Johnny Craig

Jonathan T. "Johnny" Craig (born April 25 1926, Pleasantville, New York; died September 13, 2001), a.k.a. Jay Taycee and F.C. Aljohn, was an American comic book artist best known for his work with the influential EC Comics line of the 1950s. He was inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 2005.

Biography

Johnny Craig studied at the Art Students League of New York. While attending classes, he worked as an assistant to Harry Lampert, co-creator of All-American Comics' Golden Age superhero the Flash. After Lampert was drafted to serve to World War II, All-American editor Sheldon Mayer kept Craig on as art-department assistant, giving him progressively more responsible art duties. Between 1943 and 1945, Craig served in the Merchant Marines and the U.S. Army.

EC Comics

Returning to comics after his discharge, he drew for EC Comics' "Moon Girl" and for that companies' crime and Western titles beginning in 1947. When he teamed with Al Feldstein, they used the pseudonym F.C. Aljohn.

Craig later brought a clean, crisp, naturalistic approach to EC's legendary horror series — "The Crypt of Terror", "The Vault of Horror" and "The Haunt of Fear" — plus "Crime SuspenStories" and "Two-Fisted Tales". Wally Wood once said Craig drew "the cleanest horror stories you ever saw". cite book | year=2005 | title=Foul Play|writer=Grant Geissman|page=60|publisher=Harper Collins| language=English ]

Unlike the majority of EC artists, Craig also scripted. He was responsible for the stories hosted by the Vault Keeper, and also drew that horror host in the framing sequences of stories by other EC illustrators. He eventually concentrated on "The Vault of Horror" and "Crime SuspensStories", doing the lead story in each of these bimonthly titles. A slow and meticulous artist, Craig would take a full month to complete a story, whereas other EC artists typically required a week.

Craig became the editor of "The Vault of Horror" early in 1954, giving up his work for "Crime SuspenStories" at that time. Later that year, he created the Vault Keeper's attractive assistant, Drusilla. After the EC horror books came to an end, Craig edited EC's "Extra!" in 1955, writing and drawing two stories in each bimonthly issue.

Craig's story "...And All Through the House" in "Vault of Horror" #35 (March 1954) was adapted for the Joan Collins segment of the 1972 omnibus film "Tales from the Crypt".Craig's many covers included that of the infamous "Crime SuspenStories" #22, shown during the 1950s Senate hearings on juvenile delinquency. U.S. Senator Estes Kefauver asked EC publisher Bill Gaines whether the cover, depicting an ax-wielding man holding a woman's severed head, was in good taste. Gaines responded, "Yes, sir, I do, for the cover of a horror comic" — a remark that became an oft-quoted example of comic books' ostensible depravity. [ [http://www.crimeboss.com/history03-1.html Crimeboss.com: "The Senate Investigation: Excerpt from "Seal of Approval: The History of the Comics Code"] ] Ironically, Craig was known as one of the more wholesome EC artists, frequently choosing to show the reactions of characters rather than the horrific event himself. cite book | year=2005 | title=Foul Play|writer=Grant Geissman|page=60|publisher=Harper Collins| language=English ]

Later career

After EC's collapse in the wake of the Kefauver Hearings, Craig worked briefly for Atlas Comics, the 1950s predecessor of Marvel Comics, then spent several successful years at an advertising agency in Pennsylvania, though he lamented that his responsibilities there prevented him from drawing much.cite book | year=2005 | title=Foul Play|writer=Grant Geissman|page=63|publisher=Harper Collins| language=English ] He returned to comics in the 1960s with art for ACG's "Unknown Worlds" and other titles.

His resurfacing prompted Warren Publishing editor Archie Goodwin to have Craig draw for Warren's magazines from 1966 to 1968, during which time Craig (who still worked in advertising) used the pseudonym Jay Taycee, a phonetic pronunciation of his initials. Freelancing for Marvel, he inked "Iron Man" and other titles, and at DC drew an issue (eventually heavily retouched) of "The Brave and the Bold", yet superheroes were not his forte. Goodwin recalled that, "Every so often, we'd try having him pencil an "Iron Man" or something,but it never worked out. He couldn't draw superheroes the way they wanted and he couldn't hit the deadlines of a monthly book". [ [http://www.povonline.com/cols/COL365.htm POV Online (column of October 12, 2001)] , by Mark Evanier] .

By the early 1980s, Craig stopped drawing for comics and semiretired, doing many oil paintings of EC-related subject matter until his death in 2001.

Legacy

Craig was posthumously inducted into the comic-book field's Will Eisner Hall of Fame on July 15, 2005, at Comic-Con International'.

Quotes

Pierce Askegren: "Craig was a meticulous craftsman and not a fast worker, but his stories are regarded as some of the best ever in comics. His art was relatively low-key and restrained, effectively staged and featured impeccable draftsmanship. The scripts he wrote tended to be literate and cerebral, and generally relied on solid construction and implacable internal logic, rather than on contrived snap endings. His horror work made more use of psychology and mood than of the supernatural, and his crime comics owned more to James M. Cain and Cornell Woolrich than to gangster movies". [ [http://www.sfwa.org/news/jcraig.htm The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America's "SF/F & Publishing News" (Sept. 21, 2001): Obituary] ]

Footnotes

References

* [http://www.lambiek.net/artists/c/craig.htm Lambiek Comiclopedia: Johnny Craig]
* [http://www.sfwa.org/news/jcraig.htm "SF/F & Publishing News" Sept. 21, 2001: Obituary]
* [http://www.comics.org/ The Grand Comics Database]
* [http://www.comictreadmill.com/CTMBlogarchives/2005/2005_Daily/2005_10/daily_2005_10_17.php "The Comic Treadmill": "The Brave and the Bold" 70-71, 73 (1967)"]

External links

* [http://www.hembeck.com/Covers/VaultofHorror35.htm Fred Hembeck on "The Vault of Horror" #35]
* [http://pictofiction.com/issues.html Pictofiction.com: A Tribute to EC's Picto-Fiction Magazines]