One of the nicest men I've met in comics, Joe Giella, passed away peacefully yesterday at the age of 94. His career in comics started in or around 1945 and he worked for Hillman, Fawcett and Timely before settling in to a more-or-less steady stream of work for DC Comics in 1949. Readers knew him best for his work inking The Flash, Green Lantern and Batman in the sixties and he was the main artist on the Batman newspaper strip for years. His work was also seen on the newspaper strips of Flash Gordon, The Phantom and Mary Worth.
Joe was an all-around artist but editors more often gave him inking work…and he was not the kind of inker who'd trace the penciler's work slavishly. With his editors' permission (and sometimes without) he would interpret pencil art and add in or omit elements that the first artist drew. Some objected but his editors usually thought he'd improved the work so they always kept him busy. He was especially valuable in the sixties when DC wanted a more realistic look to art on Batman comics that Bob Kane allegedly drew. Sheldon Moldoff, who ghosted for Kane, couldn't give them the look they wanted when he penciled those stories. Joe supplied it in the inks.
He was a very reliable professional, so much so that he often helped other artists in deadline trouble. One can see Giella inking often in comics of the sixties that were officially inked by his buddy and neighbor, Frank Giacoia and others. And like I said, he was a very nice man. Condolences to his family. I was going to write "friends and family" but everyone who ever met Joe was his friend. What a fabulous career.