Alex Blum

{{Short description|Hungarian-American comic book artist}} {{Infobox comics creator  | image = | imagesize = 150 | caption = | alt = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1889|2|7}} | birth_name = Blum Sándor Aladár | birth_place = [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungary]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|1969|9| |1889|2|7}} | death_place = [[Rye, New York]] | nationality = Naturalized American | area = | cartoonist = | write = | art = y | pencil = | ink = | edit = | publish = | letter = | color = | alias = Alex Boon | signature =  | signature_alt = | notable works = ''Classics Illustrated'' | awards = | website = | spouse = Helen }} [[File:Blum alex.jpg|right|thumb|Blum illustration from ''[[Classics Illustrated]]'' issue 87, ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'']] '''Alexander Anthony Blum''' (February 7, 1889 – September 1969)<ref>Social Security Death Index, SS# 085-18-0640.</ref> was a [[Hungarian-American]] [[comic book]] artist best remembered for his contributions in the 1940s and 1950s to the long-running comic book series ''[[Classics Illustrated]]''.<ref>Jones Jr., p.66 ff.</ref>

== Biography == Born '''Sándor Aladár Blum''' in [[Hungary]], into a [[History of the Jews in Hungary|Jewish]] family,<ref>Greenspoon, Leonard Jay & Ronald Simkins, ''American Judaism in Popular Culture'', Creighton University Press (2006), p. 189</ref> Blum studied at the [[National Academy of Design]] in [[New York City|New York]] before moving with his young family to the [[Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Germantown]] section of [[Philadelphia]], where he worked as a [[portrait painter]].<ref name=aep />{{rp|47}}<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Kooiman|first1=Mike|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LtaqDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA83|title=The Quality Companion: Celebrating the forgotten publisher of Plastic Man and the Freedom Fighters|last2=Amash|first2=Jim|date=2011|publisher=TwoMorrows Publishing|isbn=978-1-60549-037-3|page=83|language=en}}</ref>

During the [[Great Depression]], Blum's career as a portrait painter evaporated, leading the family to move to [[New York City]], seeking work.<ref name=aep>Interview with Bill Bossert (January 2011). "I Was Contemptuous, Basically of the Comics". ''[[Alter Ego (magazine)|Alter Ego]]'' (99)</ref>{{rp|39}} He signed with the [[comic book packager]] [[Eisner & Iger]], and in the 1930s and 1940s his work appeared in comics published by [[Fox Comics]], [[Quality Comics]], [[Fiction House]] and [[Fawcett Comics]]. He occasionally worked in collaboration with his daughter, [[Toni Blum]], born in 1918, who wrote comics during that period for Eisner & Iger.<ref>[[Hajdu, David]]. ''The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America'' (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008), {{ISBN|978-0-374-18767-5}}, p. 26.</ref>

For [[Fox Feature Syndicate]] (as "Alex Boon"), he illustrated the debut of the fictional superhero [[Samson (Fox Feature Syndicate)|Samson]], in ''[[Fantastic Comics]]'' #1 (Dec. 1939).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Markstein |first1=Don |title=Samson |url=http://www.toonopedia.com/samson.htm |website=Don Markstein's Toonopedia |access-date=12 April 2020}}</ref> He drew ''The Red Comet'' in ''[[Planet Comics]]'' #6–10 (Fiction House, 1940–1941).<ref>Steele, Henry (1978). ''Fiction House - A Golden Age Index''. Al Dellinges.</ref><ref>Love, G.B (ed.). "Planet Comics". ''The Fandom Annual''. SFCA (2): 118–121.</ref>

Later, in the period 1948 to 1955, he worked for the publisher [[Gilberton (publisher)|Gilberton]], illustrating almost twenty-five ''[[Classics Illustrated]]'' titles, as well as ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'', the debut issue of ''[[Classics Illustrated Junior]]''. Along with [[Henry C. Kiefer]], he was one of the leading ''Classics Illustrated'' artists.

== Personal life and death == Blum and his wife Helen<ref name=aep /> had two children, a son and a daughter, [[Toni Blum|Audrey Anthony "Toni" Blum]] (1918–{{circa}} 1972), who also became a comic book creator.

Blum died in 1969 in [[Rye, New York]].

==Bibliography==

*''[[Samson (Fox Feature Syndicate)|Samson]]'' (Fox, 1939–{{circa}} 1941) *''The Eagle'' (Fox, 1941–1942) *''Neon the Unknown'' in ''[[Hit Comics]]'' (Quality, 1940–1941) *''The Purple Trio'' in ''[[Smash Comics]]'' (Quality, 1940–1942) *''The Strange Twins'' in ''Hit Comics'' (Quality, 1940–1942) * ''Captain Nelson Cole'' in ''[[Planet Comics]]'' (Fiction House, 1940–1941) *''The Red Comet'' in ''Planet Comics'' #6–10 (Fiction House, 1940–1941) *''Kaänga Comics'' (Fiction House) *''Midnight the Black Stallion'' in ''[[Jumbo Comics]]'' (Fiction House, 1941–1942) *''Greasemonkey Griffin'' in ''[[Wings Comics]]'' (Fiction House) * ''[[Classics Illustrated]]'' (Gilberton, 1948–1955): **''[[Alice in Wonderland]]'' — #49 (1948) **''[[The Song of Hiawatha]]'' — #57 (1949) **''[[The Woman in White (novel)|The Woman in White]]'' — #61 (1949) **''[[Treasure Island]]'' — #64 (1949) **''[[The Scottish Chiefs]]'' — #67 (1950) **''[[The Pilot: A Tale of the Sea|The Pilot]]'' — #70 (1950) **''[[The Man Who Laughs]]'' — #71 (1950) **''[[The Black Tulip]]'' — #73 (1950) **''[[The Iliad]]'' — #77 (1950) **''[[Cyrano de Bergerac (play)|Cyrano de Bergerac]]'' — #79 (1951) **''[[White Fang]]'' — #80 (1951) **''[[The Jungle Book]]'', with William Bossert — #83 (1951) **''[[The Gold Bug|The Gold Bug and Other Stories]]'' — #84 (1951) **''[[The Sea Wolf]]'' — #85 (1951) **''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'' — #87 (1951) **''[[Green Mansions]]'' — #90 (1951) **''[[The Courtship of Miles Standish]]'' and ''[[Evangeline]]'' — #92 (1952) **''Daniel Boone'' — #96 (1952) **''[[Hamlet]]'' — #99 (1952) **''[[The White Company]]'' — #102 (1952) **''[[From the Earth to the Moon]]'' — #105 (1953) **''[[Knights of the Round Table]]'' — #108 (1953) **''[[Macbeth]]'' — #128 (1955)<ref>Jones Jr., Appendix A, pp. 218-223 (covering all ''Classics Illustrated'' artwork references).</ref> * ''[[Classics Illustrated Junior]]'' (Gilberton, 1953–1954): **''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs]]'' — #501 (1953) **''[[Jack and the Beanstalk]]'' — #507 (1954)<ref>Jones Jr., Appendix E, p. 229 (covering both ''Classics Illustrated Junior'' artwork references).</ref> * ''Classics Illustrated Special Edition'' (Gilberton, 1955): **''The Story of Jesus'' — #129A (with William A. Walsh) (1955)<ref>Jones, Jr., Appendix F, p. 233.</ref>

== Notes == {{reflist}}

==References== *[http://lambiek.net/artists/b/blum_alex.htm Alex Blum entry], Lambiek's ''Comiclopedia'' * Jones Jr., William B. ''Classics Illustrated: A Cultural History, with Illustrations'' (Jefferson, NC, and London: McFarland, 2002). * Overstreet, Robert M. ''Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide''. House of Collectibles, 2004.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blum, Alex}} [[Category:1889 births]] [[Category:1969 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century Hungarian artists]] [[Category:American comics artists]] [[Category:American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent]] [[Category:Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to the United States]] [[Category:Hungarian comics artists]] [[Category:Golden Age comics creators]] [[Category:Jewish American artists]]