Happy birthday to Carmine Infantino, the flashiest artist of the Silver Age

If you read DC Comics in the 1960s and ’70s you were probably looking at images drawn by Carmine Infantino or influenced by him. Just as Jack Kirby was the signature force at rival Marvel Comics, Infantino was an inescapable presence at DC, where the Space Age brought a new science-based, cerebral tone that fit his angular style and sleek, kinetic flair.

Infantino was so adept at creating striking images that, after Marvel’s failed 1967 attempt to steal him away, the veteran went on to become DC’s artistic director … then editorial director … and then publisher. One of his first moves in the top post: luring Kirby away from the House of Ideas and onto the DC roster. Don’t think for a minute that talent doesn’t recognize talent.       

Infantino is celebrating his 84th birthday today and here at the mighty Hero Complex we thought that would be a wonderful excuse to dip into the vault and reflect on his singular style. Infantino’s career stretched out six decades but it was his Silver Age work on Batman, Adam Strange and, especially, the Flash, where his elegant lines and eye-catching composition made for a special kind of magic.       

–Geoff Boucher

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Illustration: The Flash. Credit: Alex Ross / DC Comics