Frank Thomas (comics)

Frank Thomas (1914 - date of death unknown) was a Golden Age American cartoonist who worked primarily for Centaur Publications, where he created The Eye, Chuck Hardy, Dr. Hypno, and Solarman (no relation to the Marvel Comics superhero of the same name). Later in his career, he would go on to work on several Dell titles, including The Owl, Billy and Bonnie Bee, Buddies and scripts for Andy Panda, Little Lulu, Woody Woodpecker and Little Scouts). Also in the 1940s, he made the Dinky Doyle daily. In the following decade, he did the Going West strip (1951-54), as well as Hossface Hank (Al Smith Service, 1955-64). Between 1955 and 1965 he was ghost artist on Henning Dahl Mikkelsen's Ferd'nand strip.

Legacy

Despite his relatively brief career and obscure status as a creator, Frank Thomas's characters saw numerous revivals in the years and decades that followed his retirement from the field. In the 1960s, Gold Key Comics revived The Owl and Owl Girl, inspired by the success of the "Batman" TV series. The two issues of Gold Key’s "The Owl" — in which the duo was shown in campy, self-parodying stories — came out in April, 1967, and April, 1968. http://www.toonopedia.com/owl.htm] In the 1970s, The Owl appeared in issue #22 of Gold Key’s "The Occult Files of Doctor Spektor". [ [http://www.comics-db.com/comic-book/1111110-Occult_Files_Of_Dr_Spektor_22.html Big Comic Book Database: Occult Files of Dr. Spektor #22] ]

In 1999, The Owl appeared in issue #17 of the AC Comics title "Men of Mystery Comics". [comicbookdb|type=issue|id=70310|title=Men of Mystery Comics #17] Most recently, The Owl is one of many public domain characters to appear in Dynamite Entertainment’s 2008 miniseries "Project Superpowers". [comicbookdb|type=team|id=1317|title=Superpowers (team)]

His Eye character also saw a brief revival in the early 1990s as a supporting character in Malibu Comics' Protectors series.

References

Outside links

* [http://lambiek.net/artists/t/thomas_frank.htm Frank Thomas at Comiclopedia]