John Cullen Murphy

John Cullen Murphy ( May 3, 1919 in New York City; † July 2, 2004 in Greenwich, Connecticut ) was an American comic book artist. From 1971 to 2004, he drew the series Prince Valiant ( Original title: Prince Valiant ).

Even as a nine year old boy he attended classes at the Chicago Art Institute, and later at the Grand Central School of Arts in New York. As a schoolboy he earned his money already occasionally to draw boxer and caricature.

At 15, he met by chance on the well-known magazine illustrator Norman Rockwell, where he served as a model. Professional targeted Murphy originally to a career as a baseball player. When he once played baseball at the age of 15 years, asked the neighbor of the Murphys, the painter Norman Rockwell if he would stand him model. The image Starstruck in which Murphy thoughtfully sitting on the floor and looking at the photos of movie stars, appeared on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post of 22 September 1934. Rockwell supported Murphy in the following years as a mentor. Rockwell recognized Murphys talent and gave him after graduating from high school a scholarship at the Phoenix Art Institute in New York City.

After leaving the military service he first came in contact with comics. The comic strip scriptwriter Elliot Caplin offered him to draw his new series Big Ben Bolt. On the side he had continued to work as a cover artist and illustrator.

John Cullen Murphy attended the Art Institute of Chicago and was soon working as a professional comic book artist. From 1950 to 1978, he drew the daily comic strip Big Ben Bolt.

In the late 1960s, the order situation was so bad that he asked the people living in the neighborhood, almost 80 -year-old Hal Foster for advice.

From 1970 he supported Foster at the weekly work on the sides of Prince Valiant and also began to draw itself. In 1971 he took over the series entirely, but was increasingly supported by his family over the years and was limited to the pure character work. His son wrote the lyrics, his daughter took over the lettering and coloring.

In March 2004, Gary Gianni took over the series, Murphy died a few months later, aged 85 at his home in Greenwich, Connecticut.

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