Arnold Drake
Encyclopedia
Arnold Drake was an American
comic book
writer
and screenwriter
best known for co-creating the DC Comics
characters Deadman
and the Doom Patrol
, and the Marvel Comics
characters the Guardians of the Galaxy, among others.
Drake was posthumously inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2008.
furniture dealer who died in June 1966 at his home in Forest Hills, Queens
, New York City
, New York
,, and Pearl Cohen. His eldest brother, Ervin Drake
, born Ervin Maurice Druckman, and the middle brother, Milton, both became notable songwriters.
At age 12, Drake contracted scarlet fever
, confining him to bed for a year, a time he spent drawing his own comic-strip creations. Years later, turning to writing, he studied journalism
at the University of Missouri
and later at New York University
.
Collaborating with co-writer Leslie Waller
(together using the pseudonym
Drake Waller) and artist Matt Baker, Drake wrote St. John Publications
' pioneering It Rhymes with Lust
, a proto-graphic novel
comics magazine sold on newsstands in 1950. At some unspecified point before or after this, he met a neighbor of one of his brothers: Bob Kane
, the credited creator of Batman
for one of DC Comics
' precursor companies. After collaborating with Drake on some projects, Kane introduced Drake to editors at DC.
Comic books during this time did not routinely list creator credits; historians have, however, pinpointed Drake's first DC work as the first seven pages of the eight-page Batman story "The Return of Mister Future" in Batman #98 (March 1956). Soon, Drake was scripting stories across a variety of genres for DC, from adventure drama ("Fireman Farrell
" in Showcase
#1, April 1956) to humor (1960s stories for the company's Bob Hope
and Jerry Lewis
comics) to mystery
and supernatural fiction
(the anthology series House of Mystery
) to science fiction
(the feature "Tommy Tomorrow
" in World's Finest Comics
#102, June 1959, and elsewhere, and the feature "Space Ranger
" in several issues of Tales of the Unexpected
, to give a sampling).
. Given the assignment on a Friday with a script due that Tuesday, Drake conceived of what would become the superhero team the Doom Patrol
, and turned to another DC writer, Bob Haney
, to co-plot and co-script the first adventure. Artist Bruno Premiani
designed the characters. Drake would subsequently script every Doom Patrol story, with Premiani drawing virtually all, from the team's debut in My Greatest Adventure #80 (June 1963) through the series retitling to The Doom Patrol with issue #86 (March 1964), to the final issue of its initial run, #121 (Oct. 1968).
Premiani and Boltinoff appeared as themselves in that final story, discussing the impending demise of the team, but Drake, who had included himself in the script as well, did not. In 1981, Drake said that DC publisher Irwin Donenfeld
had ordered him removed from the story because Drake by then had left to work at rival Marvel Comics
, following a dispute with Donenfeld over Drake's DC page rate. Drake said he consented to complete the script because of his friendship with Boltinoff. Comics historian Mark Evanier
believes that, additionally, Drake, among others, was "ousted" for being "a loud voice in a writers' revolt during which several of the firm's longtime freelancers were demanding health insurance, reprint fees and better pay."
By this time, Drake and artist Win Mortimer
had co-created DC's "Stanley and His Monster
", a whimsical feature about a 6-year-old boy and his large, tusked, pink-furred and hardly ferocious "pet", which debuted in the funny animal
comic The Fox and the Crow
#$95 (Jan. 1966). One comics historian hailed the feature as a precursor of Bill Waterson's comic strip
Calvin & Hobbes, "where a boy keeps company with a marvelous being, the very existence of which is unknown by any of his more worldly associates. Its most direct antecedent in comics is probably Crockett Johnson
's Barnaby
, where parents repeatedly interact with their son's supernatural friend even while denying the possibility of that being's existence."
With artist Carmine Infantino
, Drake had also co-created Deadman
, a murdered circus
trapeze artist whose ghost traverses the country seeking the unknown man who killed him. The feature debuted in Strange Adventures
#205 (Oct. 1967), with Drake additionally scripting the following issue's story, miscredited in several reprints as written by Jack Miller. The character would become a mainstay of the DC Universe
well into the 2000s.
As well for DC during this time, Drake's work included stories of the superhero Plastic Man
and the adventuring quartet the Challengers of the Unknown
.
Letterer
Clem Robins, who worked with him, wrote that Drake
, beginning with Captain Savage #5 (Aug. 1968), starring a World War II
Marines squadron; he would additionally script some later issues, plus a single issue of the WWII series Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
. Drake wrote the run of X-Men
#47-54 (Aug. 1968 - March 1969, co-writing his initial issue with Gary Friedrich
), which included two rare circumstance of stories drawn but not also written by the noted comics writer-artist Jim Steranko
. Drake as well wrote issues of the space-alien superhero
Captain Marvel
, stories for the superhero satire
comic Not Brand Echh
, and a story of the jungle lord Ka-Zar
. In Marvel Super-Heroes
#18 (Jan. 1969), Drake and artist Gene Colan
co-created the Guardians of the Galaxy, a far-future team of freedom-fighters gathered from different planets of our solar system
. The characters would star in a 62-issue series in the 1990s, and inspire a new team of that name in the 2000s.
By mid-1969, however, Drake had left Marvel. His next new comics work to be published came was a supernatural anthology story in Gold Key Comics
' Grimm's Ghost Stories #1 (Jan. 1972) — the first of many stories for that company, including for the series Boris Karloff
Tales of Mystery, and the licensed TV-series titles Dark Shadows
, Star Trek
, and Twilight Zone
, among others, including what comics historian Mark Evanier
called "a particularly long and delightful stint on Little Lulu
", beginning with issue #232 (May 1976). In 1973, he also began freelancing again for DC occasionally, writing stories for series as varied as Weird War Tales
and Supergirl
.
Beginning in 1977, Drake also contributed stories to several issues of Charlton Comics
' black-and-white satirical-humor
magazine, Sick
. The previous years he had contributed to all four issues of Starstream, a 68-page anthology series with cardboard covers that adapted classic science-fiction stories. That series was published by Whitman Comics, the rights-holder to several properties it licensed to Gold Key, and Drake would continue with Whitman when it began distributing Little Lulu and its other properties itself in 1980.
By 1981, Drake was executive director of the Veteran's Bedside Network, an organization through which actors, actresses and sound engineers would perform scripted material to entertain patients in Veterans Administration
hospitals in the New York City area. His last known original comics story for 20 years was the six-page "G.I. Samurai" in DC's G.I. Combat
#276 (April 1985). He resurfaced with the 12-page "Tripping Out!", illustrated by Luis Dominguez, in the mature-audience comics magazine Heavy Metal
vol. 26, #6 (Jan. 2003). This story was accompanied by a one-page biography of the two creators.
Drake would wrote the foreword, introduction, preface and afterword of DC's 2002 hardcover reprint collection The Doom Patrol Archives #1, as well as a five-page afterword, "The Graphic Novel
— And How It Grew", in Dark Horse Books
' March 2007 reprint of his and collaborators Leslie Waller
and Matt Baker
's pioneering, 1950 proto-graphic novel It Rhymes with Lust.
's Cabrini Medical Center
, he died of pneumonia and septic shock.
#205 with Carmine Infantino
), the 1967 Alley Award for Best New Strip ("Deadman
" with Carmine Infantino
in Strange Adventures
), and a 1999 Inkpot Award
.
In 2005, Drake received the first annual Bill Finger Award
for Excellence in Comics Writing. In 2008, he was posthumously inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame.
for the 1964 horror film
The Flesh Eaters
, which he also produced
. He also wrote the screenplay for "Who Killed Teddy Bear," a 1966 release starring Sal Mineo
and Juliet Prowse, as well as the title song for the 1970 film Il sont nus / '"We Are All Naked.
Drake also wrote lyrics for musicals, co-writing the book for G&S: or, The Oils of Araby(1980), with his brother, songwriter-composer Ervin Drake
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
best known for co-creating the DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
characters Deadman
Deadman
Deadman is a fictional character, a comic book superhero in the DC Comics universe. He first appeared in Strange Adventures #205 , and was created by Arnold Drake and Carmine Infantino.-Publication history:...
and the Doom Patrol
Doom Patrol
The Doom Patrol is a superhero team appearing in publications from DC Comics. The original Doom Patrol first appeared in My Greatest Adventure #80...
, and the Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
characters the Guardians of the Galaxy, among others.
Drake was posthumously inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2008.
Early life and career
Arnold Drake was the third child of Max Druckman, a ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
furniture dealer who died in June 1966 at his home in Forest Hills, Queens
Forest Hills, Queens
Forest Hills is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, United States.-Neighborhood:The neighborhood is home to upper-middle class residents, of whom the wealthier residents often live in the neighborhood's Forest Hills Gardens area...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
,, and Pearl Cohen. His eldest brother, Ervin Drake
Ervin Drake
Ervin Drake, born Ervin Maurice Druckman is an American songwriter whose works include such American Songbook standards as "It Was a Very Good Year". He has written in a variety of styles and his work has been recorded by musicians from all over the world in a multitude of styles...
, born Ervin Maurice Druckman, and the middle brother, Milton, both became notable songwriters.
At age 12, Drake contracted scarlet fever
Scarlet fever
Scarlet fever is a disease caused by exotoxin released by Streptococcus pyogenes. Once a major cause of death, it is now effectively treated with antibiotics...
, confining him to bed for a year, a time he spent drawing his own comic-strip creations. Years later, turning to writing, he studied journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
at the University of Missouri
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri System is a state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, five research and technology parks, and a publishing press. More than 64,000 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses...
and later at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
.
Collaborating with co-writer Leslie Waller
Leslie Waller
-Biography:He is a son of Ukrainian immigrants and was born in Chicago, Illinois. He suffered from amblyopia and poliomyelitis as a child, but graduated from Hyde Park High School by the age of 16...
(together using the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Drake Waller) and artist Matt Baker, Drake wrote St. John Publications
St. John Publications
St. John Publications was an American publisher of magazines and comic books. During its short existence , St. John's comic books established several industry firsts. Founded by Archer St. John , the firm was located in Manhattan at 545 Fifth Avenue. After the St...
' pioneering It Rhymes with Lust
It Rhymes with Lust
It Rhymes with Lust is a book, originally published in 1950, considered one of the most notable precursors of the graphic novel. Called a "picture novel" on the cover and published by the comic book and magazine company St...
, a proto-graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
comics magazine sold on newsstands in 1950. At some unspecified point before or after this, he met a neighbor of one of his brothers: Bob Kane
Bob Kane
Bob Kane was an American comic book artist and writer, credited as the creator of the DC Comics superhero Batman...
, the credited creator of Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
for one of DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
' precursor companies. After collaborating with Drake on some projects, Kane introduced Drake to editors at DC.
Comic books during this time did not routinely list creator credits; historians have, however, pinpointed Drake's first DC work as the first seven pages of the eight-page Batman story "The Return of Mister Future" in Batman #98 (March 1956). Soon, Drake was scripting stories across a variety of genres for DC, from adventure drama ("Fireman Farrell
Fireman Farrell
Fireman Farrell is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe. He first appeared in Showcase vol. 1, #1 . Farrell was created by writer Arnold Drake and artist John Prentice.-Fictional character background:...
" in Showcase
Showcase (comics)
Showcase has been the title of several comic anthology series published by DC Comics. The general theme of these series has been to feature new and minor characters as a way to gauge reader interest in them, without the difficulty and risk of featuring "untested" characters in their own ongoing...
#1, April 1956) to humor (1960s stories for the company's Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
and Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...
comics) to mystery
Mystery fiction
Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...
and supernatural fiction
Supernatural fiction
Supernatural fiction is a literary genre exploiting or requiring as plot devices or themes some contradictions of the commonplace natural world and materialist assumptions about it....
(the anthology series House of Mystery
House of Mystery
The House of Mystery is the name of several horror-mystery-suspense anthology comic book series. It had a companion series, House of Secrets.-Genesis:...
) to science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
(the feature "Tommy Tomorrow
Tommy Tomorrow
Tommy Tomorrow was a long-running science fiction hero published by DC Comics in several of their titles from 1947 to 1963. He first appeared in Real Fact Comics #6...
" in World's Finest Comics
World's Finest Comics
World's Finest Comics was an American comic book series published by DC Comics from 1941 to 1986. The series was initially titled World's Best Comics for its first issue; issue #2 switched to the more familiar name...
#102, June 1959, and elsewhere, and the feature "Space Ranger
Space Ranger
Space Ranger is a science fiction hero who was published by DC Comics in several of their 1950s and 1960s anthology titles. He first appeared in Showcase #15 , and was created by writers Edmond Hamilton and Gardner Fox, and artist Bob Brown...
" in several issues of Tales of the Unexpected
Tales of the Unexpected
Tales of the Unexpected may refer to:*Tales of the Unexpected , a 1950s-1960s comic book*Tales of the Unexpected , a collection of short stories by Roald Dahl...
, to give a sampling).
DC Comics creations
In 1963, editor Murray Boltinoff asked Drake to develop a feature to run in the anthology series My Greatest AdventureMy Greatest Adventure
My Greatest Adventure was a DC Comics comic book that began in 1955 and is best known as the original title for the superhero team, the Doom Patrol.-Publication history:...
. Given the assignment on a Friday with a script due that Tuesday, Drake conceived of what would become the superhero team the Doom Patrol
Doom Patrol
The Doom Patrol is a superhero team appearing in publications from DC Comics. The original Doom Patrol first appeared in My Greatest Adventure #80...
, and turned to another DC writer, Bob Haney
Bob Haney
Robert G. "Bob" Haney was a US comic book writer, best known for his work for DC Comics. He co-created the Teen Titans as well as characters such as Metamorpho, Eclipso, Cain, and the Super-Sons.- Early life and career :...
, to co-plot and co-script the first adventure. Artist Bruno Premiani
Bruno Premiani
Giordano Bruno Premiani , whose work is credited as Bruno Premiani, was an Italian illustrator known for his work for several American comic book publishers, particularly DC Comics...
designed the characters. Drake would subsequently script every Doom Patrol story, with Premiani drawing virtually all, from the team's debut in My Greatest Adventure #80 (June 1963) through the series retitling to The Doom Patrol with issue #86 (March 1964), to the final issue of its initial run, #121 (Oct. 1968).
Premiani and Boltinoff appeared as themselves in that final story, discussing the impending demise of the team, but Drake, who had included himself in the script as well, did not. In 1981, Drake said that DC publisher Irwin Donenfeld
Irwin Donenfeld
Irwin Donenfeld was an American comic book publishing executive for DC Comics. Donenfeld co-owned the firm from 1948 to 1967, holding the positions of Editorial Director and Executive Vice President...
had ordered him removed from the story because Drake by then had left to work at rival Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
, following a dispute with Donenfeld over Drake's DC page rate. Drake said he consented to complete the script because of his friendship with Boltinoff. Comics historian Mark Evanier
Mark Evanier
Mark Stephen Evanier is an American comic book and television writer, particularly known for his humor work. He is also known for his columns and blogs, and for his work as a historian and biographer of the comics industry, in particular his award-winning Jack Kirby biography, Kirby: King of...
believes that, additionally, Drake, among others, was "ousted" for being "a loud voice in a writers' revolt during which several of the firm's longtime freelancers were demanding health insurance, reprint fees and better pay."
By this time, Drake and artist Win Mortimer
Win Mortimer
James Winslow "Win" Mortimer was a comic book and comic strip artist best known as one of the major illustrators of the DC Comics superhero Superman...
had co-created DC's "Stanley and His Monster
Stanley and His Monster
Stanley and His Monster was an American comic-book humor feature and later series from DC Comics, about a boy who has a monster as his companion instead of a dog. Created by writer Arnold Drake and artist Winslow Mortimer as a backup feature the funny-animal comic The Fox and the Crow #95 Stanley...
", a whimsical feature about a 6-year-old boy and his large, tusked, pink-furred and hardly ferocious "pet", which debuted in the funny animal
Funny animal
Funny animal is a cartooning term for the genre of comics and animated cartoons in which the main characters are humanoid or talking animals, with anthropomorphic personality traits. The characters themselves may also be called funny animals...
comic The Fox and the Crow
The Fox and the Crow
The Fox and the Crow are a pair of anthropomorphic cartoon characters created by Frank Tashlin for the Screen Gems studio. The characters, the refined but gullible Fauntleroy Fox and the streetwise Crawford Crow, appeared in a series of animated short subjects released by Screen Gems through its...
#$95 (Jan. 1966). One comics historian hailed the feature as a precursor of Bill Waterson's comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
Calvin & Hobbes, "where a boy keeps company with a marvelous being, the very existence of which is unknown by any of his more worldly associates. Its most direct antecedent in comics is probably Crockett Johnson
Crockett Johnson
Crockett Johnson was the pen name of cartoonist and children's book illustrator David Johnson Leisk...
's Barnaby
Barnaby
Barnaby was a comic strip which began April 20, 1942 in the newspaper PM and was later syndicated in 64 American newspapers ....
, where parents repeatedly interact with their son's supernatural friend even while denying the possibility of that being's existence."
With artist Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino (born May 24, 1925, in Brooklyn, New York is an American comic book artist and editor who was a major force in the Silver Age of Comic Books...
, Drake had also co-created Deadman
Deadman
Deadman is a fictional character, a comic book superhero in the DC Comics universe. He first appeared in Strange Adventures #205 , and was created by Arnold Drake and Carmine Infantino.-Publication history:...
, a murdered circus
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
trapeze artist whose ghost traverses the country seeking the unknown man who killed him. The feature debuted in Strange Adventures
Strange Adventures
Strange Adventures was the title of several American comic books published by DC Comics, most notably a long-running science fiction anthology that began in 1950.-Original series:...
#205 (Oct. 1967), with Drake additionally scripting the following issue's story, miscredited in several reprints as written by Jack Miller. The character would become a mainstay of the DC Universe
DC Universe
The DC Universe is the shared universe where most of the comic stories published by DC Comics take place. The fictional characters Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are well-known superheroes from this universe. Note that in context, "DC Universe" is usually used to refer to the main DC continuity...
well into the 2000s.
As well for DC during this time, Drake's work included stories of the superhero Plastic Man
Plastic Man
Plastic Man is a fictional comic-book superhero originally published by Quality Comics and later acquired by DC Comics. Created by writer-artist Jack Cole, he first appeared in Police Comics #1 ....
and the adventuring quartet the Challengers of the Unknown
Challengers of the Unknown
The Challengers of the Unknown is a group of fictional characters in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Jack Kirby, or co-created with Dave Wood , this quartet of adventurers explored science fictional and apparent paranormal occurrences and faced fantastic menaces.Scripts for the first...
.
Letterer
Letterer
A letterer is a member of a team of comic book creators responsible for drawing the comic book's text. The letterer's use of typefaces, calligraphy, letter size, and layout all contribute to the impact of the comic. The letterer crafts the comic's "display lettering": the story title lettering and...
Clem Robins, who worked with him, wrote that Drake
Later comics work
In the late 1960s, Drake freelanced for Marvel ComicsMarvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
, beginning with Captain Savage #5 (Aug. 1968), starring a World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Marines squadron; he would additionally script some later issues, plus a single issue of the WWII series Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos are a fictional World War II unit in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, they first appeared in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1 . The main character, Sgt...
. Drake wrote the run of X-Men
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
#47-54 (Aug. 1968 - March 1969, co-writing his initial issue with Gary Friedrich
Gary Friedrich
Gary Friedrich . is an American comic book writer best known for his Silver Age stories for Marvel Comics' Sgt...
), which included two rare circumstance of stories drawn but not also written by the noted comics writer-artist Jim Steranko
Jim Steranko
James F. Steranko is an American graphic artist, comic book writer-artist-historian, magician, publisher and film production illustrator....
. Drake as well wrote issues of the space-alien superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
Captain Marvel
Captain Marvel (Marvel Comics)
Captain Marvel is the name of several fictional superheroes appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Most of these versions exist in Marvel's main shared universe, known as the Marvel Universe.- Publication history :...
, stories for the superhero satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
comic Not Brand Echh
Not Brand Echh
Not Brand Echh was a satiric comic book series published by Marvel Comics that parodied its own superhero stories as well as those of other comics publishers. Running for 13 issues , it included among its contributors such notable writers and artists as Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Gene Colan, Bill...
, and a story of the jungle lord Ka-Zar
Ka-Zar
Ka-Zar is the name of two jungle-dwelling comics fictional characters published in the United States. The first appeared in pulp magazines of the 1930s, and was adapted for his second iteration, as a comic book character for Timely Comics, the 1930s and 1940s predecessor of Marvel Comics...
. In Marvel Super-Heroes
Marvel Super-Heroes (comics)
Marvel Super-Heroes is the name of several comic book series and specials published by Marvel Comics.-Marvel Super-Heroes Special:The first was the one-shot Marvel Super-Heroes Special #1 , reprinting Daredevil #1 and The Avengers #2 Marvel Super-Heroes is the name of several comic book series and...
#18 (Jan. 1969), Drake and artist Gene Colan
Gene Colan
Eugene Jules "Gene" Colan was an American comic book artist best known for his work for Marvel Comics, where his signature titles include the superhero series, Daredevil, the cult-hit satiric series Howard the Duck, and The Tomb of Dracula, considered one of comics' classic horror series...
co-created the Guardians of the Galaxy, a far-future team of freedom-fighters gathered from different planets of our solar system
Solar System
The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
. The characters would star in a 62-issue series in the 1990s, and inspire a new team of that name in the 2000s.
By mid-1969, however, Drake had left Marvel. His next new comics work to be published came was a supernatural anthology story in Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984.-History:...
' Grimm's Ghost Stories #1 (Jan. 1972) — the first of many stories for that company, including for the series Boris Karloff
Boris Karloff
William Henry Pratt , better known by his stage name Boris Karloff, was an English actor.Karloff is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein , Bride of Frankenstein , and Son of Frankenstein...
Tales of Mystery, and the licensed TV-series titles Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows is a gothic soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966 to April 2, 1971. The show was created by Dan Curtis. The story bible, which was written by Art Wallace, does not mention any supernatural elements...
, Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
, and Twilight Zone
Twilight zone
-Television series and spinoffs:*The Twilight Zone, the anthology television series and its franchise:**The Twilight Zone , the 1959–1964 original television series***Twilight Zone: The Movie, a 1983 film based on the original series...
, among others, including what comics historian Mark Evanier
Mark Evanier
Mark Stephen Evanier is an American comic book and television writer, particularly known for his humor work. He is also known for his columns and blogs, and for his work as a historian and biographer of the comics industry, in particular his award-winning Jack Kirby biography, Kirby: King of...
called "a particularly long and delightful stint on Little Lulu
Little Lulu
"Little Lulu" is the nickname for Lulu Moppett, a comic strip character created in the mid-1930s by Marjorie Henderson Buell. The character debuted in The Saturday Evening Post on February 23, 1935 in a single panel, appearing as a flower girl at a wedding and strewing the aisle with banana peels...
", beginning with issue #232 (May 1976). In 1973, he also began freelancing again for DC occasionally, writing stories for series as varied as Weird War Tales
Weird War Tales
Weird War Tales was a war comic book title with supernatural overtones published by DC Comics which ran from September 1971 to June 1983.-Background:...
and Supergirl
Supergirl
Supergirl is a female counterpart to the DC Comics Superman. As his cousin, she shares his super powers and vulnerability to Kryptonite. She was created by writer Otto Binder and designed by artist Al Plastino in 1959. She first appeared in the Action Comics comic book series and later branched out...
.
Beginning in 1977, Drake also contributed stories to several issues of Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1946 to 1985, having begun under a different name in 1944. It was based in Derby, Connecticut...
' black-and-white satirical-humor
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
magazine, Sick
Sick (magazine)
Sick was a satirical-humor magazine published from 1960 to 1980, lasting 134 issues. It was created by comic-book writer-artist Joe Simon, who also edited the title until the late 1960s. Sick was published by Crestwood Publications until issue #62 , when it was taken over by Hewfred Publications...
. The previous years he had contributed to all four issues of Starstream, a 68-page anthology series with cardboard covers that adapted classic science-fiction stories. That series was published by Whitman Comics, the rights-holder to several properties it licensed to Gold Key, and Drake would continue with Whitman when it began distributing Little Lulu and its other properties itself in 1980.
By 1981, Drake was executive director of the Veteran's Bedside Network, an organization through which actors, actresses and sound engineers would perform scripted material to entertain patients in Veterans Administration
United States Department of Veterans Affairs
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is a government-run military veteran benefit system with Cabinet-level status. It is the United States government’s second largest department, after the United States Department of Defense...
hospitals in the New York City area. His last known original comics story for 20 years was the six-page "G.I. Samurai" in DC's G.I. Combat
G.I. Combat
G.I. Combat is a long-running comic book series published first by Quality Comics and later by National Periodical Publications, which was the primary company of those that evolved to become DC Comics.-Publication history:...
#276 (April 1985). He resurfaced with the 12-page "Tripping Out!", illustrated by Luis Dominguez, in the mature-audience comics magazine Heavy Metal
Heavy Metal (magazine)
Heavy Metal is an American science fiction and fantasy comics magazine, known primarily for its blend of dark fantasy/science fiction and erotica. In the mid-1970s, while publisher Leonard Mogel was in Paris to jump-start the French edition of National Lampoon, he discovered the French...
vol. 26, #6 (Jan. 2003). This story was accompanied by a one-page biography of the two creators.
Drake would wrote the foreword, introduction, preface and afterword of DC's 2002 hardcover reprint collection The Doom Patrol Archives #1, as well as a five-page afterword, "The Graphic Novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
— And How It Grew", in Dark Horse Books
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
' March 2007 reprint of his and collaborators Leslie Waller
Leslie Waller
-Biography:He is a son of Ukrainian immigrants and was born in Chicago, Illinois. He suffered from amblyopia and poliomyelitis as a child, but graduated from Hyde Park High School by the age of 16...
and Matt Baker
Matt Baker
Matthew James Baker is an English television presenter who co-hosts the Monday-Thursday editions of BBC One's The One Show and co-presents Countryfile on the same channel.-Early life:...
's pioneering, 1950 proto-graphic novel It Rhymes with Lust.
Death
Drake collapsed days after attending the February 23-25, 2007 New York Comic Book Convention despite having, organizers said, "a touch of pneumonia". Admitted to New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's Cabrini Medical Center
Cabrini Medical Center
Cabrini Medical Center of New York City was created in the late 20th century by a merger of two Manhattan hospitals. It closed in 2008 due to financial difficulties....
, he died of pneumonia and septic shock.
Awards
Drake received several awards for his comics work, including the 1967 Alley Award for Best Full-Length Story ("Who's Been Lying in My Grave?" in Strange AdventuresStrange Adventures
Strange Adventures was the title of several American comic books published by DC Comics, most notably a long-running science fiction anthology that began in 1950.-Original series:...
#205 with Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino (born May 24, 1925, in Brooklyn, New York is an American comic book artist and editor who was a major force in the Silver Age of Comic Books...
), the 1967 Alley Award for Best New Strip ("Deadman
Deadman
Deadman is a fictional character, a comic book superhero in the DC Comics universe. He first appeared in Strange Adventures #205 , and was created by Arnold Drake and Carmine Infantino.-Publication history:...
" with Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino (born May 24, 1925, in Brooklyn, New York is an American comic book artist and editor who was a major force in the Silver Age of Comic Books...
in Strange Adventures
Strange Adventures
Strange Adventures was the title of several American comic books published by DC Comics, most notably a long-running science fiction anthology that began in 1950.-Original series:...
), and a 1999 Inkpot Award
Inkpot Award
The Inkpot Award, bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International, is given to some of the professionals in comic book, comic strip, animation, science fiction, and related pop-culture fields, who are guests of that organization's yearly multigenre fan convention, commonly known as...
.
In 2005, Drake received the first annual Bill Finger Award
Bill Finger Award
The Bill Finger Award For Excellence In Comic Book Writing is an American award for comic book writers who were not sufficiently honored for their work in the medium. The awards committee, currently chaired by Mark Evanier, is charged each year with selecting two recipients, one living and one...
for Excellence in Comics Writing. In 2008, he was posthumously inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame.
Non-comics work
Drake wrote the screenplayScreenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
for the 1964 horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
The Flesh Eaters
The Flesh Eaters (film)
The Flesh Eaters is a 1964 American horror/science fiction thriller, directed on a low budget by Jack Curtis and edited by future filmmaker Radley Metzger...
, which he also produced
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
. He also wrote the screenplay for "Who Killed Teddy Bear," a 1966 release starring Sal Mineo
Sal Mineo
Salvatore "Sal" Mineo, Jr. , was an American film and theatre actor, best known for his performance as John "Plato" Crawford opposite James Dean in the film Rebel Without a Cause...
and Juliet Prowse, as well as the title song for the 1970 film Il sont nus / '"We Are All Naked.
Drake also wrote lyrics for musicals, co-writing the book for G&S: or, The Oils of Araby(1980), with his brother, songwriter-composer Ervin Drake
Ervin Drake
Ervin Drake, born Ervin Maurice Druckman is an American songwriter whose works include such American Songbook standards as "It Was a Very Good Year". He has written in a variety of styles and his work has been recorded by musicians from all over the world in a multitude of styles...
.