in 1967, verpoorten started working for marvel comics as an inker. his title was "art associate," and at the time he was described as being 6 feet 6 inches tall and 290 pounds (fantastic four, april 1967, bullpen bulletin). verpoorten worked on books including "fantastic four", "the inhumans", and "captain america" before becoming marvel's production manager, coordinating the work of writers, artists, letterers and printers. he held this position for seven years, until his unexpected death in 1977.