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Vin Sullivan

 
Vin Sullivan

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Vin Sullivan



 
 
Vincent "Vin" Sullivan (born circa 1911, died February 3, 1999) was a pioneering American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 comic book
Comic book

A comic book is a magazine or book of narrative artwork and dialog and descriptive prose. The style was introduced in 1934. Despite the term, comic books do not necessarily feature humorous subject-matter; in fact, it is often serious and action-oriented....
 editor
Editing

Editing is the process of preparing language, s, sound, video, or film through correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications in various media....
, artist
Artist

The definition of an artist is wide-ranging and covers a broad spectrum of activities to do with creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art....
 and publisher. As an editor for National Allied Publications
DC Comics

DC Comics is one of the largest and most popular American comic book and related media companies, along with Marvel Comics. A subsidiary of Warner Bros....
,, the future DC Comics
DC Comics

DC Comics is one of the largest and most popular American comic book and related media companies, along with Marvel Comics. A subsidiary of Warner Bros....
, he was responsible for buying Superman
Superman

Superman is a Character , a comic book superhero widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, Ohio, and sold to DC Comics in 1938, the character first appeared in Action Comics Action Comics 1 and subseque...
 from creators Jerry Siegel
Jerry Siegel

Jerome "Jerry" Siegel , who also used pseudonyms including Joe Carter, Jerry Ess, and Herbert S. Fine, was the American co-creator of Superman , the first of the great comic book superheroes and one of the most recognizable fictional characters of the 20th century....
 and Joe Shuster
Joe Shuster

Joseph "Joe" Shuster was a Canada-born American comic book artist best known for co-creating the DC Comics fictional character Superman, with writer Jerry Siegel, first published in Action Comics #1 ....
, and edited that archetypcal superhero
Superhero

A superhero is a Character "of unprecedented physical prowess dedicated to act of derring-do in the public interest". Since the debut of the prototype superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes?ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas?have dominated American comic books and crossed over into other mass...
 in his first appearance
First appearance

In comic books and other stories with a long history, first appearance refers to the first occurrence to feature a Character ....
, in Action Comics
Action Comics

Action Comics is an USA comic book series which first appearance Superman, the first major superhero character as the term is popularly defined....
 #1 (1938), and in the following year's Superman, the first American comic book
American comic book

An American comic book is a small magazine originating in the United States and containing a narrative in the form of comics. The standard dimensions are 17 x 26 cm , although they were larger in the past....
 devoted to a single character.






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Vincent "Vin" Sullivan (born circa 1911, died February 3, 1999) was a pioneering American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 comic book
Comic book

A comic book is a magazine or book of narrative artwork and dialog and descriptive prose. The style was introduced in 1934. Despite the term, comic books do not necessarily feature humorous subject-matter; in fact, it is often serious and action-oriented....
 editor
Editing

Editing is the process of preparing language, s, sound, video, or film through correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications in various media....
, artist
Artist

The definition of an artist is wide-ranging and covers a broad spectrum of activities to do with creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art....
 and publisher.
Detectivecomics1
As an editor for National Allied Publications
DC Comics

DC Comics is one of the largest and most popular American comic book and related media companies, along with Marvel Comics. A subsidiary of Warner Bros....
,, the future DC Comics
DC Comics

DC Comics is one of the largest and most popular American comic book and related media companies, along with Marvel Comics. A subsidiary of Warner Bros....
, he was responsible for buying Superman
Superman

Superman is a Character , a comic book superhero widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, Ohio, and sold to DC Comics in 1938, the character first appeared in Action Comics Action Comics 1 and subseque...
 from creators Jerry Siegel
Jerry Siegel

Jerome "Jerry" Siegel , who also used pseudonyms including Joe Carter, Jerry Ess, and Herbert S. Fine, was the American co-creator of Superman , the first of the great comic book superheroes and one of the most recognizable fictional characters of the 20th century....
 and Joe Shuster
Joe Shuster

Joseph "Joe" Shuster was a Canada-born American comic book artist best known for co-creating the DC Comics fictional character Superman, with writer Jerry Siegel, first published in Action Comics #1 ....
, and edited that archetypcal superhero
Superhero

A superhero is a Character "of unprecedented physical prowess dedicated to act of derring-do in the public interest". Since the debut of the prototype superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes?ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas?have dominated American comic books and crossed over into other mass...
 in his first appearance
First appearance

In comic books and other stories with a long history, first appearance refers to the first occurrence to feature a Character ....
, in Action Comics
Action Comics

Action Comics is an USA comic book series which first appearance Superman, the first major superhero character as the term is popularly defined....
 #1 (1938), and in the following year's Superman, the first American comic book
American comic book

An American comic book is a small magazine originating in the United States and containing a narrative in the form of comics. The standard dimensions are 17 x 26 cm , although they were larger in the past....
 devoted to a single character. In addition, Sullivan drew the premiere cover of Detective Comics
Detective Comics

Detective Comics is an American comic book published monthly by DC Comics since 1937, best-known for introducing the iconic superhero Batman....
, the series that in issue #27 launched the hit character Batman
Batman

Batman is a Character , a comic book superhero co-created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger , appearing in publications by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Detective Comics #27 in May 1939....
. He is unrelated to the British
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 company Vin Sullivan Foods.

In 1940, the McNaught Newspaper Syndicate hired Sullivan to form a new comic book publishing house. This became the Columbia Comic Corporation (Columbia Comics
Columbia Comics

The Columbia Comics Corporation was formed in 1940 in comics as a partnership between Vin Sullivan and the McNaught Newspaper Syndicate. The idea was to publish comics featuring a mix of McNaught owned comic strip reprints like Joe Palooka and Charlie Chan as well as original features....
), where Sullivan launched the superhero omnibus Big Shot Comics
Big Shot Comics

Big Shot Comics was an United States comic book series published by Columbia Comics during period in the 1940s that fans and historians refer to as the Golden Age of comic books....
, publishing early work by Gardner Fox
Gardner Fox

Gardner Francis Cooper Fox was an United States writer best known for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. Comic-book historians estimate that he wrote over 4,000 comics stories....
, Creig Flessel
Creig Flessel

Creig Valentine Flessel was an United States comic book artist active from some of the earliest days of the mass media, and an illustrator and cartoonist for magazines ranging from Boys' Life to Playboy....
, and Ogden Whitney
Ogden Whitney

Ogden Whitney was an United States comic-book artist and sometime writer active from the 1930s-1940s Golden Age of comics through the 1960s Silver Age of comics....
, among others. Columbia Comics' several superhero features included Skyman
Skyman (Columbia Comics)

The Skyman is a fictional character comic book superhero that appeared in 1940s comics during what historians and fans call the Golden Age of Comic Books....
.

After leaving National in 1940, Sullivan went to work for Columbia Comics, where he launched the comics magazine Big Shot Comics, which featured the work of Gardner Fox, Creig Flessel, and Ogden Whitney, among many others.

Unhappy with the reluctance of the owners to develop more original series, Sullivan left the company in 1943 and formed Magazine Enterprises
Magazine Enterprises

Magazine Enterprises was an United States comic book company lasting from 1943 to 1958, which published primarily Western fiction, humor, crime fiction, adventure, and children's literature comics, with virtually no superheroes....
. This company lasted until 1958, after which Sullivan left comics.

Sullivan was interviewed on the New York City radio program Nuff Said, airing on WBAI
WBAI

WBAI, a part of the Pacifica Radio, is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station, broadcasting at 99.5 Frequency modulation in New York City....
 on March 1, 1995, with the transcript subsequently published in the magazine
Alter Ego. He went on to appear as a guest at the August 1998 Comic-Con International
Comic-Con International

Comic-Con International: San Diego, commonly known as Comic-Con or the San Diego Comic-Con, is an annual multigenre fan convention founded as the Golden State Comic Book Convention and later the San Diego Comic Book Convention in 1970 by Shel Dorf and a group of San Diegans....
 in San Diego, California
San Diego, California

San Diego is the second largest city in California and the List of United States cities by population, located along the Pacific Ocean on the West Coast of the United States of the Western United States....
, where Sullivan was reunited with some of his former colleagues before passing away six months later.

Footnotes