The most prolific Disney comic creators
Apr 12, 2022 22:12:48 GMT
Spectrus, fredj, and 3 more like this
Post by That Duckfan on Apr 12, 2022 22:12:48 GMT
One thing that occasionally pops up in discussions about artists and their collected works, is the amount of Disney comics pages they produced. For many writers, this is a lot. But how much exactly? This is difficult to pin down, especially since different stories have different layouts. But as we Disney comics aficionados are blessed with the miracle that is INDUCKS, we should be able to computerize an approximation. Unfortunately, I have very little understanding of INDUCKS code, so I asked Pim to help program an advanced search. I've kept the formula for that search as INDUCKS updates regularly, and now I'm ready to share the latest results!
The numbers that eventually rolled out of the SQL query reflect the amount of *rows* of comics created per author, with covers and other uncountables takes as a single row. Newspaper work is not included, due to the way they are registered at INDUCKS, you can't count them. It's not a perfect system by a long shot, but given the complicated nature of the question and the limitations of INDUCKS, I think this is a pretty great approximation. Thanks to Pim for being such a pro.
The following result was generated on 12 April 2022.
The most registered creator on INDUCKS is unknown, with a total 506.460 rows of 'orphaned' comics. That's quite a lot, but given the total amount of Disney comics, it's a only a fraction of the total output.
The most credited name on INDUCKS is the Comicup Studio, who have a total of 113.713 rows of comics to their name. This translates to about 28.000 pages of 4-row comics. Of course, Comicup is not one person, but many. This is a similar case to the one above: we have credits of individual team members when we can help it, so this doesn't represent all of their output, nor does it help us to find which individual authors are the most prolific.
Next, we find a big name in Disney comics. The most prolific individual author according to this study is Guido Martina, with a total of 70.383 comic rows --- approximately 23.461 pages of comics. These are all story, text, or article credits, since Martina never drew a Disney comic in his 43-year career (1948-91).
Hot on his heels, we find Disney's most prolific comics artist: Giorgio Cavazzano. The maestro celebrates his 60th year in Disney comics this year, starting out as an inker for Romano Scarpa in 1962. Cavazzano recently passed the 70.000 row mark, closing in on Martina with about 100 pages left. Surely this is a monumental achievement --- I would guess drawing comics is much more consuming work than coming up with the story, though I don't want to make light of writers. We should also note that Cavazzano is the most prolific living comic creator.
Next, we find the most prolific Western artist -- Tony Strobl. Strobl comes in at 68.411 rows, which comes down to about 17.000 pages in American comics. Strobl's comic credits stretch fifty years, from the heydays of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories all the way to DuckTales.
At about 66.000 rows each (that's 22.000 pages), we find Italian writers Rodolfo Cimino and Carlo Panaro, both with several decades of experience under their belt. One striking element is how many of these creators were still working a year or two before their deaths, if that. Creating comics is evidently one of those professions with no set retirement limit -- perhaps it's not as intensive as some other careers I could name.
Next, we find another studio, the Jaime Diaz Studio, with a total of 60.000 rows. Members of this team include Wanda Gattino, who also has a lot of individual credits to his name. The studio produces comics from 1975 to the mid-90s, making them older than Comicup (1980) but also shorter-lived.
Next, we have our first British entry, Paul Halas, one of Egmont's early British writers. At approximately 54.703 rows, his works clocks in around 13.675 pages. Paul is still alive, but retired from Disney comics around 2015, almost 35 years after his first script.
At 48.000 rows -- 16.000 pages -- we find three Italian legends. Masters Luciano Gatto, Massimo De Vita, and Romano Scarpa all have credits dating back to the 1950s. Gatto and De Vita retired recently, in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
Rounding out the 40.000 mark (over 10.000/13.000 pages), we find Vicar at 46.000, Studio writer Ed Nofiger at 42.000, long-time Strobl inker Steve Steere at 40.000, and Giulio Chierchini also at 40.000. Steere is the highest-ranking inker on the list.
From here, we have a great many famous names. I'll note some of the notable 'firsts' on the list.
The most prolific Brazilian artist is Ivan Saidenberg, with 31.298 rows of comics. He is 23th in the overall list.
Some other prolific Americans include Jack Bradbury (31.009 rows) and Carl Barks (30.460 rows). Barks' number may be a little overinflated due to the amount of supplementary material in INDUCKS. By the methodology used in this post, Barks shows about 1000 pages more than he actually wrote. Barks is currently 'flanked' in the list by the recently-deceased Pat McGreal and the Italian master Giovanni Battista Carpi, who is the 30th in the list (27th individual). Between them is also Tom Anderson (26th/23rd), a Dane who moved to America but wrote scripts for Egmont.
The first Frenchman in the list is François Cortereggiani (28.000), 34th in the list. Most creators are Italian, punctuated with the occasional Brazilian or American.
The first Dutchmen on the list are writers Jan Kruse and Frank Jonker, who clocks in at 22.000 rows (5.500 pages). They are 49th and 50th on the list, respectively. Below 22.000, the method becomes less reliable.
Just below at 52 (49th individually), we find the (manually tabulated) works of Bob Karp, who at 21.784 rows of comic strips is the most prolific comic strip writer. This is perhaps not entirely fair, since comic strips are typically longer than the rows we find in comic books, but this is the best I could do. It's worth noting that the top 100 comic creators only features two comic strip artists, Manuel Gonzales (16.200 rows) and Al Taliaferro (15.000 rows).
Here are some interesting details of the 52 most prolific authors (including the studios). 19 of the artists are (seemingly) still working, 8 have retired, and 23 are deceased. One of the two studios is still running. One studio operates from Spain, the other from Argentina. We have two Spaniards, both of whom worked at Comicup for some time, but are also listed separately. We have 29 Italians, 9 Americans, 3 Brazilians, 2 Brits, 2 Dutchmen, a Chilean, a Frenchman, and a Dane. We also have one husband-wife team in the McGreals.
The numbers that eventually rolled out of the SQL query reflect the amount of *rows* of comics created per author, with covers and other uncountables takes as a single row. Newspaper work is not included, due to the way they are registered at INDUCKS, you can't count them. It's not a perfect system by a long shot, but given the complicated nature of the question and the limitations of INDUCKS, I think this is a pretty great approximation. Thanks to Pim for being such a pro.
The following result was generated on 12 April 2022.
The most registered creator on INDUCKS is unknown, with a total 506.460 rows of 'orphaned' comics. That's quite a lot, but given the total amount of Disney comics, it's a only a fraction of the total output.
The most credited name on INDUCKS is the Comicup Studio, who have a total of 113.713 rows of comics to their name. This translates to about 28.000 pages of 4-row comics. Of course, Comicup is not one person, but many. This is a similar case to the one above: we have credits of individual team members when we can help it, so this doesn't represent all of their output, nor does it help us to find which individual authors are the most prolific.
Next, we find a big name in Disney comics. The most prolific individual author according to this study is Guido Martina, with a total of 70.383 comic rows --- approximately 23.461 pages of comics. These are all story, text, or article credits, since Martina never drew a Disney comic in his 43-year career (1948-91).
Hot on his heels, we find Disney's most prolific comics artist: Giorgio Cavazzano. The maestro celebrates his 60th year in Disney comics this year, starting out as an inker for Romano Scarpa in 1962. Cavazzano recently passed the 70.000 row mark, closing in on Martina with about 100 pages left. Surely this is a monumental achievement --- I would guess drawing comics is much more consuming work than coming up with the story, though I don't want to make light of writers. We should also note that Cavazzano is the most prolific living comic creator.
Next, we find the most prolific Western artist -- Tony Strobl. Strobl comes in at 68.411 rows, which comes down to about 17.000 pages in American comics. Strobl's comic credits stretch fifty years, from the heydays of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories all the way to DuckTales.
At about 66.000 rows each (that's 22.000 pages), we find Italian writers Rodolfo Cimino and Carlo Panaro, both with several decades of experience under their belt. One striking element is how many of these creators were still working a year or two before their deaths, if that. Creating comics is evidently one of those professions with no set retirement limit -- perhaps it's not as intensive as some other careers I could name.
Next, we find another studio, the Jaime Diaz Studio, with a total of 60.000 rows. Members of this team include Wanda Gattino, who also has a lot of individual credits to his name. The studio produces comics from 1975 to the mid-90s, making them older than Comicup (1980) but also shorter-lived.
Next, we have our first British entry, Paul Halas, one of Egmont's early British writers. At approximately 54.703 rows, his works clocks in around 13.675 pages. Paul is still alive, but retired from Disney comics around 2015, almost 35 years after his first script.
At 48.000 rows -- 16.000 pages -- we find three Italian legends. Masters Luciano Gatto, Massimo De Vita, and Romano Scarpa all have credits dating back to the 1950s. Gatto and De Vita retired recently, in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
Rounding out the 40.000 mark (over 10.000/13.000 pages), we find Vicar at 46.000, Studio writer Ed Nofiger at 42.000, long-time Strobl inker Steve Steere at 40.000, and Giulio Chierchini also at 40.000. Steere is the highest-ranking inker on the list.
From here, we have a great many famous names. I'll note some of the notable 'firsts' on the list.
The most prolific Brazilian artist is Ivan Saidenberg, with 31.298 rows of comics. He is 23th in the overall list.
Some other prolific Americans include Jack Bradbury (31.009 rows) and Carl Barks (30.460 rows). Barks' number may be a little overinflated due to the amount of supplementary material in INDUCKS. By the methodology used in this post, Barks shows about 1000 pages more than he actually wrote. Barks is currently 'flanked' in the list by the recently-deceased Pat McGreal and the Italian master Giovanni Battista Carpi, who is the 30th in the list (27th individual). Between them is also Tom Anderson (26th/23rd), a Dane who moved to America but wrote scripts for Egmont.
The first Frenchman in the list is François Cortereggiani (28.000), 34th in the list. Most creators are Italian, punctuated with the occasional Brazilian or American.
The first Dutchmen on the list are writers Jan Kruse and Frank Jonker, who clocks in at 22.000 rows (5.500 pages). They are 49th and 50th on the list, respectively. Below 22.000, the method becomes less reliable.
Just below at 52 (49th individually), we find the (manually tabulated) works of Bob Karp, who at 21.784 rows of comic strips is the most prolific comic strip writer. This is perhaps not entirely fair, since comic strips are typically longer than the rows we find in comic books, but this is the best I could do. It's worth noting that the top 100 comic creators only features two comic strip artists, Manuel Gonzales (16.200 rows) and Al Taliaferro (15.000 rows).
Here are some interesting details of the 52 most prolific authors (including the studios). 19 of the artists are (seemingly) still working, 8 have retired, and 23 are deceased. One of the two studios is still running. One studio operates from Spain, the other from Argentina. We have two Spaniards, both of whom worked at Comicup for some time, but are also listed separately. We have 29 Italians, 9 Americans, 3 Brazilians, 2 Brits, 2 Dutchmen, a Chilean, a Frenchman, and a Dane. We also have one husband-wife team in the McGreals.
