Mike Esposito (comics)

Mike Esposito
Esposito in 1977, from Amazing World of DC Comics #15
Born	Michael Esposito July 14, 1927 New York City, New York
Died	October 24, 2010(2010-10-24) (aged 83) Suffolk County, New York
Nationality	American
Area(s)	Writer, Penciller, Inker, Editor, Publisher
Pseudonym(s)	Mickey Demeo, Mickey Dee, Michael Dee, Joe Gaudioso
Notable works	The Amazing Spider-Man The Flash Metal Men Wonder Woman

Mike Esposito (July 14, 1927 – October 24, 2010), who sometimes used the pseudonyms Mickey Demeo, Mickey Dee, Michael Dee, and Joe Gaudioso, was an American comic book artist whose work for DC Comics, Marvel Comics and others spanned the 1950s to the 2000s. As a comic book inker teamed with his childhood friend Ross Andru, he drew for such major titles as The Amazing Spider-Man and Wonder Woman. An Andru-Esposito drawing of Wonder Woman appears on a 2006 U.S. stamp.

Esposito was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2007.

Mike Esposito was born in New York City, New York, with a musician father who in 1928 fronted the band Ralph Perry and His Orchestra, and later was a grocer. Esposito graduated from The High School of Music & Art, then in Harlem, where one of his classmates and friends was future comics artist Ross Andru, with whom he would collaborate on flip-book animation. One early artistic influence was Milt Caniff's Terry and the Pirates, while another was Lev Gleason Publications crime comics artist George Tuska, of whom he said,

For some reason, I was attracted to that stuff more than the superheroes, as a kid ... and I love the way he drew those characters. They were like a caricature of the real gangsters.... I loved the faces of his — their teeth and the kind of garb they would wear, their clothing. As a young fella, 14 years old, I tried to draw like him.... I used to always want to emulate his look. Part of it had to do with the fact that he didn't overwork [his drawings]. It was simplistic, the backgrounds and so on. The character was the whole thing. The facial expressions....