Richard Joseph "Dick" Giordano (July 20, 1932 — March 27, 2010) was an American comic book artist and editor best known for introducing Charlton Comics' "Action Heroes" stable of superheroes, and serving as executive editor of then—industry leader DC Comics. As one of the field's pre-eminent inkers, Giordano was known for his pairings with penciler Neal Adams in a series of comics featuring Batman, Green Lantern, and Green Arrow.
Dick Giordano, an only child, was born in New York City on July 20, 1932, in the borough of Manhattan to Josephine and "Jack," (Graziano) Giordano, where he attended the School of Industrial Art. Beginning as a freelance artist at Charlton Comics in 1952, Giordano rose to editor-in-chief by 1965. He made his first mark in the industry with Charlton, overseeing the revamping of its few existing superheroes and having his artists and writers create new such characters for what he called the company's "Action Hero" line. Many of these artists included new talent Giordano brought on board, featuring such names as Jim Aparo, Denny O'Neil, and Steve Skeates.[Edited by Lisa Giordano-Thomas, Dick's daughter].
DC Comics' then—Vice President Irwin Donenfeld and Editorial Director Carmine Infantino hired Giordano as an editor in April 1968, at the suggestion of Steve Ditko, with Giordano also bringing over to DC some of the creators he had nurtured at Charlton. While none of his titles (such as Bat Lash and Deadman) was a commercial hit, many were critical successes. Giordano is given several other established mid-level selling titles, such as Teen Titans, Aquaman and Young Love, but none of DC's major books.
He also continued to freelance for DC as a penciller and inker, most notably embellishing the art of Neal Adams on Green Lantern, one of the works that helped establish him as one of the field's pre-eminent inkers.
By 1971, frustrated by what he felt was a lack of editorial opportunities, Giordano had left DC to partner with artist Neal Adams for their Continuity Associates studios, which served as an art packager for comic book publishers, including such companies as Giordano's former employer Charlton Comics, Marvel Comics, and the one-shot Big Apple Comix. Continuity served as the launching pad for the careers of a number of professional cartoonists, many of whom were mentored by Giordano during their time there.
As a penciller, he drew numerous Batman and Wonder Woman stories for DC, as well as the martial arts feature "Sons of the Tiger" in Marvel's black-and-white comics magazine The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu.
In 1980 new DC publisher Jenette Kahn brought Giordano back to DC. Initially the editor of the Batman titles, Giordano was named the company's new managing editor in 1981, and promoted to Vice President/Executive Editor in 1983 (a position he held until 1993). With Kahn and Paul Levitz, Giordano helped relaunch such major characters as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, the Justice League of America, and the Teen Titans. By the end of the 1980s, they had also created the mature-audience Vertigo imprint, under initial editor Karen Berger, and began an influx of British talent such as Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman.
During this period, until he left the company, Giordano wrote a monthly column published in DC titles called "Meanwhile..." which (much like Marvel's "Bullpen Bulletins") featured news and information about the company and its creators. Unlike "Bullpen Bulletins," which was characterized by an ironic, over-hyped tone, Giordano's columns ". . . were written in a relatively sober, absolutely friendly voice, like a friend of your father's you particularly liked and didn't mind sitting down to listen to." Giordano closed each "Meanwhile..." column with the characteristic words, "Thank you and good afternoon."
Giordano also continued to ink, such as over George Pérez's pencils on the 1986 crossover Crisis on Infinite Earths, and John Byrne's pencils on The Man of Steel and Action Comics.
Beginning in 1985, Giordano was in the middle of an industry-wide debate about the comics industry, ratings systems, and creators' rights. Veteran writers Mike Friedrich, Steven Grant, and Roger Slifer all cited Giordano in particular for his hard-line stance on behalf of DC. This debate led in part to the 1988 drafting of the Creator's Bill of Rights.
Giordano left DC and went into semi-retirement* in 1993, (*only initially after his wife's death), still doing the occasional inking job, but later returned to freelancing full time. In 1994 Giordano illustrated a graphic novel adaptation of the novel Modesty Blaise released by DC Comics (ISBN 1-56389-178-6), with creator/writer Peter O'Donnell.
In 2002, Giordano helped launch Future Comics with writer David Michelinie and artist Bob Layton. Future Comics closed down after only two-and-a-half years in business in 2004.
Since 2002 he had also drawn several issues of The Phantom published in Europe and Australia. In the mid-2000s he began sitting on the board of directors of the comic industry charity A Commitment To Our Roots (ACTOR), renamed in 2006 the Hero Initiative. In 2005, F+W Publications Inc. published Drawing Comics with Dick Giordano (which he wrote and illustrated), a book in which he shared his drawing methods and techniques that he used in comics. His last work can be seen in Jonah Hex (vol. 2) #51 ... published in March, 2010 ... where he did interior art and cover.
Giordano was married for 38 years to the former Marie Trapani (sister of fellow comics artist Sal Trapani, now also deceased), who died from complications of her second stomach cancer surgery in 1993. They had three children together; Lisa, Dawn and Richard Jr. Marie's death, combined with Giordano's increasing hearing loss, hastened his decision to retire from DC.
Following the death of his wife Marie, Giordano split time between homes in Florida and Connecticut. He later moved to Palm Coast, Florida year-round (in 1998), where he continued to work full time, freelancing, until his death.
Dick and Lisa had purchased a home together there, where she later joined him in 2000. Dick, Lisa, her husband Patrick, and her 2 children, (Michael and Marissa) had all lived together in Palm Coast. Dick's other daughter, Dawn and her husband Loy, had later bought a home there and moved to Palm Coast, Florida in 2005, where she could be closer to her family.
Dick used Loy's likeness as the inspiring image of Edison Wilde in the Future Comics title Freemind, which lasted seven issues including a #0 introductory issue. Richard, (aka:Rich) his youngest child, remains living in CT at the present time and works as a Computer Software Engineer; sometimes referred to as a "Computer Scientist". Rich will be marrying this coming June 2010, to Jasey, his bestfriend and fiancé, from Bensonhurst, New York.
Giordano had suffered from lymphoma and later also from leukemia, secondary to the chemotherapy. He had been hospitalized for over a month at Florida Hospital Oceanside in Ormond Beach, Florida. He died on March 27, 2010 due to complication of pneumonia. *Dick had died exactly 20 years later, to the day, from his Father. [Edited by: Lisa Giordano-Thomas, Dick's daughter]
As an artist, Giordano was best-known as an inker. His inking was particularly associated with the pencils of Neal Adams, for their run in the late 1960s and early 1970s on the titles Batman and Green Lantern/Green Arrow for DC Comics. Giordano also inked the large-format, first DC/Marvel Comics intercompany crossover, Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man (1976), over the pencils of Ross Andru. Giordano also inked Adams on the one-shot Superman vs. Muhammad Ali in 1978. Throughout the late 1970s and the 1980s, Andru and Giordano were DC's primary cover artists, providing cover artwork for almost every title in the DC line at that time.
Giordano served as mentor or inspiration to a generation of inkers, including Terry Austin, Klaus Janson, Bob Layton, Steve Mitchell, Joe Rubinstein, and Mike DeCarlo. Most recently while living in Palm Coast, Florida, he also mentored Rob Jones.
Giordano received recognition in the industry for his work, including the Alley Award for Best Editor in 1969 and the Shazam Award for Best Inker (Dramatic Division) for Green Lantern and other DC titles in 1970, again in 1973 for Justice League of America, and the Shazam Award for Best Inker (Dramatic Division) in 1971 and 1974.
