James Aparo, 72; Comic Book Artist Updated Batman
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
James Aparo, the comic book artist who died July 26 at 72, updated Batman from the 1960s, TV show-influenced cartoon figure to a more menacing, realistic character in the early 1970s. He had the longest run of any artist on DC Comics’ “The Brave and the Bold,” featuring Batman and various guest characters. Aparo also co-created a new superhero group in “Batman and the Outsiders.”
Aparo grew up in New Britain, Conn., immersed in the pages of Batman, Superman, and Captain Marvel. A self-taught artist, he began working at an advertising agency in West Hartford, Conn. where he designed air-conditioner advertisements and fashion illustrations.
In 1963, he drew his first comic strip, “Stern Wheeler,” for a local Connecticut paper. Charlton Comics noticed his drawings and asked Aparo to draw the sexy, platinum blond character Miss Bikini Luv in “Go-Go Comics.” While at Charlton, he worked in a variety of genres, including Western, mystery, and romance.
In 1968, Aparo followed Charlton editor Dick Giordano to DC Comics in New York. He began by drawing “Aquaman” and soon took on “The Phantom Stranger,” as well as the company’s horror titles.
In 1971, Aparo began drawing Batman when the Phantom Stranger made a guest appearance in “The Brave and the Bold.” An unusually self-sufficient and methodical artist, he was known for completing every stage of the design: penciling, inking, and lettering. He produced one page each day without fail.
Aparo’s fans appreciated his attention to accurate background details, such as tie patterns culled from the Sears, Roebuck catalog. He would slip celebrities like Humphrey Bogart and Ed McMahon into crowd scenes. He liked to foreshadow future action, for instance, by inserting arrows into his drawings to signal the coming of the skilled bowman Green Arrow in the next issue.
In the 1980s, Aparo illustrated “The Untold Legend of the Batman,” an account of Batman’s life. In recent years, he contributed occasional work to DC. An issue memorializing the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, spotlighted Aparo’s drawing of Batman and Robin standing atop the World Trade Center debris.
James Aparo
Born 1932; died July 19; survived by his wife Julieann, three children, four grandchildren, and two step grandchildren.
