Remembering Danny Bulanadi, 1946-2022

Last month, artist and inker Danny Bulanadi passed away from chronic heart failure. He was 76 years old. 

Born on February 8, 1946 in Manila, Philippines, Bulanadi grew up as a fan of American comic books. After studying art at the University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines, Bulanadi credited legendary comic artist Tony DeZuniga for taking him under his wing and hiring him to be his assistant. This allowed Bulandi an opportunity to learn about the medium from one of the masters of the era. Another comic book icon, Joe Orlando, facilitated Bulanadi’s entrance into the industry in 1975 at DC Comics. That’s where Bulandadi spent most of the rest of the decade.

In 1979, Bulanadi teamed with writer Geoff Stirling and his son Scott Stirling on the Captain Newfoundland comic strip in The Sunday Herald (now known as The Newfoundland Herald). One of their most significant creations from that run is the super hero known as Captain Canada.

By 1980, Bulanadi broke into Marvel as the inker of MICRONAUTS (1970) alongside artists Pat Broderick, Gil Kane, and Jackson "Butch" Guice, then returned to the characters as an inker in MICRONAUTS: THE NEW VOYAGES (1984). He also became the regular inker of DAREDEVIL (1964) from issues #198-213, which includes the first Marvel work of artist David Mazzucchelli. 

A few years later, Bulanadi found further success on Marvel’s licensed books when he inked the great Steve Ditko on THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF INDIANA JONES, in addition to G.I. JOE: SPECIAL MISSIONS and TRANSFORMERS (1984). In fact, Bulanadi has the rare distinction of having worked on both TRANSFORMERS (1984) and the original Transformers animated series, for which he drew storyboards in Season 3. 

In 1987, Bulanadi teamed with writer Mark Gruenwald and artist Paul Ryan on D.P.7., one of Marvel’s original New Universe titles. This creative team also stayed together in 1989 for the first-ever QUASAR (1989) ongoing series, while Bulanadi concurrently worked with Gruenwald and an assortment of artists on CAPTAIN AMERICA (1968). Bulanadi and Gruenwald stayed with the series through issue #443.

Bulanadi and Ryan reunited on AVENGERS WEST COAST before taking on their greatest collaboration: a multi-year run on FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) with writer Tom DeFalco. From FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) #356-411, Bulanadi missed only a single issue before their run gave way to the HEROES REBORN relaunch of 1996. 

In his later years as a creator, Bulanadi illustrated a comic book adaptation of the Bible for Kingstone Comics and No Greater Joy Ministries. He was also a recurring guest on the comic book convention scene, where he accepted commissions from fans. 

Outside of comics, Bulanadi had a passion for performing Filipino love songs under the stage name Danny Harana. Several of his songs remain on YouTube as another piece of his legacy.

Marvel extends its condolences to Bulanadi’s family, friends, colleagues, and fans all over the world.