Alexander Anthony Blum (February 7, 1889 – September 1969)[Social Security Death Index, SS# 085-18-0640.] was a Hungarian-American comic book artist best remembered for his contributions in the 1940s and 1950s to the long-running comic book series Classics Illustrated.[Jones Jr., p.66 ff.]
Biography
Born
Sándor Aladár Blum in
Hungary, into a Jewish family,
[Greenspoon, Leonard Jay & Ronald Simkins, American Judaism in Popular Culture, Creighton University Press (2006), p. 189] Blum studied at the National Academy of Design in New York before moving with his young family to the Germantown section of
Philadelphia, where he worked as a
portrait painter.
During the Great Depression, Blum's career as a portrait painter evaporated, leading the family to move to New York City, seeking work.[Interview with Bill Bossert (January 2011). "I Was Contemptuous, Basically of the Comics". Alter Ego (99)] He signed with the comic book packager Eisner & Iger, and in the 1930s and 1940s his work appeared in comics published by Fox Comics, Quality Comics, Fiction House and Fawcett Comics. He occasionally worked in collaboration with his daughter, Toni Blum, born in 1918, who wrote comics during that period for Eisner & Iger.[Hajdu, David. The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008), , p. 26.]
For Fox Feature Syndicate (as "Alex Boon"), he illustrated the debut of the fictional superhero Samson, in Fantastic Comics #1 (Dec. 1939).[Steele, Henry (1978). Fiction House - A Golden Age Index. Al Dellinges.][Love, G.B (ed.). "Planet Comics". The Fandom Annual. SFCA (2): 118–121.]
Later, in the period 1948 to 1955, he worked for the publisher Gilberton, illustrating almost twenty-five Classics Illustrated titles, as well as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the debut issue of Classics Illustrated Junior. Along with Henry C. Kiefer, he was one of the leading Classics Illustrated artists.
Personal life and death
Blum and his wife Helen
had two children, a son and a daughter,
Toni Blum (1918– 1972), who also became a comic book creator.
Blum died in 1969 in Rye, New York.
Bibliography
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Samson (Fox, 1939– 1941)
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The Eagle (Fox, 1941–1942)
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Neon the Unknown in Hit Comics (Quality, 1940–1941)
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The Purple Trio in Smash Comics (Quality, 1940–1942)
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The Strange Twins in Hit Comics (Quality, 1940–1942)
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Captain Nelson Cole in Planet Comics (Fiction House, 1940–1941)
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The Red Comet in Planet Comics #6–10 (Fiction House, 1940–1941)
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Kaänga Comics (Fiction House)
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Midnight the Black Stallion in Jumbo Comics (Fiction House, 1941–1942)
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Greasemonkey Griffin in Wings Comics (Fiction House)
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Classics Illustrated (Gilberton, 1948–1955):
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Alice in Wonderland — #49 (1948)
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The Song of Hiawatha — #57 (1949)
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The Woman in White — #61 (1949)
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Treasure Island — #64 (1949)
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The Scottish Chiefs — #67 (1950)
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— #70 (1950)
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The Man Who Laughs — #71 (1950)
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The Black Tulip — #73 (1950)
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The Iliad — #77 (1950)
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Cyrano de Bergerac — #79 (1951)
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White Fang — #80 (1951)
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The Jungle Book, with William Bossert — #83 (1951)
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The Gold Bug and Other Stories — #84 (1951)
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The Sea Wolf — #85 (1951)
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A Midsummer Night's Dream — #87 (1951)
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Green Mansions — #90 (1951)
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The Courtship of Miles Standish and Evangeline — #92 (1952)
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Daniel Boone — #96 (1952)
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Hamlet — #99 (1952)
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The White Company — #102 (1952)
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From the Earth to the Moon — #105 (1953)
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Knights of the Round Table — #108 (1953)
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Macbeth — #128 (1955)
[Jones Jr., Appendix A, pp. 218-223 (covering all Classics Illustrated artwork references).]
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Classics Illustrated Junior (Gilberton, 1953–1954):
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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs — #501 (1953)
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Jack and the Beanstalk — #507 (1954)
[Jones Jr., Appendix E, p. 229 (covering both Classics Illustrated Junior artwork references).]
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Classics Illustrated Special Edition (Gilberton, 1955):
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The Story of Jesus — #129A (with William A. Walsh) (1955)
[Jones, Jr., Appendix F, p. 233.]
Notes
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Alex Blum entry, Lambiek's Comiclopedia
-
Jones Jr., William B. Classics Illustrated: A Cultural History, with Illustrations (Jefferson, NC, and London: McFarland, 2002).
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Overstreet, Robert M. Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide. House of Collectibles, 2004.
