Early life and career Dan Adkins was born in
West Virginia, in the basement of an unfinished house. He left the state "when I was about 7" as his family moved to Pennsylvania;
Reno, Nevada;
Phoenix, Arizona; New York; Ohio; and New Jersey. When he was "about 11" years old, Adkins said, he had a bout with rheumatic fever that left him paralyzed from the waist down for six months. working primarily as an
inker but also
penciling several stories for
Doctor Strange and other titles. Adkins additionally worked for a variety of comics publishers, including
Charlton Comics,
DC Comics (
Aquaman,
Batman),
Dell Comics/
Western Publishing,
Eclipse Comics,
Harvey Comics, Marvel, and
Pacific Comics. In addition to penciling and inking, Adkins also did cover paintings, including for
Amazing Stories,
Eerie (issue 12) and
Famous Monsters of Filmland (issues 44, 46). His magazine illustrations were published in
Argosy (with Wood),
Amazing Stories,
Fantastic,
Galaxy Science Fiction,
Infinity,
Monster Parade,
Science-Fiction Adventures,
Spectrum,
Worlds of If and other magazines. In the 2000s, he illustrated
Parker Brothers products, and his artwork for
Xero was reprinted in the hardback
The Best of Xero (Tachyon, 2004). ==Awards==