Mike Carlin

American comic book artist
Mike Carlin
Mike Carlin at San Diego Comic-Con International in 2007
BornMichael Carlin
(1958-10-06) October 6, 1958 (age 65)
NationalityAmerican
Area(s)Writer, Penciller, Editor
Notable works
Superman
AwardsEisner Award for Best Editor
Inkpot Award (1994)

Michael Carlin (born October 6, 1958)[1] is an American comic book writer, editor, and executive. He has worked principally for Marvel Comics and DC Comics since the 1970s.

Early life

Carlin attended the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan, graduating in 1976.[2] He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Cartooning from the School of Visual Arts in New York in 1980.[3]

Career

Mike Carlin started out in the business at DC Comics as a high school intern in 1974.[4] He was hired by Marvel Comics as a writer and artist on Crazy Magazine, the company's black-and-white humor title at the end of 1980.[3] His first work appeared in print in 1981. He later became an assistant editor under Mark Gruenwald[5] in 1982 and wrote a short run of stories in Captain America and Ka-Zar as well as the Assistant Editors' Month issue of Marvel Team-Up (Aunt May and Franklin Richards vs. Galactus).[6] Carlin moved to DC Comics as of October 6, 1986, his 28th birthday,[7] and became group editor of the Superman titles. He oversaw "The Death of Superman" storyline and the subsequent introduction of such characters as the Kon-El version of Superboy and John Henry Irons.[8] From 1996 to 2002, he served as an executive editor at DC Comics. As of 2011, he was DC Entertainment's Creative Director of Animation.[7]

Appearances within comics

The backup story "Bernie America, Sentinel of Liberty" in Captain America #289 (Jan. 1984) features Mike Carlin dressed as The Watcher, introducing the story.

The Batman Adventures #13, the first DC Comics spinoff of Batman: The Animated Series — features a screwball trio of incompetent super-villains: the Mastermind (a caricature of Mike Carlin), The Perfessor (a caricature of Dennis O'Neil), and Mr. Nice (a caricature of Archie Goodwin), a super-strong but childishly-innocent super-villain.[9]

Superman: The Man of Steel #75 (Jan. 1998) is a pastiche of Superman's death in Superman vol. 2 #75 (Jan. 1993), where Mister Mxyzptlk creates a duplicate of Doomsday. The confrontation culminates with Mxyzptlk meeting the Supreme Being who turns out to be Mike Carlin, the then-editor of the Superman titles, who promptly brings him back to life.

Awards

Nominations

  • 1992 Eisner Award for Best Editor, for the Superman titles and The Psycho[12]

Bibliography

DC Comics

Marvel Comics

References

  1. ^ Miller, John Jackson (June 10, 2005). "Comics Industry Birthdays". Comics Buyer's Guide. Iola, Wisconsin. Archived from the original on February 18, 2011. Retrieved December 12, 2010.
  2. ^ Talon, Durwin S. (2007). Panel Discussions: Design in Sequential Art Storytelling. Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-893905-14-6.
  3. ^ a b Talon 2007, p. 16.
  4. ^ Superman vol. 2 #4 (April 1987) letters column
  5. ^ "Bullpen Bulletins," Marvel Comics cover-dated February 1984.
  6. ^ DeFalco, Tom; Gilbert, Laura, ed. (2008). "1980s". Marvel Chronicle A Year by Year History. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 216. ISBN 978-0756641238. The January-dated books in 1984 featured a company-wide event that became known as 'Assistant Editor's Month'...a humorous story in Marvel Team-Up #137 featured Aunt May as the new herald of Galactus. {{cite book}}: |first2= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ a b Burlingame, Russ (October 6, 2014). "Mike Carlin Celebrates Half His Life at DC Entertainment Today". Comicbook.com. Archived from the original on January 11, 2015.
  8. ^ Cronin, Brian (June 15, 2017). "The Death Of Superman: 15 Things You Forgot (Or NEVER Knew)". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on August 27, 2017. One of the fascinating things about the Superman titles under Mike Carlin's editorship was just how well-oiled their machine was. He oversaw four separate creative teams and managed to tell what amounted to a weekly Superman story throughout the four titles.
  9. ^ Batman: Gotham Adventures #13 at the Grand Comics Database
  10. ^ "1994 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Nominees and Winners". Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. Archived from the original on July 25, 2012. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
  11. ^ "Inkpot Award Winners". Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. Archived from the original on July 9, 2012.
  12. ^ "1992 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Nominees and Winners". Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. Archived from the original on July 23, 2012. Retrieved August 9, 2013.

External links

  • Mike Carlin at the Grand Comics Database
  • Mike Carlin at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
  • Mike Carlin at Mike's Amazing World of Comics
  • Mike Carlin at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
Preceded by
Bruce Jones
 Ka-Zar the Savage writer
1983–1984 		Succeeded by
n/a
Preceded by Captain America writer
1984–1985 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Action Comics editor
1987–1996 		Succeeded by
K.C. Carlson
Preceded by
Andy Helfer
 Adventures of Superman editor
1987–1996 		Succeeded by
K.C. Carlson
Preceded by
Andy Helfer
 Superman vol. 2 editor
1987–1996 		Succeeded by
K.C. Carlson
Preceded by
n/a
 Superman: The Man of Steel editor
1991–1996 		Succeeded by
K.C. Carlson
Preceded by DC Universe Executive Editor
1996–2002 		Succeeded by
  • v
  • t
  • e
Inkpot Award (1990s)
1990199119921993
19941995
1996199719981999
Authority control databases Edit this at Wikidata
International
  • VIAF
National
  • United States