Manny Stallman (1927-1997) illustrated The Adventures of Big Boy comic book for 17 years. He is best known to Muppet fans as the artist of issue #265, which contains endless errors in relation to Sesame Street and the Muppets. At one point, the title reached five million children a month.

Working for an ad agency, Stallman's later work for Big Boy and "Basky & Robin" isn't necessarily representative of his early artistic level, seen in titles for Harvey, Atlas, Alon, DC Comics, and Timely Comics, which would eventually morph into Marvel. The title T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents included "Raven", believed to be the first superhero explicitly fighting the "denigration of anyone who was 'different,'" including cases of racism or anti-Semitism.

Born in Brooklyn, he was also earned some respect as a visual artist. When pianist Vladimir Horowitz returned to Carnegie Hall after a long absence, Stallman's portrait was featured on display. Left-handed, he drew with his right hand from 1991 to 1997 after a stroke. During his final years, he led citizenship classes for new Russian and Chinese immigrants, drawing characters on the chalkboard to teach English, and helped disabled children learn "computer-aided drawing".

External links

• Lambiek Comiclopedia profile
• Example of his work