Jim Mooney
Jim Mooney (born
1919) is an
American comic book artist best known as a
Marvel Comics inker and
Spider-Man artist, and as the signature artist of
DC Comics'
Silver Age Supergirl.
After attending art school, Mooney, circa 1941, left
Hollywood,
California to enter the fledging,
New York City-based comic-book industry. Following his first assignment, the feature "Moth" in
Fox Publications'
Mystery Men Comics, he worked for the comic-book packager
Eisner & Iger, the studio of
Golden Age greats
Will Eisner and
Jerry Iger. He left voluntarily after two weeks: "I was just absolutely crestfallen when I looked at some of the guys' work.
Lou Fine was working there,
Nick Cardy ... and Eisner himself. I was beginning to feel that I was way, way in beyond my depth...."
[Jim Mooney interview, Adelaide Comics and Books]Mooney went on staff at
Fiction House for approximately nine months, working on feature including "Camilla" and "Suicide Smith" and becoming friends with colleagues
George Tuska,
Ruben Moreira (a future
Tarzan comic-strip artist), and Cardy. He began freelancing for
Timely Comics, the 1940s predecessor of Marvel, on that company's "animation" comics of
funny animal and movie-cartoon tie-in comics. He also wrote and drew a funny-animal feature, "Perky Penguin and Booby Bear", in 1946 and 1947 for
Treasure Chest, the
Catholic-oriented comic book distributed in
parochial schools.
Mooney then began a 22-year association with the company that would evolve into DC. From 1946 to 1968, he drew for such titles as
Batman and
Superboy and such features as "
Dial H For Hero" in
House of Mystery and "Tommy Tomorrow" in
Action Comics and
World's Finest Comics, and, most notably, the backup feature "Supergirl" in
Action Comics. (He also contributed to
Atlas Comics, the 1950s iteration of Marvel, on at least a handful of 1953-54 issues of
Lorna the Jungle Queen.)
By the late 1960s, Mooney recalled, DC was "getting into the illustrative type of art then, primarily
Neal Adams, and they wanted to go in that direction. Towards the end there I picked up on it and I think my later
Supergirl was quite illustrative, but not quite what they wanted. I knew the handwriting was on the wall, so I was looking around.... The reason I hadn't worked at Marvel for all those years was because they didn't pay as well as DC. ... I think at that time [it] was $30 [a page] when I was getting closer to $50 at DC".
[Ibid.]By now, however, the rates were closer, and Mooney jumped ship. Marvel editor
Stan Lee had him work with
The Amazing Spider-Man penciler John Romita. Mooney would go on to ink a classic run of
Amazing Spider-Man (#65, 67-88; Oct. 1968, Dec. 1968 - Sept. 1970), which he recalled as "finalising it over John's layouts".
[Ibid.] Mooney, who combined a slick, polished line with a down-to-earth, Everyman feel, also embellished
John Buscema's pencils on many issues of
The Mighty Thor.
As a penciler, Mooney did several issues of
Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man, as well as Spider-Man stories in
Marvel Team-Up, and he both penciled and inked issues of writer
Steve Gerber's
Man-Thing and the entire 10-issue run of Gerber's cult-hit
Omega the Unknown, among many other titles.
Mooney left Marvel in the late 1980s to semi-retire in
Florida, where he has since worked on
Star Rangers with
Mark Ellis,
Superboy for DC,
Anne Rice's The Mummy for Millennium Publications,
Soul Searchers, an
Elvira comic book for
Claypool Comics, a retro "Lady Supreme" story for Awesome Entertainment, and commissioned pieces.
*
Jim Mooney interivew*
Lambiek Comiclopedia: Jim Mooney*
Don Markstein's Toonpedia" Supergirl*
The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators*
The Grand Comic-Book Database*
WRLC Libraries Digital and Special Collections: Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact Note: List of contributors is not comprehensive.
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