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[Obit] The Bravest and Boldest
Jul. 20th, 2005 10:57 am( James N. Aparo, 1932-2005 )
"Later, I was doing Batman all those years. I enjoyed doing the Batman character, don't get me wrong. There's different writers that write it. Different characters in the stories. It keeps it alive and fresh. You really have to like the characters. You have to be that way to stay fresh."
Jim Aparo drew the first comic I remember buying, from a corner store near my grandfather's place in Tiong Bahru. It was an issue of The Phantom, published by Charlton Comics, and I remember the story distinctly - it was about a would-be Egyptian pharoah who had taken the identity of the Ghost-Who-Walks, and even made the Phantom doubt himself, until he discovered that the Egyptian Phantom's "powers" were all a result of trickery.
Years later, he was a fixture on The Brave and the Bold when it became a Batman team-up book, all the way to its conclusion at #200, and thereafter moved on to Batman and the Outsiders. Aparo's style was how I drew Batman myself at that age, and you could never mistake an Aparo Batman - the way he drew the mask head on, the nose always vanished into darkness, giving it a very distinctive and mysterious look. Aparo was one of those guys that was always just there, plugging away, workmanlike, no flash, no airs, just consistently good work.
Rest well, Jim. We'll miss you.
Jim Aparo drew the first comic I remember buying, from a corner store near my grandfather's place in Tiong Bahru. It was an issue of The Phantom, published by Charlton Comics, and I remember the story distinctly - it was about a would-be Egyptian pharoah who had taken the identity of the Ghost-Who-Walks, and even made the Phantom doubt himself, until he discovered that the Egyptian Phantom's "powers" were all a result of trickery.
Years later, he was a fixture on The Brave and the Bold when it became a Batman team-up book, all the way to its conclusion at #200, and thereafter moved on to Batman and the Outsiders. Aparo's style was how I drew Batman myself at that age, and you could never mistake an Aparo Batman - the way he drew the mask head on, the nose always vanished into darkness, giving it a very distinctive and mysterious look. Aparo was one of those guys that was always just there, plugging away, workmanlike, no flash, no airs, just consistently good work.
Rest well, Jim. We'll miss you.
