Editing C. C. Beck (section)

==Career==

===Fawcett Comics===
In 1933, Beck joined [[Fawcett Comics|Fawcett Publications]] as a staff artist, where he created pulp magazines. When the company began producing comic books in autumn 1939, Beck was assigned to draw a character created by writer [[Bill Parker (comics)|Bill Parker]] called "Captain Thunder". Before the first issue of ''[[Whiz Comics]]'' came out, the character's name was changed to [[Captain Marvel (DC Comics)|Captain Marvel]].{{sfn|Hamerlinck|2001|pp=101, 107}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Cremins |first=Brian |date=2016 |title=Captain Marvel and the Art of Nostalgia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CiCHDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA15 |location=Jackson, Mississippi |publisher=[[University Press of Mississippi]] |page=15 |isbn=9781496808769}}</ref> Besides Captain Marvel, Beck also drew other Fawcett series, including the adventures of [[Spy Smasher]] and [[Ibis the Invincible]].{{sfn|Hamerlinck|2001|p=136}}

His early Captain Marvel stories set the style for the series. Beck favored a cartoony versus realistic rendering of character and setting, which also came to be reflected in the whimsical scripting (by [[Otto Binder]] and others). The Captain Marvel stories boasted a clean style which facilitated Beck's assistants and other Fawcett artists emulating Beck's style (one exception was [[Mac Raboy]] whose work on [[Captain Marvel, Jr.]] was more in the style of [[Alex Raymond]]). While Beck oversaw the visual aspects of the various comics featuring Captain Marvel, he emphatically stated in an interview with Tom Heintjes published in ''Hogan's Alley'' #3 that he and his fellow artists had no input or influence on the scripts they illustrated, noting "In the 13 years I spent drawing Captain Marvel, I wrote only one story, about Billy's trip to a Mayan temple [''Whiz Comics'' 22, "Capt. Marvel and the Temple of Itzalotahui"], which had to be submitted in typed form and edited and approved before I was allowed to illustrate it." At most he allowed the art and editorial departments "did develop an interplay of ideas ... that kept Captain Marvel changing and developing."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hoganmag.com/blog/an-interview-with-c-c-beck |title=An Interview with C.C. Beck |last=Heintjes |first=Tom |date=June 28, 2017 |website=Hogan's Alley |access-date=August 21, 2017}}</ref>

The popularity of Captain Marvel allowed Fawcett to produce a number of spin-off comic books and Beck to open his own New York City comics studio in 1941. He later expanded his studio, adding one in [[Englewood, New Jersey|Englewood]], New Jersey. Beck's studio supplied most of the artwork in the Marvel Family line of books. In this he acted as Chief Artist (akin to an [[art director]]), a role Fawcett formally recognized on the contents page of ''Captain Marvel Adventures''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.okchistory.com/media/marvel/comic.html |title=Captain Marvel Visits OKC |website=OKC History |access-date=March 1, 2012}}</ref> This facilitated Beck's efforts to bring a coherent look to the stories with Captain Marvel and related characters, ensuring they adhered to the style he originated. The studio also did commercial art, most prominently a series of advertisements in comic strip form starring Captain Tootsie promoting Tootsie Roll. Done in the style of the Marvel Family books and similarly whimsical (this Captain had a large T on his shirt instead of a lightning bolt),{{sfn|Hamerlinck|2001|pp=101–103}} the ads appeared in comic books published by both Fawcett and its rivals, and in Sunday comic strip sections of newspapers.

After years of litigation due to a suit lodged by [[National Comics Publications]] (one of the companies that would later become [[DC Comics]]) against Fawcett for [[copyright infringement]] claiming that Captain Marvel was a copy of Superman (see ''[[National Comics Publications, Inc. v. Fawcett Publications, Inc.]]''), Fawcett in the early 1950s (partly in response to flagging sales) reached a settlement with DC in which it agreed to discontinue its comic line.{{sfn|Hamerlinck|2001|pp=12–13}}

===Later work===
[[Image:C. C. Beck 1982.jpg|220px|thumb|C. C. Beck in 1982]]
After Fawcett Comics folded, Beck left the comic book industry but continued doing commercial illustrations. With Otto Binder, Beck prepared six sample strips for a proposed newspaper comic strip starring the character [[Marvel Family#Marvel Family allies|Tawky Tawny]] but it was rejected by the syndicates that saw it.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.captainmarvelculture.com/10tawny.html |title=Mr. Tawny |website=CaptainMarvelCulture.com |access-date=August 14, 2009}}</ref> By 1953, Beck had relocated to Florida and owned the Ukulele Bar & Grill in Miami, Florida, where he tended bar.<ref>Simon, Joe, with Jim Simon. ''The Comic Book Makers'' (Crestwood/II, 1990) {{ISBN|1-887591-35-4}}, p. 191. Reissued (Vanguard Productions, 2003). Page number refers to 1990 edition.</ref> That year he contacted [[Joe Simon]] and expressed a desire to re-enter the comic book industry and sought Simon's aid in creating a suitable character. The result was The Silver Spider, with Beck doing rough art from a script by [[Jack Oleck]]; Simon used his connections to pitch the property to [[Harvey Comics]] but they rejected it. Several years later, in 1959, Simon and [[Jack Kirby]] re-worked the Silver Spider concept for publication by [[Archie Comics]] as [[Fly (Archie Comics)|''The Fly'']].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/simonandkirby/archives/183 |title=The End of Simon & Kirby, Chapter 10, A Fly In The Mix |last=Mendryk |first=Harry |date=June 5, 2006 |website=Jack Kirby Museum & Research Center |access-date=October 18, 2011}}</ref>

Beck had a short story titled "Vanishing Point" published in the July 1959 issue of ''[[Astounding Science Fiction]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Cremins |first=Brian |date=November 2017 |title=FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #208 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iTc7DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA93 |journal=[[Alter Ego (magazine)|Alter Ego]] |location=Raleigh, North Carolina |publisher=TwoMorrows Publishing |issue=149 |page=93 |ref=none}}</ref>

His first return to comics was in the mid-1960s for the short-lived Milson Publications who published three issues of his creation [[Fatman the Human Flying Saucer]]. This character was almost the inverse of Captain Marvel in appearance and coloration, but with very different powers.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wells |first=John |date=2014 |title=American Comic Book Chronicles: 1965-1969 |publisher=TwoMorrows Publishing |pages=147–148 |isbn=978-1605490557}}</ref> Then in 1973 he was the initial artist for DC Comics' revival of Captain Marvel, titled ''Shazam!'' due to trademark issues. Beck left after the tenth issue due to "creative differences" regarding plotlines. Subsequently, at the invitation of [[E. Nelson Bridwell]], Beck submitted a script for a new story "Captain Marvel Battles Evil Incarnate." After Bridwell returned it with extensive editorial changes Beck attempted to draw the rewritten version but became so dissatisfied with it that he tore up the artwork he had drawn thus far and returned the Bridwell draft to DC.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hamerlinck |first1=P.C. |last2=Thomas |first2=Roy |date=Winter 2001 |title=The Marvel Family Battles Evil Incarnate: The Final Showdown Between C.C. Beck and DC Comics |url=http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=17 |journal=Alter Ego |location=Raleigh, North Carolina |publisher=TwoMorrows Publishing |issue=7}}</ref>

In his retirement, Beck produced a regular opinion column for ''[[The Comics Journal]]'' entitled "The Crusty Curmudgeon".{{sfn|Cremins|2016|p=26}} One of his chief topics was his objections to what he saw as the growing realism in comics art (versus the simpler style he had employed). In the early 1970s, he tutored the filmmaker and special effects artist [[John R. Ellis]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wnewsj.com/main.asp?SectionID=49&SubSectionID=156&ArticleID=174267&TM=1325.14|title=Ellis to be featured at Reel Stuff Film Festival of Aviation|publisher=Wilmington, Ohio, News Journal|date=March 11, 2009|access-date=July 13, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003035512/http://www.wnewsj.com/main.asp?SectionID=49&SubSectionID=156&ArticleID=174267&TM=1325.14|archive-date=October 3, 2011}}</ref>

Beck was guest of honor at the 1973 [[Comic Art Convention]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://cbgxtra.com/cbg-index/1973-issues/cbg-index-41 |title=The Buyer's Guide #41 |access-date=September 30, 2010 |archive-date=October 3, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003104639/http://cbgxtra.com/cbg-index/1973-issues/cbg-index-41 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the 1977 [[San Diego Comic-Con International|San Diego Comic Book Convention]], memorably at the latter he in the evening played guitar serenading fans and guests poolside at the El Cortez Hotel. Beck attended the initial [[OrlandoCon]] in 1974 and was a regular attendee into the early 1980s. He was also a guest at the 1982 [[Minneapolis Comic-Con]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hamerlinck |first=P.C. |date=February 2010 |title=The Marvel Family Battles Evil Incarnate |url=https://issuu.com/twomorrows/docs/back_issue__38 |journal=[[Back Issue!]] |location=Raleigh, North Carolina |publisher=TwoMorrows Publishing |issue=38 |pages=84–85}}</ref>

Beck in his later years began doing paintings recreating the covers of [[Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] comic books, both those featuring Captain Marvel and other superheroes and even some of funny animals (Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny). Beck's painting inspired by [[Carl Barks]]'s unused cover sketch for the story "The Mines of King Solomon" (''[[Uncle Scrooge]]'' #19, Sept.–Nov. 1957) was used as the cover when the story was reprinted in [[Gladstone Publishing#Softcover Albums|''Gladstone Comic Album'']] #1 (1987).

In April 1980 Beck became the editor of the newsletter of the Fawcett Collectors of America, which he renamed FCA/SOB for Fawcett Collectors of America/Some Opinionated Bastards (the latter phrase humorously referring to himself). Failing health forced Beck to resign the editorship after nineteen issues (Newsletter #30, dated May/June 1983).<ref>Swayze, Marcus. Foreword. Hamerlinck, P.C., ed Fawcett Companion. pp. 4–5. TwoMorrows Publishing, 2001. {{ISBN|1-893905-10-1}}.</ref>

Beck died in [[Gainesville, Florida]] of a renal ailment.<ref name="latimes" />