Ross Andru

Ross Andru
Andru in 1977
Born	June 15, 1925(1925-06-15)
Died	November 9, 1993(1993-11-09) (aged 68)
Nationality	American
Area(s)	Penciller, Inker, Editor
Notable works	Amazing Spider-Man Flash Metal Men Superman vs. Spider-Man Wonder Woman

Ross Andru (June 15, 1925^[1] – November 9, 1993) was an American comic book artist and editor. He is best known for his work on Amazing Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, Flash and Metal Men.

His most frequent collaborator was inker Mike Esposito, as the two worked together on various projects over a span of four decades. Working with Esposito, Andru was the co-founder of his own comic book company, MR Publications in 1951 and dipped his hand into self-publishing two times after that with the companies MikeRoss in 1953 and Klevart Enterprizes in 1970. Among the titles published were Get Lost, Mr. Mistery and 3D Love. Another venture into self-publishing, in 1990, failed before funding could be found.

Biography

Early career

Andru's first professional comic book work was for the Tarzan newspaper strip in 1948.

DC Comics

In the 1950s and early 1960s Andru worked primarily on DC's war comics, contributing material regularly to titles such as All-American Men of War (1953–1964), G.I. Combat (1957), Our Army at War (1953), Our Fighting Forces (1955) and Star Spangled War Stories (1954–1966).

Andru began a nine-year run on Wonder Woman, starting with issue #98 (May 1958), where he and writer Robert Kanigher reinvented the character, introducing the Silver Age version and her supporting cast.^[2][3]

Andru and Kanigher had several other notable collaborations. The "Gunner and Sarge" feature introduced in All-American Men of War #67 (March 1959) was one of the first war comics to feature recurring characters.^[4] Andru drew an early appearance of Kanigher's Sgt. Rock character in Our Army at War #81 (April 1959)^[5] The creative team co-created the original version of the Suicide Squad in The Brave and the Bold #25 (September 1959).^[6] Another innovation was the melding of war comics with science-fiction in "The War that Time Forgot", a feature created by Kanigher and Andru in Star Spangled War Stories #90 (May 1960).^[7] The Kanigher-Andru pairing co-created the Metal Men in Showcase #37 (March–April 1962).^[8]

In 1967, Andru left Wonder Woman to become the penciler on The Flash starting with issue #175 (December 1967). This issue featured the second race between the Flash and Superman, two characters known for their super-speed powers.^[9] Other super-hero work by Andru included runs on Rip Hunter, Time Master (1961) and the Sea Devils.

Reuniting with Kanigher, Andru co-created the "Rose & The Thorn" back up feature in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #105 (October 1970).^[10]

Marvel Comics

Cover of The Amazing Spider-Man #136 pencilled by Andru.

In the early 1970s, Andru left DC for Marvel Comics. Initially he did short runs on such titles as Marvel Feature beginning in 1971, where he launched the Defenders; and Marvel Team-Up starting in 1972, where he drew Spider-Man teaming with various other Marvel characters. In 1973, he began his five-year stint as regular penciler on The Amazing Spider-Man, which at that point was Marvel's highest-selling monthly comic.

It was during that run that Andru and writer Gerry Conway introduced the Punisher, who was conceived as an antagonist for Spider-Man. The character has gone on to become a popular star of numerous comic books as well as three movies.

In 1976, Andru penciled the first large-scale comic book Intercompany crossover, Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, in a story written by Conway and co-published by Marvel and DC.^[11]

Return to DC

In 1978, Andru returned to DC to work as an editor, a position he held until 1986.^[12] During this period his art appeared mostly on the covers of such titles as Action Comics and Superman. Working with writer Marv Wolfman and collaborator Mike Esposito, he co-created the syndicated comic strip The Unexplained in 1979. Throughout the late 1970s and the 1980s, Andru and inker Dick Giordano were DC's primary cover artists, providing cover artwork for the Superman titles as well as covers for many of the other comics in the DC line at that time.^[13] In the 1980s he returned to interior work, on titles including Vigilante (1984), and Blue Beetle (1987–1988). Pandora Pann was a proposed series by Andru and writer Len Wein which was to have been published in 1982 but other commitments prevented Wein from writing it and the project was cancelled.^[14] Andru made a brief return to the Wonder Woman title, drawing six pages in issue #300 (Feb. 1983).^[15] The following year, Andru contributed to the 300th issue of World's Finest Comics as well.^[16]

Later life and career

His last work was for Archie Comics' Zen, Intergalactic Ninja in 1993, on which he was teamed once again with Mike Esposito. Andru died later that year.

In 2006 both Andru and Esposito were the subjects of a biography titled Andru and Esposito: Partners For Life, published by Hermes Press (ISBN 978-1932563849).

Ultimate Spider-Man homage

In Ultimate Spider-Man issue #87 (Feb. 2006), a "Ross Andru" has a cameo as the principal of Peter Parker's high school.

Bibliography

Comics work (interior pencil art) includes:

DC

• Action Comics (Superman) #362-366, 368, 391-392, 599; (Superboy) #393 (1968–70)
• Atari Force, #1-2, 4 (1982)
• Atari Force, vol. 2, #4-5 (1984)
• Batman #213 (1969), #409 (1987), Annual #12 (along with Pablo Marcos) (1988)
• Blue Beetle, #15-16, 19-22 (1987–88)
• The Brave and the Bold, #74-75, 77, 89-90 (1967–70); #199 (1983)
• Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! #1 (pencils by Scott Shaw, but Andru drew Superman figures) (1982)
• DC Challenge, limited series, #12 (4-pages, among other artists) (1986)
• DC Comics Presents #53 (Atari Force preview)(1983)
• DC Special Series (Superman) #26 (1981)
• Detective Comics #386 (Robin) (1969)
• The Flash, #175-194 (1967–70)
• House of Secrets #87 (1970)
• Heroes Against Hunger (2-pages only) (1986)
• Jonah Hex, (El Diablo) #48; (Jonah Hex) #57 (1981–82)
• Metal Men #1-29 (1963–68)
• New Teen Titans #27 (Atari Force preview)(1983)
• New Teen Titans: The President's Drug Awareness Campaign, public service comic (1983)
• Our Army at War #216, 220, 238, 243, 275, 280 (1970–75)
• Our Fighting Forces #124-125, 127-129 (1970–71)
• Showcase (Metal Men) #37-40 (1962)
• Superman, #204, 211, 216 (1968–69)
• Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #105 (with Art Saaf); (The Rose & The Thorn): #105-106, 108 (1970–71)
• Teen Titans Spotlight #3-6 (1986–87)
• The Unexpected #120, 147 (1970–73)
• Vigilante, #8-11, Annual #2 (1984)
• Weird War Tales #2-3, 6 (1971–72)
• Wonder Woman, #98-171 (1958–67), #300 (6-pages, among other artists) (1983)
• Wonder Woman, vol. 2, Annual #1 (7-pages, among other artists) (1988)
• World's Finest Comics #180-183, 185-187, 189-195 (1968–70); #296, 300 (1983–84)

Marvel

• The Amazing Spider-Man #125-131, 133-149, 151-153, 156-180, 182-185 (1973–78); Giant-Size #1-5 (1974–75)
• Creatures on the Loose #18 (1972)
• Doc Savage #1-7, Giant-Size #1 (1972–74)
• Fantastic Four #131, 145-146 (1972–74)
• Iron Man, (Ant-Man) #44 (1972)
• Kull the Conqueror #1 (1971)
• Marvel Feature (Defenders) #1-3 (1971–72)
• Marvel Super-Heroes (Spider-Man) #14
• Marvel Team-Up (Spider-Man) #1-3, 7, 9, 12, 15 (1972–73)
• Savage Tales (Shanna the She-Devil) #10 (1975)
• Shanna, the She-Devil #2-5 (1973)
• The Spectacular Spider-Man #6 (1977)
• Sub-Mariner #37-38 (1971)
• Uncanny X-Men, #36-37 (1967)
• What If (Nova) #15 (1979)

DC and Marvel together

• Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man (1976)

Notes

References

• Strickler, Dave. Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924-1995: The Complete Index. Cambria, CA: Comics Access, 1995. ISBN 0-9700077-0-1.

External links

• Ross Andru at the Comic Book DB
• Esposito, Mike & Best, Daniel. Partners For Life (Hermes Press, 2007) For additional online material about this book (interviews, scans), see Daniel Best's website