Early life and career Herron was born in 1917 Claiming to be of partial
Cherokee descent, he grew up in West Virginia. Herron got his start in comics while still a teenager, with the
Harry "A" Chesler "packaging" studio in 1937, writing and editing for such
Centaur Comics' titles as
Star Comics and
Star Ranger Funnies. In 1939, Herron joined
Fox Features Syndicate, where he first met
Joe Simon and
Jack Kirby. Beginning in 1940 and continuing throughout the decade, Herron wrote various features for the publisher
Quality Comics. and with Jack Kirby he created
Mr. Scarlet in
Wow Comics #1 (Winter 1940–1941) and
Pinky the Whiz Kid in
Wow Comics #4 (Spring 1942). It was in the Mr. Scarlet story in
Wow Comics #1 that the name "
Gotham City" first appeared in the comics. Comics historian
Greg Theakston notes that this pre-dates its name as such in
DC Comics'
Batman #4. During this period, Herron wrote for such Fawcett titles as
Captain Marvel Adventures and
Captain Marvel Jr..
World War II Herron joined the
U.S. Army in 1942, where he wrote for the military newspaper
Stars and Stripes during his tour of duty. While at
Stars and Stripes, Herron met artist
Curt Swan, who later became the definitive
Superman artist. According to Swan, it was Herron who first directed him to
DC Comics.
DC Comics Herron began writing for
DC Comics in 1945, Throughout the 1950s and the 1960s, Herron partnered with artist
Fred Ray as the creative team on DC's
Tomahawk and the Tomahawk stories which appeared in ''
World's Finest Comics'' during this period. In the mid-1950s, Herron wrote the features
Pow Wow Smith and
Nighthawk for DC's
Western Comics omnibus; he continued to write spot stories for the title until 1961. Artist
Lee Elias and Herron co-created the
Clock King in ''
World's Finest Comics #111 (Aug. 1960). With artist Bruno Premiani, Herron co-created Cave Carson in The Brave and the Bold'' #31 (Aug. 1960).
Harvey Comics In 1966 Herron moved to
Harvey Comics, hired by his old associate
Joe Simon. During that year, Herron was the lead writer for the publisher's short-lived
Harvey Thriller superhero line, when he became the writer of the
Bat Masterson and
Rip Tide strips, which he wrote until his death in 1966.
Awards Herrin was posthumously awarded the
Bill Finger Award in 2020 along with fellow honorees
Virginia Hubbell,
Nicola Cuti,
Leo Dorfman,
Gaylord DuBois, and
Joe Gill. ==Bibliography==