Jerry Robinson(1922-2011)
- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Art Department
Jerry Robinson was an American comic book artist from Trenton, New Jersey. He was one of the earliest creative staff of the "Batman" stories by DC Comics. Robinson is primarily remembered for co-creating two popular characters: Robin/Dick Grayson and the Joker. The first was the most prominent sidekick hero in comics, and the second was one of the most prominent super-villains. Robinson was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2004.
In 1922, Robinson was born in Trenton, New Jersey. Trenton briefly served as the capital of the United States in 1784. Robinson was born to a Jewish family. His father was entrepreneur Benjamin Robinson. Benjamin was from European Russia (the European regions of the Russian Empire). He had emigrated to the United States in 1895, primarily to avoid conscription into the Imperial Russian Army. Mae Robinson (Robinson's mother) was a bookkeeper from Lower Manhattan.
As a teenager, Robinson aspired to become a journalist. He studied journalism at Columbia University, but dropped out before earning a degree. In 1939, Robinson was hired by Bob Kane to serve as an assistant for his small artist studio. Kane had already created the Batman character, and needed help to produce more stories. His new job required Robinson to move to The Bronx, as he had to live in proximity to Kane's own residence.
Robinson started out as both a letterer and a background inker for the "Batman" stories. He was then entrusted with inking secondary figures in the stories. By 1940, Robinson became the Batman series' primary inker, while George Roussos served as the inker for the background art. To supplement their income, Robinson and Roussos also worked as inkers and background artists for the superhero comic series "Target and the Targeteers", published by Novelty Press.
In late 1940 or early 1941, Robinson became a company staffer for National Comics (a predecessor for DC Comics). National was the publisher for Batman, and reportedly wanted the exclusive services of the people who were working in the popular "Batman" series.
In 1940, Bob Kane and Bill Finger contemplated adding a sidekick figure to the Batman series. Robinson suggested code-naming the character "Robin", naming him after Robin Hood. Robinson had reportedly read several books about Robin Hood as a boy. The trio of co-creators worked on Robin's origin story. Robin/Dick Grayson was depicted as an orphaned circus performer who becomes the legal ward of Batman/Bruce Wayne. The boy sidekick soon became a popular character, and served as the main inspiration for the creation of several other sidekick characters during the Golden Age of Comic Books (c. 1938-1956).
Also in 1940, Kane, Finger, and Robinson created a new super-villain, the Joker. The character's appearance was modeled on the visual appearance of actor Conrad Veidt in the film, "The Man Who Laughs" (1928). In the film, Veidt was portraying Gwynplaine, a Victor Hugo character whose mouth has been mutilated into a perpetual grin. Like him, the Joker had a permanent mirthless smile. Robinson reportedly came up with the initial idea for creating the new villain, but Bob Kane claimed in interviews that it was Kane and Finger who had the idea to model the character on Veidt.
Robinson's other contributions to the "Batman" supporting cast was redesigning Batman's butler Alfred Pennyworth into a slender figure, and offering ideas for the design of the villain Two-Face/Harvey Dent. He is not credited with creating either of the two characters, but he had a hand in their development.
In 1943, Bob Kane stopped drawing new comic book stories for Batman, as he wanted to focus on the "Batman" newspaper comic strip. Robinson took over the artist duties for the Batman comic book stories, primarily sharing this role with Dick Sprang. They both served as ghost artists, with Kane continuing to be credited as the series' artist.
In 1944, Robinson created his own artist studio. His business partner was fellow comics artist Mort Meskin (1916-1995), who had worked extensively for Fiction House, MLJ Comics (later renamed to Archie Comics), and National Comics. The main customer of their small studio was Spark Publications (1944-1946), a Massachusetts-based company owned by pulp fiction writer Ken Crossen ( 1910 - 1981). Spark went bankrupt in 1946, due to a decline in its sales. Consequently, Robinson and Meskin shut down their own studio.
During the next several years, Robinson worked as a freelance artist, and as an illustrator for textbooks. In the 1950s, Robinson worked as a cover artist for "Playbill" (1884-), a monthly magazine whose main audience is theatergoers. He also started producing political cartoons for newspapers. In the 1960s, he started working primarily as a newspaper cartoonist. He was the only credited creator for the syndicated comic strip "True Classroom Flubs and Fluffs" (1965-1967), which humorously depicted real-life error perpetrated by American students.
In 1967, Robinson was elected as the new president of the National Cartoonists Society (1946-). It is an organization for professional cartoonists in the United States, though it works primarily as a way for cartoonists to socialize with each other, rather than a labor union. His term ended in 1969. From 1973 to 1975, Robinson served as the president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists.
In 1974, Robinson published the non-fiction book "The Comics". It was a comprehensive guide the history of newspaper comic strips. In the mid-1970s, Robinson championed creator rights for comic book creators. He was one of the leaders of a campaign that demanded full recognition and compensation of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster as the creators of Superman. In 1975, DC Comics agreed to grant lifetime stipends and a credit in all broadcast and published Superman work to Siegel and Shuster.
In 1978, Robinson established "CartoonArts International", a New York City-based cartooning newspaper syndication service which distributes political and humor cartoons, caricatures, and graphics internationally. By the 2010s, the syndication service represented about 550 artists from 75 different countries.
In 1999, Robinson co-created the manga series "Astra", working with artists Shojin Tanaka and Ken-ichi Oishi. Originally published in Japanese, the series was translated and published in English by an imprint of Central Park Media (1990-2009). It was Robinson's first comic-book related work in decades.
In May 2007, Robinson was hired as a creative consultant for DC Comics. The extent of his duties to the company was left undefined in its press release. In December 2011, Robinson died in his sleep in Staten Island. He was 89-years-old. He was survived by his wife Gro Bagn and two of their children. His legacy endures as his comic book creations remain popular.
In 1922, Robinson was born in Trenton, New Jersey. Trenton briefly served as the capital of the United States in 1784. Robinson was born to a Jewish family. His father was entrepreneur Benjamin Robinson. Benjamin was from European Russia (the European regions of the Russian Empire). He had emigrated to the United States in 1895, primarily to avoid conscription into the Imperial Russian Army. Mae Robinson (Robinson's mother) was a bookkeeper from Lower Manhattan.
As a teenager, Robinson aspired to become a journalist. He studied journalism at Columbia University, but dropped out before earning a degree. In 1939, Robinson was hired by Bob Kane to serve as an assistant for his small artist studio. Kane had already created the Batman character, and needed help to produce more stories. His new job required Robinson to move to The Bronx, as he had to live in proximity to Kane's own residence.
Robinson started out as both a letterer and a background inker for the "Batman" stories. He was then entrusted with inking secondary figures in the stories. By 1940, Robinson became the Batman series' primary inker, while George Roussos served as the inker for the background art. To supplement their income, Robinson and Roussos also worked as inkers and background artists for the superhero comic series "Target and the Targeteers", published by Novelty Press.
In late 1940 or early 1941, Robinson became a company staffer for National Comics (a predecessor for DC Comics). National was the publisher for Batman, and reportedly wanted the exclusive services of the people who were working in the popular "Batman" series.
In 1940, Bob Kane and Bill Finger contemplated adding a sidekick figure to the Batman series. Robinson suggested code-naming the character "Robin", naming him after Robin Hood. Robinson had reportedly read several books about Robin Hood as a boy. The trio of co-creators worked on Robin's origin story. Robin/Dick Grayson was depicted as an orphaned circus performer who becomes the legal ward of Batman/Bruce Wayne. The boy sidekick soon became a popular character, and served as the main inspiration for the creation of several other sidekick characters during the Golden Age of Comic Books (c. 1938-1956).
Also in 1940, Kane, Finger, and Robinson created a new super-villain, the Joker. The character's appearance was modeled on the visual appearance of actor Conrad Veidt in the film, "The Man Who Laughs" (1928). In the film, Veidt was portraying Gwynplaine, a Victor Hugo character whose mouth has been mutilated into a perpetual grin. Like him, the Joker had a permanent mirthless smile. Robinson reportedly came up with the initial idea for creating the new villain, but Bob Kane claimed in interviews that it was Kane and Finger who had the idea to model the character on Veidt.
Robinson's other contributions to the "Batman" supporting cast was redesigning Batman's butler Alfred Pennyworth into a slender figure, and offering ideas for the design of the villain Two-Face/Harvey Dent. He is not credited with creating either of the two characters, but he had a hand in their development.
In 1943, Bob Kane stopped drawing new comic book stories for Batman, as he wanted to focus on the "Batman" newspaper comic strip. Robinson took over the artist duties for the Batman comic book stories, primarily sharing this role with Dick Sprang. They both served as ghost artists, with Kane continuing to be credited as the series' artist.
In 1944, Robinson created his own artist studio. His business partner was fellow comics artist Mort Meskin (1916-1995), who had worked extensively for Fiction House, MLJ Comics (later renamed to Archie Comics), and National Comics. The main customer of their small studio was Spark Publications (1944-1946), a Massachusetts-based company owned by pulp fiction writer Ken Crossen ( 1910 - 1981). Spark went bankrupt in 1946, due to a decline in its sales. Consequently, Robinson and Meskin shut down their own studio.
During the next several years, Robinson worked as a freelance artist, and as an illustrator for textbooks. In the 1950s, Robinson worked as a cover artist for "Playbill" (1884-), a monthly magazine whose main audience is theatergoers. He also started producing political cartoons for newspapers. In the 1960s, he started working primarily as a newspaper cartoonist. He was the only credited creator for the syndicated comic strip "True Classroom Flubs and Fluffs" (1965-1967), which humorously depicted real-life error perpetrated by American students.
In 1967, Robinson was elected as the new president of the National Cartoonists Society (1946-). It is an organization for professional cartoonists in the United States, though it works primarily as a way for cartoonists to socialize with each other, rather than a labor union. His term ended in 1969. From 1973 to 1975, Robinson served as the president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists.
In 1974, Robinson published the non-fiction book "The Comics". It was a comprehensive guide the history of newspaper comic strips. In the mid-1970s, Robinson championed creator rights for comic book creators. He was one of the leaders of a campaign that demanded full recognition and compensation of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster as the creators of Superman. In 1975, DC Comics agreed to grant lifetime stipends and a credit in all broadcast and published Superman work to Siegel and Shuster.
In 1978, Robinson established "CartoonArts International", a New York City-based cartooning newspaper syndication service which distributes political and humor cartoons, caricatures, and graphics internationally. By the 2010s, the syndication service represented about 550 artists from 75 different countries.
In 1999, Robinson co-created the manga series "Astra", working with artists Shojin Tanaka and Ken-ichi Oishi. Originally published in Japanese, the series was translated and published in English by an imprint of Central Park Media (1990-2009). It was Robinson's first comic-book related work in decades.
In May 2007, Robinson was hired as a creative consultant for DC Comics. The extent of his duties to the company was left undefined in its press release. In December 2011, Robinson died in his sleep in Staten Island. He was 89-years-old. He was survived by his wife Gro Bagn and two of their children. His legacy endures as his comic book creations remain popular.
