Sy Barry

Infobox Comics creator


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caption = Sy Barry at the drawing table.
birthname = Seymour Barry
birthdate = 1928
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deathdate =
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nationality = American
area = penciller, inker
alias =
notable works = "The Phantom"
awards =

Seymour "Sy" Barry, born in 1928, is an American comic strip artist, best known for his work on "The Phantom" comic strip, which he drew for over 30 years.

Career

In junior high school a teacher encouraged him to try out for admission to the renowned School of Industrial Art in New York City. Among thousands of candidates, Sy was one of 100 who was accepted to the school in 1943.

After he completed his studies Sy got to work as an assistant for his older brother, Dan Barry. Dan was responsible for the "Flash Gordon" comic strip, and Sy worked on the strip as an inker. After having this job for a while, he was even to allowed to pencil the strips from time to time, and he often did uncredited stand-in jobs for Dan.

The Phantom

Having worked on both "Tarzan" and "Flash Gordon", he went on to draw the world's most successful adventure comic strip, "The Phantom" for 33 years from 1962 to 1994, succeeding Ray Moore and Wilson McCoy.Sy is credited for giving the Phantom his modern look, which has not changed since he took over the strip. Creator Lee Falk liked his drawing style so much that he quickly decided to modernize the entire comic strip, giving Bengalla a black President and the Jungle Patrol a black colonel.

Sy frequently used pencil artists on the strip, working primarily as an inker (although he often drew entire stories when time permitted). Pencilers included George Olesen, Joe Giella, Bob Forgione, Andre LeBlanc, and Carmine Infantino.

At the height of their popularity, Lee Falk and Sy Barry's Phantom stories were read by over a 100 million people every day, in newspapers as well as comic books. His stories are still irregularly published in countries such as Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Australia, in comic books or hardcover collections.

Personal life

Tired with the stressing deadlines he constantly had to face, Barry retired from the newspaper strip in 1994. He now uses most of his time to develop his painting skills, and likes to do landscape painting. He has also painted the Phantom several times, and some of his sketches have been used as covers for "Phantom" comics around the world.

He currently resides in Long Island with his wife Simmy. The couple have three children together.

Among his recent appearances and meeting with fans, was his trip to Scandinavia in 2001, where he met Norwegian and Swedish fans at several comic book conventions, and an appearance at the 2005 San Diego Comic Con.

ources

*Strickler, Dave. "Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924-1995: The Complete Index." Cambria, CA: Comics Access, 1995. ISBN 0-9700077-0-1.