Comic book artist Henry Scarpelli died the other day, at his home in Staten Island. He was 79.
You have to know the Silver Age of Comics, to really be familiar with Henry's contributions. And while the Silver Age primarily belonged to superheroes, many other genres were also strong sellers... particularly the humor genre, and that was where Scarpelli's work could be found.
From 1968 - 1969, Henry was the initial artist on Charlton's
Abbott & Costello series.
Prior to Charlton, Henry worked at Dell on licensed entertainment titles like
Get Smart,
The Beverly Hillbillies and
Bewitched. After Charlton, he spent time at DC on
Swing With Scooter,
Stanley & His Monster and
Angel & the Ape.
During the 1970s - 2000s, Archie Comics is where he spent a great deal of his career, not just with the comic books, but 15 years on the syndicated newspaper comic strip.
Interesting trivia...
In 1972, DC published 1 issue of
Laurel & Hardy. For unknown reasons, DC cancelled the series after that, although an unpublished 2nd issue with "L&H Meet Superman" cover art by Henry Scarpelli was produced. An unpublished digest-sized book was also planned, and Scarpelli did the cover art for that too (see below for jpgs of those covers, from our
Comicography).
Henry Scarpelli is the father of actor Glenn Scarpelli (ONE DAY AT A TIME).
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