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{{Short description|American cartoonist}}
{{Infobox comics creator
| image = Reedleonardcrandall.jpg
| imagesize = 150
| caption = Reed Crandall as a youth
| birth_name = Reed Leonard Crandall
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1917|2|22}}
| birth_place = [[Winslow, Indiana]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1982|9|13|1917|2|22}}
| death_place =
| nationality = American
| cartoonist =
| write =
| pencil = y
| ink = y
| letter =
| color =
| alias = E. Lectron
| signature = 
| notable works = ''[[Blackhawk (DC Comics)|Blackhawk]]'', [[EC Comics]]
| awards = [[List of Eisner Award winners#The Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame|Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame]]<br>[[Inkwell Awards]] SASRA (2023)
| website =
| subcat = American
}}
'''Reed Leonard Crandall''' (February 22, 1917 – September 13, 1982)<ref name=ssdi>[http://www.genealogybank.com/gbnk/ssdi/doc/ssdi/v1:112F2DC34724C228 Reed Crandall] at the [[Social Security Death Index]], via GenealogyBank.com; and via [https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/V3VM-Z68 FamilySearch.org], citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing. Retrieved on 22 February 2013. Neither gives specific day of death. First cite [https://archive.today/20130124125013/http://www.genealogybank.com/gbnk/ssdi/doc/ssdi/v1:112F2DC34724C228 archived] from the original on 22 February 2013; second cite [https://www.webcitation.org/6EdGAbUzs?url=https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/V3VM-Z68 archived] from the original on 22 February 2013.</ref><ref>[http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=25426437&PIpi=9811548 Reed Leonard Crandall gravestone] (photo) at FindAGrave.com. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120501010640/http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=25426437&PIpi=9811548 Archived] from the original on May 1, 2012.</ref> was an American [[illustrator]] and [[penciller]] of [[comic book]]s and [[magazine]]s. He was best known for the 1940s [[Quality Comics]]' ''[[Blackhawk (DC Comics)|Blackhawk]]'' and for stories in [[EC Comics]] during the 1950s. Crandall was inducted into the [[List of Eisner Award winners#The Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame|Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame]] in 2009.

==Biography==

===Early life and career===
Reed Crandall was born in [[Winslow, Indiana|Winslow]], [[Indiana]],<ref name=lambiek>{{cite web|url=http://www.lambiek.net/artists/c/crandall.htm|title=Reed Crandall|website=[[Lambiek Comiclopedia]]|access-date=March 17, 2023}}</ref> the son of Rayburn Crandall and wife.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Root|first= Vincent C.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RezNAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Rayburn+Crandall+of+Newton%22 |title=Exceptional Newton, Kan., Art Student Wins High Honors in National Art Department Contest| journal= The Santa Fe Magazine|publisher=Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company|year=1933|volume= 28–29}} Full article reprinted at {{cite web|first=Alex|last=Jay|url=http://alphabettenthletter.blogspot.com/2012/02/creator-reed-crandall.html|title=Creator: Reed Crandall |date=February 20, 2012}}</ref> One cousin was reportedly official [[Grand Teton National Park]] resident artist and photographer Harrison Crandall.(There is no verification that Reed is related to Harrison Crandall)<ref>Root, [https://books.google.com/books?id=RezNAAAAMAAJ&q=harrison+crandall p. 36].</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/parknews/harrison-crandall-private-arwork.htm|title= Grand Teton National Park to Present Artwork from Harrison Crandall Private Archive|publisher=[[National Park Service]] [[press release]]|date=July 15, 2011}}</ref> Crandall graduated from [[Newton High School (Kansas)|Newton High School]] in [[Newton, Kansas|Newton]], [[Kansas]], in 1935,<ref name=cooke65>{{cite book|editor-last=Cooke|editor-first= Jon|title=The T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents Companion| publisher=[[TwoMorrows Publishing]]|location= [[Raleigh, North Carolina|Raleigh]], [[North Carolina]]| year=2005|isbn= 1-893905-43-8|page= 65}}</ref> and then attended the [[Cleveland School of Art]] in [[Cleveland, Ohio|Cleveland]], [[Ohio]],<ref name=stiles>{{cite web|author-link=Steve Stiles|last=Stiles|first= Steve|url=http://www.stevestiles.com/reedc.htm |title=A Look at EC Great Reed Crandall| publisher=SteveStiles.com| date=n.d.|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050513050313/http://stevestiles.com/reedc.htm|archive-date=May 13, 2005|url-status=live}}</ref> on a scholarship.<ref>Root, [https://books.google.com/books?id=RezNAAAAMAAJ&q=scholarship pp. 35, 58].</ref> He graduated in 1939.<ref name=cooke65 /> His father died in the spring of Crandall's freshman year at art school, which Crandall left temporarily to return to Kansas.<ref name=borth66>Interview with art-school classmate and lifelong friend Frank Borth, in Cooke, p. 66</ref> His mother and sister moved to Cleveland during Crandall's junior year.<ref name=borth66 /> With his schoolmate Frank Borth, Crandall found work painting signs on storefront windows.<ref name=borth66 /> Crandall's art influences included the painters and commercial illustrators [[N.C. Wyeth]], [[Howard Pyle]] and [[James Montgomery Flagg]].<ref name=stiles />

Another classmate, the son of the president of the Cleveland-based [[Newspaper Enterprise Association]] syndicate, recommended Crandall for a job at NEA as a general art assistant, where Crandall drew maps and other supporting material.<ref name=borth67>Borth, in Cooke, p. 67</ref> Following his desire to be a magazine illustrator, Crandall unsuccessfully made the rounds of glossy magazines in [[New York City]] and [[Philadelphia]],<ref name=borth67 /> and at some point did a small amount of work for a [[children's literature|children's book]] publisher.<ref name=lambiek /> Moving to New York with his mother and sister, Crandall found work in the fledgling medium of [[comic books]], joining the [[Eisner & Iger|Eisner and Iger Studio]], an early [[comic book packager]] that supplied complete, outsourced comics for publishers.<ref name=lambiek />

===Quality Comics===
[[File:HitComics18.jpg|thumb|left|''Hit Comics'' #18 (Dec. 1941), featuring Stormy Foster. Cover art by Crandall.]]
Crandall drew for comic books from 1939 until 1973. His first work appears in comics from publisher [[Quality Comics]], for which he drew stories starring such [[superhero]]es as the [[Ray (comics)|Ray]] (in ''Smash Comics'', beginning in 1941 and initially under the playful [[pseudonym]] '''E. Lectron''')<ref>[http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=1530 ''Smash Comics'' #24 (July 1941)] at the [[Grand Comics Database]].</ref> and [[Doll Man]] (first in ''Feature Comics'' in 1941, then in the character's own solo title). His earliest confirmed cover art is for [[Fiction House]]'s ''Fight Comics'' #12 (April 1941) at the Grand Comics Database.<ref>[http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=1350 ''Fight Comics'' #12 (April 1941)] at the Grand Comics Database.</ref> Other early work includes [[inker|inking]] the [[penciler|pencil art]] of future industry legend [[Jack Kirby]] on two of the earliest [[Captain America]] stories, "The Ageless Orientals That Wouldn't Die", in ''Captain America Comics'' #2 (April 1941),<ref>[http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=1361 ''Captain America Comics'' #2 (April 1941)] at the Grand Comics Database.</ref> and "The Queer Case of the Murdering Butterfly and the Ancient Mummies" in #3 (May 1941).<ref>[http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=1413 ''Captain America Comics'' #3 (May 1941)] at the Grand Comics Database.</ref>

With [[S.M. "Jerry" Iger]] credited as writer, Crandall co-created the superhero the Firebrand in Quality's ''[[Police Comics]]'' #1 (Aug. 1941) and began his long run as artist of his signature series, the [[World War II]] aviator-team strip "[[Blackhawk (DC Comics)|Blackhawk]]", in ''[[Military Comics]]'' #12-22 (Oct. 1942 - Sept. 1943) and, after his WWII service in the [[Army Air Force]],<ref name=stiles /> in ''Blackhawk'' and in ''Modern Comics''. During this time he also drew the adventures of [[Captain Triumph]] in Quality's ''Crack Comics''. His final "Blackhawk" work was a seven-page story, plus the cover, for ''Blackhawk'' #67 (Aug. 1953).

===EC Comics and afterward===
Crandall went on to become a mainstay of [[EC Comics]], whose line of hit [[horror fiction|horror]] and [[science fiction]] titles would become as influential to future generations of comics creators as they were controversial in their own time due to their often graphic nature and mature themes. Joining a group that included artists [[Johnny Craig]], [[Jack Davis (cartoonist)|Jack Davis]], [[Will Elder]], [[Frank Frazetta]], [[Graham Ingels]], [[Jack Kamen]], [[Bernard Krigstein]] and [[Wally Wood]], Crandall made his debut there with the six-page story "Bloody Sure", written by [[Al Feldstein]], in ''[[The Haunt of Fear]]'' #20 (August 1953).

He drew dozens of stories across a variety of genres for the EC anthologies ''[[Crime SuspenStories]]'', ''[[Shock SuspenStories]]'', ''[[Tales from the Crypt (comics)|Tales from the Crypt]]'', ''[[Two-Fisted Tales]]'', ''[[The Vault of Horror (comics)|The Vault of Horror]]'', ''Extra!'', ''Impact'', ''[[Piracy (comics)|Piracy]]'', and ''[[Weird Fantasy]]'' and its sequel series, ''Weird Science-Fantasy''.

Following the demise of EC in the wake of the [[United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency|1954 U.S. Senate hearings on juvenile delinquency]] and a wave of anti-comics sentiment,<ref>Hajdu, David. ''The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America'' (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008) {{ISBN|0-374-18767-3}}, {{ISBN|978-0-374-18767-5}}</ref> Reed freelanced for [[Atlas Comics (1950s)|Atlas Comics]], the 1950s iteration of [[Marvel Comics]], as well as for the [[Gilberton Company]]'s ''[[Classics Illustrated]]''. Crandall's work for ''Classics Illustrated'' consisted of joint projects with EC veteran [[George Evans (cartoonist)|George Evans]] on four titles: No. 18, ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' (Fall 1960); No. 23, ''Oliver Twist'' (Fall 1961); No. 68, ''Julius Caesar'' (1962); No. 168, ''In Freedom's Cause'' (completed 1962; published UK 1963; published US 1969).<ref>Jones, William B., Jr., ''Classics Illustrated: A Cultural History, Second Edition''(McFarland, 2011), pp. 320, 321, 326, 334.</ref>

In 1960, he went under contract{{Citation needed|date=February 2012}} with the publisher of ''[[Treasure Chest (comics)|Treasure Chest]]'', a comic book distributed exclusively through [[parochial school]]s. Crandall illustrated many covers and countless stories for ''Treasure Chest'' through 1972. In 1964, he illustrated books by [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]] for [[Canaveral Press]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2012}} The following year, he began contributing to [[Warren Publishing]]'s black-and-white [[war-comics]] magazine ''[[Blazing Combat]]'', and soon went on to contribute to the company's line of black-and-white horror publications, including ''[[Creepy (magazine)|Creepy]]'' and ''[[Eerie (comics)|Eerie]]''. In the mid-to-late 1960s, he illustrated [[superhero]]-[[espionage fiction|espionage]] stories for [[Tower Comics]],<ref name=bails>{{cite web|author-link=Jerry Bails|last1=Bails|first1=Jerry| first2=Hames| last2 = Ware|url=http://www.bailsprojects.com/bio.aspx?Name=CRANDALL%2c+REED| publisher=Who's Who of American Comic Books 1928-1999|title=Crandall, Reed|access-date=February 27, 2011|archive-date=November 24, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071124095811/http://bailsprojects.com/%28S%28e2p3refh0yrgq3ilwulfrz55%29%29/bio.aspx?Name=CRANDALL%2C%20REED|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[space opera]] [[science fiction]] in [[King Features Syndicate]]'s King Comics comic-book version of the syndicate's long-running hero [[Flash Gordon]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Mike|last=Benton|title=The Comic Book in America|publisher=Taylor Publishing | location = [[Dallas, Texas]] | year = 1989 | isbn= 0-87833-659-1|pages= 68, 129}}</ref>

In June 1970, Crandall and [[Buster Crabbe]] were guests at the [[Multicon]]-70 convention in [[Oklahoma City]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Convention Features Old Films|work=[[Amarillo Globe-Times]]|date=June 16, 1970}}</ref>

===Final years===
Crandall, who had left New York City in the 1960s in order to care for his ailing mother in [[Wichita, Kansas|Wichita]], [[Kansas]], had developed alcoholism.<ref name=stiles/><ref name=borth68>Borth, in Cooke, p. 68</ref> Recovering by the time of his mother's death, he nonetheless suffered debilitated health and left art in 1974 to work as a night watchman and janitor for the [[Pizza Hut]] general headquarters in Wichita.<ref name=stiles/> After suffering a stroke that year, he spent his remaining life in a nursing home and died in 1982 of a heart attack.<ref name=stiles/> One of his last published stories, "This Graveyard Is Not Deserted", appeared in ''[[Creepy (magazine)|Creepy]]'' #54 (July 1973).<ref name=stiles/> ''Creepy'' #58 contained "Soul and Shadow", possibly his last published comic book work.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1087295|title=Creepy #58 pg 02 title splash, in kelly b's Reed Crandall Comic Art Gallery Room}}</ref>

==Family==
Crandall married artist Martha Hamilton, and they had two children.<ref name=borth67 /> Their daughter, artist Cathy Crandall, had three children. Their son, Navy veteran Reed L. "Spike" Crandall (Sept. 8, 1945-July 2, 2005), an artist who owned and operated Crandall's Creations ([[Clarkesville, Georgia]]), had a daughter, Samantha Pledger, and three grandchildren.<ref>[http://archive.gainesvilletimes.com/news/stories/20050704/obituaries/119195.shtml ''The Times'', Gainesville, Georgia. July 4, 2005.]</ref>

==Awards and tributes==
Crandall was inducted into the [[List of Eisner Award winners#The Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame|Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame]] in 2009.<ref>[http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_09win.shtml Comic-Con.org: 2009 Eisner Award winners] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725190205/http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_09win.shtml |date=2011-07-25 }}</ref>

He is referenced in [[Michael Chabon]]'s [[Pulitzer Prize]]-winning novel ''[[The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay]]''. The fictional character Joe Kavalier refers to Crandall as the "top" comic-book artist of his era.<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Michael Chabon|first= Michael|last= Chabon |title=The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay|url=https://archive.org/details/amazingadventure00chab_0|url-access=registration|publisher=[[Random House]]|year= 2000|isbn=0-679-45004-1}}{{page needed|date=September 2019}}</ref> In 2023, Crandall was posthumously awarded the [[Inkwell Awards]] SASRA (Stacey Aragon Special Recognition Award).<ref name=majorspoilers2023>[https://majorspoilers.com/2023/03/15/frazetta-and-shores-announced-as-inkwell-awards-2023-lifetime-achievement/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=frazetta-and-shores-announced-as-inkwell-awards-2023-lifetime-achievement "Major Spoilers - Frazetta and Shores announced as Inkwell Awards’ 2023 Lifetime Achievement]</ref><ref name=popculturepodium2023>[https://popculturepodium.blogspot.com/2023/03/frazetta-shores-win-inkwell-lifetime.html "Pop Culture Podium - Frazetta & Shores Win Inkwell Lifetime Achievement Award"]</ref><ref name=fcn2023>[https://www.firstcomicsnews.com/inkwell-awards-2023-lifetime-achievement-winners-announced/ "First Comics News - Inkwell Awards’ 2023 Lifetime Achievement Winners Announced"]</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
*[http://twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/articles/14checklist.html "Tower Comics Checklist"], ''[[Comic Book Artist]]'' #14 (July 2001)
*[http://www.genealogybank.com/gbnk/ssdi/doc/ssdi/v1:112F2DC34724C228 "Crandall, Reed"], at the [[Social Security Death Index]]
* {{LCAuth|no2011180877|Reed Crandall|24|}}

{{eccontribs}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crandall, Reed}}
[[Category:1917 births]]
[[Category:1982 deaths]]
[[Category:American comics artists]]
[[Category:American illustrators]]
[[Category:Golden Age comics creators]]
[[Category:People from Pike County, Indiana]]
[[Category:Silver Age comics creators]]
[[Category:Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:Cleveland School of Art alumni]]
[[Category:EC Comics]]
[[Category:Artists from Indiana]]
[[Category:20th-century American artists]]
[[Category:United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II]]

Reed Crandall - Revision history

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