Bob Haney, R.I.P.

Left to right: Writers Bob Haney and Arnold Drake

A great fixture of the "Silver Age" of comics, veteran comic book writer Bob Haney died Thanksgiving Day at a nursing facility in El Cajon, California. He was 78 years old and had been hospitalized for some time, recovering from a stroke that had left him unable to speak or recognize people. He was reportedly making a decent recovery when additional complications ended his life, which comes as sad news. He was among the most articulate and outspoken writers in the field, and someone I always enjoyed talking with on the few occasions when I had the opportunity.

Raised in Philadelphia, Haney always credited vintage comic strips (especially Prince Valiant and Flash Gordon) and the radio dramas of his youth as inspiration. He received an M.A. from Columbia University and put it to work writing novels under an array of pen names and, in 1948, comic books. Between '48 and '55, he worked, mostly on crime and war comics, for a number of publishers — Fawcett, Standard, Hillman, Harvey, St. John, et al. Most of these firms went out of business during the period but around 1956, he connected with DC Comics and that became a long and happy association, with Bob eventually writing just about every kind of comic they published.

He is best remembered for co-creating the original Teen Titans, Doom Patrol and Metamorpho the Element Man, and did a long and memorable stint writing team-up stories (mostly Batman and someone else) for The Brave and the Bold. Among the other features he worked on were Superman, Aquaman, World's Finest Comics, The Unknown Soldier, Johnny Cloud, Sea Devils, Eclipso, The Viking Prince, Mark Merlin and Sgt. Rock. The character of Rock is generally associated with writer-editor Robert Kanigher, but Haney authored a number of memorable Sgt. Rock tales, including the first one. He also produced scripts for the sixties' Superman and Aquaman cartoon shows and worked for Rankin-Bass on several animated shows, including Thundercats, Silverhawks and Karate Kat.

He wrote for DC until the mid-eighties, occasionally clashing with younger editors and struggling to produce material they considered fresh and contemporary. When work dried up, he turned his attention to other forms of writing, including the authorship of a book on another of his passions, carpentry. His last few years, he resided in San Felipe in Baja, Mexico and occasionally ventured North to appear at one of the Comic-Con Internationals in San Diego. We never knew if he was coming, for he was difficult to reach down in Mexico, but when he showed up, he was a welcome and valuable addition to our panels. One visit a few years back led to him writing a new story of old Teen Titans for DC, though it has yet to be published. I hope someday it is, as I always enjoyed his writing, especially on The Unknown Soldier and Metamorpho. DC ought to reprint the early issues of Metamorpho, one of the freshest, liveliest comics that came out of the company in the sixties.