Violet Barclay
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
illustrator best known as one of the pioneering female comic-book artists, having started in the field during the 1930s and '40s period historians and fans call 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...
.
Born Violet Barclay, she adopted "Valerie" in adulthood, after actress Valerie Hobson
Valerie Hobson
Valerie Hobson was a British actress who appeared in a number of British films during the 1940s and 1950s...
, though without filing for legal change of name.
Early life and career
Barclay was born and raised in ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, 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...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, with a sister, two younger brothers, and a single mother who had left her husband when Barclay was a minor. Barclay attended the School of Industrial Art high school, where her classmates included future comic-book professional Allen Bellman, and the School of Visual Arts
School of Visual Arts
The School of Visual Arts , is a proprietary art school located in Manhattan, New York City, and is widely considered to be one of the leading art schools in the United States. It was established in 1947 by co-founders Silas H. Rhodes and Burne Hogarth as the Cartoonists and Illustrators School and...
. She obtained her first job in comics after Mike Sekowsky
Mike Sekowsky
Michael Sekowsky was a Jewish American comic book artist best known as the exclusive penciler for DC Comics' Justice League of America during most of the 1960s, and as the regular writer and artist on Wonder Woman during the late 1960s and early 1970s.-Early life and career:Mike Sekowsky began...
— a fellow Industrial Art alumnus and a penciler for 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...
predecessor 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....
— met her while she was working at the restaurant Cafe Rouge. She recalled in a 2004 interview, "I was 17, and ... was making $18 a week as a hostess. Mike said, 'I'll get you a job making $35 a week as a [staff] inker
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...
, and you can [additionally] freelance over the weekend. I'll let you ink my stuff'. He went to editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
Stan Lee
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
and got me the job. I didn't know anything about inking. [Staff artist] Dave Gantz
Dave Gantz
Dave Gantz was an American artist and sculptor who wrote children's books and worked as a newspaper cartoonist.Gantz penciled and inked comic books in the 1940s and 1950s, often working for Timely Comics....
taught me — just by watching him".
Initially using the name Violet Barclay, she went on staff at Timely in January 1942, when the company moved from its first location, the McGraw-Hill Building
McGraw-Hill Building
McGraw-Hill Building may refer to:*330 West 42nd Street, a landmark building in Manhattan, New York City, built in 1930*1221 Avenue of the Americas, in Manhattan, New York City, built in 1969...
, to its home of the next several years, the Empire State Building
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark skyscraper and American cultural icon in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet , and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft high. Its name is derived...
. Due to her work going unsigned and uncredited, in the general manner of the times, comprehensive credits are difficult if not impossible to ascertain. The Who's Who of American Comic Books 1928-1999 credits Barclay as having inked stories for the Timely 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...
features "Super Rabbit
Super Rabbit
Super Rabbit is a fictional, funny-animal superhero in comic books published by Timely Comics, a predecessor of Marvel Comics, during the 1930s and '40s period fans and historians call the Golden Age of comic books. Created by cartoonist Ernie Hart, he first appeared in Comedy Comics #14 Super...
" (1942-48) and "Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal
Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal
Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal are fictional, funny-animal comic-book characters created by cartoonist Al Jaffee for Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, during the period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books....
" (1943-47), and in the teen-humor titles Jeanie, Rusty, Willie (all 1947-48), and Georgie, (1949) and the career-girl humor series Nellie the Nurse (1949).
During this time, Barclay's complicated relationship with benefactor Sekowsky — who bestowed expensive gifts on her even after his marriage to Joanne Latta — caused friction in the Timely bullpen, which she left in 1949. As she later described the office environment,
Sekowsky, one of the nascent Marvel Comics' mainstays, chose to remain and "make George's life hell". Nonetheless, Barclay recalled the staff often having cocktails together at Longchamps, the Empire State Building's ground-floor restaurant, and found Timely "a pleasant place to work".
In her personal life during this time, Barclay said in 2004 that, "I was married before I met Mike, but my husband's divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
was not final. ... His wife sent him divorce papers, and they were dated after our marriage. [I] had to go to court and get an annulment
Annulment
Annulment is a legal procedure for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost as if it had never taken place...
. Mike paid for it and it cost $350". Later, in the early 1950s, she married a man named Johnny Smith.
Nedor Comics
Nedor Publishing was a comic book imprint of publisher Ned Pines, who also published pulp magazines under a variety of company names that he also used for the comics...
's Intimate Love (1951-53); DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
(1952); American Comics Group
American Comics Group
American Comics Group was a New York City-based comic book publisher which operated during the Golden and Silver Age of comic books. ACG published one of the first horror comics titles, Adventures into the Unknown. Another of ACG's claims to fame was the character of Herbie Popnecker, who starred...
(1952-54); St. John Publications
St. John Publications
St. John Publications was an American publisher of magazines and comic books. During its short existence , St. John's comic books established several industry firsts. Founded by Archer St. John , the firm was located in Manhattan at 545 Fifth Avenue. After the St...
(1953); and the Ace Periodicals
Ace Books
Ace Books is the oldest active specialty publisher of science fiction and fantasy books. The company was founded in New York City in 1952 by Aaron A. Wyn, and began as a genre publisher of mysteries and westerns...
comic book Complete Love Magazine (1954). Most of her freelance comics work was in the romance genre.
Bellman recalled in 2005, "I knew her well before my Timely days. She was called Violet back then but she was always changing her name. She was a bit of a loner who was always by herself. But she was an exquisitely beautiful young lady. She was a staff inker. I remember she would use India ink with a brush for mascara."
Later life and career
In the mid-1950s, during an industry downtown, Barclay left comics, unable to find work in the field. Though her natural hair color "was dark, almost black," she "became a platinum blond fashion model". Unsuccessful, she left after a year to become a waitress, followed by stints as a hostess for various restaurants.She eventually segued into fashion
Fashion
Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...
illustration, working for some years for such national retail chains as Lane Bryant
Lane Bryant
Lane Bryant is a United States retail women's clothing store chain focusing on plus-size clothing. It began in the early 1900s with the innovative maternity designs created by Lena Himmelstein Bryant Malsin. -Beginning:...
and Abraham & Straus
Abraham & Straus
Abraham & Straus was a major New York City department store, based in Brooklyn. Founded in 1865, in 1929 it became part of Federated Department Stores, which eliminated the A&S brand shortly after its 1994 acquisition of R.H. Macy & Company...
. She retired with the advent of computer graphics, and, as of 2004, lives in New York City and paints re-creations of John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent was an American artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian era luxury. During his career, he created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings...
portraits.
Death
Barclay died on February 26, 2010 in New York Hospital and was buried at Pine Lawn cemetery in Massapequa, New YorkMassapequa, New York
Massapequa is a hamlet located in the suburban Nassau County, New York. As of the 2010 census, the CDP had a total population of 21,685.Massapequa is located on the South Shore of Long Island....
.
External links
- Robbins, Trina, "That 'Glamorous Girl Inker'", Alter Ego #11 (Nov. 2001), pp. 30-32 (profile)
- Bails, Jerry, Who's Who of American Comic Books 1928-1999: Barclay, Valerie
- Chenault, Wesley. Working The Margins: Women In The Comic Book Industry, Master's thesis, College of Arts and Sciences. Georgia State University, 2007. WebCite archive.
- The Grand Comics Database
- The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators