Born: 1894 August 12 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States
Died: 1962 May 13 in Tucson, Arizona, United States
Biography: Calkins graduated from the Chicago Art Institute. His first job was cartoonist for the Detroit Free Press. During World War I, Calkins served in the Army Air Service as a pilot and flight instructor.
Following the war, he worked as an editorial cartoonist for the Chicago American until 1929, the year he began drawing Buck Rogers. (Calkins is credited as the artist for Buck Rogers from January 1929 to November 1947, and writer from September 1939 to November 1947, but other sources indicate he stopped drawing the strip around 1932.)
Calkins also co-created and illustrated the aviation-themed comic strip Skyroads, with aviation pioneer and fellow World War I pilot Lester J. Maitland, from 1929 to 1933 (when it was taken over by Russell Keaton). (Keaton has also been credited with ghosting the Sunday Buck Rogers, which debuted on March 30, 1930.)
Calkins died at the age of 67 in Tucson, Arizona, as the result of a heart attack.
Notes: To be confirmed against the Who's Who entry.
- Issue Checklist (via credit search for name "Dick Calkins")
- Issue Checklist (via linked credit records)
- Issue Overview (via linked credit records)
- List of to be migrated issues (via credit search for name "Dick Calkins")
- Issue Edit List (via linked credit records)
- Cover List (via linked credit records)
- Series List (via linked credit records)
- Characters List (via linked credit records)
- Features List (via linked credit records)
- Sequences List (via linked credit records)
- Story Credits in the GCD (via search for "Dick Calkins")
- Co-Creators List (via linked credit records)
- Who's Who of American Comic Books
Name:
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Dick Calkins
Type: Common Alternative Name
Given name: Dick Family name: Calkins
Other Names:
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Richard William Calkins
Type: Name at Birth
Given name: Richard William Family name: Calkins
Schools:
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Chicago Art Institute ? to ?
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University of Michigan ? to ?
Signatures:
- Dick Calkins [generic]
- Dick Calkins [generic]
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