Джозеф П. Гилл: Комикс шеберінің өмірі мен шығармашылығы

Comic book writer and artist
the actor

Joseph P. Gill (July 13, 1919 – December 17, 2006) was an American magazine writer and highly prolific comic book scripter. Most of his work was for Charlton Comics, where he co created the superheroes Captain Atom, Peacemaker, and Judomaster, among others. Comics historians consider Gill a top contender as the comic book field's most prolific writer. Per historian and columnist Mark Evanier, Gill "wrote a staggering number of comics. There are a half dozen guys in his category. If someone came back and said he was the most prolific ever, no one would be surprised." Gill is reportedly among the writers who scripted Captain America for Timely following the departure of character creators Joe Simon and Jack Kirby in late 1941. Around this time, Gill met future hardboiled detective novelist Mickey Spillane, a lifelong friend, who also began writing for Funnies, Inc. Following military service in World War II as a U. S. Navy radio operator – in which according to family lore Gill's ship was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine and Gill's signaling for help amid the sinking led to the rescue of many hands. Spillane and Ray Gill insisted Joe go into freelance writing with them. When superheroes fell out of favor in the post war years, Gill began scripting teen humor, Western and other genre comics for Timely. Following an industry downturn around 1948, he eventually found his way to the low budget comic book publisher Charlton Comics, based in Derby, Connecticut.

At Charlton, beginning in the early 1950s, Gill became the company's primary staff writer for the next thirty years. He was known for his speed, often finishing a full length comics script in a day and writing as much as an estimated 100 to 125 pages a week across a number of genres, from crime fiction to science fiction, romance to war stories. The character would eventually become a stalwart of the DC stable, as would Blue Beetle, an old Fox Comics superhero revived by Gill and artists Bill Fraccio and Tony Tallarico as a campy, comedic character in Blue Beetle #1 (June 1964). In 1967, Charlton editor Dick Giordano introduced the company's "Action Hero" superhero line, with new characters that included Gill and artist Pat Boyette's The Peacemaker as well as Gill and company art director Frank McLaughlin's Judomaster. In other areas, he collaborated with Ditko on the giant ape series Konga and on the movie spinoff series Gorgo.