In the period following the explosion begun by Marvel Comics in the 1960s and accelerated by the campy Batman TV series in the middle of the decade, Neal Adams, who has died aged 80 of complications from sepsis, was one of the greatest, and probably most influential, artists in comics. Adams was central to the rethinking of characters including Marvel’s X-Men and, for their rival DC Comics, the Spectre, Deadman and, most crucially, the Batman.
He also brought about changes to business practices, most notably winning artists the right to their original artwork, and getting long-delayed credit and compensation in the 1980s for the Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
