Bio:
Joe Orlando was an illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist. He was the Vice President of DC Comics for many years and also the Associate Publisher of Mad.
Arriving in the United States in 1929, he began drawing at an early age, attending art classes at a neighborhood boys' club when he was seven years old. He continued with those classes until he was 14, winning prizes annually in their competitions, including a John Wanamaker bronze medal. In 1941, he began attending the School of Industrial Art (later the High School of Art and Design), where he studied illustration. This school was a breeding ground for a number of comics artists, including Richard Bassford, Frank Giacoia, Larry Hama, Carmine Infantino, Rocke Mastroserio, Alex Toth and future comics letterer Gaspar Saladino. Infantino and Orlando remained close friends for decades. While Orlando was still a student, he drew his first published illustrations, scenes of Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper for a high-school textbook.
Upon graduation, the young Orlando entered the U.S. Army and was assigned to the Military Police, doing stockade guard duty, followed by 18 months in Europe. From Le Havre, France, he was sent to Antwerp, Belgium and then to Germany, where he stenciled boxcars and guarded strategic supplies for the occupation forces.
After his 1947 discharge, he returned to New York and began study at the Art Students League on the GI Bill. He entered the comic book field in 1949 when the packager Lloyd Jacquet assigned him to draw for the Catholic-oriented Treasure Chest. This was a "Chuck White" story that paid nine dollars a page for pencils and inks. At the Jacquet Studio he met the artist Tex Blaisdell, and the two teamed later on many projects.
In the early 1950s, he was an assistant to Wally Wood on stories for several publishers, including Fox, Youthful, Avon and EC Comics before becoming a regular staff artist with EC in the summer of 1951. He was earning $25 a page at EC, and shortly after his first EC stories under his own name were published that summer, he married his first wife, Gloria, in September 1951. His contributions to EC's Weird Fantasy earned him a ranking in Entertainment Weekly’s "Sci-Fi Top 100."
After EC, from 1956 to 1959, he drew Classics Illustrated adaptations, including Ben-Hur, A Tale of Two Cities and Rudyard Kipling's Kim. In addition to many contributions to EC's Mad (from 1960 to 1969), Orlando also scripted the Little Orphan Annie comic strip beginning in 1964. He did covers for Newsweek and New Times, and his work as an illustrator appeared in National Lampoon, children's books and numerous comic books. He also worked in toy design, packaging and advertising. Sales of Harold von Braunhut's Sea Monkeys escalated considerably after Orlando drew a series of unusual advertisements visualizing the creatures' enchanted and peaceful undersea kingdom.
For Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror-comics magazine Creepy, debuting in 1964, Orlando was not only an illustrator but also a story editor on early issues. In 1992, the short-lived live-action television show The Amazing Live Sea Monkeys used character designs originally drawn by Orlando for comic book ads of the Sea Monkeys.
After 16 years of freelancing, he was hired as a DC Comics editor in 1968, handling House of Mystery, Plop! and other titles such as Swamp Thing, The Witching Hour and Weird War Tales, eventually serving as DC's Vice President while guiding the company's Special Projects Department. Orlando had a long working association with the prolific letterer Ben Oda, roughing out display lettering effects which Oda would finish. At DC, during the 1990s, Orlando was pleased to discover that designer-typographer Rick Spanier, working on a Macintosh computer, could create polished Oda-like finishes of Orlando's roughs. These Orlando-Spanier collaborations were printed in DC's Superman Style Guide and other DC style guides.
During the 1980s, Orlando began teaching classes at the School of Visual Arts, continuing as an art instructor there for many years. After the death of Mad publisher William Gaines, Time Warner turned Mad over to DC Comics, and Orlando became the magazine's Associate Publisher in 1992, after having a short run on DC's The Phantom comic. Although he retired from DC in 1996, he nevertheless maintained an office at Mad where he worked on Mad cover concepts and other projects for the next two years. At the time of his death in 1998, he was survived by his wife, Karin, and four children, and his family requested donations be made to the Joe Orlando Scholarship Fund at the School of Visual Arts (209 E. 23 Street, New York, NY, 10010-3994). His artwork for EC Comics has been reprinted extensively in recent years by publisher Russ Cochran, and Cochran's reprint of EC's Picto-Fiction line, containing more Orlando illustrations, was published in 2006.
Orlando made an appearance in Alan Moore's Watchmen, as the illustrator of the fictional comic series Tales of the Black Freighter.
Date of Birth: April 4, 1927 Birthplace: Bari, Italy Date of death: December 23, 1998
#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12 #13 - 'Illustrated terror tales designed to plunge YOU into ultimate fright!!!' #14 - 'Illustrated horror awaits you on the haunted pages "Where Sorcery Lives!"' #15 - 'Monstrous menace from THE TERROR BEYOND TIME!' #17 - 'HAUNTED FEAR AND SHEER TERROR ILLUSTRATED!'
#14 - 'The Day That Vanished' #15 - 'Moment of Decision' #16 - 'Nightmare for an Astronaut' #17 - 'Mars Dead Or Alive' #19 - 'Crime-A-Day Town' #20 - 'The Plague' #22 - 'The Death Mask' #23 - 'The Human Pet'
#14 - 'The Day That Vanished' #15 - 'Moment of Decision' #16 - 'Nightmare for an Astronaut' #17 - 'Mars Dead Or Alive' #20 - 'The Plague' #22 - 'The Death Mask' #23 - 'The Human Pet'
#1 - 'Abel to Auron' #4 - 'Cadre to Chris KL-99' #10 - 'Gunner & Sarge to Hyena' #11 - 'Icicle to Jonni Thunder' #21 - 'Shrinking Violet to Starfinger'
#1 - 'The Lord of Sunset Boulevard' #2 - 'Son of Silverblade' #3 - 'The Bird Who Knew Too Much' #4 - 'The Ghost and Mr. Lord' #5 - 'When Blades Collide'
C-53 - 'Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer' C-54 - 'SUPERMAN vs. WONDER WOMAN' C-55 - 'Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes' C-60 - 'Rudolph's Summer Fun' C-62 - 'Superman The Movie'
#63 - 'The Death of Doctor Fate' #64 - 'Yesterday Begins Today!' #65 - 'The Master Plan Of Vandal Savage' #66 - 'Injustice Strikes Twice!' #67 - 'The Attack Of The Underlord!' #68 - 'Divided We Stand!' #69 - 'United We Fall!' #70 - 'A Parting Of The Ways!' #71 - 'The Deadliest Game in Town!' #72 - 'A Thorn By Any Other Name' #73 - 'Be It Ever So Deadly...' #74 - 'World On The Edge Of Ending'
#133 - 'Another Kind of Justice' #134 - 'Demolishment!' #135 - 'More Than Human!' #148 - 'The Night the Mob Stole Xmas!' #195 - 'Night of Blood!' #196 - 'The Two Faces of Midnight!'
#1 - 'The Sword and the Silent Scream' #2 - 'The Doom That Came to K'Dasha-Dheen' #3 - 'The Bloodspear' #4 - 'The Coming of N'Hglthss' #5 - 'Grimstone Quest' #6 - 'The Sunset Doom of Dhylka-Ryn' #7 - 'The People of the Maelstrom' #8 - 'Master of the Seventh Void' #9 - 'Long Die N'Hglthss!' #11 - 'Death at Darkmorn'
#1 - 'Hercules Unbound!' #2 - 'Unleash the Hounds of Hell' #3 - 'Within the Pit Below' #4 - 'This Savage Strength' #5 - 'War Among the Ruins' #6 - 'Even a God May Die!' #7 - 'To Slay a Legend!'
#1 - 'Vengeance for a Fallen Gladiator!' #2 - 'The Lair of the Parrot!' #3 - 'The Fugitive!' #4 - 'The Day of the Chameleon!' #5 - 'Welcome to Paradise' #6 - 'The Lawman' #7 - 'Son of the Apache' #11 - 'The Holdout!'
#145 - 'The Carnival of Souls!' #146 - 'Inner Mission!' #147 - 'Crisis in the 30th Century!' #159 - 'Crisis From Yesterday!' #183 - 'Where Have All The New Gods Gone?'
#1 - 'My World Begins In Yesterday' #2 - 'The International Dooms of Major Disaster' #3 - 'The Revenger' #4 - 'The Rage Of Yesterdays Lost!' #5 - 'The Tomorrow Thief'
#1 - 'Defeat The Dragon Curse ... Or Die!' #2 - 'The Man Who Died Three Times!' #3 - 'How Do You Know My Name?' #4 - 'There Is Laughter In Hell This Day!' #5 - 'The Devil's Playground!' #6 - 'No. 13 Thirteenth Street' #7 - 'The Curse!' #8 - 'Can You Survive a Journey to the Tomb of the Ice Giants?' #9 - 'Obeah Man' #10 - 'Death ... Call Not My Name!' #11 - 'Walk Not In The Desert's Sun ...' #12 - 'Marry Me - - Marry Death!' #13 - 'A Child Of Death!' #14 - 'The Man With No Heart!' #15 - 'The Iron Messiah!' #16 - 'Image In Wax' #17 - 'Like A Ghost From The Ashes' #18 - 'Home Is The Sailor' #19 - 'Return To The Tomb Of The Ice Giants' #20 - 'A Child Shall Lead Them' #21 - 'The Resurrection Of Johnny Glory' #26 - 'From Dust Thou Art...' #29 - 'The Devil Dolls Of Dr. Z' #30 - 'The Children's Crusade' #31 - 'Sacred Is The Monster Kang!' #32 - 'It Takes A Witch' #33 - 'Deadman's Bluff' #34 - 'A Death In The Family' #35 - 'The Demon Gate' #38 - 'The Curse of the Stalking Skull' #39 - 'Death Calls Twice For A Deadman' #40 - 'In The Kingdom Of The Blind' #41 - 'A Time For Endings'
#2 - 'The Night of the Spider' #3 - 'The Brain That Blacked Out The Bronx' #4 - 'Panic in the Dream Stream' #5 - 'The Invasion of the Frog Men!' #6 - 'The Plot to Destroy Washington D.C.!'
Aquaman - 'Secret Origin of Aquaman' Batman - 'Secret Origin of Batman' Flash - 'Secret Origin of Flash' Green Lantern - 'Secret Origin of Green Lantern' Hawkman - 'Secret Origin of Hawkman' Justice League of America - 'Secret Origin of the Justice League of America' Superman - 'Secret Origin of Superman' Wonder Woman - 'Secret Origin of Wonder Woman'
#5 - 'Death At Castle Dunbar' #6 - 'Midnight is Rapidly Approaching...' #7 - 'Panic!' #8 - 'The Young Man Who Cried... Werewolf' #9 - 'Rub a Witch the Wrong Way!' #10 - 'Castle Curse' #11 - 'The Monster of Death Island' #12 - 'A Very Cold Guy' #13 #14 #15
#25 - 'Isis...As In Crisis!' #26 - 'The Case Of The Kidnapped Congress' #27 - 'Fear In Philadelphia' #28 - 'The Return Of Black Adam' #29 - 'Ibac Meets Aunt Minerva' #30 - 'Captain Marvel Fights The Man of Steel' #31 - 'The Rainbow Squad'
#76 - 'Pheasant In Aspic' #77 - 'presents Angel and the Ape' #80 - 'Men Call Me The Phantom Stranger' #97 - 'Power Girl' #98 - 'When the Symbioship Strikes!' #99 - 'The Crater That Was Keystone City' #100 - 'There Shall Come a Gathering'
#2 - 'Trapped By the Super Foes!' #3 - 'The Cosmic Hit Man' #4 - 'Riddles and Rockets!' #5 - 'Telethon Treachery!' #6 - 'The Menace of the Menagerie Man!' #8 - 'The Mind Killers!' #13 (Whitman Edition) - 'The Mindless Immortal' #16 - 'The People Who Stole the Sky' #27 - 'The Spacemen Who Stole Atlantis' #39 #46
#311 - 'Plague Of The Antibiotic Man!' #314 - 'Before This Night Is Over, Superman Will Kill!' #315 - 'Good Evening, Superman I'm Clark Kent ... And You're Not!' #325 (Whitman Reprint) - 'The Super Sellout Of Metropolis!' #326 (Whitman Cover) - 'A Million Dollars A Minute!'
#149 - 'The Unseen Enemy!' #150 - 'A Bad Act To Follow!' #151 - 'Attack By The Locust Creatures!' #152 - 'The Double-Edged Sword' #153 - 'Murder In Metropolis!'
#1 - 'Dark Genesis!' #2 - 'The Man Who Wanted Forever' #3 - 'The Patchwork Man' #4 - 'Monster on the Moors!' #5 - 'The Last of the Ravenwind Witches!' #6 - 'A Clockwork Horror' #7 - 'Night of the Bat' #8 - 'A Lurker in Tunnel 13!' #9 - 'The Stalker From Beyond!' #10 - 'The Man Who Would Not Die!' #11 - 'The Conqueror Worms!' #12 - 'The Eternity Man' #13 - 'The Leviathan Conspiracy' #14 - 'The Tomorrow Children' #15 - 'The Soul-Spell of Father Bliss' #16 - 'Night of the Warring Dead' #17 - 'The Destiny Machine' #18 - 'Village of the Doomed' #19 - 'A Second Time to Die' #20 - 'The Mirror Monster' #21 - 'Requiem' #22 - 'The Solomon Plague' #23 - 'Rebirth and Nightmare' #24 - 'The Earth Below'
#250 - 'Tarzan The Untamed Part One' #251 - 'Jungle War' #252 - 'Life For A Life' #253 - 'A Death For A Death' #254 - 'Vengeance And Mercy' #255 - 'Death In The Sky Pt#6' #256 - 'The Final Quest' #257 - 'The Nightmare' #258 - 'The Renegades'
#44 - 'The Man Who Toppled the Titans' #47 - 'Trouble - Which Ryhmes with Double!' #49 - 'Raid of the Rocket-Rollers' #50 - 'The Coast-to-Coast Calamities!'
#12 - 'Promise To A Princess!' #13 - 'The Killer's Last Wish' #14 - 'Killers Die Alone' #15 - 'Wanted! El Diablo - Dead by the Gravedigger Gang' #16 - 'Vengeance Of The Ghost-Victims' #17 - 'The Hangin' Woman' #18 - 'The Hoax' #19 - 'Demon On My Trail' #20 - 'Blood Brothers' #21 - 'The Gunfighter' #22 - 'Showdown At Hard Times' #23 - 'The Point Pyrrhus Massacre!' #24 - 'The Point Pyrrhus Aftermath!' #25 - 'Showdown with the Dangling Man' #26 - 'Face-Off with the Gallagher Boys!' #27 - 'The Meadow Springs Crusade' #28 - 'Stagecoach to Oblivion' #29 - 'Breakout at Ford Charlotte' #30 - 'The Trial' #31 - 'Gunfight At Wolverine' #32 - 'Bigfoot's War' #33 - 'Day of the Tomahawk' #34 - 'Death of a Bounty Hunter' #35 - 'The Hangman' #36 - 'Bigfoot's Death Song!' #37 - 'Requiem For A Gunfighter' #38 - 'Claw of the Bear!' #39 - 'Scalphunter' #40 - 'The Mark Of A Warrior' #41 - 'The Black Seer Of Death Canyon' #42 - 'Death Stalk!' #43 - 'Feather For A Savage'