Artist Joe Messerli, b. 1930, died on June 23, 2010 in his home of Fairfield CT. Last Christmas he mentioned that he was battling cancer.
Messerli had a long and varied career that encompassed film, television and publishing. He was an animator and background artist at the UPA Studios in the 1950s, and while at UPA, he designed THE TWILIGHT ZONE's title logo for Rod Serling. At NBC Burbank, he created the title artwork seen on every episode of BONANZA (1959 - 1973), and in the mid-1970s he drew/painted interstatial artwork for THE TONIGHT SHOW.
Most of his career was spent in publishing, working on Looney Tunes, Hanna-Barbera, Disney, etc. titles for Western Publishing, and later for brief periods at DC and Marvel. These titles, particularly at Western, included comic books, coloring books, Little Golden Books, licensed products, etc.
While at Western Publishing, he was one of the primary artists on
The Three Stooges comic books from 1959 - mid-1960s, distributed by Dell and Western's in-house Gold Key label; inventoried work and reprints kept his artwork in issues into the early 1970s.
The home page of
Joe Messerli's website provides much more detail on his career credits.
Below are some samples of his work...
The Three Stooges # 10 (Oct. 1962)
The Three Stooges # 8 (Mar. 1962)
The Three Stooges # 51 (June 1971)
