Ross Andru (; born Rostislav Androuchkevitch, June 15, 1927 – November 9, 1993) was an American comics artist and editor whose career in comics spanned six decades. He is best known for his work on The Amazing Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and The Metal Men, and for having co-created the character called The Punisher. His most frequent collaborator was comics inker Mike Esposito, with whom he worked on projects over a span of four decades. The two also founded three short-lived comic books companies: Mr. Publications (1951), MikeRoss (1953) and Klevart Enterprises (1970). Early life and education Ross Andru was born in Highland Park, Michigan on June 15, 1927, the third of Alexander and Glafire (née Evanoff) Androuchkevitch's three children. Andru grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, raised by Russian émigré parents who came to the US in 1926. After moving to New York City, Andru graduated from The High School of Music & Art, then in Harlem. One of his classmates and friends was future comics artist Mike Esposito. While students, they collaborated on flip-book animation. Andru joined the US Army in 1945, and was discharged in 1946. In 1947, Andru attended the Cartoonists and Illustrators School, studying under Burne Hogarth. Again, Esposito was Andru's classmate. Career Early work In 1946, Andru worked for an animation studio in Manhattan drawing artwork for Chiclets chewing gum commercials. In 1948, Andru's first professional work as a comic strip illustrator was drawing layouts for the Tarzan newspaper strip. As his longtime partner Mike Esposito recalled, he and Andru were attending Burne Hogarth's Cartoonists and Illustrators School in 1947 when "Burne took Ross out of the class because he saw the talent he had and asked him, 'Would you like to assist me on Tarzan? (the newspaper strip for the Sunday page of the New York Daily Mirror). He paid Ross by the month... the G.I. Bill gave him a few bucks to live on. Ross would lay it out then Burne would ink it with his approach... actually change everything and it would look really like Burne Hogarth when he got through with it. Ross (Andru) had a great concept for visuals for the layout, for the storytelling. That's what Burne Hogarth saw in Ross and he developed him to pull all that out, the shots and the depth of field. That only lasted a couple of years, because the strip died