George Kapitan

George Kapitan (July 23, 1919 – November 27, 1996)[1] was an American writer for Timely Comics, the 1940s predecessor of Marvel Comics, during the time fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comics. He co-created the medium's first costumed, superpowered female protagonist, the Golden Age Black Widow, an antiheroine who killed evildoers to deliver their souls to Satan, her master.

George Kapitan
George Kapitan, 1950

Biography

George Kapitan broke into comics in 1940, creating with artist Harry Sahle the early superhero Green Giant (no relation to the advertising icon) in Pelican Publications' Green Giant Comics #1 (1940), produced by Funnies, Inc.,[2] a comic book "packager" that produced outsourced comics for publishers testing the waters of the fledgling medium.

Also in 1940, in Mystic Comics #4 (dated Jul. 1940 in postal indicia, cover dated Aug. 1940),[3] he and Sahle created comic books' first costumed, super-powered female character, the original Black Widow, Claire Voyant, an antiheroine who killed evildoers to deliver their souls to Satan, her master.[4][5]

He is also the unconfirmed, generally accepted co-creator, with Sahle, of the Centaur Publications superhero the Air Man in Keen Detective Funnies #23 (Aug. 1940).[6]

Carl Burgos & Harry Sahle at George Kapitan's Wedding, New York
Photo taken at George's wedding with other comic book creators we worked with: Carl Burgos is seated in the center with his wife to his right and Harry Sahle is to Carl's left (second from the right in the image).

Other work in the early days of the medium includes writing for the Timely character Fiery Mask (and inking at least one Sub-Mariner story); Hillman Periodicals' feature "Private Parker"; Novelty Press' "Dick Cole", "Blue Bolt" and "Target and the Targeteers"; publisher McCombs' humor feature "Master Marvin"; and even Archie Comics' "Archie".[6]

He was living in Panama City, Florida, at the time of his death in 1996, at age 77.[1]

References
  1. George Kapitan at the Social Security Death Index via GenealogyBank.com. Retrieved September 6, 2013.
  2. Green Giant Comics #1 at the Grand Comics Database
  3. Mystic Comics #4 (July-August 1940) at the Grand Comics Database
  4. Lewis, A. David (2010). "Black Widow". In Booker, M. Keith (ed.). Encyclopedia of Comic Books and Graphic Novels. Vol. 1. ABC-CLIO. pp. 64–66. ISBN 9780313357473. Retrieved 26 July 2013. Writer George Kapitan and artist Harry Sahle gave their character, one of the original female costumed heroes ...
  5. Markstein, Don. "The Black Widow". Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on April 15, 2012. Retrieved 26 July 2013. Fantomah was the first female character in comics to use extraordinary powers in combatting evil. The Woman in Red was the first to wear a flashy costume and maintain a dual identity while doing so. But The Black Widow was the first to do both.
  6. George Kapitan at the Grand Comics Database
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