Who is Carmine Infantino?

Well, we come to the penciler of the original Elongated Man stories at last. The artist usually got the main credit for the art, and to be fair, most of the time, it was their designs and layout that made up the comic. The final look of the page was down to the inker, of course, who might alter the art. But Infantino worked on both during his career.

Carmine Infantino was born on May 24, 1925 at his family's apartment home in Brooklyn, New York. He would later attend Manhattan's School of Industrial Art. His first comics job came during his first year of high school from comics packager Harry "A" Chesler. Chesler was known for being difficult to work with, but Infantino recalled him fondly, saying he was given a dollar a day to study artists at work and to improve at art himself.

At age 16, Infantino's first comics job came in inking the "Jack Frost" feature in USA Comics for Timely Comics, which would later become Marvel. He and his friend Frank Giacola (who drew "Jack Frost") were offered staff jobs, but Infantino turned it down at the insistence of his father who wanted him to complete his education.

Eventually, Giacola and Infantino swapped jobs on "Jack Frost." Infantino would do more work at Timely, as well as Fawcett, Hillman and Holyoke before getting work at All-American Comics, which would later be folded into National Publications, which would quickly become known as DC Comics. His first work for All-American was the story "The Black Canary" for the "Johnny Thunder" feature in Flash Comics #86. This was the debut appearance of the villainous Black Canary who would be revised into a heroine. He would eventually work on many other superheroes who would become some of the best-known DC characters.

Between the decline of superhero comics and the Silver Age, Infantino worked on mysteries, romances and Westerns, which kept the comic medium alive. He also freelanced for the short-lived Prize Comics.

Infantino was responsible for designing the new costume for the Flash for Barry Allen's first appearance in Showcase #4. He gave the Flash a cowl instead of a helmet, transforming the costume into a one-piece bodysuit with boots. He also created the motion lines to suggest super-speed. This new design paired with a more science fiction approach to the character became a hit and ushered in the Silver Age of superhero comics.

Infantino would work with a variety of writers and worked on many DC characters and titles, co-creating characters such as Barbara Gordon's Batgirl, Deadman, Blockbuster, the Human Target as well as the Elongated Man. In the face of an offer to move to Marvel, Infantino was promoted to art director. When DC was bought by Kinney National Company (now Time Warner), he was made editorial director. He was responsible for signing on many new and established artists, including bringing none other than Jack Kirby to create new characters and comics that would introduce elements that would become essential parts of DC lore.

In 1971, he would be promoted to publisher. Under his leadership, DC comics went up to 25 cents per issue, significantly increasing page count with reprints and new backup features. Marvel Comics wound up beating the competition by matching their pricing, then dropping to a more attractive 20 cents, losing some sales for DC. Infantino served as a consultant for Superman: The Motion Picture and its sequel and also was the one who worked with Marvel on the crossover Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man.

He was succeeded as publisher in 1976 by Jenette Kahn, and he resumed freelance work for many comic companies (including Marvel's company-saving Star Wars comic book), which he wound up doing until his retirement, one of his final stories appearing in 2004 as a tribute to the recently deceased Julius Schwartz.

Infantino's work earned him no less than twelve Alley Awards (among other awards), with special attention given to The Flash #123, which featured the story "The Flash of Two Worlds," reintroducing Jay Garrick and introducing the multiverse concept to DC Comics lore. He was presented with an Inkpot Award in 2000. He died at his home in Manhattan on April 4, 2013.

It's almost an understatement that without Infantino, we wouldn't have the DC Comics we have today, with his co-creating and designing heroes and villains that captured the imaginations of readers across the world to creating art filled with action and movement that set the standard for the company.