Gray Morrow was one of the fantastic "realistic" science fiction/horror artists. Born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Morrow made his professional debut with an advertising agency in Chicago. He then worked for Timely, where he made an adaptation of 'Conan - The Elephant Tower', which remained unpublished. Serving in Korea during the war, he discovered oriental art and became the main pin-up artist for his company. Back in civil life, he was introduced to Cracked magazine by Angelo Torres in 1958. He subsequently was one of the anonymous artists for Gilberton's Classics Illustrated line and the illustrator of several of Stan Lee's western comics for the Atlas line.
Morrow eventually focused on illustration and did many illustrations for Galaxy, IF, and other digests in the science fiction genre. He also did many paperback cover paintings and independent comics projects. He returned to comics in 1964, when he became one of the regular artists (covers and interior) for the Warren magazines, Creepy, Eerie and Blazing Combat.
Powerline Fissionable Material (Critical Mass, 1990)
Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s he worked for company's like DC, Marvel and Archie Publications. He was also hired to assist on syndicated strips like 'Rip Kirby' (by John Prentice), 'Prince Valiant' (by Hal Foster), 'Big Ben Bolt' (by John Cullen Murphy), 'Secret Agent X-9' (by Al Williamson) and 'Friday Foster' (by Jorge Longaron). He took over the 'Buck Rogers' strip in 1979 and illustrated the 'Tarzan' Sunday comic strip from 1983 to 2001. In the 1990s Morrow additionally worked for Rip-Off Press, Dark Horse and Hamilton.
One of his greatest works was the 1978 trade paperback graphic novel, 'The Illustrated Roger Zelazny.' Gray Morrow died on 6 November 2001, commiting suicide after suffering from a long illness. An overview of his career was published in the book 'Gray Morrow: Visionary', by Mark Wheatley and Allan Gross, in 2001.
