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Carmine Infantino

Batgirl’s creation came about as a joint project between DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz and the producers of the 1960s Batman television series. In order to boost ratings for the third season of Batman, the producers requested a new female character be introduced into publication that could be adapted into the television series. At Schwartz’s direction, Barbara Gordon debuted in Detective Comics #359 titled, “The Million Dollar Debut of Batgirl!” (1967) by writer Gardner Fox and artist Carmine Infantino.

Carmine Infantino became the first Batman artist not to sign Bob Kane’s name to his work.

The New Look Batman

It was late 1963. Sales of the Batman titles were low, and getting lower. “It’s this simple: Batman is dying. We’re giving you two guys six months to fix it. If not, it’s over.” That’s what DC publisher Irwin Donenfeld told editor Julie Schwartz and artist Carmine Infantino. Batman, an American institution, faced cancellation.

“The book was at 32 percent sales,” Infantino recalls. “Which is a heavy loss. [Batman creator] Bob Kane hadn’t even been doing the work — he was farming it out to others. He hadn’t touched the drawing for years. What he was turning in was too old-fashioned.”

So, with just six issues to turn the tide, Editor Schwartz and artist Carmine Infantino developed the “New Look Batman.” To mark the change, a yellow oval was added to the Bat-insi gnia on the Caped Crusader’s chest.

The Flash by Carmine Infantino

RIP Carmine Infantino (May 24, 1925 – April 4, 2013)

The legendary artist and editor has passed away at age 87.

Reading about Carmine’s death has really brought me down. In the early 90’s I attended a class taught by Carmine at The School Of Visual Arts, he was generous, supportive, and challenging - a fine teacher and great guy.