Comic book artist Jack Keller died yesterday at the age of 80. Keller was born June 16, 1922 and got into comics in 1941 when he wrote and drew a strip called "The Whistler" (no relation to the radio show of the same name) for Dell Comics. He soon joined the art crew at Quality Comics where, among other assignments, he assisted Lou Fine on The Spirit (while Will Eisner was away in the service) and inked Blackhawk and other features. He later worked for Fawcett, Fiction House, Lev Gleason, Hillman and other houses, but he was best known for his two longest gigs. Commencing in 1950, he worked for Stan Lee at the company that came to be known as Marvel Comics. For them, he primarily drew westerns, most notably a long run on Kid Colt, Outlaw.
In 1955, he began working for Charlton Comics, both on westerns (Billy the Kid, among others) but mainly in his other area of expertise, which was auto racing. He drew and often wrote hundreds of stories for comics like Teenage Hotrodders, World of Wheels, Dragstrip Hotrodders, and Drag 'N Wheels. He retired from comics in 1973, but occasionally appeared at comic conventions near his home in Reading, Pennsylvania. I never had the pleasure of meeting him but fans who did report that he was a very nice man — one who was genuinely surprised and delighted that so many people had followed and enjoyed his work.