Comics / Comics News

Carmine Infantino’s Contribution to Comics Needs Reassessment

By Hervé St-Louis
April 7, 2013 - 09:40

The Silver Age Flash

Carmine Infantino, former DC Comics cartoonist, editor and publisher has passed away on April 4, 2013 at the age of 87. Carmine Infantino had been drawing comics since 1942 and was credited as being the co-creator of many popular comic book characters such as the Silver Age Flash, Batgirl and Black Canary.

While Infantino hired many now legendary comic book creators in the 1970s as the publisher of DC Comics, when the company was falling behind in sales against competitor Marvel Comics, the late cartoonist was responsible for many of the work for hire practices and familiar contracts that have affected generations of comic book creators ever since. The next time you read about a starving creator from the 1960s or 1970s struggling to pay medical bills, remember that Infantino was partly responsible for that.

As my colleague Philip Schweier has written, Infantino did recruit many artists over writers as the new editorial staff at DC Comics when he became its publisher. It lead to more graphic experiments and a vague attempt at being more ethnically inclusive. Major works by Neal Adams and Jack Kirby appeared during Infantino’s time as publisher.

However, Infantino was not shy of fighting for the rights of comic book characters he had co-created; rights he had prevented his peers of obtaining while they worked for DC Comics. His law suit against DC Comics over intellectual property rights of several characters was settled out of court in 2004.

Infantino’s designs of characters always seemed to extract individual muscles and forms from the overall figure of the characters. Whereas a character like the Silver Age Flash looked like he was wearing a pyjama, in Infantino’s designs, this pyjama was a muscular marathon runner whose movement on the page involved readers’ gaze more than the formal panel composition would suggest.

Although critical, ComicBookBin wishes to extend its condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Carmine Infantino.

Last Updated: November 29, 2025 - 16:51