Biography
by Dylan Williams

        Mort Meskin was born in  May 1916 in Brooklyn, New York to Max and Rose Meskin.  At Tilden High School he became art editor of the school paper.  As a kid he had read the pulps; the Shadow was his mainstay, in particular the Shadow as drawn by Ed Cartier.  The work of Herbert Morton Stoops, whose beautiful art is in almost every issue of Blue Book magazine in the twenties and thirties, was also a favorite of his.  It has also been said that he was influenced by the artwork of Austin Briggs, Rembrandt, Milton Caniff and Noel Sickles. 

                                                        Mort Meskin at Tilden High School,  Brooklyn, NY

        After graduating from high school, Meskin attended the Art Students League of New York and Pratt Institute from which he graduated in 1938.  He immediately went to work as a comic book artist (an industry in its infancy at that point).  He started drawing for the Will Eisner/Jerry Iger shop.  For them he drew the Sheena of the Jungle character which appeared in Jumbo Comics.  His next work was for $5.00, a page at MLJ/Archie Comics.  Beginning in late 1939, he worked for MLJ out of the Chesler comic shop (comics were most commonly produced by assembly line-like shops/studios during the first 15 years of their history).  Between 1939 and 1942, MLJ published his work on reoccurring heroes like Ty-Gor: Son of Tiger, The Press Guardian and Dick Storm.  His early work was inventive and unique, but most of its appeal lay in his storytelling ability, that is to say his ability to pick shots to illustrate the story.  In 1941 Meskin quit MLJ to work for National/DC comics, the biggest comic company in the business and the home of Superman.  He was given the character Vigilante to draw for Superman's own Action Comics in issue number 42.  On this character he began to shine and attract the attention of his peers.  With each new story he invented a new language of visual dialog and stunning graphic storytelling.   
        "Citizen Kane (1941) influenced us a great deal, all of us. We were very excited about it and spent quite a bit of time discussing it, employing its elements in our work.  There was a contest as to who saw it the most times," Meskin told Jim Steranko for his history of comics.  Meskin saw the film fifteen times.   In 1942, Meskin took over the job of drawing Johnny Quick, for More Fun Comics by National,  while also drawing the Vigilante.  With Johnny Quick, Meskin's need to experiment would also shine. The stories aren't as splashy as the Vigilante stories, but there is even more clarity of story and intent of image.  In Johnny Quick, he would develop a technique of illustrating the super fast character's superpower by having him appear many times in the same panel.  Meskin's skill as a comic artist reached its maturity during his work for DC in the mid40s.  He would also work on the characters Starman and Wildcat.

        As is the case with many artists in the field, Mort didn't always do the whole job himself.  His pencil drawings would often be finished in ink for publication by others.  Just as often, he would collaborate with these inkers, each doing some of the drawing in pencil and ink.  Meskin would work chiefly with three inkers during his career, who all started with him at National.  A teenage Joe Kubert (of Sargeant Rock fame) worked with him in the early days.  He also began a long collaboration with George Roussos and Jerry Robinson who were both working on Bob Kaneís Batman.   
        After World War II, Meskin and Robinson left DC and set up their own shop.  They produced The Black Terror, Fighting Yank, Golden Lad, Atoman and various genre stories (Romance, Crime, etc.) for companies like Harvey, Standard and Sparks.  Meskin and Robinson both taught at the Art Students League and at their own studio (with George Roussos).  Meskin fell ill during the late forties and was in and out of the hospital during the late 1940s.   Meskin's work at DC had caught the eye of Joe Simon (partner and co-creator of Captain America with Jack Kirby).  Simon and Kirby were running their own lucrative studio, so he quickly gave Meskin a job.  It took a little time for Meskin to settle in at the Simon and Kirby Crestwood but soon he was turning out an amazing number of stories for Black Magic, Headline, Justice Traps the Guilty, Captain 3D, Young Romance/Love, Boys Ranch and the Strange World of Your Dreams.  He and Robinson also did work for Stan Lee at Atlas (soon to be Marvel) during this period.

                                                                   Meskin at work on a page for the Crestwood studios. 
                                                                    (Note the Jack Kirby drawing in the top right panel 
                                                                     and the Meskin characters in the bottom center).


        After the Comics Code was put into effect to "clean up" comics in the mid-50s the Crestwood Studios went under.  Meskin went back to work for National, now DC comics, with George Roussos (while Robinson entered the world of the syndicated newspaper strip).  Along with Roussos, Meskin turned out hundreds of stories for DC from 1954 through 1965.  Along with Roussos and a number of other inkers (most notably Bill Draut whom he had met at Crestwood) Meskin worked in House of Secrets, House of Mystery, Strange Adventures, My Greatest Adventures and others.  He would often ink his own work during this period (as well as earlier) but it is not always so easy to spot, since he was still always collaborating. 
        During this last period in comics he had stopped using splashy inking techniques and layouts choosing to focus on storytelling and effective layout.   An old connection of Meskin's from Crestwood, Marvin Stein, got him a job at the advertising agency BBD&O in 1965.  He quit comics and worked in the ad game for the next 17 years.  He worked on major ad campaigns for beer, soda pop and more.  His skill as a clear and precise storyteller made Meskin a perfect match for the world of storyboarding and pre-production for TV ads.   
        Mort Meskin painted his whole life, with an interest in any and every medium.  After quitting the world of advertising he focused on his painting and family as well as volunteering with his second wife Molly for St. Joseph's nursing home in his native Yonkers, New York.  Mort Meskin died in April of 1995. 

                                        Here's a bit more about Mort Meskin from another website: Our Heroes Posters

                                  For an in-depth coverage of Mort Meskin's life and career, see Steven Brower's excellent, new book:  
                                                            From Shadow to Light: The Life and Art of Mort Meskin