Editing Frank Bolle

{{short description|American cartoonist (1924–2020)}}
{{Infobox comics creator
| name          =
| image         = 
| birth_name    = 
| birth_place   = Italy
| death_place   = [[Weston, Connecticut]]
| nationality   = American
| area          = 
| cartoonist    = y
| write         = 
| art           = 
| pencil        = y
| ink           = y
| edit          = 
| publish       = 
| letter        = y
| color         = 
| alias         = FWB<br/>F. L. Blake
| signature     = <!-- very optional -->
| notable works = ''[[Winnie Winkle]]''<br/>''[[The Heart of Juliet Jones]]''<br>''[[Boys' Life]]''<br/>''[[Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom]]''
| awards        = [[Inkpot Award]] (2003)
| website       = 
| birth_date={{Birth date|1924|6|23}}
| death_date={{Death date and age|2020|5|12|1924|6|23}}
}}
{{external image|image1=[http://www.westportnow.com/index.php?/v3/comments/honoring_artist_frank_bolle/ Frank Bolle, Westport, Connecticut, Public Library, August 2009]. [https://archive.today/20171204234125/http://www.westportnow.com/index.php?/v3/comments/honoring_artist_frank_bolle/ Archived] from the original on December 4, 2017.}}
'''Frank W. Bolle''' (June 23, 1924 – May 12, 2020)<ref name=obit /> was an American [[comic-strip]] artist, comic book artist and illustrator, best known as the longtime artist of the newspaper strips ''[[Winnie Winkle]]'' and ''[[The Heart of Juliet Jones]]''; for stints on the comic books ''[[Tim Holt]]'' and ''[[Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom]]''; and as an illustrator for the [[Boy Scouts of America]] magazine ''[[Boys' Life]]'' for 18 years. With an unknown writer, he co-created the masked, [[Old West]] comic-book heroine the [[Black Phantom]]. Bolle sometimes used the [[pen name]] '''FWB''' and, at least once, '''F. L. Blake'''.

==Early life==
Frank Bolle was born in Italy and immigrated to the United States at age 5 to join his mother in [[Brooklyn]], New York,<ref name=obit /> although Bolle in adulthood said he was born in Brooklyn.<ref name=officialbio>{{cite web|url=http://www.reuben.org/ncs/members/bios/Bolle.jpg |first=Frank |last=Bolle |title=Frank Bolle |publisher=[[National Cartoonists Society]] |quote=Born in Brooklyn, N.Y. June 23, 1924 and started drawing on any scrap of paper I could find. |access-date=June 28, 2015 |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924092812/http://www.reuben.org/ncs/members/bios/Bolle.jpg |url-status=live }}</ref> He grew up in that borough with mother Mary and stepfather Egidio "Louie" Covacich.<ref name=obit /> Bolle attended Manhattan's [[High School of Music & Art]],<ref name=officialbio /><ref name=interviewofficialsite /> though one standard reference source, attributing its information to Bolle via an intermediary, lists the [[School of Industrial Art]] high school.<ref name=bails>{{cite web |author-link=Jerry Bails |last=Bails |first=Jerry |author2=Hames Ware |url=http://www.bailsprojects.com/bio.aspx?Name=BOLLE%2c+FRANK |title=Bolle, Frank |work=Who's Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999 |access-date=2015-06-28 |archive-date=June 30, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150630214606/http://www.bailsprojects.com/bio.aspx?Name=BOLLE%2C+FRANK |url-status=live }} '''Note:''' Information "by Frank Bolle via Jim Amash March 2006".</ref> From 1943 to 1946, Bolle served in the [[United States Army Air Force]],<ref name=officialbio /> and after his return from [[World War II]] attended [[Pratt Institute]] on the [[G.I. Bill]], graduating in three years.<ref name=interviewofficialsite />

==Career==
===1940s and 1950s===
Bolle broke into comics in 1943, drawing backgrounds for [[Funnies Inc.]], one of a handful of "packagers" that supplied content to publishers entering the fledgling medium of [[comic books]].<ref name=bails /> His first known credits are [[penciler|penciling]] and [[inker|inking]] two "Terry Vance" detective features for [[Timely Comics]], the precursor of [[Marvel Comics]], in ''[[Marvel Mystery Comics]]'' #47–48 ([[cover-date]]d Sept.-Oct. 1943).<ref name=gcd>[http://www.comics.org/credit/name/Frank%20Bolle/sort/chrono/?pencils=Frank+Bolle&letters=Frank+Bolle&target=sequence&script=Frank+Bolle&inks=Frank+Bolle&issue_editing=Frank+Bolle&colors=Frank+Bolle&logic=True&story_editing=Frank+Bolle&method=icontains&page=2 Frank Bolle] at the [[Grand Comics Database]].</ref> He served in [[World War II]],<ref name=lam>[http://www.lambiek.net/artists/b/bolle_frank.htm Frank Bolle] at the [[Lambiek Comiclopedia]]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20190609170830/https://www.lambiek.net/artists/b/bolle_frank.htm Archives] from the original on June 9, 2019. '''Note:''' Erroneously gives birth date as June 7, 1924.</ref> and it is unclear if the small number of Bolle stories that appear in comics from U.S. Camera, Rural Home, and Green Publishing through 1946 were done during the war or were inventory from before his service. His comics output became regular soon afterward with a "Freddy Freshman" story in [[Fawcett Comics]]' ''[[Captain Marvel Jr.]]'' #46 (Feb. 1947) and work in ''Crown Comics'' from the publisher McCombs from 1947 to 1948. He did additional work for Fawcett, and signed some of his [[Lev Gleason Publications]] comics work '''FWB'''.<ref name=gcd />

Bolle himself, in an undated interview, conducted no earlier than 1992, did not mention his prewar work when asked about "the first comic book you worked on":
{{blockquote|The first job I got... I had some samples I did for a little tiny outlet called Crown Comics [sic; title of series published by McCombs] where I wrote some stories and I started out by doing a filler — they had a 48-pager but they had space in the back, so they needed a one-page story. I said, 'If you need it Monday, I'll bring it in on Monday', and I wrote a cute little story and they printed it on the back and that was my first sample. Those were the first books I worked on when I got out of the service after World War II. I was 21 or 22.<ref name=interviewofficialsite>{{cite web | url= http://www.frankbolle.com/frank_bolle_interviews.htm | title= Interview with Frank Bolle | first= Joe | last= Petrilak | date= n.d. | publisher= Frank Bolle (official site) | archive-date= October 16, 2016 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161016140827/http://frankbolle.com/frank_bolle_interviews.htm | url-status= dead | access-date= June 24, 2017 }}Additional  on June 24, 2017. Note: Bolle's earliest Crown Comics credit in the Grand Comics Database is a one-page story featuring the children's-humor character Tacky in ''Crown Comics'' #8  (Feb. 1947).</ref>}}
[[File:BlackPhantom1.jpg|thumb|''Black Phantom'' #1 (1954; no cover date). Cover art by Bolle.]]
With an unknown writer, Bolle co-created the masked [[Old West]] heroine the [[Black Phantom]] in [[Magazine Enterprises]]' [[Western comic]] ''[[Tim Holt]]'' #25 (Sept. 1951).<ref>[http://www.comics.org/issue/216497/#485112 ''Tim Holt'' #25] at the Grand Comics Database.</ref> Through 1954, he also drew the title feature as well as the backup feature "Redmask", then took over the art for the spinoff series ''Red Mask'', drawing issues #42–53 to (July 1954 – May 1956). Additionally, for [[DC Comics]], Bolle drew the [[cyborg]]-[[superhero]] feature "[[Robotman (Robert Crane)|Robotman]]" in ''[[Detective Comics]]''  #167–179  (Jan. 1951 – Jan. 1952).

From 1955 to 1957, Bolle drew [[Robin Hood]] stories in ME's ''Robin Hood'' and the subsequent, TV series-based ''[[The Adventures of Robin Hood]]''. For [[Marvel Comics]]' 1950s forerunner, [[Atlas Comics (1950s)|Atlas Comics]], he drew supernatural fantasy stories in the anthologies ''[[Mystic (comics)|Mystic]]'', ''[[Marvel Tales (1949–1957)|Marvel Tales]]'', ''[[Strange Tales]]'', ''[[Journey into Mystery]]'' and other titles in 1956 and 1957.<ref name=gcd /> As well by the mid-1950s, Bolle was illustrating [[juvenile fiction]] books, including ''Gene Autry & Champion'' (1956), and books starring [[Lassie]] and the [[Lone Ranger]].<ref name= bails /> He would later draw for the [[Choose Your Own Adventure]] [[children's book]] series.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}}

From 1957 to 1961, Bolle began his long career in newspaper [[comic strips]], starting as an art assistant, drawing backgrounds, on the [[Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate]]'s daily and Sunday  ''[[Mary Perkins, On Stage|On Stage]]'' from 1957 to 1961.

===1960s===
This briefly overlapped his own Sunday comic strip, the [[McNaught Syndicate]]'s ''Children's Tales'', which he wrote and drew from 1960 to 1969. He recalled it as "a Sunday page where I illustrated some classics like '[[Cinderella]]' and '[[Rumplestilskin]]' and I did them in three parts so they would appear on three Sundays. And in-between that I would also write original stories, so I wrote about 12 to 15 original stories, then I would switch back and forth from classics to originals."<ref name=interviewofficialsite /> For the same syndicate, he drew the daily and Sunday strip ''Debbie Deere'', "a [[Personal advertisement|lonely hearts]] writer [who] would get involved in some of the letters she got. I did that for about 4 years," from 1966 to 1969.<ref name= bails /><ref name=interviewofficialsite /> For the Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate, he wrote and drew the strip ''Quick Quiz'' from 1964 to 1965. By this time he was also illustrating for magazines, beginning with the [[men's adventure]] title ''[[Stag (magazine)|Stag]]'' from 1961 to 1962.<ref name= bails />

He used the [[pseudonym]] '''F. L. Blake''' for the dust jacket of the 1963 book ''Picture Parade of Jewish History''.<ref name= bails /> Keeping a hand in comic books, Bolle drew the superhero series ''[[Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom]]'' #6–19 (Nov. 1963 – April 1967) for [[Western Publishing]]'s [[Gold Key Comics]] imprint, and did a small amount of work for [[DC Comics]], [[Dell Comics]], and [[Tower Comics]].

In 1966, Bolle began a long association with the magazine ''[[Boys' Life]]'', drawing numerous comic strips for the glossy monthly publication of the [[Boy Scouts of America]]. Through 1981, he drew at different times the strips ''Bible Stories'', ''Green Bar Bill'', ''Pedro Patrol'', ''Pee Wee Harris'', ''Pool of Fire'', ''Scouts in America'', ''Space Adventures'', ''The Tracy Twins'' and ''White Mountains''. He did other art as well for the magazine, from 1977 to 1984,<ref name=bails /> and drew an adaptation of [[Samuel Youd|John Christopher]]'s "[[The Tripods]]"{{citation needed|date=June 2015}} as well as an adaptation of [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s "[[Between Planets]]."

From 1965 to 1975, Bolle drew covers for nonfiction paperback books including ''Baton Twirling'', ''Invitation to Skin and Scuba Diving'', ''Scuba, Spear & Snorkel'', ''Soccer'', and ''Boxing''.<ref name=bails />

===1970s–2000s===
Two stories he [[penciler|penciled]] and [[inker|inked]], and one that he inked over penciler [[Russ Jones]], from the paperback anthology ''Christopher Lee's Treasury of Terror'' ([[Pyramid Books]], 1966), were reprinted in three 1968 issues of [[Warren Publications]]' black-and-white [[horror comics]] magazine ''[[Eerie (magazine)|Eerie]]''. Bolle went on to draw new stories published in that magazine and in its sister publication ''[[Vampirella]]'' in 1970 and 1971, and in 1973 inked roughly a dozen stories for [[Marvel Comics]], including in issues of ''[[Avengers (comics)|The Avengers]]'', ''[[Defenders (comics)|The Defenders]]'', ''[[Sub-Mariner]]'', ''[[Marvel Premiere]]'' and ''[[Marvel Team-Up]]''. Throughout the 1970s he also continued to do work for longtime clients [[Dell Comics]] and [[Gold Key Comics]] (in ''[[Flash Gordon]]'', ''[[Ripley's Believe It or Not!]]'', ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'' and other titles, including a short return to ''[[Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom]]''). Additionally, sometimes under his FWB pseudonym, he also contributed to [[Charlton Comics]].<ref name=gcd />

His comic-strip work in the 1970s included drawing the daily and Sunday ''Alexander Gates''  (1970–1971); the title character, Bolle said, "was an astrologist, I did that for a couple of years",<ref name=interviewofficialsite /> For
[[Universal Press Syndicate]], he drew the trip ''Best Seller Showcase'' daily (1977) and Sunday (1977–1978), which included ''Raise the Titanic'', based on the [[Clive Cussler]] novel; for the same syndicate, he drew  ''[[Encyclopedia Brown]]'' daily and Sunday (1978–1980).<ref name=RaiseTheTitanic>{{cite web|url= http://www.raisethetitanic.com/frank-bolle/|title=Interview with Frank Bolle|first=Bruce|last= Kenfield|access-date= June 10, 2020|publisher=RaiseTheTitanic.com|date=n.d.|archive-date=October 25, 2015|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151025063725/http://www.raisethetitanic.com/frank-bolle/|url-status=live}}</ref> He was the uncredited [[ghost writer|ghost artist]] on the daily ''[[Rip Kirby]]'' for [[King Features Syndicate]] from 1977 to 1994, and, for one month in 1982, the Sunday ''[[Tarzan]]'' for [[United Feature Syndicate]].<ref name=bails /><ref name=interviewofficialsite /> In an undated interview conducted no earlier than 1992, he said, "Today, I work on the ''[[Prince Valiant]]'' strip — I do some of them. It's funny — I grew up reading, admiring and copying ''Prince Valiant'' and today I'm the one penciling them!"<ref name=interviewofficialsite />

Bolle's last known mainstream penciling and inking for comic books is the cover of Gold Key Comics' ''Shroud of Mystery'' #1 (June 1982). He later drew a page for the one-shot benefit comic ''[[Strip AIDS U.S.A.]]'' (1988) from [[Last Gasp (publisher)|Last Gasp]].<ref name=gcd /> He returned to ink the last 31 pages of a 42-page story in Marvel's ''[[Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau)|Captain Marvel]]''  vol. 2, #1 (Nov. 1989), over penciler Mark Bright.<ref name=gcd />

In the 1980s and 1990s, Bolle drew and [[letterer|lettered]] the Sunday and daily [[Tribune Media Services]] strip ''[[Winnie Winkle]]'', either from 1982–1996<ref name= bails /> or, he has said, "for 20 years".<ref name=officialbio /> He performed those same functions on King Features' ''[[The Heart of Juliet Jones]]'' from 1989–2000, either for both dailies and Sundays<ref name= bails /> or "just dailies".<ref name=officialbio /> He lettered Tribune's venerable ''[[Little Orphan Annie|Annie]]'' daily and Sunday strips in the 1980s through 1999, contributing, as well, a small amount of art as a ghost artist.<ref name=bails /> Finally, he did ghost art on Tribune Media's ''[[Gil Thorp]]'' in 1995,<ref name=Courant>{{cite news|url= https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-1995-08-23-9508230009-story.html|title=Coach Thorp Takes It on the Chin|first=Colin|last=McEnroe|newspaper=[[The Hartford Courant]]|location=Connecticut|date=August 23, 1995|access-date=June 10, 2020|archive-date=June 11, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200611010631/https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-1995-08-23-9508230009-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> 1996<ref name=bails /> and 2008.<ref name=lam /> Credited, he drew the daily and Sunday [[North America Syndicate]] strip ''[[Apartment 3-G]]'' in 1999.<ref name=bails /><ref>[http://kingfeatures.com/comics/comics-a-z/?id=Apartment_3-G ''Apartment 3-G''] official website. Retrieved on December 10, 2015. "By Frank Bolle and Margaret Shulock". [https://web.archive.org/web/20151125205603/http://kingfeatures.com/comics/comics-a-z/?id=Apartment_3-G Archived] from the original on December 10, 2015.</ref> He continued with the strip through its finale in November 2015,{{citation needed|date=June 2016}} by which point Bolle was 91.

From 1996 through at least 2009, Bolle did pet illustrations for the Westport Pet Company, as well as commissioned pet portraits, including one that was scheduled to appear in the [[Walt Disney Pictures]] movie ''[[Old Dogs (film)|Old Dogs]]''.<ref name=fairport>{{cite web | url=http://www.fc-bc.com/Members/LoriBolle.html | title= Lori Bolle represents her husband Frank, with Bolle Studios| publisher=Fairfield County Business Connections| access-date= July 5, 2015| archive-date= December 5, 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205002650/http://www.fc-bc.com/Members/LoriBolle.html | url-status=live}}</ref> He illustrated the 2008 [[children's literature|children's book]] ''My Cat Merigold'' by Angelica Joy.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jhwbK4tGRbUC&q=frank+bolle+my+cat+merigold&pg=PP2|title=My Cat Merigold| first=Angelica|last=Joy|publisher=Dog Ear Publishing|year=2008|isbn=978-1598585919}}</ref>

As late as 2004, he was a guest and panelist at [[San Diego Comic-Con]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.frankbolle.com/latest_news.htm| title= Latest News | publisher= Frank Bolle (official site) | archive-date=May 12, 2013 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130512102144/http://www.frankbollestudio.com/latest_news.htm}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newsfromme.com/2020/06/09/frank-bolle-r-i-p/|title=Frank Bolle, R.I.P.|date=June 9, 2020|access-date=June 10, 2020|first=Mark|last=Evanier|author-link=Mark Evanier|publisher=NewsFromMe.com|archive-date=June 11, 2020|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200611015826/https://www.newsfromme.com/2020/06/09/frank-bolle-r-i-p/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Awards==
Bolle was one of 10 recipients of the 2003 [[Inkpot Award]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.comic-con.org/awards/inkpot | title=Inkpot Awards | date=6 December 2012 |publisher=San Diego Comic-Con International | access-date= March 13, 2014 | archive-date=March 6, 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140306113356/http://comic-con.org/awards/inkpot | url-status=live}}</ref>

==Personal life==
As an adult, Bolle lived in [[Weston, Connecticut]], with his wife, Lori.<ref name=officialbio /> He had two children, daughter Laura and son Frank.<ref name=obit />

Bolle died May 12, 2020, at the age of 95<ref name=obit>{{cite web|url=https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/stamford-ct/frank-bolle-9183217 |title=Frank Bolle Obituary| publisher=Leo P. Gallagher & Son Funeral Home|via=DignityMemorial.com|access-date=June 10, 2020|archive-date= June 7, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200607184451/https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/stamford-ct/frank-bolle-9183217|url-status=live|quote=Born in Italy on June 23rd, 1924 and traveled across the ocean alone at 5 years old to join his mother in Brooklyn, NY. He Grew up in NYC with his mother Mary and stepfather Egidio 'Louie' Covacich.}}</ref> and was interred at Willowbrook Cemetery in [[Westport, Connecticut]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://willowbrookcemetery.com/tribute/details/263/Frank-Bolle/obituary.html|title=Obituary of Frank W. Bolle|publisher=Willowbrook Cemetery|access-date=June 10, 2020|archive-date=June 11, 2020|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200611005818/https://willowbrookcemetery.com/tribute/details/263/Frank-Bolle/obituary.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Strickler, Dave. ''Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924–1995: The Complete Index.'' Cambria, CA: Comics Access, 1995. {{ISBN|0-9700077-0-1}}.

==External links==
*{{Official|http://www.frankbolle.com}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20170603081709/http://frankbolle.com/ Archived] from the original on June 6, 2017.
*{{cite web|url=http://library.syr.edu/digital/guides/b/bolle_f.htm |title=Frank Bolle Cartoons: An inventory of his cartoons at Syracuse University|publisher =SU Special Collections Research Center<!--|access-date=June 24, 2017-->|archive-date=June 11, 2010|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100611044350/http://library.syr.edu/digital/guides/b/bolle_f.htm|url-status=live}}
*{{cite web|url=https://osucartoons.pastperfectonline.com/vocabulary?keyword=Bolle%2C+Frank%2C+1924-&letter=B&searchtype=creator&showsearch=true |title=Bolle, Frank, 1924-|publisher=Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum Art Database|archive-date=June 11, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200611004231/https://osucartoons.pastperfectonline.com/vocabulary?keyword=Bolle%2C+Frank%2C+1924-&letter=B&searchtype=creator&showsearch=true|url-status=live}}

{{Inkpot Award 2000s}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolle, Frank}}
[[Category:1924 births]]
[[Category:2020 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American artists]]
[[Category:American comic strip cartoonists]]
[[Category:Italian emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Golden Age comics creators]]
[[Category:The High School of Music & Art alumni]]
[[Category:Artists from Brooklyn]]
[[Category:People from Weston, Connecticut]]
[[Category:Silver Age comics creators]]
[[Category:Inkpot Award winners]]
[[Category:United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II]]