Samuel Joseph Glanzman (December 5, 1924 – July 12, 2017) was an American comics artist and memoirist. Glanzman is best known for his Charlton Comics series Hercules, about the Greek mythology demigod; his autobiographical war stories about his service aboard the for DC Comics and Marvel Comics; and the Charlton Comics Fightin' Army feature "The Lonely War of Willy Schultz", a Vietnam War-era serial about a German-American U.S. Army captain during World War II.
Glanzman ended his formal education after grade school.Glanzman, Comic Book Artist, p. 93 He entered the comics industry in late 1939, during the period historians and fans call the Golden Age of comic books, at Funnies, Inc., one of the early "Comics packaging" that supplied comics to publishers then entering the fledgling medium. There, for Centaur Publications, he wrote two-page text stories with incidental art for Amazing-Man Comics. Later, for Harvey Comics, he created Fly-Man in the superhero anthology Spitfire Comics #1 (August 1941), writing and drawing the feature for at least two issues. He also contributed to Harvey's All-New Short Story Comics (where he published his first recorded war story); Champ Comics (stories about the superhero Human Meteor); and the radio program tie-in series Green Hornet through 1943.
He served in the U.S. Navy, during World War II, stationed on the destroyer , and was discharged in 1946.Glanzman, Comic Book Artist, p. 90 Eschewing work in comics ("I was getting $7.50 a page for Fly-Man, penciler, inker, story, and colorist ... I figured, 'Hell, that's not much money.'"), he began a peripatetic career doing manual labor in cabinet shops, lumber mills, and boat yards. After marrying in the 1950s, he worked at Republic Aviation in Farmingdale, New York, installing machine guns on military jets. During this time, he lived in Rockaway, Queens, and in the Long Island towns of Valley Stream and Massapequa Park.
Seeking to return to art, Glanzman did some work for the Eastern Color series Heroic Comics and New Heroic Comics in 1950, and found better-paying assignments doing children's book illustration. He may have done uncredited work for his brother Lew on a hardcover book series for children about aircraft. Work was not steady, however, and Glanzman returned to Republic Aviation.
Beginning mid-1964, Glanzman moved regularly between Charlton and Dell assignments, almost exclusively on war stories, but also on a Charlton Tarzan series. Although some sources credit him for co-creating the Charlton hardboiled detective character Sarge Steel, he stated in a 2009 interview that "The only thing I created was the "U.S.S. Stevens", "Attu" and A Sailor's Story."
During the 1960s Glanzman and writer Gill created the Charlton mythological-adventure series Hercules: Adventures of the Man-God, which would run 13 issues (Oct. 1967 - Sept. 1969), and showcased Glanzman's experimental side, where he might float Art Nouveau-bordered panels within action tableaux filled with Hieronymous Boschian nightmares.Glanzman, Comic Book Artist, illustration p. 91
Also during this time he co-created, with writer Will Franz, "The Lonely War of Willy Schultz",Glanzman, Comic Book Artist, pp. 91–92 a departure from most other World War II features of this time, with a conflicted American soldier of German heritage caught between loyalties. During combat in the European Theater, U.S. Army captain Schultz is falsely accused and convicted of murder; he escapes and blends into the German Army while seeking a way to clear his name and retain his Allied allegiance. The feature, reprinted as late as 1999, The Lonely War Of Willy Schultz #1–4 (May–Nov. 1999), published by Avalon Communications / America's Comics Group was serialized in Charlton's Fightin' Army #76–80, 82–92 (Oct. 1967 – July 1968 and Nov. 1968 – July 1970).
Glanzman freelanced for Outdoor Life magazine in the 1960s as well.
Other work in the 1990s included inking some issues of Turok for Acclaim Comics and Zorro for Topps Comics, and writing and drawing a serialized feature in Flashback Comics' Fantastic Worlds #1. His later work includes stories in two anthologies: writing and drawing the 10-page, true-life story "On the Job: Cooks Tour," in the graphic-story trade paperback Streetwise (TwoMorrows Publishing, 2000, ), and the donated, four-page "There Were Tears in Her Eyes," in the squarebound benefit comic (2002).
From 1999–2001, the Avalon Communications imprint America's Comic Group / ACG (not to be confused with American Comics Group / AGC) reprinted large amounts of Glanzman's Charlton Comics work in a number of mostly one-shot titles, including Hercules, Flyboys, Nam Tales, Star Combat Tales, Total War, and ACG Comics Presents Fire and Steel.
In 2003, Glanzman began working on webcomics, writing and drawing the 19th-century nautical adventure Apple Jack, and reteaming with his "Willy Schultz" writer, Will Franz, on the Roman centurion series The Eagle.. Original site. In 2012 and 2013, new "U.S.S. Stevens" stories by Glanzman appeared in the Joe Kubert Presents six-issue anthology limited series. In 2015, Glanzman's "U.S.S. Stevens" stories and the A Sailor's Story graphic novels were collected by Dover Publications.
Glanzman died on July 12, 2017, in Maryland, New York, under hospice care after falling and undergoing surgery.
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