Ramona Fradon

When Ramona Fradon started illustrating comics, she had no idea she was one of a very small handful of female artists in the industry. A pitifully small handful. This didn’t stop her from making a splash, however. Ms. Fradon is one of the most prolific, long-standing, artistic talents out there.

As a young girl in the thirties and early forties (she was born in 1926), she didn’t read comics. It wasn’t until her father encouraged her to go to art school that the real story begins.

Her husband, the cartoonist Dana Fradon, saw something in his wife’s work and contacted his friend George Ward, a comic letterer. This led to a job with DC Comics and work on the Shining Knight before the series ended. 

Luckily for us, her work didn’t end there. She was soon handed the job as the illustrator of Aquaman. Under her watch, the King of Atlantic (created in 1941) became one of DC’s most popular characters.

It was popular at the time to provide heroes with young sidekicks. Working with writer Robert Bernstein, she co-created Aqualad (debuting in issue #269 of Adventure Conics in 1960).

A few years later, in 1965, she also co-created another important character with writer Bob Haney. In issue #57 of The Brave and the Bold that Metamorpho, the Element Man, first appeared. Virtually invulnerable, Metamorpho’s unique set of powers provides him with the ability to transform himself into any element. He was the perfect character for Ms. Fradon to allow her imagination and skills to run wild.

He proved to be so popular that he was granted his own series, which she drew until 1968.

In the 1970’s she continued to work with DC and introduced the comic reading audience to Super Friends (issues #1-26), who were already a hit on the small screen as an animated series.

DC wasn’t the only publisher to recognize her talent. Marvel comics also brought her in as a guest artist to illustrate one of its flagship titles, The Fantastic Four (pictured below – a panel from issue #133, 1973).

Less one thinks Ms. Fradon’s work is done; it isn’t. Throughout the 2000s, she’s continued to work and accept commissions (see here!).  

In 2006 Ms. Fradon was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame.

Ramona Fradon (born October 2, 1926)