Don Rico
Encyclopedia
Donato Francisco Rico II (September 26, 1912 - March 27, 1985) was an American
paperback novelist, screenwriter
, and comic book
writer
-artist
, who co-created the Marvel Comics
characters Jann of the Jungle
, with artist Jay Scott Pike
, and Leopard Girl, with artist Al Hartley
. His pen names
include Dan Rico, Donella St. Michaels, Donna Richards, Joseph Milton, and N. Korok.
Don Rico was born in Rochester
, New York
, the eldest of nine children. His parents were immigrants from Italy
: father Alessandro was a shoe designer from Celano
, Abruzzi, and mother Josephine was from the Basilicata
region. At age 12, Rico received a scholarship to study drawing at the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester
. The following year, his family moved to The Bronx
, New York City
.
At 16, under artist H. J. Glintenkamp, Rico learned to make wood engravings. Prints of his engravings of Depression
-era life for the W.P.A. Federal Art Project in the mid-to-late 1930s, under the supervision of Lynd Ward
would eventually become part of the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
, The Library of Congress, the New York Public Library
, and elsewhere.
He began his comics career in 1939, during the period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books
, beginning at Victor A. Fox's Fox Publications. There he penciled and inked
the six-page "Flick Falcon" feature in Fantastic Comics #1 (Dec. 1939). He continued on that feature through issue #8 (July 1940 ), by which time the hero's name and the feature's title had been changed to "Flip Falcon". He drew the features "Blast Bennett" and "Sorceress of Zoom" for Fox's Weird Comics, and did stories for Fiction House
's Planet Comics and Fight Comics. Beginning with Silver Streak Comics #11 (June 1941), he worked on some of the earliest stories of Lev Gleason Publications
' 1940s superhero
Daredevil
(unrelated to Marvel Comics' Daredevil
), helping lay the foundation for a character that would go on to a celebrated run in his own title under Charles Biro
.
His first story for Timely Comics
, a forerunner of Marvel Comics
, was an eight-page backup feature starring a hero called the Secret Stamp in Captain America Comics #13 (April 1942) - another, uncredited adventure of the Secret Stamp was published in USA Comis #7 (February 1943). Other early work for the company included a story of the superhero
the Terror and co-creating, with an unknown writer, the obscure Jekyll-and-Hyde-like feature "Gary Gaunt", both in Mystic Comics
#9 (May 1942). After inking Al Avison
on a Captain America story in All Winners Comics
#5 (Summer 1942), Rico soon became one of the regular pencilers for that cornerstone hero of the publisher's, stargin with the 16-page "The Mikado's Super Shell" in Captain America Comics #18 (Sept. 1942). By the following year, Rico was variously writing/drawing stories featuring such characters as the Human Torch
, the Whizzer
, the Destroyer, the Blonde Phantom
, Venus, and the Young Allies
.
Timely artist Allen Bellman recalls, "Don and some of the other artists didn't bother with [artist] Syd Shores
, who was the unofficial bullpen director. Rico was the ringleader of this 'ignore Shores' group. He was always causing small problems in the office and publisher[ Martin] Goodman
knew this, and hence the name 'Rat Rico' he referred to Don with." Artist Gil Kane
recalled that, "Timely was my second job after MLJ
. ... Stan[ Lee]
was the editor at 19 years old but all the day-to-day managing of the work was done by Don Rico, who also did most of the hiring and firing."
Other credits during the 1940s include Fawcett Publications
' America's Greatest Comics and Bulletman; MLJ
's Black Hood Comics
and the dual-hero Shield-Wizard Comics
; Lev Gleason's Captain Battle
and Captain Battle Junior; Quality Comics
' National Comics
, and Smash Comics
; and Et-Es-Go Magazines' Terrific Comics. From 1946 to 1948, he worked primarily for Novelty Press
, on that publisher's Blue Bolt Comics
and Target Comics.
. Around this time, he became one of at least five staff writers (officially titled editors) there under editor-in-chief Stan Lee
, along with Hank Chapman
, Ernie Hart
, Paul S. Newman
, Carl Wessler
, and, doing teen-humor comics, future Mad
cartoonist
Al Jaffee
. Among the Atlas titles for which Rico wrote are the horror comics
series Adventures into Terror, Astonishing, Marvel Tales
, Suspense and Strange Tales
. He co-created Jann of the Jungle
, with artist Jay Scott Pike
, in Jungle Tales
#1 (Sept. 1954), and co-created Leopard Girl with artist Al Hartley
in Jungle Action
#1 (Oct. 1954), and wrote virtually every story and feature in those two titles. Marvel Comics reprinted several of his jungle stories in the 1970s. Rico briefly returned to comic art as an illustrator on the Atlas series Bible Tales for Young Folk. His last story for Atlas was the four-page anthological Western
tale "The Bushwhacker", with artist Angelo Torres
, in Rawhide Kid
#16 (Sept. 1957).
In 1958, Rico moved to Los Angeles
, California
, where he began writing for film
and television
.
and Paperback Library. His pseudonym
s included Donna Richards, Joseph Milton, and Donella St. Michaels.
Rico wrote only twice for Marvel during the Silver Age of comics in the 1960s, with a Doctor Strange
story in Strange Tales #129 (Feb. 1965), and scripting an Iron Man
a plot by Stan Lee in Tales of Suspense
#52 and 53 (April and May 1964), the story that introduced the Black Widow. On both, he used the pseudonym N. Korok, later explaining he hadn't wanted his paperback-book publisher to know he was taking on lower-paying comic-book work.
ss horror
movie Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary (U.S.-Mexico
, 1975), by director Juan Lopez Moctezuma and scripter Malcolm Marmorstein. He also drew movie and television production illustrations, including two years at Hanna-Barbera Productions drawing storyboard
s for TV shows.
In 1977, Rico, Sergio Aragones
, and television
and comic-book writer Mark Evanier
co-founded the Comic Art Professional Society (CAPS). Rico also worked with Aragones as scripter for the artist-plotter's detective strip "T.C. Mars" in Joe Kubert
's magazine Sojourn. Also in 1977, Rico drew a six-page chapter starring Captain America
in the World War II
-superhero flashback
series The Invaders Annual
#1. In 1979, Rico drew the cover and wrote an introduction for a 128-page anthology of black-and-white reprints, The Magnificent Superheroes of Comics[ sic
] Golden Age #1 (Vintage Features).
During the mid-1970, Rico taught a college course on comic books at UCLA, titled "The Theory, History and Technique of Comic Books". In the early 1980s, he taught drawing at Cal State Northridge.
Rico lived in Los Angeles, California
at the time of his death in 1985. He was survived by his wife, Michele Hart-Rico, a son and a daughter.
ALSO
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
paperback novelist, 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:...
, and 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....
-artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, who co-created 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 Jann of the Jungle
Jann of the Jungle
Jann of the Jungle is a fictional comic book jungle girl protagonist created by writer Don Rico and artist Jay Scott Pike in the anthology title Jungle Tales #1 , published by Marvel Comics' 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics....
, with artist Jay Scott Pike
Jay Scott Pike
Jay Scott Pike , is an American comic book artist and commercial illustrator known for his 1950s and 1960s work for Marvel Comics and DC Comics, advertising art, and as a Playboy-affiliated good girl artist...
, and Leopard Girl, with artist Al Hartley
Al Hartley
Henry Allan Hartley , known professionally as Al Hartley, was an American comic book writer-artist known for his work on Archie Comics, Atlas Comics , and many Christian comics...
. His pen names
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
include Dan Rico, Donella St. Michaels, Donna Richards, Joseph Milton, and N. Korok.
Early life and career
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
, 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...
, the eldest of nine children. His parents were immigrants from Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
: father Alessandro was a shoe designer from Celano
Celano
Celano is a town and comune in the Province of L'Aquila, central Italy, east of Rome by rail.-Geography:Celano rises on the top of a hill in the territory of Marsica, below the mountain range of Sirente. It faces the valley of Fucino, once filled by the large Fucine Lake, which was drained during...
, Abruzzi, and mother Josephine was from the Basilicata
Basilicata
Basilicata , also known as Lucania, is a region in the south of Italy, bordering on Campania to the west, Apulia to the north and east, and Calabria to the south, having one short southwestern coastline on the Tyrrhenian Sea between Campania in the northwest and Calabria in the southwest, and a...
region. At age 12, Rico received a scholarship to study drawing at the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...
. The following year, his family moved to The Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
, 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...
.
At 16, under artist H. J. Glintenkamp, Rico learned to make wood engravings. Prints of his engravings of Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
-era life for the W.P.A. Federal Art Project in the mid-to-late 1930s, under the supervision of Lynd Ward
Lynd Ward
Lynd Kendall Ward was an American artist and storyteller, and son of Methodist minister and prominent political organizer Harry F. Ward. He illustrated some 200 juvenile and adult books...
would eventually become part of the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
, The Library of Congress, the New York Public Library
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
, and elsewhere.
He began his comics career in 1939, during the period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books
Golden Age of Comic Books
The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books, generally thought of as lasting from the late 1930s until the late 1940s or early 1950s...
, beginning at Victor A. Fox's Fox Publications. There he penciled and inked
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...
the six-page "Flick Falcon" feature in Fantastic Comics #1 (Dec. 1939). He continued on that feature through issue #8 (July 1940 ), by which time the hero's name and the feature's title had been changed to "Flip Falcon". He drew the features "Blast Bennett" and "Sorceress of Zoom" for Fox's Weird Comics, and did stories for Fiction House
Fiction House
Fiction House is an American publisher of pulp magazines and comic books that existed from the 1920s to the 1950s. Its comics division was best known for its pinup-style good girl art, as epitomized by the company's most popular character, Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.-History:-Jumbo and Jack...
's Planet Comics and Fight Comics. Beginning with Silver Streak Comics #11 (June 1941), he worked on some of the earliest stories of Lev Gleason Publications
Lev Gleason Publications
Lev Gleason Publications, founded by Leverett Gleason, was the publisher of a number of popular comic books during the 1940s and early 1950s, including Daredevil, Crime Does Not Pay, and Boy Comics....
' 1940s 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 —...
Daredevil
Daredevil (Golden Age)
Daredevil is a fictional character, an American comic book superhero that starred in popular comics from Lev Gleason Publications during the 1930s–1940s period historians and fans call the Golden Age of comic books. The character is a separate and unrelated entity from Marvel Comics' Daredevil...
(unrelated to Marvel Comics' Daredevil
Daredevil (Marvel Comics)
Daredevil is a fictional character, a superhero in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett, with an unspecified amount of input from Jack Kirby, and first appeared in Daredevil #1 .Living in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood...
), helping lay the foundation for a character that would go on to a celebrated run in his own title under Charles Biro
Charles Biro
Charles Biro was an American comic book creator and cartoonist. He is today chiefly known for creating the comic book characters Airboy and Steel Sterling, and for his 16-year run on the acclaimed 1940s series Daredevil Comics for Lev Gleason Publications.-Biography:Charles Biro studied art at...
.
His first story for Timely Comics
Timely Comics
Timely Comics, an imprint of Timely Publications, was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics....
, a forerunner of 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...
, was an eight-page backup feature starring a hero called the Secret Stamp in Captain America Comics #13 (April 1942) - another, uncredited adventure of the Secret Stamp was published in USA Comis #7 (February 1943). Other early work for the company included a story of the 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 —...
the Terror and co-creating, with an unknown writer, the obscure Jekyll-and-Hyde-like feature "Gary Gaunt", both in Mystic Comics
Mystic Comics
Mystic Comics is the name of four comic book series published by the company that would eventually become Marvel Comics. The first two series were superhero anthologies published by Marvel's 1930-1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, during what fans and historians call the Golden Age of comic books...
#9 (May 1942). After inking Al Avison
Al Avison
Alfred Avison is an American comic book artist known for his work on the Marvel Comics characters Captain America and the Whizzer during the 1930-1940s period known to fans and historians as the Golden Age of comic books....
on a Captain America story in All Winners Comics
All Winners Comics
All Winners Comics was the name of two American comic book series of the 1940s, both published by Marvel Comics' predecessor, Timely Comics, during the period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. A superhero anthology comic in both cases, they variously featured such star...
#5 (Summer 1942), Rico soon became one of the regular pencilers for that cornerstone hero of the publisher's, stargin with the 16-page "The Mikado's Super Shell" in Captain America Comics #18 (Sept. 1942). By the following year, Rico was variously writing/drawing stories featuring such characters as the Human Torch
Jim Hammond
Herbert Edward 'Jim' Hammond was an English professional football player for Fulham and a cricket player for Sussex.Having been signed from non-league side Lewes F.C., Hammond played for Fulham between 1928 and 1938, scoring 150 goals in 342 games. He was once called up for duty with the national...
, the Whizzer
Whizzer (Robert Frank)
The Whizzer is a fictional character, a superhero in comic books published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared during the 1930s-1940s period that fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books.-Publication history:...
, the Destroyer, the Blonde Phantom
Blonde Phantom
The Blonde Phantom is a fictional masked crime fighter in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Syd Shores for Marvel predecessor Timely Comics, she first appeared in All Select Comics #11 , during the 1940s period fans and historians call the Golden...
, Venus, and the Young Allies
Young Allies
Young Allies is the name of three superhero teams in the .-Golden Age:The Golden Age's Young Allies were a gang of kids who fought the Axis...
.
Timely artist Allen Bellman recalls, "Don and some of the other artists didn't bother with [artist] Syd Shores
Syd Shores
Sydney Shores was an American comic book artist known for his work on Captain America both during the 1940s, in what fans and historians call the Golden Age of comic books, and during the 1960s Silver Age of comic books....
, who was the unofficial bullpen director. Rico was the ringleader of this 'ignore Shores' group. He was always causing small problems in the office and publisher
Martin Goodman (publisher)
Martin Goodman born on was an American publisher of pulp magazines, paperback books, men's adventure magazines, and comic books, launching the company that would become Marvel Comics....
knew this, and hence the name 'Rat Rico' he referred to Don with." Artist Gil Kane
Gil Kane
Eli Katz who worked under the name Gil Kane and in one instance Scott Edward, was a comic book artist whose career spanned the 1940s to 1990s and every major comics company and character.Kane co-created the modern-day versions of the superheroes Green Lantern and the Atom for DC Comics, and...
recalled that, "Timely was my second job after MLJ
Archie Comics
Archie Comics is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the Village of Mamaroneck, Town of Mamaroneck, New York, known for its many series featuring the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Jughead Jones. The characters were created by...
. ... Stan
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
was the editor at 19 years old but all the day-to-day managing of the work was done by Don Rico, who also did most of the hiring and firing."
Other credits during the 1940s include Fawcett Publications
Fawcett Publications
Fawcett Publications was an American publishing company founded in 1919 in Robbinsdale, Minnesota by Wilford Hamilton "Captain Billy" Fawcett . At the age of 16, Fawcett ran away from home to join the Army, and the Spanish-American War took him to the Philippines. Back in Minnesota, he became a...
' America's Greatest Comics and Bulletman; MLJ
Archie Comics
Archie Comics is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the Village of Mamaroneck, Town of Mamaroneck, New York, known for its many series featuring the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Jughead Jones. The characters were created by...
's Black Hood Comics
Black Hood Comics
Black Hood Comics was the name of an American anthology comic book series published by MLJ Magazines Inc., more commonly known as MLJ Comics, for eleven issues between Winter 1943 and Summer 1946...
and the dual-hero Shield-Wizard Comics
Shield-Wizard Comics
Shield-Wizard Comics was the name of an American comic book series published by MLJ Magazines Inc., more commonly known as MLJ Comics, for thirteen issues between Summer 1940 and Winter 1944....
; Lev Gleason's Captain Battle
Captain Battle
Captain Battle was a Golden Age comic book hero and one of the features in Lev Gleason's Silver Streak Comics. His first appearance was Silver Streak Comics #10, and his final appearance was Silver Streak Comics #23, when that series was cancelled....
and Captain Battle Junior; Quality Comics
Quality Comics
Quality Comics was an American comic book publishing company that operated from 1939 to 1956 and was an influential creative force in what historians and fans call the Golden Age of comic books....
' National Comics
National Comics
National Comics may refer to:* National Comics: An early name for the comic book publisher known later as DC Comics.* National Comics : a 1940's comic book series published by Quality Comics....
, and Smash Comics
Smash Comics
Smash Comics is the title of an American Golden Age comic book anthology series, published by Quality Comics for 85 issues between 1939 and 1949...
; and Et-Es-Go Magazines' Terrific Comics. From 1946 to 1948, he worked primarily for Novelty Press
Novelty Press
Novelty Press was an American Golden Age comic-book publisher that operated from 1940–1949. It was the comic book imprint of Curtis Publishing Company, publisher of The Saturday Evening Post...
, on that publisher's Blue Bolt Comics
Blue Bolt
Blue Bolt is a fictional American comic book superhero created by writer-artist Joe Simon in 1940, during the period fans and historians refer to as the Golden Age of Comic Books.-Publication history:...
and Target Comics.
1950s
In 1949, Rico began working again for Timely Comics as a writer-editor as the company was transitioning to become Marvel's 1950s predecessor, Atlas ComicsAtlas Comics (1950s)
Atlas Comics is the term used to describe the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and paperback novel publisher Martin Goodman, whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporate entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic...
. Around this time, he became one of at least five staff writers (officially titled editors) there under editor-in-chief Stan Lee
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
, along with Hank Chapman
Hank Chapman
Henry P. "Hank" Chapman is an American comic book writer for Marvel Comics' two predecessors, Timely Comics and Atlas Comics, and later for DC Comics, where he specialized in war fiction. Though much of his Timely/Atlas work went unsigned, comics historians estimate that Chapman, a staff writer,...
, Ernie Hart
Ernie Hart
-Early life and career:Ernie Hart was part of the Timely Comics "animator" bullpen, separate from the superhero group producing comics featuring the Human Torch, the Sub-Mariner and Captain America...
, Paul S. Newman
Paul S. Newman
Paul S. Newman was an American writer of comic books, comic strips, and books, whose career spanned the 1940s to the 1990s...
, Carl Wessler
Carl Wessler
Carroll O. "Carl" Wessler was an American animator of the 1930s and a comic book writer from the 1940s though the 1970s for such companies as DC Comics, EC Comics, Marvel Comics, and Warren Publishing....
, and, doing teen-humor comics, future Mad
Mad (magazine)
Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. Launched as a comic book before it became a magazine, it was widely imitated and influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The last...
cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
Al Jaffee
Al Jaffee
Abraham Jaffee , known as Al Jaffee, is an American cartoonist. He is notable for his work in the satirical magazine Mad, including his trademark feature, the Mad Fold-in. As of 2010, Jaffee remains a regular in the magazine after 55 years and is its longest-running contributor...
. Among the Atlas titles for which Rico wrote are the horror comics
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...
series Adventures into Terror, Astonishing, Marvel Tales
Marvel Tales
Marvel Tales is the title of three American comic-book series published by Marvel Comics, the first of them from the company's 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics...
, Suspense and Strange Tales
Strange Tales
Strange Tales is the name of several comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics. It introduced the features "Doctor Strange" and "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.", and was a showcase for the science fiction/suspense stories of artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, and for the...
. He co-created Jann of the Jungle
Jann of the Jungle
Jann of the Jungle is a fictional comic book jungle girl protagonist created by writer Don Rico and artist Jay Scott Pike in the anthology title Jungle Tales #1 , published by Marvel Comics' 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics....
, with artist Jay Scott Pike
Jay Scott Pike
Jay Scott Pike , is an American comic book artist and commercial illustrator known for his 1950s and 1960s work for Marvel Comics and DC Comics, advertising art, and as a Playboy-affiliated good girl artist...
, in Jungle Tales
Jungle Tales
Jungle Tales was an American comic book title published by Atlas Comics, the 1950s predecessor to Marvel Comics. It was an anthology title of stories set in an African jungle.-Publication history:...
#1 (Sept. 1954), and co-created Leopard Girl with artist Al Hartley
Al Hartley
Henry Allan Hartley , known professionally as Al Hartley, was an American comic book writer-artist known for his work on Archie Comics, Atlas Comics , and many Christian comics...
in Jungle Action
Jungle Action
Jungle Action is the name of two comic book series published by Marvel Comics and its 1950s precursor, Atlas Comics. The latter-day version is the first series starring the Black Panther, the first Black superhero in mainstream comics, created by the writer/artist team of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in...
#1 (Oct. 1954), and wrote virtually every story and feature in those two titles. Marvel Comics reprinted several of his jungle stories in the 1970s. Rico briefly returned to comic art as an illustrator on the Atlas series Bible Tales for Young Folk. His last story for Atlas was the four-page anthological Western
Western comics
Western comics is a comics genre usually depicting the American Old West frontier and typically set during the late nineteenth century...
tale "The Bushwhacker", with artist Angelo Torres
Angelo Torres
Angelo Torres is an American cartoonist and caricaturist whose work has appeared in many comic books, as well as a long-running regular slot in Mad magazine, typically film or television parodies.-Biography:...
, in Rawhide Kid
Rawhide Kid
The Rawhide Kid is a fictional Old West cowboy in comic books published by Marvel Comics. A heroic gunfighter of the 19th-century American West who was unjustly wanted as an outlaw, he is one of Marvel's most prolific Western characters...
#16 (Sept. 1957).
In 1958, Rico moved to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, where he began writing for film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
.
1960s
In California, Rico began writing paperback novels, eventually penning more than 60 for a variety of publishers including Lancer BooksLancer Books
Lancer Books was a series of paperback books published from 1961 through 1973 by Irwin Stein and Walter Zacharius. While it published stories of a number of genres, it was noted most for its science fiction and fantasy, particularly its series of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian tales, the...
and Paperback Library. His pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
s included Donna Richards, Joseph Milton, and Donella St. Michaels.
Rico wrote only twice for Marvel during the Silver Age of comics in the 1960s, with a Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange
Doctor Stephen Strange is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was co-created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, and first appeared in Strange Tales #110 ....
story in Strange Tales #129 (Feb. 1965), and scripting an Iron Man
Iron Man
Iron Man is a fictional character, a superhero in the . The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, first appearing in Tales of Suspense #39 .A billionaire playboy, industrialist and ingenious engineer,...
a plot by Stan Lee in Tales of Suspense
Tales of Suspense
Tales of Suspense is the name of an American comic book series and two one-shot comics published by Marvel Comics. The first, which ran from 1959 to 1968, began as a science-fiction anthology that served as a showcase for such artists as Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and Don Heck, then featured...
#52 and 53 (April and May 1964), the story that introduced the Black Widow. On both, he used the pseudonym N. Korok, later explaining he hadn't wanted his paperback-book publisher to know he was taking on lower-paying comic-book work.
Later career
Rico co-wrote, with Don Henderson, the story basis for the bisexual-vampireVampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
ss horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
movie Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary (U.S.-Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, 1975), by director Juan Lopez Moctezuma and scripter Malcolm Marmorstein. He also drew movie and television production illustrations, including two years at Hanna-Barbera Productions drawing storyboard
Storyboard
Storyboards are graphic organizers in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence....
s for TV shows.
In 1977, Rico, Sergio Aragones
Sergio Aragonés
Sergio Aragonés Domenech is a cartoonist and writer best known for his contributions to Mad Magazine and creator of the comic book Groo the Wanderer....
, and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and comic-book writer 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...
co-founded the Comic Art Professional Society (CAPS). Rico also worked with Aragones as scripter for the artist-plotter's detective strip "T.C. Mars" in Joe Kubert
Joe Kubert
Joe Kubert is an American comic book artist who went on to found The Kubert School. He is best known for his work on the DC Comics characters Sgt. Rock and Hawkman...
's magazine Sojourn. Also in 1977, Rico drew a six-page chapter starring Captain America
Captain America
Captain America is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 , from Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby...
in the 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...
-superhero flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
series The Invaders Annual
Invaders (comics)
The Invaders is the name of two fictional superhero teams in the . The original team was created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Sal Buscema in The Avengers #71 . A present-day incarnation was introduced by writer Chuck Austen and artist Scott Kolins in The Avengers vol...
#1. In 1979, Rico drew the cover and wrote an introduction for a 128-page anthology of black-and-white reprints, The Magnificent Superheroes of Comics
Sic
Sic—generally inside square brackets, [sic], and occasionally parentheses, —when added just after a quote or reprinted text, indicates the passage appears exactly as in the original source...
During the mid-1970, Rico taught a college course on comic books at UCLA, titled "The Theory, History and Technique of Comic Books". In the early 1980s, he taught drawing at Cal State Northridge.
Rico lived in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
at the time of his death in 1985. He was survived by his wife, Michele Hart-Rico, a son and a daughter.
Paperback novels
- Nikki (Midwood Books, 1963)
- The Unmarried Ones (Beacon Signal Sixty, 1964)
- The Sad Gay Life (Lancer Books imprint Domino Books, 1964; under pseudonym Donna Richards)
- The Odd World (Domino Books, 1954; under pseudonym Donna Richards)
- The Last of the Breed (Lancer/Magnum, 1965)
- The Big Blue Death (Lancer Books, 1965; under publishing-house pseudonym Joseph Milton)
- Lorelei (Belmont BooksBelmont BooksBelmont Books was an American publisher of paperback books founded in 1960. It specialized in science fiction, horror and fantasy, with titles appearing from 1961 through 1971...
, 1966) - The Prisoner (Lancer Books, 1966; under pseudonym Donella St. Michaels)
- The Girls of Sunset (Lancer Books, 1966)
- Counterspy (Lancer Books, 1966)
- Nightmare of Eyes (Lancer Books, 1967)
- The Man From Pansy (Lancer Books, 1967; Buzz Cardigan series)
- The Daisy Dilemma (Lancer Books, 1967; Buzz Cardigan series)
- The Passion Flower Puzzle (Lancer Books, 1968, Buzz Cardigan series)
- Casey Grant Caper #1: The Ring-A-Ding Girl (Paperback Library, 1969)
- Casey Grant Caper #2: the Swinging Virgin (Paperback Library, 1969)
- Casey Grant Caper #3: So Sweet, So Deadly (Paperback Library, 1970)
- The House of Girls (New English Library, 1969)
ALSO
- Copyright: How to Register Your Copyright and Introduction to New and Historical Copyright Law by Walter E. Hurst, illustrated by Don Rico (Seven Arts Press, 1977)
External links
- The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
- Don Rico at the Lambiek Comiclopedia