The Phantom #4

Joe Orlando was born in Bari, Italy, but his family emigrated to the USA and settled in New York City in 1929. He attended the High School of Industrial Art before being drafted into the Army, where he served in the Military Police in France, Belgium and Germany. Back in civil life, he studied at the Art Students League in New York. He published his first comic, the feature 'Chuck White', in titles like Catholic Comics and Treasure Chest. He then opened a small studio with Wallace Wood, where they were joined by young artists like Sid Check and Harry Harisson. Wood and Orlando worked as a tandem on Fox features like 'Dorothy Lamour'. Orlando joined DC Comics in 1966, initially doing art on 'Swing with Scooter' and 'The Inferior Five', before becoming an editor under Carmen Infantino. Besides editing existing titles like 'House of Mystery' (in which he introduced the hosts Cain and Abel) and 'Swing with Scooter', new titles were created under his helm, such as 'Swamp Thing', 'Phantom Stranger', 'Jonah Hex' and 'The Sandman'. He also co-launched and drew for DC's new humor title PLOP! in 1973, and provided magazine art to National Lampoon and Newsweek. At DC he eventually became Vice President and Editorial Director, and even became head of MAD, after the death of Bill Gaines in 1992. In addition, Orlando was a teacher at New York's School of Visual Arts. Text (c) Lambiek