Early life and career Raised in
Brooklyn,
New York City,
New York, Tartaglione studied at that borough's
Pratt Institute,
Silver Age of comic books Tartaglione also freelanced for
DC Comics,
Charlton Comics and for Gilberton Publications, where he illustrated the
Classics Illustrated adaptations
Won by the Sword and ''Tom Brown's Schooldays
. From 1963 to 1966, he penciled several Movie Classic
adaptations for Dell Comics — from Jason and the Argonauts to Beach Blanket Bingo — as well as TV series tie-in comics (Ben Casey, Burke's Law, The Defenders, Dr. Kildare) and other work, including the presidential biographies John F. Kennedy (inked by Dick Giordano; year n.a.), and Lyndon B. Johnson (1964). and the Arnold Drake-written X-Men'' #50-51 (Nov.-Dec. 1968).
Other comics and commercial art With the exception of an occasional item such as the cover of
Dazzler #12, Tartaglione returned to penciling for the first time in years with the 64-page Marvel Comics biography
The Life of Pope John Paul II (1982), written by
Steven Grant and Mieczyslaw Malinski, and inked by
Joe Sinnott. A 1984 follow-up profiled Mother Teresa, with the same artists and writer
David Michelinie. Comics historian
Mark Evanier wrote that Tartaglione at Marvel "became the 'go-to' guy when a project came along that required historical research and/or spiritual themes. He was therefore the perfect artist when, in 1982, Marvel issued a comic-book biography of Pope John Paul II that through various religious channels sold well into the millions, leading to a follow-up book on Mother Teresa". During this period, Tartaglione was on staff at Marvel, doing art corrections. Marginalia includes the Catholic-oriented comic book
Treasure Chest, distributed in
parochial schools, and religious comics for publisher Ned Pines'
Standard/Better/Nedor imprints; inking some
Western comics for
Skywald Publications' short-lived comic-book line in 1971; and Marvel's adaptation of the movie
Dragonslayer (June 1981). Tartaglione's last known comic-book work was inking
Ron Randall on the cover and in the 22-page story of Marvel's
Wonder Man #29 (Jan. 1994). then turned to inking
The Amazing Spider-Man daily comic strip in 2003.
Personal life and death Late in his life, Tartaglione suffered from
throat cancer, which had left him unable to speak. He died at home in November 2003; Aside from his daughter Mary Beth, Tartaglione had a son, John C. Tartaglione, a Centerport painter born in
Brooklyn in 1968. ==References==