Early life and career Jack C. Harris attended the
Philadelphia College of Art and graduated with a
BFA. He served in the
Signal Corps while in the
United States Army and was stationed in
Germany. He was hired by
DC Comics as part of the company's "Junior Woodchuck" program and became the assistant to editor
Murray Boltinoff before becoming an editor himself. Harris wrote text articles and letters columns for various series and his first published comics story was "Political Rally Panic" in
Isis #3 (February–March 1977). Harris wrote several issues of
Kamandi, an assignment he considered a personal favorite. As writer of the
Wonder Woman comic book, he returned the series to a contemporary setting to reflect the timeframe change made from the
World War II era to the present day in the
television series. Harris was briefly writing every DC feature starring a female character. He and artist
Trevor Von Eeden proposed an all-female superteam named the "Power Squad" to DC but the idea was not approved for publication. In 1992, Harris and artist
Joe Quesada co-created an updated version of the
Golden Age character the
Ray. At
Marvel Comics, Harris co-created the character
Annex in
The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #27 and wrote a limited series featuring the new character the following year. In 1994, Harris wrote the graphic novel
Batman: Castle of the Bat, painted by artist
Bo Hampton. A
Hulk and the
Human Torch story written by Harris and drawn by Ditko in the 1980s was published by Marvel as
Incredible Hulk and the Human Torch: From the Marvel Vault #1 in August 2011. Two
Kamandi stories written by Harris and drawn by
Dick Ayers and Danny Bulanadi in 1978, which went unreleased due to the title's cancellation, were published in 2017 as part of
Kamandi Challenge Special #1.
Editor Harris edited the first appearances of several new characters in their own eponymous series, including
Black Lightning,
Shade, the Changing Man, and
Firestorm. As editor of the
Legion of Super-Heroes title, Harris hired
Steve Ditko to draw several issues, a decision which garnered a mixed reaction from the title's readership. Harris edited the
Madame Xanadu one-shot in 1981, which was DC's first attempt at marketing comics specifically to the "
direct market" of fans and collectors. Among the new talent Harris helped to enter the comics industry was the writing team of
Dan Mishkin and
Gary Cohn and artists
Trevor Von Eeden,
John Workman, and
Bob Smith. On the advice of artist
Joe Staton, Harris gave British artist
Brian Bolland his first assignment for a U.S. comics publisher, the cover for
Green Lantern #127 (April 1980).
Educator Harris was on the faculty of the
School of Visual Arts in
New York City in the
BFA Cartooning Program. ==Bibliography==