Werner Roth (comics)
{{Short description|American comic book artist}}
{{Infobox comics creator
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1921|01|27}}
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| death_date = June 1973 (aged 52)
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| alias = Jay Gavin
| notable works = The X-Men
Lorna, the Jungle Girl
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Werner Roth ({{IPAc-en|r|ɒ|θ}}; January 27, 1921 – June 1973[http://www.genealogybank.com/gbnk/ssdi/doc/ssdi/v1:112CFD67E0DF4268 Social Security Death Index] for Werner Roth, which gives "State of Issue" as Massachusetts, and notes "Last known residence - State: Unknown". Accessed January 5, 2012.[http://lambiek.net/artists/r/roth_werner.htm Werner Roth] at the Lambiek Comiclopedia. Accessed February 15, 2009.) was an American comic book artist, perhaps best known for immediately succeeding Jack Kirby on Marvel Comics' The X-Men.
Career
Roth's work began appearing in Marvel Comics, then known as Atlas Comics, in 1953. Atlas editor Stan Lee has described being impressed with Roth's portfolio, particularly his drawings of women, "So I took his samples to show [then-publisher] Martin Goodman. I suggested we should use Werner, even create a comic for him. Which we did, and that was how Lorna, the Jungle Girl was born."{{cite book|last=Wright|first= Nicky|title=The Classic Era of American Comics|publisher=Prion Books Limited|location= London, UK|year=2000|page= 166}} Roth drew the first dozen issues of Lorna. He drew a number of other features for Atlas, including most of the stories of the Apache Kid. He later drew romance stories for DC Comics.
Roth returned to Marvel to work on the X-Men in 1966, initially using the pseudonym Jay Gavin, taken from the names of his two sons, to conceal his Marvel work from his editors at DC.{{cite book|last=Ro|first= Ronin|title= Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and the American Comic Book Revolution|publisher= Bloomsbury USA| year= 2004| page =82| isbn=1-58234-345-4}}{{cite web| author-link= Mark Evanier| last= Evanier| first= Mark| url= http://povonline.com/iaq/IAQ05.htm| title= Why did some artists working for Marvel in the sixties use phony names?| publisher= P.O.V. Online (column)| date= April 14, 2008| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091126083524/http://www.povonline.com/iaq/IAQ05.htm| archive-date= November 26, 2009| access-date= July 28, 2008| url-status= dead}} His true name was revealed in the "Bullpen Bulletins" page of Fantastic Four #54. X-Men series writer Roy Thomas later commented that Roth, though a talented artist, was a poor fit for the X-Men, being more oriented towards character interactions and relationships than action.{{cite news | last = O'Neill | first= Patrick Daniel | date = August 1993 | title = '60s Mutant Mania: The Original Team | work = Wizard: X-Men Turn Thirty | pages = 76–77}}
Roth later drew more Western comics for Marvel, and penciled issues of Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane for DC Comics.
Bibliography
=DC Comics=
- Girls' Love Stories #164 (1971)
- Heart Throbs #62, 66, 83, 85 (1959–1963)
- House of Secrets #82 (1969)
- Love Stories #151 (1973)
- The Phantom Stranger (vol. 2) #4 (1969)
- Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #106–121 (1970–1972)
- The Unexpected #115, 119, 133 (1969–1972)
=Marvel Comics=
- Apache Kid #2–9, 13–19 (1951–1956)
- Avengers Annual #2 (1968)
- Kid Colt, Outlaw #62, 133, 138–140 (1956–1969)
- Lorna the Jungle Girl #6–12, 19 (1954–1956); formerly Lorna the Jungle Queen #1–5 (1953–1954)
- Marvel Tales #96, 113, 148 (1950–1956)
- Mystic #7, 10–11, 19 (1952–1953)
- Rawhide Kid #67, 79 (1968–1970)
- Strange Tales #34, 62, 66 (1955–1958)
- Tales to Astonish #96–98 (1967)
- Venus #8–10, 12 (1950–1951)
- X-Men #13–29, 31–33, 35, 38–57 (1965–1969)
- Yellow Claw #1 (1956)
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{comicbookdb|type=creator|id=846|title=Werner Roth}}
- [https://www.marvel.com/comics/creators/956/werner_roth Werner Roth on marvel.com]
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{{succession box | title=Uncanny X-Men artist| before=Jack Kirby| after=Neal Adams| years=1965–1969}}
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Category:American comics artists
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