When I drew Clark Kent, on the other hand, I deliberately softened his features, made them less angular than Superman's. I wanted him to appear more meek. Just sort of a good Joe. I don't know if it worked, but that's what I was trying to do."
Douglas Curtis "Curt" Swan (February 17th, 1920 - June 17th, 1996) was an American comic-book artist who defined one of the icons of worldwide pop culture for several generations.
Born in Willmar, Minesotta, Curt was the youngest son of John Swan, a railroad man descendant of Swedish immigrants, and hospital worker Leotine Hanson.
A fan of Colliers and Saturday Evening Post illustrated stories since he was a kid, Swan showed a talent for drawing and illustrating already at his childhood. After graduating high school, Swan worked in the Sears Roebuck warehouse. When he turned eighteen, Swan joined the National Guard and was called to serve in the Army two years later.
In 1941, Swan was stationed at Fintone, where he received his first work as an artist. While illustrating a mural for the Red Cross Club, Swan met Dick Wingert, a cartoonist for army newspaper Stars and Stripes. Wingert encouraged Swan to contact Colonel Llewellyn, the newspaper's head, for a job. Soon after, Swan would be transferred to London and would serve as a staff artist. In late 1944, Swan was transferred to Paris, where he honed his abilities as an artist, and married Helene Brickley in 1945.
After the war, the Swan marriage returned to the USA. After a short stay in Minneapolis, the Swans moved to New York, where Curt hoped to find a job as an illustrator. After an interview with DC Comics -then National Comics- editor Whitney Ellsworth, Curt was given a script for a Boy Commandos story, formerly drawn by Jack Kirby. Swan was thrilled with his then-amazing 18$/page rate, but he thought the comic-book industry was dying and he would only work as a comic artist for one year.
Nonetheless, Curt Swan soon discovered that his well-paid work was a -literal and figurative- source of headaches: he had issues with his own drawing speed, his inker, and editor Mort Weisinger. Also, his and his wife's plans to buy a farmhouse in New Jersey prompted Curt Swan to voluntarily increase his workload. Curt took on almost anything which he was given, working 14-16 hours a day every day. Soon his health and home life started to suffer, and in 1951 he decided to quit DC and join an advertising studio. Unfortunately, and although he enjoyed his new work, his income shrank, and he went back to DC after one month.
Curt Swan penciled Superman for the first time in Superman #51 (1948), and the next year he started penciling the Superboy book from the fifth issue onwards. In 1952, Swan -who was already working on Superboy and Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen- was assigned to drawing Superman fill-in issues whenever regular artist Wayne Boring was too busy. In 1953, Weisinger wanted to put out a 3-D Superman book, Three-Dimension Adventures, and Wayne Boring, Al Plastino and Curt Swan took part in the project. Finally, in 1955, Curt became Superman's regular artist after a disagreement between Weisinger and Boring.
Curt Swan would define the look of Superman and his world for the next three decades. When Dennis O'Neil took over the Superman books in 1971, he knew he would have no issues with Swan: "Swan was the best, a quiet man and not much noticed and consequently underrated because he never caused a fuss; he simply delivered anything an editor asked for, met any challenge and did it with the reliability of the tides."
Unfortunately, by the early 80's Superman had become a poor-selling character, and DC was looking for scapegoats. They blamed Superman 's personality, supporting characters like Supergirl and Krypto the Superdog, the lore accumulated over forty years…and even the creative team. After drawing the final Pre-Crisis Superman story, Curt Swan was unceremoniously dumped by DC and replaced with the then-hottest artist in the business, John Byrne. During the next decade, Curt would continue to draw comics, but his assignments became fewer and fewer.
Curt Swan passed away on June 16, 1996. He was survived by his wife Helene and their three children, Karen, Cecilia and Christopher.
Comic-Book series and characters which Curt Swan worked on:
- Action Comics
- Adventure Comics
- All-Star Squadron
- Aquaman (1989)
- Arak: Son of Thunder
- Batgirl
- Batman
- Batman Family
- Boy Commandos
- Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew!
- DC Comics Presents
- Detective Comics
- The Fury of Firestorm
- Gang Busters
- Ghosts (1972)
- Hawk and Dove
- House of Mystery (1951)
- Justice League of America
- Legion of Super-Heroes
- M.A.S.K. (1987)
- Mr. District Attorney
- The Phantom Stranger
- The Power of Shazam
- Real Fact Comics
- Robin
- Secret Hearts
- Secret Origins
- Star-Spangled Comics
- Star Trek (DC Comics)
- Strange Adventures
- Superboy
- Supergirl
- Superman
- Superman (1939)
- Superman Family
- Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane
- Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen
- Swamp Thing
- Teen Titans
- Tommy Tomorrow
- The Witching Hour
- Wonder Woman (1987)
- World's Finest
Storylines illustrated by Curt Swan with their own tropes page:
- "Victory by Computer"
- The Amazing Story of Superman Red and Superman Blue
- The Condemned Legionnaires
- The Death of Superman (1961)
- The Day the Cheering Stopped
- From Eternia— With Death!
- The Great Phantom Peril
- The Immortal Superman
- The Krypton Chronicles
- Kryptonite Nevermore
- The Last Days of Superman
- Let My People Grow!
- The Life Story of Superman
- Luthor Unleashed
- A Mind-Switch in Time
- Must There Be a Superman?
- The Plague of the Antibiotic Man
- The Planet Eater Trilogy
- The Super Dog from Krypton
- The Supergirl-Batgirl Plot
- Superman: The Wedding Album (guest artist; he penned four pages which were published posthumously)
- Two for the Death of One
- Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?
- Who Took the Super out of Superman?
Tropes found in his work:
- Art Evolution: Curt Swan gradually shifted Superman's likeness from Wayne Boring's rough-looking elderly statesman to a vigorous man at his early thirties, eliminating his receding hairline, bulging his muscles out and making him more dynamic.
- Executive Meddling: Early on, Swan had frequent arguments with Weisinger, who constantly demanded changes. Eventually he decided he had to stand up to Weisinger. To his surprise, his actions earned Mort's respect.
- Identical Grandson: A lot of Superman's male ancestors such like his grandfather Jor-El or his lineage's founder Erok tend to look like him.
- Money, Dear Boy: Swan started and continued to work on comic-books because the pay rate was good, but he was not interested in them, and he would have preferred work as an advertising artist. This said, it made him happy the thought that little kids were enjoying his comics.
- Nice Guy: Swan endeavored to depict Superman as someone nice and friendly.
- Parody Assistance: Although Big Bang Comics were parodying his work, Swan drew a cover featuring two incarnations of Ultiman.
- Physical God: Curt Swan illustrated the -arguably- mightiest versions of Superman and Supergirl. Ironically, he thought the writers were writing themselves into a corner by making them so powerful.
- Trapped in TV Land: The Superman (1939) Annual #9 had a secondary story in which Swan fell asleep while drawing a comic and woke up in Metropolis. It was All Just a Dream, except that Curt found two bullets in his hand from when Superman stopped a crook. It is also the only Superman story written by Swan himself.
