dick giordano, r.i.p.

(you last saw dick giordano's artwork on this blog in my november post "a great escape")

in these days where just about every press release touts everyone as an industry great, dick giordano was truly a comic book legend. while primarily known as one of the great all-time inkers (often pairing with neal adams, another legend), giordano also spent 10 years as DC comics's vice president/executive editor, a position he held from 1983-1993, arguably the most critical time frame in DC comics history. he oversaw "crisis on infinite earths" and the rebooting of the entire universe and its iconic characters, one of the more ambitious moves ever taken by a major comic book company. he was also there when DC launched their vertigo line of mature readers comics, possibly the most influential move DC comics has made in the modern age.

back in elementary school, when i was just getting hooked on comics, dick giordano, with the aid of the abovementioned neal adams and irv novick, was helping usher in the more sophisticated artwork of dc's modern age, which also moved batman out of the batcave and shipped robin off to college, as explained by bruce wayne in 1969's "one bullet too many":

from the following month's "the secret of the waiting graves":

(stories by frank robbins and denny o'neill, art by dick giordano, irv novick and neal adams)