Creig Flessel article from the Marin Independent Journal

[FFB]

This is the article written by the reporter who interviewed Creig while Kris Moore and I were visiting him.

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Marin Independent Journal (San Rafael, CA)

 

 

March 18, 2007

Section: Local

 

 

 

Golden Age cartoonist still loves to draw at 95

 

Joe Wolfcale

CREIG FLESSEL sits back proudly in one of two recliners in his Redwoods of Mill Valley residence. The room is full of commotion as two comic book collectors - in Marin because of a comic book convention in San Francisco - huddle around the 95-year-old comic book artist, clamoring for his signature. The two men, who treated Flessel to a sumptuous Mexican lunch, bid Flessel and his wife, Marie, goodbye and quietly leave their modest apartment.

 

 

"He's the Elvis Presley of the Golden Age of comics," says collector Scott Bonagofsky, a San Francisco attorney who with collector friend Kris Moore took Flessel to lunch. "He was there at the beginning of the industry. Everything he's done has become a classic."

 

"He's my favorite Golden Age artist," says Moore of Dallas. This is the happiest day of my life."

 

"Mine, too," says Flessel, who agrees to do a re-creation of one of his classic comic book covers for $1,000.

 

The son of a Long Island blacksmith, Flessel is one of a few living cartoonists whose career began in the 1930s. He is considered an American comic book icon.

 

After the collectors leave, Flessel settles back into the comfy chair.

 

"It's typical of American fans being so gung ho about this type of thing," Flessel says. "You get used to it after a while. They're definitely a cult-like thing unto themselves. They're just here to rub elbows with me and my comic books."

 

Flessel kept a busy schedule the week of the San Francisco convention. He also met with a cab driver from Las Vegas and had breakfast with him. The man put five fellow collectors on his cell phone to talk with Flessel.

 

He admits the adoration and notoriety are nice now in his golden years, but the fanatical nature of collectors and comic book conventions has been draining on him and his wife. They just can't keep up anymore.

 

Before long, the long day ends and the couple, who will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary Nov. 20, start considering dinner options for the evening. "'I had such a big plate, I brought a doggy bag home for you, my dear," Flessel says.

 

One thing is constant about Creig Flessel. He has a insatiable appetite for art and is most comfortable with a set of pencils in his sturdy hands. He does most of his work from a drafting table in the bedroom where the view of the marshlands behind The Redwoods provides him inspiration.

 

He is working on a book about an alien falling into radioactive San Francisco Bay during a crab festival. It's called "Iceberg."

 

"I've got all the drawings done," Flessel says.

 

When The Redwoods needed artwork for its Senior Prom event March 16, Flessel volunteered to illustrate the flier. The Hawaiian theme poster featured an amply endowed woman in a hula skirt and a man with hairy legs in shorts playing a ukulele.

 

"They were a little concerned about the big boobs," Flessel jokes. "Cartoons are about getting people's attention."

 

He also draws a cartoon in The Redwoods monthly newsletter, "Creig's Corner."

 

A Redwoods resident recently won a case of Moylan's Irish Red ale, and Flessel drew a poster to raffle off the prized beer. A sampling of four watercolors adorn the walls of The Redwoods near the front reception desk.

 

To collectors, Flessel is in a class by himself.

 

"He's clearly one of the elder statesmen of his era who's still having an impact today," says Rory Root, owner of Comic Relief, a Shattuck Avenue comic shop in Berkeley. "Covers from his era are very, very rare. Frankly, he's remembered more not for his unusual name but for the breadth and entire body of work. It's nice that he's getting recognized and admired for his accomplishments."

 

Root met Flessel a few years ago at a comic book convention. It takes a unique personality to have persevered all these years, Root says.

 

"It's not a road to fame and fortune for everyone," Root said. "It's a road to personal expression. And sometimes that personal expression captures a much wider audience that you ever imagined. He's such a gent. Some of the new kids come in with this rock star mentality, like they're God's gift to comics, and some might be. It's nice that most of the old-timers are really sweet people."

 

Flessel was born Feb. 2, 1912, in Huntington, Long Island, N.Y. He graduated from Alfred University in New York and began drawing comics in the 1930s.

 

There's some dispute about how he got the uncommon spelling of his first name, Creig. One theory is that his mother read the name in a book.

 

A teacher once told him, "That's a good name. People will remember that."

 

His work has graced the pages of magazines like Boys' Life and Playboy. For more than 10 years he drew a comic strip for Playboy - his proofs still bear the initials of approval by owner Hugh Hefner. From 1960 to 1971, he drew a syndicated comic strip for Publishers-Hall about a young minister David Crane.

 

"I've gone from piety to pornography during my lifetime," Flessel says.

 

In 1993, Flessel donated all 2,677 strips of the Crane series to the Ohio State University Cartoon, Graphic and Photographic Arts Research Library.

 

Flessel not only drew the comics but provided the copy for his artwork. Because of his multiple talents, Flessel quickly gained work in the advertising world, illustrating ads for Nestle Toll House Cookies, General Foods, Raisin Bran, Eveready Batteries and other food and beverage companies.

 

His true passion remained comics. An original copy of his Sandman cover of Adventure No. 40 is worth in the mid six figures, one comic book expert says.

 

One of his earliest works is a pre-Batman Detective Comics Nos. 2-17, dated April 1937-July 1938. He also wrote and produced "Don Drake," a two-page humor strip "Fishy Frolics" and "Steve Conrad, Adventurer."

 

Flessel broke into the field of comics as an assistant on cartoonist John H. Striebel's newspaper comic strip, Dixie Dugan. He also was an associate editor for comics editor Vin Sullivan's book publishing company, Magazine Enterprises.

 

During the second World War, Magazine Enterprises produced a wartime propaganda comic "The United States Marines" that depicted in graphic detail the burned and bayoneted bodies of Japanese soldiers.

 

Flessel met Marie Marino during a function at a Long Island yacht club gathering. She also graduated from Alfred University. The couple have two grown children, a son Peter, an environmental engineer who lives in Berkeley with his family and a daughter, Eugenie, a book illustrator and author in Toronto. The couple have six grandchildren.

 

Through it all, Flessel continues to carve out a nice living. The couple survived during the Depression, and Flessel usually got $5 for a page of copy and $10 for a cover. Today, his covers are classics and go for thousands of dollars, usually at auctions at Sotheby's in New York or Christie's of London.

 

"It gave us our bread and butter," Marie Flessel says. "All the drawings just come from him. He thinks about it, then draws it. It's especially nice for us now that he's being recognized."

 

His awards include the 1991 Comic-Con International Inkpot Award and the 1992 National Cartoonists Society Silver T-Square Extraordinary Service Award. He is a charter member of the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa. Two years ago, Flessel was the guest speaker on the topic of the Golden/Silver age at Wondercon at Moscone Center in San Francisco.

 

In 2000, the Flessels moved from their home in Long Island to Mill Valley.

 

"I had never heard of making a living drawing comics," Flessel says. "The idea of original artwork is sadly going by the boards. I didn't know a comic book from a horseshoe."

 

The thousands of comic strips, covers and other illustrations will remain for posterity. They all bear the same indelible signature, Creig Flessel.

 

Joe Wolfcale can be reached at jwolfcale@marinij.com.

 

 

Photo: This is one of Creig Flessel's latest drawings for an event at The Redwoods.

 

Photo: Creig Flessel illustrates a page from a new comic book.

 

Photo: A FAN: Creig Flessel signs comic book memorabilia for San Francisco attorney and collector Scott Bonagofsky while visting Flessel in Mill Valley.

 

Photo: Creig Flessel, 95, an illustrator and cartoonist who has done a number of comic book covers during his artistic career, holds a self portrait he painted more than 10 years ago at his residence at The Redwoods in Mill Valley.

[Detroit MIke]

Great stuff!

[Hawkman]

i can only hope to be that robust at age 95. seeing his drawing skill at such a high level is amazing. and there's no question that his covers of detective comics are among my favorites, right up there, and quite often surpassing, neal adams work. the amount of history that he seems to easily remember should be put into an autobiography.

[The Black Hand ®]

Thank's Scott, that was a neat thing you guys did. Thank's for sharing.

[tth2]

After the collectors leave, Flessel settles back into the comfy chair.

 

"These comic collectors are such nerds," Flessel says. "Especially that Scott Boner kid. Why do comic collecting and good personal hygiene have to be mutually exclusive concepts?"

Just kidding! Thanks for posting the article!

 

Now, who might the Las Vegas cab driver be?

[FlyingDonut]

"They're definitely a cult-like thing unto themselves."

 

[HouseofComics.Com]

I really enjoyed that and it's a great coda to your great visit. Kudos to Scott and Kris.

[RedFury]

Wow, great article! I'm very glad to hear Creig is doing so well. I think your visit must have made his day.

[adamstrange]

Nothing like a visit from out of town cultist to make your day!