Irwin Hasen
CO-CREATOR OF THE COMIC STRIP “DONDI”
Irwin Hasen started his cartooning career in the late 1930s, after attending the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League in New York. He first drew sports cartoons and did advertising artwork. Hasen went into comic books in 1940, working for such Golden Age publishers as: Tem (Temerson, which later became Holyoke) where he co-created Cat-Man and worked on Secret Agent Z-2, Citizen Smith and the Green Hornet. Hasen also worked for Centaur Publications on their sports/celebrities one pagers and MLJ Magazines where he was co-creator of the Fox.
Br 1941, Hasen went to work for Sheldon Mayer of All-American (later bought by DC) where he created Wildcat. While working for All-American/DC, Hasen would render some of his most memorable work for titles such as: Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Johnny Thunder, All-Star Comics (Justice Society of America) and Sargon the Sorceror.
During his military service, he was responsible for the military paper Fort Dix Reception Center. Discharged from the army in 1946, Hasen went back to doing more comic book work.
One of the great JUSTICE SOCIETY and GREEN LANTERN cover artists (both JOE KUBERT and ALEX TOTH cite him as an influence), Hasen returned to ‘The Flash’ and ‘The Green Lantern’ after he was discharged from the army. He also briefly worked on a daily strip of ‘The Goldbergs’ for the New York Post, based on a radio show. In the 1950s Hasen became active in the National Cartoonists Society. While on a tour in Europe in 1955, he met Gus Edson and they collaborated on ‘Dondi’; a strip about a WWII war orphan’s adventure in America. The National Cartoonists Society presented Irwin Hasen with awards for Best Story Strip in 1961 and 1962 for Dondi. It was discontinued in 1986 after a 32 year successful and memorable run.
After ‘Dondi’ concluded, Irwin Hasen went into semi-retirement where he teaches at the Joe Kubert School and also creates stunning full-color painted recreations and lithographs of his classic Golden Age comic book covers.
Check out these interviews with Irwin:
http://povonline.com/cols/COL312.htm
http://povonline.com/cols/COL313.htm
Visit Irwin Hasen's Website
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