Fran Matera
Encyclopedia
Francis "Fran" Matera is an American comic strip
artist best known for his King Features Syndicate
adventure strip Steve Roper and Mike Nomad
from 1984 to 2004. In addition to his extensive experience in newspaper strips, Matera also spent many years in the comic book
industry, particularly for Charlton Comics
. His influences include Hal Foster, Alex Raymond
, Milton Caniff
, Al Capp
, and Bud Fisher
.
, Fran Matera visited New York City at the recommendation of comic-strip artist Alfred Andriola
, to whom the fledgeling Matera had previously sent a fan letter and art samples. Through a meeting that Andriola arranged with editors at Quality Comics
, Matera was promised a staff position starting after graduation. (During this period, Matera also studied with the Correspondence Art Institute.) Following his graduation in 1942, Matera returned to spend eight months with Quality, though his credits for that time are spotty due to the industry's then-prevalent practice of rarely crediting comic-book creators.
, quitting after a year to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II. During basic training, he was assigned to the Parris Island
base's public relations
department to help create a camp newspaper, the Parris Island Boot, and he drew the Marine Corps' comic strip Ship to Shore. Requesting combat service, Matera was sent to for additional training in Virginia
and eventually shipped out on the , where he drew a portrait of the visiting President Harry Truman.
(1943–83). Matera went on to draw the strip Dickie Dare (1932–57) from 1947 to 1949, succeeding strip creator Milton Caniff
and consecutive artists Coulton Waugh
and Odin Burvick.
In 1950, Matera and comic book writer Chad Kelly teamed to do the short-lived Mr. Holiday (1950–51), about do-gooder Mr. Holiday and his young assistant Rod O'Keef, who is concerned about the state of holidays: "Last New Year's showed a steep increase in hangovers... Lovers' quarrels on Valentine's Day... Tree chopping on Arbor Day... Hunger at Thanksgiving... Even the ground hog refused to live up to his tradition." The strip was "not successfully distributed" by the syndicate, the George Matthew Adams Service
, according to Matera's website.
Matera ghosted
for credited artist Darrell McClure on Little Annie Rooney
(1927–66) in 1951; drew the portly private detective series Nero Wolfe
(1956–65) in 1957, between artists Mike Roy and Jim Christiansen; ghosted for credited artist Marvin Bradley on Rex Morgan, M.D.
(1948- ) from 1976 to 1978; drew the movie tie-in Indiana Jones
(1981), and, assisted by Dick Kulpa, the martial-arts strip Legend of Bruce Lee (1982), written by Sharman DiVono. He additionally had brief stints ghosting Judge Parker
and Apartment 3-G
. From 1974 to 1975, he worked on the strip Galexo for the international market.
Beginning with the strip for April 8, 1985, Matera began his two-decade run drawing Steve Roper and Mike Nomad, which had been titled simply Steve Roper from 1947 to 1969. The series originated as the comedy strip Big Chief Wahoo in 1936, but supporting character Steve Roper edged into the title in 1944, with the dramatic adventure renamed Chief Wahoo and Steve Roper. Wahoo was written out in 1947, and Nomad was added in 1956. Matera additionally wrote the final year of Steve Roper and Mike Nomad, following writer John Saunders' death in November 2003. The final strip ran December 26, 2004.
stories and covers. In the 1950s, he contributed to St. John Publications
' Fightin' Marines
and Charlton Comics
' Gabby Hayes and Speed Demons. In 1959, he helped initiate the Catholic school
comic book Treasure Chest, drawing all the editorial content in the Treasure Chest Advance Edition comic given to teachers and school administrators in introduce the concept. He was the initial artist on writer-creator Max Pine's long-running feature "Chuck White" (later "Chuck White and His Friends"), contributing to that schoolboy's naturalistic
family drama through 1971.
For Marvel Comics
, he inked penciler Ron Wilson
's 46-page story "The Boy Who Cried Hulk!" in the black-and-white comics magazine The Hulk #11 (Oct. 1978), and inked Sal Buscema
's 33-page story in Tarzan
Annual #2 (Nov. 1978).
A Florida
resident in his later years, Matera was a guest at that state's Tampa
Comic Book & Toy Convention on November 11, 2007.
In 2009, Sherri Ackerman profiled Matera for The Tampa Tribune
:
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....
artist best known for his King Features Syndicate
King Features Syndicate
King Features Syndicate, a print syndication company owned by The Hearst Corporation, distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial cartoons, puzzles and games to nearly 5000 newspapers worldwide...
adventure strip Steve Roper and Mike Nomad
Steve Roper and Mike Nomad
Steve Roper and Mike Nomad was an American adventure comic strip that ran under various earlier titles from November 1936 to December 26, 2004...
from 1984 to 2004. In addition to his extensive experience in newspaper strips, Matera also spent many years in the 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...
industry, particularly for 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...
. His influences include Hal Foster, Alex Raymond
Alex Raymond
Alexander Gillespie "Alex" Raymond was an American cartoonist, best known for creating Flash Gordon for King Features in 1934...
, Milton Caniff
Milton Caniff
Milton Arthur Paul Caniff was an American cartoonist famous for the Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon comic strips.-Biography:...
, Al Capp
Al Capp
Alfred Gerald Caplin , better known as Al Capp, was an American cartoonist and humorist best known for the satirical comic strip Li'l Abner. He also wrote the comic strips Abbie an' Slats and Long Sam...
, and Bud Fisher
Bud Fisher
Harry Conway "Bud" Fisher was an American cartoonist who created Mutt and Jeff, the first successful daily comic strip in the United States....
.
Early life and career
While in high school in ConnecticutConnecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, Fran Matera visited New York City at the recommendation of comic-strip artist Alfred Andriola
Alfred Andriola
Alfred James Andriola was an American cartoonist best known for the comic strip Kerry Drake, for which he won a Reuben Award in 1970. His work sometimes appeared under the pseudonym Alfred James....
, to whom the fledgeling Matera had previously sent a fan letter and art samples. Through a meeting that Andriola arranged with editors at 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....
, Matera was promised a staff position starting after graduation. (During this period, Matera also studied with the Correspondence Art Institute.) Following his graduation in 1942, Matera returned to spend eight months with Quality, though his credits for that time are spotty due to the industry's then-prevalent practice of rarely crediting comic-book creators.
World War II
Matera left to study at the Art Institute of ChicagoArt Institute of Chicago
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...
, quitting after a year to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II. During basic training, he was assigned to the Parris Island
Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island
Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island is an military installation located within Port Royal, South Carolina, approximately south of Beaufort, the community that is typically associated with the installation. MCRD Parris Island is used for the training of enlisted Marines...
base's public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
department to help create a camp newspaper, the Parris Island Boot, and he drew the Marine Corps' comic strip Ship to Shore. Requesting combat service, Matera was sent to for additional training in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
and eventually shipped out on the , where he drew a portrait of the visiting President Harry Truman.
Comic strips
Upon his military discharge in 1947, Matera found work assisting Andriola on the dramatic strip Kerry DrakeKerry Drake
Kerry Drake is the title of a comic strip created for Publishers Syndicate by Alfred Andriola as artist and Allen Saunders as uncredited writer...
(1943–83). Matera went on to draw the strip Dickie Dare (1932–57) from 1947 to 1949, succeeding strip creator Milton Caniff
Milton Caniff
Milton Arthur Paul Caniff was an American cartoonist famous for the Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon comic strips.-Biography:...
and consecutive artists Coulton Waugh
Coulton Waugh
Frederick Coulton Waugh was a cartoonist, painter, teacher and author, best known for his illustration work on the comic strip Dickie Dare and his book The Comics , the first major study of the field.His father was the marine artist Frederick Judd Waugh, and his grandfather was the Philadelphia...
and Odin Burvick.
In 1950, Matera and comic book writer Chad Kelly teamed to do the short-lived Mr. Holiday (1950–51), about do-gooder Mr. Holiday and his young assistant Rod O'Keef, who is concerned about the state of holidays: "Last New Year's showed a steep increase in hangovers... Lovers' quarrels on Valentine's Day... Tree chopping on Arbor Day... Hunger at Thanksgiving... Even the ground hog refused to live up to his tradition." The strip was "not successfully distributed" by the syndicate, the George Matthew Adams Service
George Matthew Adams
George Matthew Adams was a newspaper columnist and founder of the George Matthew Adams Newspaper Service, which syndicated comic strips and columns to newspapers for five decades...
, according to Matera's website.
Matera ghosted
Ghostwriter
A ghostwriter is a professional writer who is paid to write books, articles, stories, reports, or other texts that are officially credited to another person. Celebrities, executives, and political leaders often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit autobiographies, magazine articles, or other written...
for credited artist Darrell McClure on Little Annie Rooney
Little Annie Rooney
Little Annie Rooney was a comic strip about a young orphaned girl who traveled about with her dog, Zero. King Features Syndicate launched the strip on January 10, 1927, not long after it was apparent that the Chicago Tribune Syndicate had scored a huge hit with Little Orphan Annie.Although the King...
(1927–66) in 1951; drew the portly private detective series Nero Wolfe
Nero Wolfe
Nero Wolfe is a fictional detective, created in 1934 by the American mystery writer Rex Stout. Wolfe's confidential assistant Archie Goodwin narrates the cases of the detective genius. Stout wrote 33 novels and 39 short stories from 1934 to 1974, with most of them set in New York City. Wolfe's...
(1956–65) in 1957, between artists Mike Roy and Jim Christiansen; ghosted for credited artist Marvin Bradley on Rex Morgan, M.D.
Rex Morgan, M.D.
Rex Morgan, M.D. is an American soap-opera comic strip, created in 1948 by psychiatrist Dr. Nicholas P. Dallis under the pseudonym Dal Curtis. It maintained a readership well over a half-century, and in 2006 it was published in more than 300 U.S. newspapers and 14 foreign countries, according to...
(1948- ) from 1976 to 1978; drew the movie tie-in Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones
Colonel Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., Ph.D. is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg created the character in homage to the action heroes of 1930s film serials...
(1981), and, assisted by Dick Kulpa, the martial-arts strip Legend of Bruce Lee (1982), written by Sharman DiVono. He additionally had brief stints ghosting Judge Parker
Judge Parker
Judge Parker is a soap opera-style comic strip created by Nicholas P. Dallis that first appeared on November 24, 1952. The strip's look and content were influenced by the work of Allen Saunders and Ken Ernst on Mary Worth.-Characters and story:...
and Apartment 3-G
Apartment 3-G
Apartment 3-G is an American newspaper comic strip about a trio of career women who share Apartment 3-G in Manhattan. Created by Nicholas P...
. From 1974 to 1975, he worked on the strip Galexo for the international market.
Beginning with the strip for April 8, 1985, Matera began his two-decade run drawing Steve Roper and Mike Nomad, which had been titled simply Steve Roper from 1947 to 1969. The series originated as the comedy strip Big Chief Wahoo in 1936, but supporting character Steve Roper edged into the title in 1944, with the dramatic adventure renamed Chief Wahoo and Steve Roper. Wahoo was written out in 1947, and Nomad was added in 1956. Matera additionally wrote the final year of Steve Roper and Mike Nomad, following writer John Saunders' death in November 2003. The final strip ran December 26, 2004.
Comic books
Between 1950 and 1976, Matera drew hundreds of comic bookComic 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...
stories and covers. In the 1950s, he contributed to 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...
' Fightin' Marines
Fightin' Marines
Fightin' Marines was a bimonthly war comic published by St. John Publications from 1951–1953, and Charlton Comics from 1955–1984, although it was primarily a reprint title from 1978 to the end of its run...
and 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...
' Gabby Hayes and Speed Demons. In 1959, he helped initiate the Catholic school
Catholic school
Catholic schools are maintained parochial schools or education ministries of the Catholic Church. the Church operates the world's largest non-governmental school system...
comic book Treasure Chest, drawing all the editorial content in the Treasure Chest Advance Edition comic given to teachers and school administrators in introduce the concept. He was the initial artist on writer-creator Max Pine's long-running feature "Chuck White" (later "Chuck White and His Friends"), contributing to that schoolboy's naturalistic
Naturalism (literature)
Naturalism was a literary movement taking place from the 1880s to 1940s that used detailed realism to suggest that social conditions, heredity, and environment had inescapable force in shaping human character...
family drama through 1971.
For 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...
, he inked penciler Ron Wilson
Ron Wilson (comics)
Ron Wilson is an American comic book artist known for his work on titles starring the Marvel Comics character The Thing, including the titles Marvel Two-in-One and The Thing...
's 46-page story "The Boy Who Cried Hulk!" in the black-and-white comics magazine The Hulk #11 (Oct. 1978), and inked Sal Buscema
Sal Buscema
Silvio "Sal" Buscema is an American comic book artist, primarily for Marvel Comics, where he enjoyed a ten-year run as artist of The Incredible Hulk...
's 33-page story in Tarzan
Tarzan (comics)
Tarzan, a fictional character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, first appeared in the 1912 novel Tarzan of the Apes, and then in 23 sequels. The character proved immensely popular and quickly made the jump to other media, including comics.-Comic strips:...
Annual #2 (Nov. 1978).
A Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
resident in his later years, Matera was a guest at that state's Tampa
Tampa, Florida
Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....
Comic Book & Toy Convention on November 11, 2007.
In 2009, Sherri Ackerman profiled Matera for The Tampa Tribune
The Tampa Tribune
The Tampa Tribune, published in Tampa, Florida, is one of two major newspapers published in the Tampa Bay area, second in circulation and readership to the St. Petersburg Times. The paper's tagline is "Life...
:
- He married the love of his life, a beautiful blonde named Patricia, and moved her south to Delray BeachDelray Beach, FloridaDelray Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 60,020. As of 2004, the population estimated by the U.S...
where the couple lived in an old two-story house on Swinton Avenue nicknamed White Haven. There, they raised three boys, Fran Jr., Chris and Guy. The family eventually moved to Safety HarborSafety Harbor, FloridaSafety Harbor is a city on the west shore of Tampa Bay in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It was incorporated in 1917. The population was 17,203 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau is 17,550....
, where Patricia died in 2004. Matera's sons live nearby. One day, they'll inherit their dad's famous portrait, though Matera has heard more than once that it belongs in the White House or a museum. A copy of the original resides at the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum in Independence, MissouriIndependence, MissouriIndependence is the fourth largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri, and is contained within the counties of Jackson and Clay. It is part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area...
. Some friends have even suggested Matera sell his sketch with its famous signature, a moment in time that still leaves Matera wondering: Did Truman realize then how valuable that piece of paper would one day become? "I don't see how it could ever be sold," Matera says. "It's priceless."