Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities R.I.P. Ramona Fradon

An absolute legend, and one of the people I most wish had done a run on the Legion.

Ramona Fradon has died.

Ramona Fradon gave me something to look forward when I was at a very low point in 2013, so low I attempted self harm. A silly, stupid commission of chubby Tempest I wanted to get because of her work with Aqualad.

I commissioned that woman several times over the last ten years. She was always so sweet whenever I get to talk to her in person. Even if my ideas were weird or obscure, she never had a problem with them.

This hurts.

EDE, Sarky, big hugs.

I loved her, too. Her artwork was like I imagine she must have been -- unassuming, bright, and charming. But nothing can compare to genuine interaction, and I regret that I took for granted every chance I had.

May she be brightening up heaven even more than it already was.

Oh wow. Thanks for sharing Sarky. What a life it seemed she had. Should we all be so lucky.

Didn't she work on the comic adaptation of the Superfriends series?

So sorry to read this. I was just looking at some of her Aqua-sketches this morning. Lovely work, and an artist where every piece of work is a treat to come across.

She also did a beautiful commission of what the JLA of the 1950s might have looked like. Definitely worth searching for (and, if you're more tech-savvy than me, posting it here.)

She did. She co-created the Global Guardians.

Without her we wouldn't have Fire and Ice.

Don't know if this is it, but this has that early '50s line up.




... and one of Dawny

Yes, that's exactly the 50s JLA drawing I was thinking of.

And the Dawnstar one is simply gorgeous.

Thank you, Thoth.

A pretty decent obituary, with good examples of her art and links to other articles and interviews, although the writer irked me by inaccurately stating that there were no other female superhero artists in the 1940s:


https://www.tcj.com/ramona-fradon-1926-2024/



Great quote from Ramona: "I don't think writers like to write."

Like so many artists, it took me a long while to appreciate Fradon's work. Simplicity is not crude, uncluttered is not incomplete.

I was trying to contrast Fradon's art with my standard reading fare, growing up. But Fradon's books had plenty of action and adventure. It was just in a different style. Her craft allowed for easily identifiable characters. Creations who moved through their worlds with energy, lightness but with weight only a top artist can give. That style, craft and grasp of anatomy underpins why her many malleable characters were so effective. And when not the characters, the fluid backdrops of undersea realms. I did get some of her Metamorpho issues, enjoying them, without perhaps looking more closely as to why.

Fradon could take her craft beyond the super-hero worlds, into other genres, where so much of her ability also stands out. Talent that also shone, when released from timescaled assignments, in her commission work.



Beyond the struggle and sweat of creating the story, the articles I read on writers of that age are of a collection of nearly all men who have had other careers, are having life issues, are trying to scrape a living or are looking to move onto other things (which Fradon did) and very much under the control of their, sometimes unkind, bosses, with assignments that could be removed.

Beautifully said, Thoth, and I agree 100 percent.

Fradon's spiritual granddaughters would do themselves a world of good by studying her work. Because, while there are a few who are showing real potential, I have had to admit to myself that most of their styles are a bit too messy for my taste.