Comics artist John D’Agostino Sr. dies at 81

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

John D’Agostino Sr., whose work in comic books ranged from Archie and Jughead to the Incredible Hulk and G.I. Joe, among others, has died. He was 81.

D’Agostino died Sunday of bone cancer in Ansonia, Conn., publisher Archie Comics said Tuesday in a statement.

Born in Italy in 1929, D’Agostino immigrated to the United States and got his first job as head colorist at New York City’s Timely Comics, the forerunner of Marvel. He worked with Stan Lee, who went on to co-create numerous memorable superheroes, including Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four.

While working at Timely, D’Agostino — whose nickname was ‘Jon’ — helped supervise another artist, Stan Goldberg, who later become synonymous with the high school adventures of Archie, Reggie, Veronica and Betty at Riverdale High School.

D’Agostino later joined Goldberg, hired in 1965 by Archie Comics managing editor Richard Goldwater, and began a long career drawing numerous characters.

Besides Jughead, D’Agostino also drew for titles including ‘My Little Margie,’ ‘G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero,’ ‘Sabrina the Teenage Witch’ and ‘Sonic the Hedgehog,’ among others. D’Agostino also did the letters for the first three issues of Marvel’s ‘The Amazing Spider-Man.’

‘Jon was concerned about doing the best job possible. He would always be available to help young artists improve their artwork and draw the Archie cast of characters,’ Archie co-president and editor-in-chief Victor Gorelick said.

D’Agostino’s latest work in comics is scheduled to be published in December, and several of his covers will be seen through 2011.

-- Associated Press