NEW YORK, April 6 (UPI) -- Carmine Infantino, the comic artist whose modern aesthetic helped save Batman and the Flash from cancellation, died in New York, his agent said. He was 87.
The cause of Infantino's death Thursday at his Manhattan home was not reported.
The artist was most associated with his work for DC Comics, where he began as a penciler in 1947 with the comic "The Black Canary," The New York Times reported Friday.
He later went on to become an editor for DC and eventually the publisher.
Infantino transformed the busier and baggier style of comic books to a more streamlined look more in tune with mid-century modernism, the Times reported.
The comic book industry credits Infantino with resurrecting the stories of the Flash and Batman with his minimalist style. Both characters were on the chopping block by the mid-1950s due to woeful sales, the newspaper said.
The popularity of the "new look" Batman led to the ABC television series starring Adam West in 1966 to 1968.
Infantino left no immediate survivors.
