Bruno Premiani
Encyclopedia
Giordano Bruno Premiani (January 4, 1907 – August 17, 1984), whose work is credited as Bruno Premiani, was an Italian illustrator
known for his work for several American comic book
publishers, particularly DC Comics
. With writer Arnold Drake
, he co-created that company's superhero
team the Doom Patrol
.
Imperial Railway employee and an Italian mother, Bruno Premiani was born in Trieste
in what was then Austria-Hungary
but which had become part of Italy when Premiami studied at the city's arts and crafts high school from 1921 to 1925. He became a political cartoonist in his maturity, and was expelled from the country for his anti-Benito Mussolini
work. He emigrated to Argentina
in 1930, but where he worked for the Agencia Wisner advertising agency
and the daily newspaper
Crítica, for which he did the 1932-1940 educational comic section "Seen and Heard". Italy's Fascist government during this time kept track of Premiani's Critica work, and decreed he would be arrested if he returned to Italy. Premiani did return to attend his mother's funeral in 1950, years after the Fascist regime had toppled.
Through the 1940s, Premiani drew for such Argentine publications as Léoplan and the children's magazine Billiken
. In 1947, he began illustrating "Patoruzito Classics" comics-adaptations of literary works for comics artist Dante Quinterno
's 1945 Patoruzito comic book. However, as he had with Mussolini, Premiani similarly ran afoul of Juan Perón
.
, beginning as penciler-inker
of the four-page Gantry Daniels biography "The Sun-Born Mountain Man" in World's Finest Comics
#42 (October 1949). Comic book
creators were not routinely given credits during this era, and historians have tentatively identified Premiani art in a number of Prize Comics titles, starting with the eight-page "Love-Sick Weakling" in Western Love #2 (Oct. 1949).
For DC, Premiani penciled and generally also inked his own work for such features as "Johnny Peril" in All-Star Comics #52 (May 1950), and "Pow-Wow Smith, Indian Lawman" in Detective Comics
#163 (Sept. 1950). He then became regular artist for the American Revolution
-era frontiersman hero Tomahawk
after that character's feature in Star-Spangled Comics
was awarded its own title, beginning with Tomahawk #1 (Oct. 1950). Premiani published two more stories in Prize Comics' horror
title Black Magic
before devoting himself almost exclusively to Tomahawk, drawing the hero's six- to eight-page stories in all but two issues (#27, #30) in a run through issue #36 (Nov. 1955). He also drew Tomahawk stories in World's Finest Comics #73-75 & 79 (Dec. 1954 - April 1955 & Dec. 1955).
As well this decade, Premiani was the author of the illustrated book El Caballo, published in 1957, a source of information about the anatomy and history of the horse for artists.
With writer France Herron, Premiani co-created Cave Carson
, a spelunker
/geologist
adventurer, in The Brave and the Bold
#31 (Sept. 1960).
in 1963 and the Teen Titans in 1964, both series being cult favorites that have survived in one form or another, if sporadically, since their original creation for the DC Comics universe
. In the case of the former superhero
team, editor Murray Boltinoff had asked writer Arnold Drake
to develop a feature to run in the anthology series My Greatest Adventure
. Given the assignment on a Friday with a script due that Tuesday, Drake conceived what would become the Doom Patrol, and turned to another DC writer, Bob Haney
, to co-plot and co-script the first adventure. 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.
In 2001, Drake wrote of the search for a Doom Patrol illustrator, saying that Boltinoff's regular artists
Premiani drew proto-teamings of the as-yet-unnamed Teen Titans beginning with the Kid Flash
-Aqualad
-Robin
adventure "The Thousand-and-One Dooms of Mr. Twister" in The Brave and the Bold
#54 (July 1964).
Additionally, in the early 1960s, Premiani freeelanced for the Gilberton Company's Classics Illustrated, Classics Illustrated Special Issue, and World Around Us series. His major project was the painted cover and complete interior art for Classics Illustrated No. 156, The Conquest of Mexico (May 1960), based on Bernal Diaz del Castillo's eyewitness account of the fall of the Aztec empire. In addition, he contributed sections to two Special Issues, The Atomic Age (June 1960) and The United Nations (1964). Most of Premiani's work for Gilberton was for the educational World Around Us line, for which he provided chapters in The Crusades (December 1959), Festivals (January 1960), Great Scientists (February 1960), Communications (April 1960), Whaling (December 1960), and The Vikings (January 1961).
by Manuel García Ferré
. His last known original comics story was the three-and-a-half-page "Please Let Me Die", written by Dave Wood, in The Unexpected
#126 (Aug. 1971).
Premiani died in Argentina
, on August 17, 1984.
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
known for his work for several American comic book
American comic book
An American comic book is a small magazine originating in the United States and containing a narrative in the form of comics. Since 1975 the dimensions have standardized at 6 5/8" x 10 ¼" , down from 6 ¾" x 10 ¼" in the Silver Age, although larger formats appeared in the past...
publishers, particularly 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...
. With writer Arnold Drake
Arnold Drake
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....
, he co-created that company's 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 —...
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...
.
Early life and career
The son of a SlovenianSlovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
Imperial Railway employee and an Italian mother, Bruno Premiani was born in Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
in what was then Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
but which had become part of Italy when Premiami studied at the city's arts and crafts high school from 1921 to 1925. He became a political cartoonist in his maturity, and was expelled from the country for his anti-Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
work. He emigrated to Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
in 1930, but where he worked for the Agencia Wisner advertising agency
Advertising agency
An advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients. An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services...
and the daily newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
Crítica, for which he did the 1932-1940 educational comic section "Seen and Heard". Italy's Fascist government during this time kept track of Premiani's Critica work, and decreed he would be arrested if he returned to Italy. Premiani did return to attend his mother's funeral in 1950, years after the Fascist regime had toppled.
Through the 1940s, Premiani drew for such Argentine publications as Léoplan and the children's magazine Billiken
Billiken (magazine)
Billiken is a weekly children's magazine in Argentina, the oldest Spanish language magazine for young people. The magazine was founded in 1919 by Constancio C...
. In 1947, he began illustrating "Patoruzito Classics" comics-adaptations of literary works for comics artist Dante Quinterno
Dante Quinterno
Dante Quinterno was an Argentine comics artist, famous for being the creator of the Patoruzú, Isidoro Cañones and Patoruzito characters....
's 1945 Patoruzito comic book. However, as he had with Mussolini, Premiani similarly ran afoul of Juan Perón
Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine military officer, and politician. Perón was three times elected as President of Argentina though he only managed to serve one full term, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency...
.
DC Comics
Moving to the United States, where he lived from 1948 to 1952, Premiani found work with DC ComicsDC 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...
, beginning as penciler-inker
Inker
The inker is one of the two line artists in a traditional comic book or graphic novel. After a pencilled drawing is given to the inker, the inker uses black ink to produce refined outlines over the pencil lines...
of the four-page Gantry Daniels biography "The Sun-Born Mountain Man" 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...
#42 (October 1949). 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...
creators were not routinely given credits during this era, and historians have tentatively identified Premiani art in a number of Prize Comics titles, starting with the eight-page "Love-Sick Weakling" in Western Love #2 (Oct. 1949).
For DC, Premiani penciled and generally also inked his own work for such features as "Johnny Peril" in All-Star Comics #52 (May 1950), and "Pow-Wow Smith, Indian Lawman" in Detective Comics
Detective Comics
Detective Comics is an American comic book series published monthly by DC Comics since 1937, best known for introducing the iconic superhero Batman in Detective Comics #27 . It is, along with Action Comics, the book that launched with the debut of Superman, one of the medium's signature series, and...
#163 (Sept. 1950). He then became regular artist for the American Revolution
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
-era frontiersman hero Tomahawk
Tomahawk (comics)
Tomahawk is a comic book character whose adventures were published by DC Comics during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s as a backup feature in Star Spangled Comics and World's Finest Comics and in his own eponymous series...
after that character's feature in Star-Spangled Comics
Star-Spangled Comics
Star Spangled Comics was the title of a comic book series published by DC Comics which ran for 130 issues from 1941 through 1952. At that point it was retitled Star Spangled War Stories and lasted another 200+ issues until 1977.-Publication history:...
was awarded its own title, beginning with Tomahawk #1 (Oct. 1950). Premiani published two more stories in Prize Comics' horror
Horror comics
Horror comics are comic books, graphic novels, black-and-white comics magazines, and manga focusing on horror fiction. Horror comic books reached a peak in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, when concern over content and the imposition of the self-censorship Comics Code Authority contributed to...
title Black Magic
Black Magic (comics)
Black Magic was a horror anthology comic book series published by Prize Comics from 1950-1961. The series was notable for being packaged by the celebrated creative duo Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, and for its non-gory horror content....
before devoting himself almost exclusively to Tomahawk, drawing the hero's six- to eight-page stories in all but two issues (#27, #30) in a run through issue #36 (Nov. 1955). He also drew Tomahawk stories in World's Finest Comics #73-75 & 79 (Dec. 1954 - April 1955 & Dec. 1955).
As well this decade, Premiani was the author of the illustrated book El Caballo, published in 1957, a source of information about the anatomy and history of the horse for artists.
With writer France Herron, Premiani co-created Cave Carson
Cave Carson
Calvin "Cave" Carson is a fictional character that appeared in stories published by DC Comics. Carson, a spelunker, first appeared in Brave and the Bold #31 ; he was created by France Herron and Bruno Premiani.-Publication history:...
, a spelunker
Spelunker
Spelunker has several meanings.* In Caving, "spelunker" is sometimes a term for a person who explores caves.* Spelunker , a 1983 video game for various systems, including Atari and Nintendo....
/geologist
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
adventurer, in The Brave and the Bold
The Brave and the Bold
The Brave and the Bold is the title shared by many comic book series published by DC Comics. The first of these was published as an ongoing series from 1955 to 1983...
#31 (Sept. 1960).
Doom Patrol
Premiani most notably drew the original incarnations of the Doom PatrolDoom 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...
in 1963 and the Teen Titans in 1964, both series being cult favorites that have survived in one form or another, if sporadically, since their original creation for the DC Comics 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...
. In the case of the former 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 —...
team, editor Murray Boltinoff had asked writer Arnold Drake
Arnold Drake
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....
to develop a feature to run in the anthology series My Greatest Adventure
My 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 what would become the Doom Patrol, 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. 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.
In 2001, Drake wrote of the search for a Doom Patrol illustrator, saying that Boltinoff's regular artists
Premiani drew proto-teamings of the as-yet-unnamed Teen Titans beginning with the Kid Flash
Kid Flash
Kid Flash is the name of several fictional characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, originally created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, as a junior counterpart to DC Comics superhero The Flash. The first incarnation of the character, Wally West, debuted in The Flash #110...
-Aqualad
Aqualad
Aqualad is the name of two fictional comic book superheroes appearing in books published by DC Comics. The first Aqualad, Garth, debuted in Adventure Comics #269 , and was created by writer Robert Bernstein and artist Ramona Fradon...
-Robin
Dick Grayson
Dick Grayson is a fictional superhero that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger and illustrator Jerry Robinson, he first appeared in Detective Comics #38 in April 1940....
adventure "The Thousand-and-One Dooms of Mr. Twister" in The Brave and the Bold
The Brave and the Bold
The Brave and the Bold is the title shared by many comic book series published by DC Comics. The first of these was published as an ongoing series from 1955 to 1983...
#54 (July 1964).
Additionally, in the early 1960s, Premiani freeelanced for the Gilberton Company's Classics Illustrated, Classics Illustrated Special Issue, and World Around Us series. His major project was the painted cover and complete interior art for Classics Illustrated No. 156, The Conquest of Mexico (May 1960), based on Bernal Diaz del Castillo's eyewitness account of the fall of the Aztec empire. In addition, he contributed sections to two Special Issues, The Atomic Age (June 1960) and The United Nations (1964). Most of Premiani's work for Gilberton was for the educational World Around Us line, for which he provided chapters in The Crusades (December 1959), Festivals (January 1960), Great Scientists (February 1960), Communications (April 1960), Whaling (December 1960), and The Vikings (January 1961).
Later career and death
In the 1970s, Premiani drew numerous illustrations for the magazine Anteojito, published in Buenos AiresBuenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
by Manuel García Ferré
Manuel García Ferré
Manuel García Ferré is a Spanish Argentine animation director and cartoonist.-Biography :García Ferré was born in Almería, Spain, in 1929. He arrived in Argentina in 1947, and worked for advertising agencies while studying Architecture. In 1952 his character Pi Pío was accepted and published by...
. His last known original comics story was the three-and-a-half-page "Please Let Me Die", written by Dave Wood, in The Unexpected
The Unexpected
The Unexpected was a DC Comics horror comic book, a continuation of Tales of the Unexpected. It ran 117 issues, #105-222, from 1968 to 1982.-Publication history:...
#126 (Aug. 1971).
Premiani died in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, on August 17, 1984.