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Childhood
Walter Swartz was born in New York City to
Austrian Jewish parents. Walter's father, Jacob, had struggled after
immigrating to America but was eventually able to afford to buy his own
farm and move his family to Waverly. Walter, who was seven at the time
of the move, was not entirely thrilled with the change of location and
the inevitable change of pace that came with it.
The second to youngest in a family of seven
children, Walter had to compete to get any kind of attention from his
tired mother. He soon discovered that he had a knack for drawing and
began making portraits for his family and friends. This made him feel
special and unique. He had only one other sibling that enjoyed drawing,
and he and Aaron developed a very special bond that would last until
Aaron's death in 1954.
Bored with classes, Walter did not do well with
grades and dropped out after the first day of his fifth year. However,
he soon found that he was not satisfied with helping his father on the
farm either, so he ran away back to the city.
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The Early Years
Even from the low places in the city, Walter
couldn't help but notice the art scene that was growing out of New York
at the time. Guggenheim's museum taught Walter about expressionism,
impressionism, cubism, and dada, and soon he was working on artwork of
his own, which he sold on a street corner. It was while selling his
paintings that he met Diego Rivera, who hired Walter to help him with
his murals. This relationship did not last, but it did help gain him
some recognition in the community.
Floating between high class artistic gigs, set
painting for Broadway plays, and doing "in-betweener" work at the
Fleischer Studios for 'Popeye' cartoons, Walter found great difficulty
in defining exactly what type of artist he was. His style would become
very adaptable, which would allow for great variation in his later work
and would also contribute considerable confusion when deciding what work
could actually be attributed to Walter Swartz in the years to come.
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Young Walter in the band, the A Notes |
Golden Age
Walter Swartz's first comic books were, as was
the custom of the day, reprints of his comic strips. This is an area
for major debate, however, as at this time Walter was working as a
single panel cartoonist for society magazines and was writing his
sequential strips under various pseudonyms. As to which comics were his
and which he would later claim to be his only after the actual authors
and artists were not around to dispute his claims is a great source for
speculation among the elite. At any rate, it is known that he was not
new to the industry when DC comics arrived on the scene and bought the
rights to several of Swartz's characters.
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By the late 1930's, Walter had realized that he
could make a rather decent living in comic books, and he ditched his
alternate egos, for the most part. The first character that can be
directly linked to him is also his most well-known. Atlas, the man with
the weight of the world on his shoulders, was one of the first superhero
characters ever, and despite Atlas's drastic changes from decade to
decade, he has endured to this day, though not nearly as popularly as in
the past.
During the war, having not been accepted into the
army due to an inner-ear trauma, Walter's work flourished. He had some
of the most productive years of his career, creating characters like
Johnny Reb, Banner Waver, Chief Screechingeagle, and "Japkiller"
McHenry.
In the years following World War II, when superhero
books began to lose favor among readers, Walter once again adapted,
working in various mediums. He created funny animal characters like
Fruitcake Ferret, Loony Lark, Susie Snail, and the hopping buzzard
brothers. He worked in Western lore, telling unusual stories about
famous Western outlaws. He wrote in the horror and crime genres as
well, borrowing himself out to other companies, such as EC Comics. He
also contributed to some of the comic book industry's most shameful
characters, Bonenose Spearchucker and Ima Lazymexican.
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Original Atlas character design (late 1939)
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In 1956, Dr. Frederick Wortham published his famous
book, "Seduction of the Innocent", in which he blamed comic books for
the decline in morals among the youth of America, pointing a finger at
Batman's relationship with Robin and Wonder Woman's relationship with
rope. Walter's reaction was one of direct hostility. It is commonly
believed that on May 17, 1957, upon finding that Dr. Wortham was eating
at the same cafe, Walter took a double shot of whiskey, winked at his
female companion, walked briskly across the room, asked Dr. Wortham if
he was enjoying his meal, and then promptly swatted him across the face
with a sock full of nickels.
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Walter and his wife Mary |
Silver Age
Bringing Atlas back from the murky depths of
silliness, Walter paved the way for the resurgence in superhero
popularity. The story arc that showed Atlas as a darker, more
mysterious figure was viewed at the time with the same reverence as
current day fans look to "Watchmen" and "The Dark Knight Returns."
Of course, the fame did not take long to get to Walter's head, and soon
he was spewing more super powered figures than memory can serve to
recall. Dr. Mercury, Oceanus, Black Midnight, Skip Thrillseeker,
Gamma Radiationman, Captain Justice and the Judicial Twins,
Elephantwoman, Ra, The Fearless Foursome, Cape and Cowl Commandos,
Mutant Babies from the Seventh Dimension, and Johnny Reb, who he brought
back from the dead.
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Partial Retirement
Although Walter Swartz retired as one of the most
prolific figures in the industry, he refused to stay out of the
business, acting as a consultant to anyone who cared to ask for his
help. His impact remains today, perhaps just as strong as ever.
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Walter consults with his great grand
daughter |
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