Al Plastino

American comic artist

Alfred John Plastino and raised in The Bronx, Plastino was interested in art since grade school. and afterward began illustrating for Youth Today magazine. He was accepted into the college Cooper Union but chose to continue working as a freelance artist. Before the war, Plastino inked some issues of Captain America Comics. With the outbreak of World War II, Plastino and his brothers were drafted, and he served in the U. S. Army. There, a sketch he had made for a model airplane he had designed Now settled in the comic book field, he largely dropped other commercial work for two decades. Early on at DC, Plastino was forced to copy Wayne Boring's style but gradually began using his own style. He did 48 He drew the Lois Lane feature in Showcase #9 (Aug. 1957) which served as a tryout for the character's own series. Plastino worked on several titles within the Superman family of comics, including Superboy and Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane. Plastino drew the Superboy story in Adventure Comics #247 (April 1958) that introduced the Legion of Super Heroes, a teen superhero team from the future that eventually became one of DC's most popular features; with writer Otto Binder, Plastino co created the first Legion characters, Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad (as Lightning Boy) and Saturn Girl. The two men co created Supergirl in Action Comics #252 (May 1959). Plastino drew the first appearance of the supervillain the Parasite in Action Comics #340 (Aug. 1966). Plastino's "greatest pride"' The piece was done in collaboration with the Kennedy administration to help promote the president's national physical fitness program. In the story, Superman visits the White House, and trusts President John F. Kennedy with his secret identity. The story was produced shortly before Kennedy was assassinated, which led to the cancellation of its publication. At the behest of President Lyndon B. Johnson, it was published two months later, in Superman #170 (June 1964), Plastino had always believed the artwork had been donated to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, but the artwork was placed on auction by a private entity in late 2013. DC Entertainment subsequently purchased the art and donated it to the Library. In the early 1970s, DC Comics, fearing Jack Kirby's versions of Superman and Jimmy Olsen were too different from their established representations, assigned Plastino (among other artists) to redraw those characters' heads in Kirby's various titles. In 1996, Plastino was one of the many artists who contributed to the Superman: The Wedding Album one shot wherein the title character married Lois Lane.

Plastino drew the syndicated Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder comic strip from March 17, 1968, to January 1, 1972 and was the uncredited ghost artist on the Superman strip from 1960 to 1966. In 1970, he took over the syndicated strip Ferd'nand, which he drew until his retirement in 1989. Plastino also worked on Sunday episodes of Nancy from 1982 to 1983 after Ernie Bushmiller died. but David Michaelis, author of Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography, revealed that syndicate president William C. Payette had hired Plastino to draw a backlog of Peanuts strips during contract negotiations with Schulz in the 1970s. When Schulz and the syndicate reached a successful agreement, United Media stored these unpublished strips, the existence of which eventually became public.

Plastino lived for many years in Shirley, New York, on Long Island. at Brookhaven Hospital in Patchogue, New York, he had been suffering from Guillain–Barré syndrome. He and his wife AnnMarie were married for 55 years. They had four children: Fred, Janice, Arlene, and the eldest, MaryAnn, who managed his business affairs.