Carl Pfeufer

Career

Carl Pfeufer began work as an artist in the 1930s when he worked for the Brooklyn Eagle, a daily newspaper. In his early years he also worked as an illustrator for a number of magazines and pulp magazines. His first foray into comics came in 1936 when he worked alongside writer Bob Moore to create characters Don Dixon and Tad of the Tambark, both of whom were published by Dell Comics, though they may have also appeared in syndicated form earlier than that. He worked on these characters and others- most notably Gordon Fife- for several years during which they were fairly popular. By 1942 he had moved to Marvel, then called Timely Comics, though he may have made the move as early as 1941. During his time with Timely, which lasted until 1946, he worked mainly on the character of Namor the Sub-Mariner, and is credited with having heavily influenced the design of that character. In 1946 there was no more work at Timely, so Pfeufer moved to Fawcett Comics. There, he worked on a number of characters before settling into a relatively long run of their Western character Tom Mix, who he illustrated for just under five years. After working on Tom Mix, he began to focus on syndicated comic strips, working on a number of them between 1950 and 1970. He returned to comics in the late 1960s, when he worked on a series of science fiction stories for Harvey Comics. During this time he created a number of one-shot characters with writer Otto Binder, who he also worked with to co-create the character Super Green Beret, who appeared in Lightning Comics. In 1967 he worked on Girls' Love Stories and Secret Hearts, both for DC. In 1975 he was credited as the artist for a short horror comic entitled "The House on Brook Street," though it is unclear if this was new work on his part or a reprinting of some kind. After leaving comic books he worked on book covers, and later dedicated himself to painting and sculpture. 

Personal Life

Carl Pfeufer was born in Mexico, but raised in New York City, where his family immigrated in 1913 when Pfeufer was three. He had six siblings: three older brothers, two younger brothers and a younger sister. It is unclear when precisely, but he attended Cooper Union sometime after the age of 16, and later attended the National Academy of Design. He also studied at the Grand Central School of Art, with the Art Students League of New York, and with painter William Starkweather. He died in Texas in 1980 at the age of 69.