Early life and career Raised in
Buffalo, New York, Bob Powell in the 1930s moved to
Manhattan,
New York City, where he studied art at
Pratt Institute. Powell also did early work for Fox's
Wonderworld Comics and
Mystery Men Comics; Fiction House's
Planet Comics, where his strips included "Gale Allen and the Women's Space Battalion";
Harvey Comics'
Speed Comics, for which he wrote and drew the feature "Ted Parrish", (pencilling at least once under the pseudonym
Bob Stanley);
Timely Comics' one-shot
Tough Kid Squad Comics;
Quality Comics'
Crack Comics (where he pencilled as
Terence McAully),
Hit Comics (as
Stanley Charlot),
Military Comics (where he signed his pencils for the "Loops and Banks"
aviation strip as
Bud Ernest),
Smash Comics (as
Powell Roberts), and
Feature Comics.
Sheena and superheroes As part of the
Eisner & Iger studio, Powell drew many of the earliest adventures of the jungle-queen Sheena in
Jumbo Comics. Eisner in 2005 recalled his studio as "a friendly shop, and I guess I was the same age as the youngest guys there. We all got along. The only ones who ever got into a hassle were
George Tuska and Bob Powell. Powell was kind of a wiseguy and made remarks about other people in the shop. One day, George had enough of it, got up, and punched out Bob Powell". Eisner on another occasion said his partnership with
Everett M. "Busy" Arnold created tensions when Arnold wanted to hire Powell separately: Artist
Nick Cardy, a colleague at the Eisner studio, said Powell "came in later when I was doing [the 'Spirit Section' feature] '
Lady Luck'. He was sitting behind me. He would help a kid around the block — tell a newcomer to take it easy and that sort of thing". Powell became particularly known for his "
good girl art" in
Magazine Enterprises'
Cave Girl, and in Fiction House's
Jungle Comics, where he worked on early Sheena stories and later on the
zebra-
bikini'd jungle adventuress Camilla. the same year he officially changed his name to
S. Robert Powell. Features on which they worked during this period included "Red Hawk" in
Magazine Enterprises'
Straight Arrow; and, for
Fawcett Comics, work in
Hot Rod Comics, an adaptation of the
film The Red Badge of Courage, and "a couple of Westerns" including the movie-spinoff feature "
Lash LaRue". During this 1960s period that fans and historians call the
Silver Age of comic books, Powell also drew a handful of stories for
Marvel Comics featuring the superheroes
Daredevil,
Giant-Man, the
Hulk and the
Human Torch. and the similarly short-lived
Bat Masterson strip (1959–1960). Sources differ on the date of Powell's death. The
Social Security Death Index confirms his birth date as October 2, 1916, but gives his death date only as December 1967. A standard reference source, the
Lambiek Comiclopedia, gives a birth date (October 6, 1916) at odds with the U.S. government record, and a death date of October 1, 1967. == Legacy ==