Star Spangled Comics #122 November 1951 Cover by Leonard Starr
Just heard that Leonard Starr may have passed away today. I have not confirmed this yet, but I wanted to post this.
Mr. Starr is/was a comic artist, cartoonist and writer who began drawing and writing for comics during the Golden Age of comics. He worked for a number of different publishers, the most notable being his work on Annie, EC, DC, and many Marvel Comics' titles, such as The Sub Mariner and The Human Torch.
He worked as an advertising artist for a short time before creating one of his most famous comic strip, On Stage (which was later renamed, Mary Perkins, On Stage) for the Chicago-Tribune-New York News Syndicate. For this strip he received the National Cartoonists Society's Story Comic Strip Award in 1960 and 1963, and the Reuben Award in 1965.
He eventually helped develop the Thundercats television series.
I just got confirmation that Leonard Starr had indeed passed away. Great artist. There are collections of his On Stage strips which I highly recommend. Walt Simonson is a big fan and even wrote an introduction for it.
50 years ago today saw the arrival of Metamorpho issue #1, possibly the first superhero comic to be drawn throughout by a woman (Ramona Fradon). I have a copy somewhere! I stand to be corrected if I'm wrong. " />
50 years ago today saw the arrival of Metamorpho issue #1, possibly the first superhero comic to be drawn throughout by a woman (Ramona Fradon). I have a copy somewhere! I stand to be corrected if I'm wrong.
Depends on how you're defining things. If you count reprint material, then Tarpe Mills was the first with Miss Fury #1 (Winter 1942-43), which reprinted the newspaper strip she wrote, penciled, and inked.
If you don't count reprint material, then it could be Lily Renée, who penciled and inked both stories in Abbot & Costello Comics #3 (July 1948) together with her husband, Eric Peters. He penciled the figures of Abbot and Costello, she penciled the rest and inked it all. They did several issues working that way.
Otherwise, yeah, it was probably Ramona Fradon, but keep in mind that before the ’60s, hardly any comics outside of something like Classics Illustrated were drawn entirely by one person. Comics were longer and contained multiple features by different creative teams for the most part. Also, Fradon’s first full issue would have been Brave and the Bold #57 (Dec. 1964-Jan. 1965), featuring the origin of Metamorpho, which appeared six months before Metamorpho #1.
In memory of Leonard Starr, here’s his cover to Tales of the Unexpected #2, on which he was able to prominently display his last name. He also penciled and inked the six-page story the cover is based on.
Leonard Starr Fun Fact: When Starr moved from New York to Westport, Connecticut, his next-door neighbor was none other than Paul Newman.
Thanks @nweathington - I'm grateful. I thought the chances were my statement might be incorrect, and I was relying on you to point out any inaccuracies! Incidentally did you know that Ramona Fradon is, happily, still with us, even though she recently celebrated her 88th birthday!
Weird. I went to Mark's site after reading your first post and didn't see anything about Starr. Nor did I see any mention anywhere else for another hour or two, which is why I asked.
Thanks @nweathington - I'm grateful. I thought the chances were my statement might be incorrect, and I was relying on you to point out any inaccuracies! Incidentally did you know that Ramona Fradon is, happily, still with us, even though she recently celebrated her 88th birthday!
Yep, and she still does a few shows. She doesn't like to sketch at shows, but she brings lots of pre-drawn sketches. I have a nice pencil drawing of Metamorpho fending off Java while hugging Sapphire.
@nweathington - it was someone I'm connected to on one of my other social sites that said "I just heard Leonard Starr passed away." They could offer no link to the story, so I took some time to look around the web to try to confirm it myself, but could not. They seemed certain, so I went ahead and posted the Star Spangled Comics cover with commentary.
When you responded to ask about it, I looked again and that was when I found it had been posted on Mark Evanier's blog. Mark's blog was not my initial source. It appears we may have been some of the few people that learned about this loss before the mainstream press.
Even the official Leonard Starr website hasn't posted anything, yet. Howard Chaykin posted this.
@nweathington - it was someone I'm connected to on one of my other social sites that said "I just heard Leonard Starr passed away." They could offer no link to the story, so I took some time to look around the web to try to confirm it myself, but could not. They seemed certain, so I went ahead and posted the Star Spangled Comics cover with commentary.
When you responded to ask about it, I looked again and that was when I found it had been posted on Mark Evanier's blog. Mark's blog was not my initial source. It appears we may have been some of the few people that learned about this loss before the mainstream press.
Even the official Leonard Starr website hasn't posted anything, yet. Howard Chaykin posted this.
I confirmed it through my good friend Jim Amash, who found out through his friend and comic book/newspaper strip artist Tom Sawyer, who was once Starr’s studiomate and assistant.
@nweathington - it was someone I'm connected to on one of my other social sites that said "I just heard Leonard Starr passed away." They could offer no link to the story, so I took some time to look around the web to try to confirm it myself, but could not. They seemed certain, so I went ahead and posted the Star Spangled Comics cover with commentary.
When you responded to ask about it, I looked again and that was when I found it had been posted on Mark Evanier's blog. Mark's blog was not my initial source. It appears we may have been some of the few people that learned about this loss before the mainstream press.
Even the official Leonard Starr website hasn't posted anything, yet. Howard Chaykin posted this.
I confirmed it through my good friend Jim Amash, who found out through his friend and comic book/newspaper strip artist Tom Sawyer, who was once Starr’s studiomate and assistant.
@nweathington - it was someone I'm connected to on one of my other social sites that said "I just heard Leonard Starr passed away." They could offer no link to the story, so I took some time to look around the web to try to confirm it myself, but could not. They seemed certain, so I went ahead and posted the Star Spangled Comics cover with commentary.
When you responded to ask about it, I looked again and that was when I found it had been posted on Mark Evanier's blog. Mark's blog was not my initial source. It appears we may have been some of the few people that learned about this loss before the mainstream press.
Even the official Leonard Starr website hasn't posted anything, yet. Howard Chaykin posted this.
I confirmed it through my good friend Jim Amash, who found out through his friend and comic book/newspaper strip artist Tom Sawyer, who was once Starr’s studiomate and assistant.
And one hell of a fence-painting contractor.
Sawyer's last name was originally Scheuer, but because it sounded like Sawyer, he still got hit with all the jokes. When he started working in television as a writer, he went ahead and changed his name to Sawyer. Among his many credits, he was head writer/show producer for Murder, She Wrote for several years. And he was every bit as good an artist as Leonard Starr, too.
Heh. The Dracula Lives! cover reminded me of this one...
...another of the Marvel B&W magazines of the era. This particular issue (cover by Esteban Maroto) has my one-and-only printed LOC sent in to any publisher. I sent in a comment on a previous issue and hand-printed it to be absolutely sure of legibility (I have terrible cursive writing) and mailed it off -- and, to my delight, it was printed on the letters page!
...unfortunately, for all the care I took in the main body of the letter, I forgot myself and signed my name, which was apparently an incomprehensive scrawl to the editorial staff and they wound up butchering my name as a result. (sigh).
July 1941: Not to be outdone by his senior partner, Bucky gets his own whacks in on the cover of Young Allies #1 by Jack Kirby with inks by Syd Shores.
July 1941: Not to be outdone by his senior partner, Bucky gets his own whacks in on the cover of Young Allies #1 by Jack Kirby with inks by Syd Shores.
I know retrodisgust at historical grotesque racial depictions is pointless, but man, that is one particularly grotesque racial depiction.
August 1941: Following the success of Captain America, Timely tasked Simon (as editor) and Kirby (as art director) to create another patriotic hero, and quickly followed with USA Comics #1, naturally with a cover by Kirby and Simon. The book cover-featured the Defender, and though the interior “Defender” story was not drawn by Kirby, some of his Captain America panels were reused (with Cap redrawn as the Defender and Bucky redrawn as the Defender’s sidekick Rusty) in order to get the book out as quickly as possible. But the fans could smell a cheap knockoff from a mile away, and the Defender and Rusty were dropped from the book after issue #4.
August 1941: Following the success of Captain America, Timely tasked Simon (as editor) and Kirby (as art director) to create another patriotic hero, and quickly followed with USA Comics #1, naturally with a cover by Kirby and Simon ...
Can't see that image for some reason, @nweathington (or your avatar for that matter). Says "Click and discover Imageshack" but there's nothing to click.
Can't see that image for some reason, @nweathington (or your avatar for that matter). Says "Click and discover Imageshack" but there's nothing to click.
A lot of avatars disappeared after the "system maintenance" the other day.
Comments
November 1951
Cover by Leonard Starr
Just heard that Leonard Starr may have passed away today. I have not confirmed this yet, but I wanted to post this.
Mr. Starr is/was a comic artist, cartoonist and writer who began drawing and writing for comics during the Golden Age of comics. He worked for a number of different publishers, the most notable being his work on Annie, EC, DC, and many Marvel Comics' titles, such as The Sub Mariner and The Human Torch.
He worked as an advertising artist for a short time before creating one of his most famous comic strip, On Stage (which was later renamed, Mary Perkins, On Stage) for the Chicago-Tribune-New York News Syndicate. For this strip he received the National Cartoonists Society's Story Comic Strip Award in 1960 and 1963, and the Reuben Award in 1965.
He eventually helped develop the Thundercats television series.
If you don't count reprint material, then it could be Lily Renée, who penciled and inked both stories in Abbot & Costello Comics #3 (July 1948) together with her husband, Eric Peters. He penciled the figures of Abbot and Costello, she penciled the rest and inked it all. They did several issues working that way.
Otherwise, yeah, it was probably Ramona Fradon, but keep in mind that before the ’60s, hardly any comics outside of something like Classics Illustrated were drawn entirely by one person. Comics were longer and contained multiple features by different creative teams for the most part. Also, Fradon’s first full issue would have been Brave and the Bold #57 (Dec. 1964-Jan. 1965), featuring the origin of Metamorpho, which appeared six months before Metamorpho #1.
Leonard Starr Fun Fact: When Starr moved from New York to Westport, Connecticut, his next-door neighbor was none other than Paul Newman.
Incidentally did you know that Ramona Fradon is, happily, still with us, even though she recently celebrated her 88th birthday!
When you responded to ask about it, I looked again and that was when I found it had been posted on Mark Evanier's blog. Mark's blog was not my initial source. It appears we may have been some of the few people that learned about this loss before the mainstream press.
Even the official Leonard Starr website hasn't posted anything, yet. Howard Chaykin posted this.
House of Mystery #13 (1953)
Cover art: Leonard Starr
Here's one of Sawyer's covers:
...another of the Marvel B&W magazines of the era. This particular issue (cover by Esteban Maroto) has my one-and-only printed LOC sent in to any publisher. I sent in a comment on a previous issue and hand-printed it to be absolutely sure of legibility (I have terrible cursive writing) and mailed it off -- and, to my delight, it was printed on the letters page!
...unfortunately, for all the care I took in the main body of the letter, I forgot myself and signed my name, which was apparently an incomprehensive scrawl to the editorial staff and they wound up butchering my name as a result. (sigh).
Walt Disney Comics & Stories #22 (1942)
Cover by Carl Buettner
Captain Marvel Adventures #16 (October 1942)
Cover Art C.C. Beck
Superman #24 (1943)
Cover art Jack Burnley
National Comics #26 (1942)
Cover Reed Crandall
Strange Tales #167 (1968)
Cover Jim Steranko
Spidey Super Stories #17 (July 1976)
Cover John Romita Sr.
Captain America #1 (MArch 1941)
Cover Joe Simon & Jack Kirby
HAPPY 4TH OF JULY EVERYONE!
July 75 Sal Buscema