John Rosenberger
Encyclopedia
John Francis Rosenberger (born November 30, 1918, in Richmond Hill, Queens
Richmond Hill, Queens
Richmond Hill is a neighborhood in central-southern Queens, New York City, USA. It is bordered by Kew Gardens to the north, Woodhaven and Ozone Park to the west, South Ozone Park to the south and South Jamaica to the east...

 – died January 24, 1977), also occasionally credited as John Diehl, was an American
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...

 artist and painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

 from after the Second World War
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...

 until the mid-1970s. Educated at the Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...

, he worked primarily in the romance
Romance comics
Romance comics is a comics genre depicting romantic love and its attendant complications such as jealousy, marriage, divorce, betrayal, and heartache. The term is generally associated with an American comic books genre published through the first three decades of the Cold War...

 and 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 —...

 genres of comics, with forays into many other subjects.

Early life (1918-1945)

Rosenberger was born and grew up in the Richmond Hill
Richmond Hill, Queens
Richmond Hill is a neighborhood in central-southern Queens, New York City, USA. It is bordered by Kew Gardens to the north, Woodhaven and Ozone Park to the west, South Ozone Park to the south and South Jamaica to the east...

 neighborhood of Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....

. During early childhood, he was bedridden for two years with 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...

. It was during this time he began to draw. His father, a printer, encouraged John's artistic ambitions, and recruited him to help at the print shop. John continued to draw, and took inspiration from such artists as Norman Rockwell
Norman Rockwell
Norman Percevel Rockwell was a 20th-century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of American culture. Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening...

, Alex Raymond
Alex Raymond
Alexander Gillespie "Alex" Raymond was an American cartoonist, best known for creating Flash Gordon for King Features in 1934...

, Hal Foster and 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:...

.

In 1938, Rosenberger enrolled in night classes at Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...

, where he met and started a romantic relationship with Marguerite "Peggy" Chapellier. Peggy was a fellow student and also happened to be the daughter of prominent art dealer George Chapellier. During their time at Pratt, John was painting houses and Peggy worked for Western Publishing
Western Publishing
Western Publishing, also known as Western Printing and Lithographing Company was a Racine, Wisconsin firm responsible for publishing the Little Golden Books. Western Publishing also produced children's books and family-related entertainment products as Golden Books Family Entertainment...

 as a comics colorist
Colorist
In comics, a colorist is responsible for adding color to black-and-white line art. For most of the 20th century this was done using brushes and dyes which were then used as guides to produce the printing plates...

. The two continued to see each other as they took classes through 1941, and were married on May 27, 1942.

Soon after the marriage, John was drafted into the Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

, compelling the couple to relocate to Washington, DC. There, John taught at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
United States Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 38,000 civilian and military personnel, making it the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency...

 School at Fort Belvoir
Fort Belvoir
Fort Belvoir is a United States Army installation and a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Originally, it was the site of the Belvoir plantation. Today, Fort Belvoir is home to a number of important United States military organizations...

, and was editor of the military magazine The Specialist, to which he contributed pin-ups and other illustrations. In 1943 John was sent overseas for the remainder of the war
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...

, working on the construction of an oil pipeline
Pipeline transport
Pipeline transport is the transportation of goods through a pipe. Most commonly, liquids and gases are sent, but pneumatic tubes that transport solid capsules using compressed air are also used....

 in the China Burma India Theater. The Rosenbergers' first son John was born while he was away.

After the war, the Rosenbergers moved into a new house in Jackson Heights, Queens
Jackson Heights, Queens
Jackson Heights is a neighborhood in the Northwestern portion of the borough of Queens in New York, New York, United States. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 3...

, and John took a job at his father-in-law's gallery, eventually becoming manager. (Chapellier Galleries was located next to the Whitney, and dealt in American art, endorsing such painters as William Merritt Chase
William Merritt Chase
William Merritt Chase was an American painter known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later would become Parsons The New School for Design.- Early life and training :He was born in Williamsburg , Indiana, to the family...

, Robert Henri
Robert Henri
Robert Henri was an American painter and teacher. He was a leading figure of the Ashcan School in art.- Early life :...

 and Frank Duveneck
Frank Duveneck
Frank Duveneck was an American figure and portrait painter.-Youth:Duveneck was born in Covington, Kentucky, the son of German immigrant Bernard Decker. Decker died when Frank was only a year old and his widow remarried Joseph Duveneck...

.) Meanwhile, Rosenberger painted portraits and spent evenings and free time preparing samples of his art and looking for publishers.

Early comics career (1946-1960)

Rosenberger had done a bit of work for Dell
Dell Comics
Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1973. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium...

 before the war. He started comics work again in 1946, and by 1949 he was working entirely freelance
Freelancer
A freelancer, freelance worker, or freelance is somebody who is self-employed and is not committed to a particular employer long term. These workers are often represented by a company or an agency that resells their labor and that of others to its clients with or without project management and...

. He had left his job at the gallery in April, 1948, and was soon working on crime, western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...

, adventure
Adventure (genre)
The adventure genre, in the context of a narrative, is typically applied to works in which the protagonist or other major characters are consistently placed in dangerous situations...

, and romance
Romance (genre)
As a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a style of heroic prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a knight errant portrayed as...

 stories for several different publishers.

Robert Bernstein was a writer Rosenberger met while drawing for Brevity, Inc., a company which produced industrial, political, and educational comics in booklet form. The pair pitched an original serial newspaper strip called Sands of the South Seas a couple of years later. The proposal resulted in the publication of one issue of a comic book (retitled Sands of the South Pacific) by Toby Press. Future newspaper strip pitches were less successful, with both Christopher Crown (1959) and Chris Cross (1965) rejected by the syndicates, but the two would become frequent creative collaborators on other projects.

Other work came for Rosenberger in the form of painted covers for paperback book publishers. With his background in oil painting, this kind of work was less stressful than comics jobs, which proved to be a great pressure for him. Indeed, Rosenberger suffered a nervous breakdown
Nervous breakdown
Mental breakdown is a non-medical term used to describe an acute, time-limited phase of a specific disorder that presents primarily with features of depression or anxiety.-Definition:...

 in 1952, after which the family temporarily moved to a small town in Connecticut. He soon resumed working on the paperback covers, but was hesitant in going back to work for comics.

John's reentry into regular comics work was facilitated by friendly encouragement from Richard E. Hughes
Richard E. Hughes
Richard E. Hughes was an editor of the American Comics Group during its entire history from 1943 to 1967. He also authored most of their stories from 1957 to 1967, under a variety of pseudonyms. His best-known character was Herbie Popnecker, created under the pseudonym "Shane O'Shea", with artist...

, editor for the American Comics Group
American Comics Group
American Comics Group was a New York City-based comic book publisher which operated during the Golden and Silver Age of comic books. ACG published one of the first horror comics titles, Adventures into the Unknown. Another of ACG's claims to fame was the character of Herbie Popnecker, who starred...

 (ACG). After about a year in Connecticut, in which the Rosenbergers went deep into debt, John signed on for work with ACG and the family moved to Levittown, Long Island, close to their new good friends the Hugheses.

While there was some work from Dell-affiliated Custom Comics (which produced educational pamphlets), work with Brevity, Inc. ended when its owner unexpectedly died in 1953. There was a dispute over royalties and a failed attempt by Rosenberger and Bernstein to buy the company, but nothing came of it, leaving ACG as Rosenberger's biggest account for the mid- to late-50s. He covered all genres for ACG, and worked in all the company's titles in some part through the mid-60s, including Adventures Into the Unknown
Adventures Into the Unknown
Adventures Into the Unknown was a horror and supernatural comic series from the Golden Age of Comic Books. The title was released in the fall of 1948 by B&I Publishing and enjoyed a run of 174 issues for nearly two decades, ceasing publication in August 1967...

, Forbidden Worlds
Forbidden Worlds
Forbidden Worlds was a fantasy comic from the American Comics Group, which won the 1964 Alley Award for Best Regularly Published Fantasy Comic. It published 145 issues between July/Aug. 1951 to Aug. 1967.- Publication history :...

, Unknown Worlds, and Romantic Adventures, all of which had managed to survive the implementation of the Comics Code in 1954.

Superheroes and Romance (1960-1975)

On September 6, 1960, Rosenberger started an account with Archie Publications, and soon began work on the Simon
Joe Simon
Joseph Henry "Joe" Simon is an American comic book writer, artist, editor, and publisher. Simon created or co-created many important characters in the 1930s-1940s Golden Age of Comic Books and served as the first editor of Timely Comics, the company that would evolve into Marvel Comics.With his...

 & Kirby
Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby , born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic book medium....

-created title The Fly
The Fly (Archie Comics)
The Fly is a fictional comic book superhero published by Red Circle Comics. He was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby as part of Archie's "Archie Adventure Series" and later camped up as part of the company's Mighty Comics line...

 for the Archie Adventure Series. Rosenberger then teamed with Bob Bernstein to create The Jaguar in a similar mold. He also served as a regular artist on several other titles for the Adventure Series before the group segued into the campy
Camp (style)
Camp is an aesthetic sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its taste and ironic value. The concept is closely related to kitsch, and things with camp appeal may also be described as being "cheesy"...

 Mighty Comics
Mighty Comics
Mighty Comics Group, sometimes referred to as Archie Adventure Series and Radio Comics, refer to the attempt by Archie Comics to revamp and publish superhero comics in the mid-1960s...

.

Other projects Rosenberger worked on with Archie included the first issue of a short-lived iteration of The Shadow
The Shadow
The Shadow is a collection of serialized dramas, originally in pulp magazines, then on 1930s radio and then in a wide variety of media, that follow the exploits of the title character, a crime-fighting vigilante in the pulps, which carried over to the airwaves as a "wealthy, young man about town"...

, written by Jerry Siegel
Jerry Siegel
Jerome "Jerry" Siegel , who also used pseudonyms including Joe Carter, Jerry Ess, and Herbert S...

, and some work penciling Archie stories. In late 1966 he stopped all his work with Archie Publications.

Meanwhile, Rosenberger had been working for National
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...

 (now DC Comics) since 1963 on romance stories. His style suited the still-popular genre in that he kept up-to-date with fashionable hair and clothing styles. Also, he always drew women as ideal beauties and his leading men were all handsome.
In 1965 he drew his first superhero story for DC. It was a 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...

 and Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is a DC Comics superheroine created by William Moulton Marston. She first appeared in All Star Comics #8 . The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously except for a brief hiatus in 1986....

 story for 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...

#63 called The Revolt of the Super Chicks!, and it was an appropriate subject for Rosenberger's expertise. Cartoonist Fred Hembeck
Fred Hembeck
Fred Hembeck is an American cartoonist best known for his parodies of characters from major American comic book publishers. His work has frequently been published by the firms whose characters he spoofs. His characters are always drawn with curlicues at the elbows and knees...

 has noted that Rosenberger's superhero work showed his background in the romance genre, with "luscious babes" and a unique proficiency in rendering "expressions of impotent bewildered befuddlement" on the faces of male protagonists.

Rosenberger continued with romance work for DC in books like Falling in Love, Girls' Love, Girls' Romances, Secret Hearts, and Young Romance, but the genre's popularity was quickly waning. Around 1972-1974, John was regularly working on various features for DC titles like Strange Sports Stories, Superman Family
Superman Family
Superman Family was a DC Comics comic book series which ran from 1974 to 1982 featuring stories starring supporting characters in the Superman comics...

, Wonder Woman, and 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...

, and with characters like Zatanna
Zatanna
Zatanna Zatara is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Murphy Anderson, Zatanna first appeared in Hawkman vol. 1 #4...

 and Lois Lane
Lois Lane
Lois Lane is a fictional character, the primary love interest of Superman in the comic books of DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in Action Comics #1 ....

. He also co-created Lady Cop
Lady Cop
The Lady Cop is a fictional police officer, a comic book character published by DC Comics. She debuted in 1st Issue Special #4, , and was created by Robert Kanigher and John Rosenberger.-Origin:...

 with Robert Kanigher
Robert Kanigher
Robert Kanigher was a prolific comic book writer and editor whose career spanned five decades. He was involved with the Wonder Woman franchise for over twenty years, taking over the scripting from creator William Moulton Marston. In addition, Kanigher spent many years in charge of DC Comics' war...

.

In 1974, Rosenberger stopped work on DC projects for unknown reasons. He started penciling for Sy Barry
Sy Barry
Seymour "Sy" Barry is an American comic strip artist, best known for his work on The Phantom comic strip, which he drew for three decades.-Career:...

, the regular artist for the Phantom
The Phantom
The Phantom is an American adventure comic strip created by Lee Falk, also creator of Mandrake the Magician. A popular feature adapted into many media, including television, film and video games, it stars a costumed crimefighter operating from the fictional African country Bengalla.The Phantom is...

newspaper strip, whose eyesight was beginning to fail him. He continued with this task on-and-off for about a year.

Sickness and Death (1976-1977)

Rosenberger suffered a heart attack on April 22, 1976, and took about two months off to recover. In August he was diagnosed with cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

, and he died on January 24, 1977, at the age of 58. His last work was for Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is a DC Comics superheroine created by William Moulton Marston. She first appeared in All Star Comics #8 . The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously except for a brief hiatus in 1986....

#217 (1975), for which he who would pencil only the first four pages before taking ill. Subsequently, this issue was redrawn by completely by Dick Dillin
Dick Dillin
Richard Allen "Dick" Dillin was an American comic book artist best known for an extraordinarily long 12-year run as the penciler of the DC Comics superhero-team series Justice League of America. He drew 115 issues from 1968 up until his death, bridging the venerable title's Mike Sekowsky and...

. The Rossenberger pages were later published in Amazing World of DC Comics #15 (Aug. 1977).

Archie

  • Adventures of The Fly #11-28 (1961-63)
  • Adventures of The Jaguar #1-15 (1961-63)
  • Adventures of Young Dr. Masters #1-2 (1964)
  • Betty and Me #3 (1966)

DC

  • Amazing World of DC Comics #15 (featuring the unpublished pencils of Wonder Woman #217; this story would be re-drawn by artist Dick Dillin
    Dick Dillin
    Richard Allen "Dick" Dillin was an American comic book artist best known for an extraordinarily long 12-year run as the penciler of the DC Comics superhero-team series Justice League of America. He drew 115 issues from 1968 up until his death, bridging the venerable title's Mike Sekowsky and...

    )
  • Brave and the Bold (Supergirl
    Supergirl (Kara Zor-El)
    Kara Zor-El is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by DC Comics and related media, created by writer Otto Binder and designed by artist Al Plastino. As Supergirl, Kara Zor-El serves as the biological cousin and female counterpart to DC Comic's iconic superhero Superman, created...

     and Wonder Woman
    Wonder Woman
    Wonder Woman is a DC Comics superheroine created by William Moulton Marston. She first appeared in All Star Comics #8 . The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously except for a brief hiatus in 1986....

    ) #63 (1965)
  • Date with Debbi #4, 7, 16 (1969-70)
  • Falling in Love #70, 76, 80, 94, 97-102, 104-105, 107-109, 115 (1964-70)
  • 1st Issue Special (Lady Cop
    Lady Cop
    The Lady Cop is a fictional police officer, a comic book character published by DC Comics. She debuted in 1st Issue Special #4, , and was created by Robert Kanigher and John Rosenberger.-Origin:...

    ) #4 (1975)
  • Girls' Love Stories
    Girls' Love Stories
    Girls' Love Stories was a romance comic book published by DC Comics in the United States. Started in 1949 as DC's first romance title, it ran for 180 issues, ending with the Nov-Dec 1973 issue. The stories covered such topics as girls worrying about getting a man, or marrying out of pressure, not...

    #112-114, 119, 132, 134-135, 137, 139-140, 142, 144, 146-152, 158, 161, 168-170, 172-175 (1965-73)
  • Girls' Romances
    Girls' Romances
    Girls' Romances was a comic book published in the United States. It ran for 160 issues, from Feb-Mar 1950 to Oct. 1971. It covered romance topics like dating or marriage, and was published by the National Romance Group/DC. Roy Lichtenstein based many of his works from panels from the comic....

    #131-136, 142-143, 146, 148, 151, 159 (1968-71)
  • Secret Hearts #90, 111-114. 116, 118-110, 124, 130, 134, 138-140, 145, 148 (1963-1970)
  • Strange Sports Stories #4-6 (1974)
  • Supergirl
    Supergirl (Kara Zor-El)
    Kara Zor-El is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by DC Comics and related media, created by writer Otto Binder and designed by artist Al Plastino. As Supergirl, Kara Zor-El serves as the biological cousin and female counterpart to DC Comic's iconic superhero Superman, created...

    (Zatanna
    Zatanna
    Zatanna Zatara is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Murphy Anderson, Zatanna first appeared in Hawkman vol. 1 #4...

    ) #1; (Supergirl) #5 (1972-73)
  • Superman Family
    Superman Family
    Superman Family was a DC Comics comic book series which ran from 1974 to 1982 featuring stories starring supporting characters in the Superman comics...

    (Lois Lane) #166, 169; (Supergirl) #168 (1974-75)
  • Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane #122-137 (1972-74)
  • 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:...

    #177 (1977)
  • Wonder Woman
    Wonder Woman
    Wonder Woman is a DC Comics superheroine created by William Moulton Marston. She first appeared in All Star Comics #8 . The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously except for a brief hiatus in 1986....

    #215-216 (1974-75)
  • Young Love
    Young Love
    Young Love may refer to:Music*Young Love, Mat Kearney's fourth studio album*Young Love , the debut album of J.Williams, a New Zealand R&B artist...

    #67-68, 104 (1968-1974)
  • Young Romance
    Young Romance
    Young Romance is a comic book series created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby for the Crestwood Publications imprint Prize Comics in 1947. Generally considered the first romance comic, the series ran for 124 consecutive issues under Prize imprint, and a further 84 published by DC Comics after Crestwood...

    #152, 158, 160-161, 163, 166-167, 173-175, 197-198 (1968-1974)

Marvel

  • Adventures Into Terror #31 (1954)
  • Adventures Into Weird Worlds #22-23 (1953)
  • Journey Into Unknown Worlds #16-17, 27 (1953-1954)
  • Where Monsters Dwell #28 (1974)

External links

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