A high percentage of the comic books I've written over the years were drawn by a wonderful, talented man named Dan Spiegle. I was a fan of his usually-anonymous work for Dell and Gold Key Comics for years and when a nice editor up there asked me if I'd like to write a script that Dan Spiegle would draw, he got a "Yes" that should be in the Guinness Book of World Records under "Quickest Reponse Time." I was utterly delighted with what Dan did with that script of mine…and utterly delighted with what he did with the next one and the next one and the next one…
I don't know how many comics we did together but I'll swear to you on a stack of all of them: I was never disappointed with one thing he drew and he was never even a day late with one of them. Once, his magnificent wife Marie phoned to tell me Dan had the flu or something and couldn't get out of bed so the next job might be a day or two tardy. I've worked with artists where you were lucky if they were only two weeks late. I told her to tell Dan to stay in bed, not to worry, take it easy, we had plenty of time to get this one to the printer. Naturally, it came in a day early…and naturally, every panel of it was up to his usual high standard.
I miss those days. Dan is 92 and largely retired. He and Marie have now been married 66 years. She putters in the garden while he does commissioned drawings for his many fans. That's one above at right. Dan drew the Hopalong Cassidy newspaper strip for a while and is often asked to draw ol' Hoppy for someone. Or Space Family Robinson. Or Blackhawk. Or Maverick. Or Korak, Son of Tarzan. Or Crossfire. Or Scooby Doo. Or any of the hundreds of other characters he's depicted so well over a long, distinguished career.
What you see at above left is the cover of Dan Spiegle: A Life in Comic Art. It's a new, must-get book by Dan and co-author John Coates. I wrote the foreword and Sergio Aragonés wrote the afterword but never mind us. Why you should get a copy is because of all the fine Spiegle art and the lengthy interview and articles about Dan's life and craft. I would recommend to you anything Dan ever did, regardless of whether I worked on it with him. But I would especially recommend this book because it'll help you understand how a true master of comic art thinks…and why I just plain love the guy. Here's an online preview and here's where you order.