Rest in Power, Ramona Fradon

Ramona Fradon (October 2, 1926 – February 24, 2024), a comics artist for more than 70 years, has died at 97. She retired just last month. Fradon’s death was shared by Catskill Comics, a comic book art dealer, on Facebook.

She began her career in 1950, beginning to work for DC Comics early on. She’s best known as an artist on “Aquaman” and co-creator of the superhero Metamorpho, set to be played by “Barry” actor Anthony Carrigan in James Gunn’s forthcoming “Superman: Legacy” next year.

Catskill Comics posted, “It comes with great sadness to announced that Ramona Fradon has passed away a few moments ago. Ramona was 97 and had a long career in the comic book industry and was still drawing just a few days ago.”

“She was a remarkable person in so many ways. I will miss all the great conversations and laughs we had. I am blessed that I was able to work with her on a professional level, but also able to call her my friend. If anyone who wishes to send a card to the family, Please feel free to send them to Catskill Comics and I’ll be happy to pass them along.”

Fradon announced her retirement on Jan. 9 via Catskill Comics. A post on the art dealer’s site read, “After an extremely long run in the comic industry, at 97, Ramona has decided it’s time for her to retire. She will no longer be doing commissions. She apologizes to all the fans who have been waiting patiently on her wait list to get one. She did say though from time to time she’ll do a drawing or two to put up for sale on the website.”

“Ramona Fradon started her career in 1950. She has worked for DC Comics, drawing ‘Aquaman,’ for which she co-created the character Metamorpho. She has also worked other DC titles such as ‘Superman,’ ‘Batman’ and ‘Plastic Man’ along with comic strip Brenda Starr.”

Fradon was born on Oct. 2, 1926, in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in New York City. She graduated from Parsons School of Design in 1950 and was hired by DC Comics in 1951. Fradon began working on “Aquaman” comics that year, and she also cocreated the characters Aqualad and Metamorpho. She paused her career in 1965 to raise her daughter, but returned to DC in 1972.

She took over as the lead artist on “Brenda Starr, Reporter” in 1980 and continued to work on the series until 1995. From there, Fradon began working on art commissioned through Catskill Comics.