THE MOONSTONE

DON RICO

Don Rico, Donato Francisco Rico II (26 September 1912 - 27 March 1985, USA) was an American comic book writer and artist of Italian origins. He worked mainly for Marvel's predecessors Timely and Atlas, but has also contributed to Fox, Fawcett, MLJ, Fiction House and Lev Gleason. He was also a paperback novelist. During the 1930s, he made wood engravings for the W.P.A. Federal Art Project. He began his comics career in 1940, starting with some work for Fox Publications and illustrating early 'Daredevil' stories for Lev Gleason's Silver Streak Comics. He joined Timely in 1943 and worked as an artist on characters like 'Captain America', 'The Whizzer', 'The Destroyer', 'The Blonde Phantom', 'The Terror', 'Venus' and 'The Young Allies'.

In the 1950s, he was one of the main writers for Stan Lee's Atlas line. Among the titles he wrote for were Adventures into Terror, Astonishing, Jane of the Jungle, Jungle Action (co-creating 'Leopard Girl' with artist Al Hartley), Jungle Tales, Lorna, the Jungle Girl, Marvel Tales, Suspense and Strange Tales. In the 1960s, he did two more scripts for Marvel, which he signed N. Korok. Rico was mainly active as a paperback novelist at the time. Rico's other pseudonyms include Dan Rico, Donella St. Michaels, Donna Richards, and Joseph Milton.