Dick Sprang

Richard W. "Dick" Sprang ( born July 28, 1915 in Fremont, Ohio, † 10 May 2000 Prescott, Arizona) was an American comic book artist.

Life and work

Sprang began as a teenager signs and advertising list for local advertising agencies to draw before he began to work immediately after high school graduation as an illustrator for the newspaper Toledo News. After moving to New York City he hired as a freelance illustrator for so-called pulp magazines. As the genre of Pulp Magazines 1941 was in decline changed Jumped into the comic book industry. After he had brought some sample drawings in the editorial director of DC Comics, Sidney Ellsworth, introduced this Sprang as a draftsman for the Batman series, was published in its 17th edition for the first time designed by Sprang comic pages.

Sprang remained the Batman character connected almost 20 years: Until 1955 he worked at the monthly Batman series, then from 1955 to 1963, the series World's Finest, the common Adventures of Superman and Batman, the two most popular characters in DC's publishing program told. During his time as Batman artist Sprang created, among others, the design of the Riddler, one of the most popular and most enduring villains of the series, as well as the redesign of Batman's " police car ", the so-called " Batmobile ", 1948. Characteristic of Sprangs interpretation of the " dark knight "was the massive granite chin, and the expressive face that he gave his character. Sprangs distinctive, slightly edgy drawing style had an impact than most lasting and influential for the Batman series: So Sprang was imitated by many later painters, and his designs of Gotham City and its inhabitants formed the basis for the opening credits of the Batman television series of the 1960s.

1946 Sprang moved to Sedona in Arizona, 1956 to Utah, where he tried his hand as a rancher, before he moved to Prescott in 1972. In later years, he reunited by selling Batman lithographs produced, reaching record levels among collectors today.