Early life and career Al Hartley was born in
Kearny, New Jersey, He had a brother, Jack, and a sister, Lorraine. Hartley drew for the local newspaper while still in high school, and studied at the
Art Students League of New York. He began selling humorous spot illustrations to magazines, and drew a
Western comic-book story about
Tecumseh for the publisher
Street & Smith before the U.S. joined
World War II, after which he enlisted in the
U.S. Army Air Corps and flew 20 missions as a
B-17 Flying Fortress bomber pilot in Europe. On his return, he became a
commercial artist and made the rounds of comic-book publishers, quickly getting work with publisher Ned Pines'
Standard Comics and its imprints
Better Publications and
Nedor Publishing. Hartley also did humor one- and two-pagers for the publisher's ''
America's Best Comics #20–28 (Dec. 1946 – Nov. 1948), as well as the feature "Zippie" in The Fighting Yank, and pieces for Startling Comics
and Wonder Comics
. Harley dabbled in Marvel scripting on two stories: the "Iron Man" feature in Tales of Suspense #68 (Aug. 1965), and the last "Giant-Man" feature, in Tales to Astonish'' #69 (July 1965).
Christian comics In 1967, feeling "sterile, numb, and filled with fear", Hartley became a
born again Christian, as did his wife, Hermine. At the time, he was among several artists who drew the black-and-white, "
nudie cutie" secret-agent feature "
Pussycat" that ran in some of Marvel publisher
Martin Goodman's men's magazines; Hartley told the publisher that he couldn't continue. He began writing and drawing for
Archie Comics, infusing some of the stories with his Christian beliefs. At one point he was directed to cut back. "I knew God was in control, so I respected my publisher's position and naturally complied". He later received a call from publisher Fleming H. Revell, for whom he then freelanced a comic-book adaptation of
David Wilkerson's
The Cross and the Switchblade in 1972, quickly followed by adaptations of ''
God's Smuggler by the pseudonymous Brother Andrew and The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom. Inspired, Hartley helped launch the Spire Christian Comics line, and pitched Archie president John L. Goldwater to let him license the Archie characters. The Jewish Goldwater, himself religious, agreed, and Spire went on to release 59 comics – at least 19 of them Archie titles, along with six Bible stories, 12 biography adaptations, four other book or film adaptations (including Hansi: The Girl Who Loved the Swastika''), and nine children's comics. Comics writer
Kathleen Webb wrote,
Book illustration Hartley wrote a 1977 memoir,
Come Meet My Friend! (New Life Ventures) (F. H. Revell, ), and a 1997 inspirational hardcover,
It Takes a Family: How to Create Hope and Celebrate Your Future (Barbour Publishing, # ).
Personal life Hartley and his wife of 61 years, Hermine, had two children, Fred and Alana. Hartley died May 27, 2003, aged 81, at Health Park Medical Center in
Fort Myers, Florida. ==References==