Beck prepared six sample strips for a proposed newspaper comic strip starring the characterTawky Tawnybut it was rejected by the syndicates that saw it.[13]By 1953, Beck had relocated to Florida and owned the Ukulele Bar & Grill in Miami, Florida, where he tended bar.[14]That year he contactedJoe Simonand expressed a desire to re-enter the comic book industry and sought Simon's aid in creating a suitable character. The result was The Silver Spider, with Beck doing rough art from a script byJack Oleck;Simon used his connections to pitch the property toHarvey Comicsbut they rejected it. Several years later, in 1959, Simon andJack Kirbyre-worked the Silver Spider concept for publication byArchie ComicsasThe Fly.[15]

Beck had a short story titled "Vanishing Point" published in the July 1959 issue ofAstounding Science Fiction.[16]

His first return to comics was in the mid-1960s for the short-lived Milson Publications who published three issues of his creationFatman the Human Flying Saucer.This character was almost the inverse of Captain Marvel in appearance and coloration, but with very different powers.[17]Then in 1973 he was the initial artist for DC Comics' revival of Captain Marvel, titledShazam!due to trademark issues. Beck left after the tenth issue due to "creative differences" regarding plotlines. Subsequently, at the invitation ofE. Nelson Bridwell,Beck submitted a script for a new story "Captain Marvel Battles Evil Incarnate." After Bridwell returned it with extensive editorial changes Beck attempted to draw the rewritten version but became so dissatisfied with it that he tore up the artwork he had drawn thus far and returned the Bridwell draft to DC.[18]

In his retirement, Beck produced a regular opinion column forThe Comics Journalentitled "The Crusty Curmudgeon".[19]One of his chief topics was his objections to what he saw as the growing realism in comics art (versus the simpler style he had employed). In the early 1970s, he tutored the filmmaker and special effects artistJohn R. Ellis.[20]

Beck was guest of honor at the 1973Comic Art Convention[21]and the 1977San Diego Comic Book Convention,memorably at the latter he in the evening played guitar serenading fans and guests poolside at the El Cortez Hotel. Beck attended the initialOrlandoConin 1974 and was a regular attendee into the early 1980s. He was also a guest at the 1982Minneapolis Comic-Con.[22]

Beck in his later years began doing paintings recreating the covers ofGolden Agecomic books, both those featuring Captain Marvel and other superheroes and even some of funny animals (Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny). Beck's painting inspired byCarl Barks's unused cover sketch for the story "The Mines of King Solomon" (Uncle Scrooge#19, Sept.–Nov. 1957) was used as the cover when the story was reprinted inGladstone Comic Album#1 (1987).

In April 1980 Beck became the editor of the newsletter of the Fawcett Collectors of America, which he renamed FCA/SOB for Fawcett Collectors of America/Some Opinionated Bastards (the latter phrase humorously referring to himself). Failing health forced Beck to resign the editorship after nineteen issues (Newsletter #30, dated May/June 1983).[23]

Beck died inGainesville, Floridaof a renal ailment.[3]

Awards

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Beck was recognized for his work with a formal nomination as a finalist for theJack Kirby Hall of Famein 1990, and induction in 1997. He was also inducted into theWill Eisner Award Hall of Famein 1993.[24]In 1977 he was awarded anInkpotby theSan Diego Comic Con.[25]

References

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  1. ^"United States Social Security Death Index," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JRMW-43V:accessed February 21, 2013), Charles C Beck, November 21, 1989; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
  2. ^"The Religious Affiliation of Comic Book Illustrator C.C. Beck creator of Captain Marvel (who arrives when Billy Batson" Shazam! ")".Archived from the original on April 21, 2015.RetrievedFebruary 16,2014.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  3. ^ab"C. C. Beck, 79; Creator of Captain Marvel".Los Angeles Times.November 24, 1989. Archived fromthe originalon March 4, 2014.RetrievedFebruary 16,2014.
  4. ^abCooke, Jon B.; Morrow, John (2000).Streetwise.Raleigh, North Carolina:TwoMorrows Publishing.p. 59.ISBN1-893905-04-7.
  5. ^Hamerlinck, Paul (2001).Fawcett Companion: The Best of FCA.Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 135.ISBN1-893905-10-1.
  6. ^Hamerlinck 2001,pp. 101, 107.
  7. ^Cremins, Brian (2016).Captain Marvel and the Art of Nostalgia.Jackson, Mississippi:University Press of Mississippi.p. 15.ISBN9781496808769.
  8. ^Hamerlinck 2001,p. 136.
  9. ^Heintjes, Tom (June 28, 2017)."An Interview with C.C. Beck".Hogan's Alley.RetrievedAugust 21,2017.
  10. ^"Captain Marvel Visits OKC".OKC History.RetrievedMarch 1,2012.
  11. ^Hamerlinck 2001,pp. 101–103.
  12. ^Hamerlinck 2001,pp. 12–13.
  13. ^"Mr. Tawny".CaptainMarvelCulture.com.RetrievedAugust 14,2009.
  14. ^Simon, Joe, with Jim Simon.The Comic Book Makers(Crestwood/II, 1990)ISBN1-887591-35-4,p. 191. Reissued (Vanguard Productions, 2003). Page number refers to 1990 edition.
  15. ^Mendryk, Harry (June 5, 2006)."The End of Simon & Kirby, Chapter 10, A Fly In The Mix".Jack Kirby Museum & Research Center.RetrievedOctober 18,2011.
  16. ^Cremins, Brian (November 2017)."FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #208".Alter Ego(149). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 93.
  17. ^Wells, John (2014).American Comic Book Chronicles: 1965-1969.TwoMorrows Publishing. pp. 147–148.ISBN978-1605490557.
  18. ^Hamerlinck, P.C.; Thomas, Roy (Winter 2001)."The Marvel Family Battles Evil Incarnate: The Final Showdown Between C.C. Beck and DC Comics".Alter Ego(7). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing.
  19. ^Cremins 2016,p. 26.
  20. ^"Ellis to be featured at Reel Stuff Film Festival of Aviation".Wilmington, Ohio, News Journal. March 11, 2009. Archived fromthe originalon October 3, 2011.RetrievedJuly 13,2011.
  21. ^"The Buyer's Guide #41".Archived fromthe originalon October 3, 2011.RetrievedSeptember 30,2010.
  22. ^Hamerlinck, P.C. (February 2010)."The Marvel Family Battles Evil Incarnate".Back Issue!(38). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 84–85.
  23. ^Swayze, Marcus. Foreword. Hamerlinck, P.C., ed Fawcett Companion. pp. 4–5. TwoMorrows Publishing, 2001.ISBN1-893905-10-1.
  24. ^"1990s".San Diego Comic-Con.December 2, 2012. Archived fromthe originalon October 29, 2013.RetrievedJuly 30,2017.
  25. ^Inkpot Award
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