Richard Joseph "Dick" Giordano (born July 20, 1932) is an American comic book artist and editor best known for introducing Charlton Comics' "Action Heroes" stable of superheroes, and serving as editor of then industry-leader DC Comics.Early life and careerDick Giordano was born in Manhattan, New York City, New York. He made a mark in the comic-book industry at Charlton Comics as editor in the mid-1960s, overseeing the revamping of its few existing superheroes and having his artists and writers create new such characters for what he called the company "Action Hero" line.DC ComicsDC Comics' then-publisher Carmine Infantino hired Giordano as an editor in 1968. While none of his titles (such as Bat Lash and Deadman) were a commercial hit, they were critical successes. By the early 1970s, Giordano had left DC to partner with artist Neal Adams on theire Continuity Studios, which as of 2007 continues to produce commercial art and some comic-book work.In the late 1970s new DC publisher Jenette Kahn brought Giordano back to DC. Initially the editor of the Batman titles, Giordano was named the company's new managing editor in 1981. With Kahn and Paul Levitz, Giordano helped relaunch such major characters as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, the Justice League of America, and the Teen Titans. By the end of the 1980s, they had also created the critically acclaimed, mature-audience Vertigo imprint, under initial editor Karen Berger, and began an influx of British talent such as Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman.Giordano also continued to ink, such as over George Perez's pencils on the 1986 crossover Crisis on Infinite Earths, and John Byrne's pencils on The Man of Steel and Action Comics.Later careerGiordano went into semi-retirement in the early 1990s, still doing the occasional inking job. In 1994 Giordano illustrated a graphic novel adaptation of the novel Modesty Blaise released by DC Comics (ISBN 1-56389-178-6), with creator/writer Peter O'Donnell. In 2002, Giordano helped launch Future Comics with writer David Michelinie and artist Bob Layton. Future Comics closed down after only two and a half years in business in 2004.Since 2002 he has also drawn issues of The Phantom comic book published in Europe and Australia. In the mid-2000s, he began sitting on the board of directors of the comic industry charity, A Commitment To Our Roots (ACTOR), renamed in 2006 to The Hero Initiative.LegacyAs an artist, Giordano is best-known as an inker, particularly over the pencils of Neal Adams, for an influential run in the late 1960s and early 1970s on the titles Batman and Green Lantern/Green Arrow for DC Comics, and for the large-format, landmark DC/Marvel Comics intercompany crossover Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-man (1976), over the pencils of Spider-man specialist Ross Andru. Giordano also inked the similarly one-shot Superman vs. Muhammad Ali in 1978.He served as mentor or inspiration to an entire generation of inkers, including Terry Austin, Klaus Janson, Bob Layton, Steve Mitchell and Mike DeCarlo. As a penciller, he drew numerous Batman and Wonder Woman stories as well as the martial arts feature "Sons of the Tiger" in Marvel's black-and-white comics magazine The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu.AwardsHe has received recognition in the industry for his work, including the Alley Award for Best Editor in 1969 and the Shazam Award for Best Inker (Dramatic Division) for Green Lantern and other DC titles in 1970, again in 1973 for Justice League of America, and the Shazam Award for Best Inker (Dramatic Division) in 1971 and 1974.
