Al Plastino: Last Superman Standing

With a comics career dating back to 1941, including inking early issues of Captain America, Al Plastino was one of the last surviving penciler/inkers of his era. Laboring uncredited on Superman for two decades (1948-1968), he co-created Supergirl, Brainiac, and the Legion of Super-Heroes, drawing those characters first appearances, and illustrating the initial comics story to feature Kryptonite. He was called upon to help maintain the DC Comics house-style by redrawing other artists Superman heads, most notoriously on Jack Kirby s Jimmy Olsen series, much to his chagrin. His career even included working on classic daily and Sunday newspaper strips like Nancy, Joe Palooka, Batman, and others. With a foreword by Paul Levitz, this book (by Eddy Zeno, author of Curt Swan: A Life In Comics) was completed just weeks before Al s recent passing. In these pages, the artist remembers both his struggles and triumphs in the world of comics, cartooning and beyond. A near-century of insights shared by Al, his family, and contemporaries Allen Bellman, Nick Cardy, Joe Giella, and Carmine Infantino along with successors Jon Bogdanove, Jerry Ordway, and Mark Waid paint a layered portrait of Plastino s life and career. And a wealth of illustrations show just how influential a figure he is in the history of comics.