It has been confirmed by his son that comic artist Jerry Robinson passed away on Wednesday at the age of 89, at a hospital on Staten Island in New York.
The summer before going to college he met Bob Kane by chance on a tennis court, who was impressed with drawings Robinson did himself on a jacket he wore. Robinson was given the choice by Kane that he could join the Batman-team at DC, or go off to Syracuse University in the Empire State for college. Thankfully for the history of comic books, he chose to ditch Syracuse and go to DC Comics.
Robinson is best remembered for two things; first is the creation of Batman’s all time villain The Joker, and the second being the creation of Batman’s sidekick, Robin (Dick Grayson). Aside from creating these two icons for the DC Universe, Robinson would go on to leave the title, working on a wide array of comic projects, which included everything from the syndicated strip Still Life to the Japanese manga Astra.
He also served as president of both the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists and the National Cartoonists Society, as well as the president and editorial director of the CartoonArts International and Cartoonists & Writers Syndicate. He fought for creators rights and was instrumental in the Siegel and Shuster cases which battled over the Superman rights.
Drew McCabe
drew@comicattack.net
