R.I.P. Shelly Moldoff

You probably don't know the name Sheldon Moldoff, but he was one of the greats. He, along with many others were "ghost artists" for Batman creator Bob Kane. He was co-creator of many venerable elements of the Batman strip, Poison Ivy, Mister Freeze, Clayface, Batgirl, Bat-Mite and Ace the Bat-Hound. He also worked steadily on golden age books like Green Lantern and Hawkman. He was also the last living creator who had work in Action Comics #1, which introduced Superman to the world. (No, he didn't work on Superman, but one of the back-up features.)

Shelly Moldoff passed away of kidney failure on Febuary 29th.

One of my thrills during my first visit to the San Diego Comic-Con, was briefly meeting Shelly. It was outside a Golden Age Batman panel. Shelly walked up, no entourage or anything even remotely like it. He signed anything he was asked to, and chatted with everyone who wanted to.

The panel itself was where his tenor struck me. The whole thing fairly quickly devolved into a "how Bob Kane screwed me over" party. Jerry Robinson, may he rest in peace, leading the charge. Shelly didn't really engage in that, simply repeating that he was very aware of the deal he made with Kane, and he didn't regret it. That was the deal. Robinson seemed angry at him for saying that, which isn't a criticism, Robinson had valid gripes, but there was something very serene about Moldoff. I was left with a very positive impression of the man, maybe it was all wrong, I only met him briefly. 

God bless you, Shelly. You can read more about the man here.

Rest in Peace

Sheldon "Shelly" Moldoff

April 14, 1920 – February 29, 2012