# Howard Purcell

howard purcell (November 10, 1918 – April 24, 1981) was an American comics artist and writer active from the 1940s Golden Age of Comic Books through the 1960s Silver Age. A longtime penciler and cover artist for DC Comics, one of the field's two largest firms, he co-created the Golden Age characters Sargon the Sorcerer and the Gay Ghost (renamed in the 1970s the Grim Ghost) for All-American Publications, one of the companies, with National Comics and Detective Comics, that merged to form DC. Purcell also drew the famous cover of Green Lantern #1 (Fall 1941). == Biography == === Early life and career === howard purcell, whose early influences included the adventure comic strip artists Hal Foster and Alex Raymond, as well as illustrators Harvey Dunn and Dean Cornwell, took art classes at the Art Students League of New York.