Creating characters
After getting married and beginning a family, Gustavson began working for another comics packager, Funnies, Inc., which supplied publisher Martin Goodman with the contents of Marvel Comics #1. The packager also supplied Centaur Publications, for which Gustavson created the Arrow, Fantom of the Fair, and Man of War. Other notable work includes humor features in five early issues of DC's Action Comics, starting with issue #5 (Oct. 1938), and the two-page humor piece "Major Bigsbee an' Botts" in the oft-reprinted Batman #1 (Spring 1940).
He later joined Quality Comics, one of DC's predecessors, where publisher "Busy" Arnold offered $25 a page. There Gustavson created the Human Bomb (premiering in Police Comics #1, Aug. 1941), signing the earliest episodes with the pseudonym 'Paul Carroll. He wrote and drew the feature through September 1946. Gustavson also wrote/drew characters including Magno the Magnetic Man (premiering in Smash Comics #13, 1940); the Spider (premiering in Crack Comics #1, 1940); the Jester (in Smash Comics); and Rusty Ryan.
Gustavson, whose delicate, fine-line art resembles that of fellow Golden Age cartoonist Lou Fine, also worked on Blackhawk, Kid Eternity, Uncle Sam and other characters.
From 1942 to 1945, Gustavson did his World War II military service in the Air Tech Training Command, concurrently studying aerodynamics at Rutgers University. He returned to work for Quality afterward, and in early 1950s for the American Comics Group (AGC), doing humor features. Later that decade, he left the field to become a surveyor and civil engineer for New York State.
