Greg Theakston

• Birth Name — Greg Allen Theakston • Born — 21 November 1953 • Died — 22 April 2019 • Area — Painter Colorist Inker Penciller Historian Publisher • Alias — Earl P. Wooten • Awards — Shel Dorf Torch Bearer's Award, 2010

Greg Theakston became involved in the Detroit area fandom community, contributing to Detroit's Fantasy Fans and Comic-collector's Group on their fanzine The Fan Informer (1968–71), as well as his own publication, The Aardvark Annual (1968), and Titan. For much of the 1970s Theakston helped organize the Detroit Triple Fan Fair, credited as one of the first conventions in the United States dedicated to comic books, eventually owning it after working on a number of shows. After graduating from Redford High School in 1971, Theakston worked with artist Jim Steranko at his Supergraphics publishing company in Reading, Pennsylvania. He moved with partner Carl Lundgren to upstate New York in 1972, where he began illustrating for men's magazines, including Gent, Dude and Nugget. He also inked samples of Jim Starlin's early pencils, which helped Starlin gain his first work for Marvel Comics in 1972.

Theakston's movie poster work include Invaders From Mars. He has seven lithographs in the permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art. Theakston founded and operated Pure Imagination, a comic book and magazine publisher since 1975. His biographical work includes an estimated 200,000 words on Jack Kirby, his long-time friend and work associate, 250,000 words on Bettie Page, numerous pieces on great comic book artists, and pop culture figures for Pure Imagination and other publishers including Mad, Penthouse and Playboy.

His name has been given to a process called "Theakstonizing", a term coined by DC Comics executive editor, Dick Giordano, which bleaches color from old comics pages, used in the restoration for reprinting. He reconstructed over 12,000 pages of classic comic art, including work on Superman, Batman, Captain America, Green Lantern, The Flash, Porky Pig, The Spirit, The Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, Archie, Dick Tracy, Torchy, Pogo and numerous collections of popular comics artists, including Jack Kirby, Alex Toth, Basil Wolverton, Steve Ditko, Frank Frazetta, Jack Cole, Lou Fine, Wallace Wood, and many others.

Greg Theakston is recorded as comics artist and archivist.