- Vincent Fago
Vincenzo Francisco Gennaro Di Fago (born
November 28 ,1914 ,Yonkers, New York ; diedJune 13 ,2002 ) was an Americancomic-book artist andwriter who served as interim editor ofTimely Comics , the Golden Age predecessor ofMarvel Comics , while editorStan Lee did hisWorld War II service.Fago headed the Timely "animator bullpen" — largely separate from the
superhero group producing comics featuring the Human Torch, theSub-Mariner andCaptain America . Creating suchmovie tie-in and originalfunny-animal comics as "Terrytoons Comics", "Mighty Mouse ", and "Animated Funny Comic-Tunes", this group includedErnie Hart ,David Gantz ,Chad Grothkopf , George Klein,Pauline Loth ,Jim Mooney ,Kin Platt ,Mike Sekowsky ,Moss Worthman a.k.a. Moe Worth, and futureMAD Magazine cartoonists Dave Berg andAl Jaffee .Biography
Early career
Starting as an assistant
animator forFleischer Studios inNew York City , Fago worked onPopeye ,Betty Boop andSuperman theatrical shorts and the features "Gulliver's Travels " (1939) and "Mr. Bug Goes to Town " (1941). Joining Timely in 1942, he brought an animator's dynamic sense of movement to such features as "Dinky" and "Frenchy Rabbit" in "Terrytoons Comics"; "Floop and Skilly Boo" in "Comedy Comics"; "Posty the Pelican Postman" in "Krazy Komics" and other titles; "Krazy Krow" in that character's eponymous comic; and, following other writers/artists, the features "Tubby an' Tack" and "Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal ". His older brother,Al Fago , was also a funny-animal cartoonist.Later career
During Lee's
U.S. Army service from 1942 to 1945, Fago, by now head of the "animator" bullpen, assumed the interim title of Editorial and Art Director, beginning on comics cover-dated March 1943. Sometime after Lee's return, Fago left to work in independent comic-book production and as a children's-book illustrator forGolden Press .In 1948, he took over the syndicated Sunday
comic strip "Peter Rabbit" (based "not" on theBeatrix Potter books but on a character from theThornton Burgess series that began with "The Adventures of Peter Cottontail"). Fago went on to illustrate more than 100 books in the Pendulum Illustrated Classics children's-book series, and later collaborated withmusician Julie Albright on The Rabbit Man Music Books, a series designed to teach childrenmusic theory .Other books include "Zhin or Zhen" (Charles Tuttle Publishing, 1972).
Fago spent his final years in
Bethel ,Vermont , with his wife, D'Ann, before dying of stomach cancer.References
* [http://www.comicartville.com/vincefago.htm Comicartville.com "Vincent Fago and the Timely Funny Animal Dept.," by Dr. Michael J. Vassallo]
* [http://www.twomorrows.com/alterego/articles/11fago.html "Alter Ego" Vol. 3, #11 (Nov. 2001): Vincent Fago interview]
* [http://www.graphicclassics.com/pgs/fago.htm Graphic Classics: Vincent Fago]
* [http://www.jimhillmedia.com/mb/articles/showarticle.php?ID=909 Jim Hill Media: "Speaking of Bunnies, How About 'A Rabbit's Tale'?" by Monique Pryor]
* [http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/ Social Security Death Index]
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