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November 4, 2013: Legendary DC Comics Artist, Nick Cardy Dies at 93
Posted by Neil Cole
Legendary artist Nick Cardy who is best remembered for his DC Comics work on Aquaman, the Teen Titans and other major characters passed away Sunday at the age of 93.
Born Nicholas Viscardi on October 20, 1920, Cardy attended the Art Students League of New York, studying painting and sculpture. As did many early comics professionals, he entered the field working for Eisner & Iger, one of a handful of comic book "packagers" that would create comics on demand for publishers testing the waters of the emerging medium. Joining the studio in 1939, at age 18, he worked on Fight Comics, Jungle Comics, Kaanga Comics, and Wings for Fiction House Publications. He wrote and drew the four-page backup feature "Lady Luck" in Will Eisner's 16-page, newspaper Sunday-supplement comic book colloquially called "The Spirit Section", from the May 18, 1941 strip through February 22, 1942. Though his Lady Luck stories were credited under the house pseudonym Ford Davis, Viscardi would subtly work in the initials "NV" somewhere into each tale.
He began signing his name simply "Cardy" on the feature "Quicksilver" in National Comics. Using both that shortened form and his original name concurrently for a time, he eventually adopted Nick Cardy for his comic-book work.
After his World War II military service from 1943 to 1945 in which he earned two Purple Hearts for wounds suffered as a tank driver in the armored cavalry, Cardy began his decades-long association with DC Comics in 1950.
Following the comic book "Gang Busters", based on the dramatic radio show, Cardy began developing his breakout reputation with "Tomahawk", his most prominent series at the time, which starred a white American colonist fighting the British undercover as an Iroquois Indian during the American Revolutionary War.
From 1962–1968, he drew the first 39 issues of "Aquaman" as well as the iconic cover of the Teen Titans in "The Brave and the Bold" #60 (July, 1965), wherein the superhero sidekicks Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad were joined by Wonder Woman's younger sister, Wonder Girl in her first appearance.
After next being featured in "Showcase" #59 (December, 1965), the team was spun off into their own series with Teen Titans #1 (February, 1966). From 1966-73, Cardy penciled or inked - sometimes both - all 43 issues of the series.
From the early to mid-1970's, Cardy became the primary cover artist at DC. However, he would eventually leave the comics industry for the more lucrative field of commercial art where, under the name Nick Cardi, he did magazine art and ad illustrations, including movie advertising art for such films as "The Street Fighter", "California Suite", and "Apocalypse Now".
On July 15, 2005, Cardy was one of four professionals to be inducted into the comics industry's "Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame" during the San Diego Comic Con.
