Archives - The Life of Kurt Schaffenberger

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Kurt Schaffenberger Biography

1:29Results may vary. Hello, your friendly neighborhood host, JT Wheatley, here again for back for an upper episode of the History of Comic Books podcast, this time with the life of Kurt Schaffenberger, the quintessential artist of Lois Lane. Not all comic book creators make contributions to the medium in traditional ways. While some made new characters and others new stories, Kurt Schaffenberger is famous for bringing the romance and humor to Superman, humanizing his girlfriend, Lois Lane. Before that, Lois Lane was just a trivial side character, and while her constant attempts to get Superman to marry her

2:01are dated today, it was a huge step forward for her, eventually making her the dynamic character we know and love today. It wasn't just Lois Lane, though, as Kurt Schaffenberger was a stalwart artist since the Golden Age, making contributions to Captain Marvel and newest other works throughout the medium, along with making his own mark in comic book history. Kurt Schaffenberger was born in Zelle, Mellis, Germany on December 15, 1920. His parents were Ernest and Emma Wall, and he was their only child, growing up on a farm in the Thuringon Forest,

2:32where he said he'd tease geese, herded goats, and hoed potatoes. When the young Schaffenberger was seven, his family immigrated to the United States in 1927 to 1928, landing in Hartford, Connecticut. In America, Ernest worked as a toolmaker at the Royal Typewriting Company for 25 years, and Kurt kept his father's retirement grift and engraved typewriter after he passed. Growing up in America, Kurt Schaffenberger loved movies and comic strips and had dreams of becoming an artist, even if his father discouraged it, as he wanted his job to work in the machine shop as well,

3:04probably seeing it as a more stable job. Like many of the children of that age, Schaffenberger admired the work of Milton Knieff, Hal Foster, and Alex Raymond, and tried to copy their art from the funny pages every week. He was able to use his drawing ability to connect with his fellow neighborhood kids, as Schaffenberger was still learning English at the time. When Kurt Schaffenberger was 12 in 1933, Funnies on the Parade, considered the first comic book in America, was published, soon followed by Famous Funnies, and later New Fun Comics, by his future employer, National DC Comics. Of course, these will be followed by Action Comics No. 1

3:35on June of 1938, featuring the debut of Superman and Lois Lane, characters that will play a huge part in Schaffenberger's future career, and the launch of the golden age of American comic books. However, by this point, Schaffenberger was more interested in being a magazine illustrator like Norman Markwell, as many comic book artists originally wished to be, and much of the comic book scene passed him by at the time. In 1938, in fact, Schaffenberger graduated from William Hall High School as salutatorian, though his father would criticize him for not being valedictorian. This did lead him to get a scholarship

4:06at the Pratt Institute, where he studied oil paintings, figure drawing, and history, eventually graduating at the age of 20. During this time, another pivotal comic book character, Captain Marvel, today known as Shazam, made his debut in Wiz Comics No. 2 on February of 1940, but this would be another pivotal character in Schaffenberger's career that he would first miss. On June of 1941, he joined Jack Binder's art studio, an art packager that sold features to be published in various comic books, in Inglewood, New Jersey, which was a barn

4:37with no air conditioning, dusty or ears sweltering during the summer, having wrapped towels around their forearms so the sweat wouldn't drip on the finished art, or freezing during the winter, to the point that the ink in their bottles would be frozen at times. Schaffenberger started out doing mostly piece work, with up to six artists working on one page, and formed a good working relationship with his colleagues. Schaffenberger described he did the main figures, while others did the layouts and the background figures. Schaffenberger started out making $55 a week, a fortune for him at the time, and within a year,

5:07he was making $100 a week. Soon, he was working on Captain Marvel, Doc Savage, and Mandrake the Magician. However, the barn was stressful, as it had no AC, so Schaffenberger and his fellow artists would play baseball during the lunch break, even arranging matches with the rival art studios. Schaffenberger's personal life would also improve as well, as he met a girl that would not only be a future model for him, but his wife as well, Dorothy. They met in 1941, when Kurt Schaffenberger was looking for an apartment close to the Binder's studio, as the commute from Brooklyn to Inglewood

5:38was getting too punishing. As luck would have it, a football coach was leaving to go to work at Fordham University, who turned out to be future legend Vince Lombardi, and Schaffenberger was able to rent it out. Mrs. Bogart, who rented the room to Schaffenberger, what happened to be the best friend to the mother of one-to-one Dorothy Dot Bates Watson, and even arranged to get together while the young couple first met. While sparks didn't fly at first, they were soon in each other's social scenes, especially when Schaffenberger joined a local band where he played the accordion.

6:09By Christmas of 1941, Schaffenberger even had Dorothy help him get a cameo as a present for his mother, but when she showed up at the apartment, he found him dressed in a tuxedo ready to take another girl out. Schaffenberger would joke years later that the reason Dorothy married him was to get back to him over this. Despite these ups and downs, Kurt and Dorothy were getting closer, but then World War II began.

6:33Kurt Schaffenberger's and Dorothy's relationship was interrupted when he was drafted in the Army in June of 1942. After training, Schaffenberger was stationed in Liverpool as part of the first special services unit where his artistic skills were put to use, doing everything from painting instructional posters to lettering garbage cans. He was stationed there for three years, eventually achieving the rank of Master Sergeant. With his German background and language skills, he was offered a dangerous assignment of being dropped behind enemy lines, even with $10,000 in diamonds as an incentive to do so by the Office of Strategic Services,

7:04OSS, the precursor of the CIA. Schaffenberger turned it down as it was strictly volunteer when it required him to go without his uniform. He told the OSS brass, you can send me anywhere you want to in my uniform, but I'm not going anywhere without it. Plus, he was upset over being passed over for officer school. However, Schaffenberger did work for the OSS as a translator while crafting personalized cars to dot every day, a tradition he would carry on for the rest of his life. Since this was wartime, all mail from soldiers was at first reviewed

7:35by the censor office to ensure no assistive information was released. When Schaffenberger made a jab at the censor and one of them on a Valentine's Day card to dot, she noted the censor responded by placing a stamp over it. On September 15, 1945, Schaffenberger was discharged despite a permanent offer from the OSS, which he was not interested in. Thus, Schaffenberger could have been on the ground floor of the CIA when it was formed. He promptly went back to work as a comic book artist for Beck Costanza Studio,

8:05which was founded by Captain Marvel artist C.C. Beck and Pete Costanza before going to Fawcett Publishing, where he worked on Ibbis the Invincible, his first solo gig, which ran from 1946 to 1948. On March 30, 1946, Kurt and Dorfey were married while he continued to work at Fawcett, doing lead features and covers for Wiz Comics, Master, Captain Marvel Jr., and the Marvel family. Soon, Schaffenberger's own style started to emerge after imitating C.C. Beck, Captain Marvel's co-creator, for so long, and he started to pencil and ink a page a day,

8:36usually dividing it up by penciling two pages a day and then inking them the next day. His storytelling and attention to detail, anatomy, thick and thin inking, and humor are all becoming more apparent with his style. Schaffenberger even did a Yogi Berra baseball hero comic in 1951.

8:55Kurt and Dorfey Schaffenberger had two children, Susan, born on September 19, 1947, followed by Carl on February 1, 1950, living in their starter home in Rivers Edge, northwest of Inglewood, New Jersey, for 42 years. Dot originally quit working, but would rejoin the workforce, at least it tended to be temporarily, when Schaffenberger's work went through a slow period. It was at Rexall Chemical, and like their starter home, this temp job lasted for 25 years. Schaffenberger also continued to design his own

9:25Christmas cards and holiday cards, depicting his family throughout the years.

9:30Unfortunately, when Fawcett Publishing folded due to DC's lawsuits of Captain Marvel, claiming it to be a carbon copy of Superman. Anyone who's ever read Captain Marvel would laugh at such a notion, since the characters were startlingly different down to their personalities. Captain Marvel was more fun-loving while Superman serious. However, Jack Lee Willis of National DC made a point to sue any competitor he who attempted to copy off the success of Superman. Some lawsuits did have merits, just Wonder Man by Will Eisner and Bob Iger for Fox Feature Syndicate, which was proven to be a genuine rip-off of Action Comics

10:02number one itself in the courts. Besides a passing resemblance and appearance, Captain Marvel and Superman were quite distinct, though. In fact, Captain Marvel flew before Superman did, as the latter were still leaping tall buildings in a single bound before he gained the ability to fly. Due to the follow of the lawsuit, the lawsuit, fostering the downturn of comic books in general from the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency and the creation of the CCA, Schaffenberger lost a large chunk of his income and would scramble to find work until 1954, his last work for Fawcett being a Marvel

10:32Family team-up story. During this time, he worked at Atlas, the former timely comics and future Marvel, inking Captain America stories and adventures into mystery and astonishing, but reportedly, Stan Lee didn't like his style. Schaffenberger also worked for Gleason, Premier, and EC Comics and finally did Classics Illustrated No. 119 on May of 1954 for Gilberton Publications as a last resort, as they paid the worst of the outfits at the time. There, he did an adaptation of Soldiers of Fortune. Schaffenberger tried to make

11:03a baseball strip for the newspapers, but it never panned out. Next, Schaffenberger went to American Comics Group, ACG, in 1955, drawing covers for Forbidden Worlds and Adventures in the Unknown, where he was allowed to sign his own name on his work. When Schaffenberger eventually went back to DC, they objected to this, so he signed his name, Lou Wall, the name of his maternal grandfather, though his fans weren't fooled. Kirk continued to work at ACG until it folded in 1967.

11:32Other work Schaffenberger found was at Custom Comics, which did give away books for corporations and governments, such as the U.S. Air Force, Chrysler, and Montgomery Ward, while also working in advertising that would soon return to the mainstream comics and his biggest contribution to comic books yet.

11:47When DC decided to do a Lois Lane comic book series under Mort Weisinger, who edited all of Superman's books at the time, Otto Bondi suggested Kurt Schaffenberger for the job. After a tryout and showcase, Lois Lane got her own comic book, Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane, debuting on March-April of 1958, with the story focus being Lois constantly trying to get Superman to marry her, only to be fouled in the end in some comedic way. Schaffenberger drew most of the first 81 issues, missing only issue number 29, and he even redid her hair in the first story,

12:18the bombshell of the blonde in Lois Lane number one, hoping to update the Wayne Boring's unfeminine look he originally gave the character. The comic would last for 10 years until September-October of 1967, running for 137 issues plus two annuals. Meant to be a light-hearted and romantic series, it would often feature a rival Lana Lang, Clark Kent, and Superman's girlfriend for Superman's affections. The jealousy was to the point that Kurt actually drew Lois Lane as the villain whenever Lana Lang appeared. While Schaffenberger enjoyed the series, he hated working for Superman editor

12:49Mort Weisinger, whom he called a sadist that drove Otto Binder out of the comic book business. Despite that, Weisinger reportedly liked Schaffenberger's art, calling him his favorite Lois Lane artist, and was so good, Schaffenberger was able to sign his own name at DC, while many other of his fellow artists couldn't in the 1960s. The editors enjoyed Schaffenberger's style so much that they would have him actually alter Lois Lane and Lana Lang's heads in the other Superman books. For fun, Schaffenberger also inserted Captain Marvel in Lois Lane No. 42 in 1963 in the story The Monkey's Paw.

13:20It was also in Lois Lane No. 70 in November of 1966 that Capwoman made her Silver Age debut engaging in a, of course, catfight with Lois Lane with Schaffenberger pencil. Kurt Schaffenberger would try out several different hairstyles for Lois Lane at the reader's request with the hopes to keep up with changing fashions. The character had a 50s hairstyle well into the 1960s. With up to six appearing in Lois Lane Annual No. 1 in the summer of 1962, ranging from a bouffant to a ruffle cut to a pinwheel bang. However, after a reader vote,

13:51it was decided to keep her hairstyle the same, which Mort Reisinger agreed to, as changing it would make the reprints more difficult. At the reader's request, Kurt Schaffenberger even had Superman give Lois a spanking at one point. A fan letter in Lois Lane No. 21 felt she needed to be taught a lesson for her behavior. A reader even gave a solution to having Lois, having Superman doused with red kryptonite, which turns him evil, so that he wouldn't appear to not be such a gentleman. Though Schaffenberger joked that you would have to suspend the series for a few months as Lois couldn't sit down afterwards.

14:23However, by the end of the 1960s, Mark Reisinger decided it was time to update Lois Lane's look, thus he had Neil Adams and artist Chris Schaffenberger admired to do the cover Lois Lane No. 76 in 1967, and was finally pulled from the book with issue No. 81 with him moving on to Supergirl, which he wasn't perfectly fond of, bluntly calling it an assignment. In 1970, Schaffenberger left D.C. for two years, believing it was over his attempt to unionize the artists, hoping for reprint and royalty payments,

14:53which they would later get. He blamed new publisher Carmen Infantino, though Infantino suggests a different story, stating he never directed it, but he felt that maybe some other editors did. While he was no longer at D.C., Schaffenberger did freelance work for Archie Comics. However, he soon returned to D.C. in 1972, just in time to help revive another one of his old characters from the Golden Age. In 1972, D.C. acquired the license for the Marvel family characters from Fawcett, eventually buying them outright in 1980. With the intention of launching a new

15:24Captain Marvel series, there was one hiccup as Marvel had acquired the trademark to the Captain Marvel name in 1969 when they created their own character by the same name just to do so. Thus, the character was now called Shazam in D.C. from now on. With that, D.C. moved forward with a new series in 1973, Kurt Schaffenberger joined the comic. C.C. Beck, his co-creator, had quit after 10 issues. It would last until 1978 for 35 issues, finally being canceled due to the infamous comic book implosion in D.C.,

15:55in which half their lineup was canceled. Now, Shazam and the Marvel family has since been fully integrated into D.C. as the 2019 movie shows. Schaffenberger had also worked on World's Finest Super Friends based on the cartoon show where his humorous style worked quite well and the Superman family. Outside of D.C., Schaffenberger concubed with a Joel Harris for a heavy metal story called June 2050. In 1980, Schaffenberger did the new Avengers of Superboy, which lasted until 1984 with 54 issues,

16:25which he penciled for nearly all of them. Throughout all this, Schaffenberger was known for putting himself into his comics book stories, from Wiz Comics number 81 in 1947, where he and his wife Dorothy conversed with Ibbis the Invincible, to Lois named number 74 in 1964, where he cameos as a doctor. In 1985, Kurt Schaffenberger received the best comic book cartoonist from the National Cartoon Society, but by the next year, both he and Kurt Swann, the other stalwart Superman artist, was let go by D.C. This was in line

16:56with D.C.'s attempt to revive their comic book line for the modern age, from Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns to Batman to George Perez and Wonder Woman. For Superman, the decision was decided to give the reins to John Byrne, coming to D.C. after a successful stink at Marvel on the Kenny X-Men and the Fantastic Four, for which he would do the miniseries The Man of Steel, revamping his look an origin story. Thus, the old guard of Kurt Swann and Schaffenberger were out, though they were given Action Comics No. 583 in 1986,

17:26written by Alan Moore and edited by Julie Swartz, with Swann penciling and Schaffenberger inking as a farewell to the character. This was part of the now-classic Whatever Happened in the Man of Tomorrow storyline that also appeared in Superman No. 423 and is considered today as the best of Superman stories ever told, along with being an example of how to wrap up the continuity of a classic character. As for Kurt Schaffenberger, he later worked inking Mask, a licensed property, and here was Hotline, a wacky story by Bob Braskiskis and Stephen DeFano.

17:56Meanwhile, he and his wife Dorothy moved to Brick, New Jersey in 1989 as he was semi-retired at this point.

18:03Schaffenberger would later suffer a heart attack and be diagnosed with diabetes. Despite his health issues, he started to make public appearances at comic book conventions across the country, which afforded him a chance to meet with his old colleagues such as Kurt Swann and Julie Swartz. In 1991, he illustrated his final full comic book issue with Dollars of Time written by Joel Harris. That same year, his tryouts for Lois Lane reappeared from 1957 and were published for the first time in Comic Scene Spectacular No. 7 in 1992. On September 30th of that year,

18:33they were auctioned off at Soulsby's where they were bought by Graham Nash from the music group Crosby, Stills & Nash. He would call comic books one of America's last great art forms next to rock and roll. Also that year, Kurt Schafferberger was featured in Eclipse Enterprises card series of famous comic book creators, appearing at number 30 of 107 series, featuring alongside Will Eisner, Milton Knieff, and Jack Kirby. It was noted that Schafferberger didn't think smoking was a bad influence on children while his old foster history started to be cataloged. In 1996,

19:04he received the Ink Pot Award at the San Diego Comic Con. That same year, he got the witness Superman and Lois Lane finally get married in both the comics and the Superman the wedding album on December of 1996 and on the TV show Lois and Clark The New Adventures of Superman in October of 1996, played by Dean Cain and Terry Hatcher. Kurt would remark that love is triumphant overall. As for the comic books at the time, he wasn't fond of the image comics as he felt the stories were too downbeat, though he did enjoy the work of Alex Ross, especially his book

19:34Shazam! The Power of Hope, calling it beautiful stuff. His final published art appeared in July of 2000 for The Lion's War.

19:43Kurt Schafferberger died on January 24, 2002 with his ashes spread in the New Jersey Harbor on February 2nd in a military ceremony organized by his son-in-law, Larry Kelly, a retired Navy captain. On the table next to the urn containing his ashes with an American flag acknowledging Schafferberger's service during World War II and an original art from page 73 of Superman Family number 184 from 1977, acknowledging his contributions to The Man of Steel and comic books in general. Among his many accomplishments, he helped bring love and humor

20:14to Superman, something comics and the world could always use more of.

20:19I would like to thank the chief source of this episode, Hero Against the Girl, The Life and Art of Kurt Schafferberger by Mark Foger, which also includes photos by Kathy Vols the Song and beautiful replays of his art from the work on Superman to his many Christmas and family cards he made throughout the decades. A must-read for any comic fan. And now it is

Favorite Comic Book

20:51April 30th, 2026, time for the favorite comic book of the week. Batman Wonder Woman The Truth, number one by Jeff Loeb and Jim Chiang, which is a great one-shot that interestingly enough takes place at right between the apparently events of Hush and Hush 2, specifically right after Hush where Batman's broken with Catwoman. And during this one shot, he, as Bruce Wayne, is hosting a charity event where Wonder Woman shows up to show off her lasso of truth, only for Catwoman to show up and steal it, of course. This is a great interpersonal issue

21:21that kind of builds on both Batman and Wonder Woman's friendship, also Batman's romance with Catwoman, how difficult, how the ups and downs it has, and complicated it is. And Loeb does a great job just playing up with that nice personal character-driven work. And it really does a great show with this wonderful friend, Wonder Woman is to Batman, and really in this time of personal need. And it's mapped by Jim Chung's gorgeous art, which very much is Jim Lee influenced. He uses designs from Hush and so forth, and it has that crisp realistic design that Jim Lee is so good at.

21:52And of course, you've heard that Jim Lee's the reason why Hush 2 has been delayed is because he's having some health issues. He's been around for a while, and he can't be doing all the stuff he can anymore. But apparently he's back on the men, and hey, apparently one of his daughters got married, and oh, and another one just had their first grandchild, which is pretty awesome. Yeah, so good for him. He's getting healthy again, and hopefully he'll get back to a better schedule, so we can still, I kind of want to stick around for a while and still keep producing great art. But that being said, back to this book, Batman, Wonder Woman, fantastic read.

22:23If you're a Batman or Wonder Woman fan, just definitely check it out, especially if you like the Hush storyline.

Conclusion and Upcoming Episodes

22:29But with that, we'll conclude with this episode of the Archives. Join me again next week for another episode of the Archives. I've actually recorded two more episodes. I have five in the bank now, but I want to get my ten before I do a full season release again. But until then, I'd like to point out, I was over in D.C. last week visiting family, and I got to head out of the museum to see how the comic books just influence everything. There was a comic book of April Lincoln in Ford's Theater, there was in the Museum of the Bible, all sorts of different places where you see comic books everywhere, which is great to see.

23:00It's a great part of great American history and culture, and you love to see it, and you want to see it keep going. But we'll continue for that. Join me next week, of course, like I said, with another episode of the Archives. And until then, go ahead and read yourself a good comic book. Oh, and one more thing, remember, this Saturday is the first Saturday in May, which you know what that means, free comic book day. So go down to your local comic book store, pick up some free comic books, and of course, patronize them too, buy something. Most places have great deals, used old

23:33book sales, discounts on their toys and comics and so forth. Top of free comics, buy a little something too. Yeah, great to go to a local comic store, share with fellow fans of the comic medium. And with that, but yeah, definitely go out and enjoy yourself a good comic book, and definitely check out that Batman Wonder Woman number one. That is a really great read. I'll see you

24:24next,