Jon D'Agostino
Encyclopedia
John P. D'Agostino Sr., generally credited as Jon D'Agostino (June 13, 1929 November 28, 2010) was an Italian-American comic-book artist
best known for his Archie Comics
work. As well, under the pseudonym
Johnny Dee, he was the letterer
for the lead story in the Marvel Comics
landmark The Amazing Spider-Man
#1 (March 1963), as well as other seminal Marvel comics.
D'Agostino is not the French
comics artist Tony D'Agostino, a.k.a. Tony Dagos, whose early work was signed "D'Agostino". He is also not the concurrent early-Marvel letter John Duffy a.k.a. John Duffi.
, Italy
, the son of Pasquale and Annunziata Pitanello D'Agostino. He emigrated to the United States with his family during childhood, and later attended either the Industrial School of Art in Los Angeles
, California
, or New York City
's School of Industrial Art
and the Art Students League. (Sources vary.) His siblings were brothers Peter, Ted, Charles and William, the latter two of whom predeceased him, and sisters Lucielle and Gina.
D'Agostino's earliest known work in the comics medium was as head colorist
for Timely Comics
, the 1940s forerunner of Marvel Comics
. In that capacity, in 1949, he mentored new-hire Stan Goldberg
, a 16-year-old colorist who would later become one of Archie Comics
' most prominent cartoonists. Goldberg in 2005 recalled, "I found out there was an opening in the coloring department at Timely Comics, so I went up there. They needed another body to be in the room that handled the coloring, and that's where I worked. ...[T]he man who was in charge of the coloring department is still a dear friend of mine, Jon D'Agostino."
Writer and artist credits were not routinely given during this period fans and historians refer to as the Golden Age of Comic Books
, making full bibliographies difficult for many of the medium's pioneering creators. D'Agostino's first confirmed comics credit is penciling and inking
the seven-page romance comic story "Glamor Killed My Love" (as John D'Agostino) in Romantic Hearts #6 (Feb. 1952), from publisher Story Comics. Other early credits, all using the first name "Jon", include horror stories
in Master Publications' Dark Mysteries #14 (Oct. 1953), and inking the cover and the lead Rocky Jones, Space Ranger
story in the science-fiction anthology
series Space Adventures #18 (Sept. 1955), the first of his countless works for Charlton Comics
.
He married his first wife, Jean D'Onofrio D'Agostino, in 1955. They remained married until her death in 1992, and had three sons: John Jr., Peter, and Pat.
(Sweethearts); war comics
(Attack, Fightin' Army
); funny animal
comics and other types of children's comics (Pudgy Pig, Timmy the Timid Ghost
); and teen humor comics (Freddy, and the TV-series licensed comic My Little Margie
). He occasionally inked penciler Matt Baker under the joint pseudonym
Matt Bakerino.
As Johnny Dee, he lettered the lead story in the Marvel Comics
' landmark The Amazing Spider-Man
#1 (March 1963).
In the mid-1960s and continuing through the 1970s, D'Agostino began contributing to Archie Comics
and Gold Key Comics
in addition to Charlton, both as an artist and as a letterer
. In the 1980s he was inking primarily for Archie and for Marvel, including on the latter's G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero
, Marvel Two-In-One
, and, for Marvel's Star Comics
children's imprint, Planet Terry
and Royal Roy
.
By 1990, D'Agostino was exclusively inking for Archie, on teen-humor stories for such titles as Archie's Pals 'N' Gals, Jughead's Time Police, Explorers of the Unknown (a light adventure comic starring the Archie gang), Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and the video-game licensed comic Sonic the Hedgehog.
Following the 1992 death of his first wife, he married Elvira "Vivi" Testa D'Agostino in 1995. The two lived in The Bronx
, New York City
.
D'Agostino's last known published credit was inking the cover of Betty
#173 (June 2008), although Archie Comics said in a statement announcing his death that his last interior work would appear in Jughead Double Digest #166, as part of the four-part "Cyrano Jones" story, "and several of his covers will be seen through 2011." D'Agostino died of bone cancer in Ansonia
, Connecticut
, where two of his sons live.
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
best known for his Archie Comics
Archie Comics
Archie Comics is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the Village of Mamaroneck, Town of Mamaroneck, New York, known for its many series featuring the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Jughead Jones. The characters were created by...
work. As well, under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Johnny Dee, he was the letterer
Letterer
A letterer is a member of a team of comic book creators responsible for drawing the comic book's text. The letterer's use of typefaces, calligraphy, letter size, and layout all contribute to the impact of the comic. The letterer crafts the comic's "display lettering": the story title lettering and...
for the lead story in the Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
landmark The Amazing Spider-Man
The Amazing Spider-Man
The Amazing Spider-Man is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics, featuring the adventures of the fictional superhero Spider-Man. Being the mainstream continuity of the franchise, it began publication in 1963 as a monthly periodical and was published continuously until it was...
#1 (March 1963), as well as other seminal Marvel comics.
D'Agostino is not the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
comics artist Tony D'Agostino, a.k.a. Tony Dagos, whose early work was signed "D'Agostino". He is also not the concurrent early-Marvel letter John Duffy a.k.a. John Duffi.
Early career
Jon D'Agostino was born in CervinaraCervinara
Cervinara is an Italian town of 10,188 inhabitants in the province of Avellino, Campania, Italy. It has a surface of 29.2 square kilometers thus showing a population density of 347.6 inhabitants per square kilometer. It rises 284 meters above sea level.-History:Legend has it that the name...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, the son of Pasquale and Annunziata Pitanello D'Agostino. He emigrated to the United States with his family during childhood, and later attended either the Industrial School of Art in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, or New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's School of Industrial Art
High School of Art and Design
The High School of Art and Design is a Career and Technical Education high school located at 1075 Second Avenue, between 56th and 57th Streets in Manhattan, New York City, New York.It is operated by the New York City Department of Education...
and the Art Students League. (Sources vary.) His siblings were brothers Peter, Ted, Charles and William, the latter two of whom predeceased him, and sisters Lucielle and Gina.
D'Agostino's earliest known work in the comics medium was as head colorist
Colorist
In comics, a colorist is responsible for adding color to black-and-white line art. For most of the 20th century this was done using brushes and dyes which were then used as guides to produce the printing plates...
for Timely Comics
Timely Comics
Timely Comics, an imprint of Timely Publications, was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics....
, the 1940s forerunner of Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
. In that capacity, in 1949, he mentored new-hire Stan Goldberg
Stan Goldberg
Stan Goldberg is an American comic book artist best known for his work as a flagship artist of Archie Comics and as a Marvel Comics' 1960s colorist, who helped design the original color schemes of Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and other major characters.-Career:Stan Goldberg began work in the...
, a 16-year-old colorist who would later become one of Archie Comics
Archie Comics
Archie Comics is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the Village of Mamaroneck, Town of Mamaroneck, New York, known for its many series featuring the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Jughead Jones. The characters were created by...
' most prominent cartoonists. Goldberg in 2005 recalled, "I found out there was an opening in the coloring department at Timely Comics, so I went up there. They needed another body to be in the room that handled the coloring, and that's where I worked. ...[T]he man who was in charge of the coloring department is still a dear friend of mine, Jon D'Agostino."
Writer and artist credits were not routinely given during this period fans and historians refer to as the Golden Age of Comic Books
Golden Age of Comic Books
The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books, generally thought of as lasting from the late 1930s until the late 1940s or early 1950s...
, making full bibliographies difficult for many of the medium's pioneering creators. D'Agostino's first confirmed comics credit is penciling and inking
Inker
The inker is one of the two line artists in a traditional comic book or graphic novel. After a pencilled drawing is given to the inker, the inker uses black ink to produce refined outlines over the pencil lines...
the seven-page romance comic story "Glamor Killed My Love" (as John D'Agostino) in Romantic Hearts #6 (Feb. 1952), from publisher Story Comics. Other early credits, all using the first name "Jon", include horror stories
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
in Master Publications' Dark Mysteries #14 (Oct. 1953), and inking the cover and the lead Rocky Jones, Space Ranger
Rocky Jones, Space Ranger
Rocky Jones, Space Ranger is a syndicated science fiction television serial originally broadcast in 1954. The show lasted for only two seasons and, though syndicated sporadically, dropped into obscurity. But because it was recorded on film rather than being broadcast live as were most other TV...
story in the science-fiction anthology
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
series Space Adventures #18 (Sept. 1955), the first of his countless works for Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1946 to 1985, having begun under a different name in 1944. It was based in Derby, Connecticut...
.
He married his first wife, Jean D'Onofrio D'Agostino, in 1955. They remained married until her death in 1992, and had three sons: John Jr., Peter, and Pat.
Later career
Through the 1950s and into the 1960s, D'Agostino fully drew or simply inked across a variety of titles for Charlton, including romance comicsRomance comics
Romance comics is a comics genre depicting romantic love and its attendant complications such as jealousy, marriage, divorce, betrayal, and heartache. The term is generally associated with an American comic books genre published through the first three decades of the Cold War...
(Sweethearts); war comics
War comics
War comics is a genre of comic books that gained popularity in English-speaking countries following World War II.-American war comics:Shortly after the birth of the modern comic book in the mid- to late 1930s, comics publishers began including stories of wartime adventures in the multi-genre...
(Attack, Fightin' Army
Fightin' Army
Fightin' Army was a bimonthly war comic published by Charlton Comics from 1956–1984...
); funny animal
Funny animal
Funny animal is a cartooning term for the genre of comics and animated cartoons in which the main characters are humanoid or talking animals, with anthropomorphic personality traits. The characters themselves may also be called funny animals...
comics and other types of children's comics (Pudgy Pig, Timmy the Timid Ghost
Timmy the Timid Ghost
Timmy the Timid Ghost is a fictional comic book ghost, whose adventures were published by Charlton Comics.-Publication history:Created in response to the popularity of Casper the Friendly Ghost, Timmy's adventures first saw print in February 1956, in Timmy the Timid Ghost #3...
); and teen humor comics (Freddy, and the TV-series licensed comic My Little Margie
My Little Margie
My Little Margie is an American situation comedy that alternated between CBS and NBC from 1952 to 1955. The series was created by Frank Fox and produced in Los Angeles, California at Hal Roach Studios by Hal Roach, Jr. and Roland D...
). He occasionally inked penciler Matt Baker under the joint pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Matt Bakerino.
As Johnny Dee, he lettered the lead story in the Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
' landmark The Amazing Spider-Man
The Amazing Spider-Man
The Amazing Spider-Man is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics, featuring the adventures of the fictional superhero Spider-Man. Being the mainstream continuity of the franchise, it began publication in 1963 as a monthly periodical and was published continuously until it was...
#1 (March 1963).
In the mid-1960s and continuing through the 1970s, D'Agostino began contributing to Archie Comics
Archie Comics
Archie Comics is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the Village of Mamaroneck, Town of Mamaroneck, New York, known for its many series featuring the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Jughead Jones. The characters were created by...
and Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984.-History:...
in addition to Charlton, both as an artist and as a letterer
Letterer
A letterer is a member of a team of comic book creators responsible for drawing the comic book's text. The letterer's use of typefaces, calligraphy, letter size, and layout all contribute to the impact of the comic. The letterer crafts the comic's "display lettering": the story title lettering and...
. In the 1980s he was inking primarily for Archie and for Marvel, including on the latter's G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero
G.I. Joe
G.I. Joe is a line of action figures produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier , Action Sailor , Action Pilot , Action Marine and later on, the Action Nurse...
, Marvel Two-In-One
Marvel Two-in-One
Marvel Two-In-One was an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics that featured the Fantastic Four member, the Thing, in a different team-up each issue with a different character. The series continued from the team-up stories starring the Thing in the final two issues of Marvel...
, and, for Marvel's Star Comics
Star Comics
Star Comics was an imprint of Marvel Comics that began in 1984 and continued to publish comic books until early 1988. Titles published by the imprint were aimed at child readers and were often adaptations of children's television series, animated series or toys...
children's imprint, Planet Terry
Planet Terry
Planet Terry was an American science fiction comic book aimed at young children. Published by Star Comics, an imprint of Marvel Comics, the title lasted 12 issues, from April 1985 to March 1986...
and Royal Roy
Royal Roy
Royal Roy: A Prince of a Boy was a short-lived bimonthly comic book title from the Marvel Comics younger readers' imprint Star Comics, created by Lennie Herman and Warren Kremer.-Publication history:...
.
By 1990, D'Agostino was exclusively inking for Archie, on teen-humor stories for such titles as Archie's Pals 'N' Gals, Jughead's Time Police, Explorers of the Unknown (a light adventure comic starring the Archie gang), Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and the video-game licensed comic Sonic the Hedgehog.
Following the 1992 death of his first wife, he married Elvira "Vivi" Testa D'Agostino in 1995. The two lived in The Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
D'Agostino's last known published credit was inking the cover of Betty
Betty Cooper
Betty Cooper is a fictional character of Archie Comics, the blonde-haired daughter of Hal and Alice Cooper. Betty likes sports, and is also a cheerleader. Betty was created in December 1941. Her older brother Chic Cooper and older sister Polly Cooper have both moved out of Riverdale, their hometown...
#173 (June 2008), although Archie Comics said in a statement announcing his death that his last interior work would appear in Jughead Double Digest #166, as part of the four-part "Cyrano Jones" story, "and several of his covers will be seen through 2011." D'Agostino died of bone cancer in Ansonia
Ansonia, Connecticut
Ansonia is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, on the Naugatuck River, immediately north of Derby and about northwest of New Haven. The population was 19,249 at the 2010 census. The ZIP code for Ansonia is 06401. The city is serviced by the Metro North railroad...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, where two of his sons live.