Superhero Anydays
Yesterday, The Comic Book Industry lost another one of their titans: Ramona Fradon. She was 97.
She was not only a titan of the industry but a trailblazer as well. She was one of the very, very few females working in the industries. And this was back in the 1950s and 60s, when women just did not work outside the home, unless they were secretaries or teachers. I unfortunately don't know enough about her past to know how she broke into the industry or what it was like behind the scenes for her. But I know she drew Aquaman in the 60s and she helped co-create the hero Metamorpho.
I knew her work personally from my own youth from the Super Friends comic books in the 70s. I watched the cartoon on Saturday mornings, and was at the time getting Archie and Scooby Doo comics, as well as picking up a random superhero book now and again. But when I saw the comic books, I started picking them up too. This was the first Super Friends comic books I ever got, #5, from 1976. (I later managed to get 1 through 4, and ended up collecting the entire 47 issue run over the 5 years it was published). And it was drawn for most of that run by Ramona Fradon.
Her work always struck me a lil cartoony, which worked perfectly for the Super Friends. But I don't mean to suggest her work was childish, it was just not 'realistic' like say Byrne or Perez. And I don't mean to diminish her or her work by calling it that. She truly was, as I've said, a trailblazer, a titan and an icon.
This is her version of the Metal Men.
And this is a bunch of different heroes.
Aquaman, Metamorpho, Batman, Robin, Plastic Man, Aqualad, Superman, Wonder Woman.
Aquaman, Metamorpho, Batman, Robin, Plastic Man, Aqualad, Superman, Wonder Woman.
Rest In Power, Ramona Fradon.
POLT
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