Leonard Keith Lawson (1927 – 29 November 2003), was a

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Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

comic book creator developed specialized terminology. Some several attempts have been made to formalize and define the terminology of comics by authors such as Will Eisner, Scott McCloud, R. C. Harvey and Dylan Horrocks. Much of the terminology in English is un ...

, successful

commercial art Commercial art is the art of creative services, referring to art created for commercial purposes, primarily advertising. Commercial art uses a variety of platforms (magazines, websites, apps, television, etc.) for viewers with the intent of promo ...

ist and

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. However, he was also a notorious criminal who was sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

for rape and murder. He died in prison in 2003. Lawson first came to prominence as the creator of ''The Lone Avenger'', an Australian comic book hero, whose first appearance was in the second issue of ''Action Comics'' in 1946, running for thirteen years, eventually taking over the entire comic and selling up to 70,000 copies. Lawson also created another masked Western vigilante hero ''The Hooded Rider'', as well as ''Diana, Queen of the Apes'' and ''Peter Fury''. In 1954, Lawson took five young models to bushland in

Terrey Hills Terrey Hills is a suburb of Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 25 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Northern Beaches Council. It is part of the Forest District and ...

to take swimsuit photos for a calendar. He bound the women and sexually assaulted them, raping two. He was sentenced to death, which was commuted to 14 years in prison when the death penalty was abolished in New South Wales later that year. Lawson asked to continue producing ''The Lone Avenger'' in prison, but it was handed to another artist. The comic was subsequently banned in Queensland and withdrawn by its publisher. Lawson was released from prison in 1961 after serving seven years, or half, of his sentence. On 7 November 1962, Lawson sexually assaulted and murdered a 16-year-old girl whose portrait he was painting in his apartment. The next day, he took several hostages at the Sydney Church of England Girls' Grammar School, killing a 15-year-old girl in the ensuing siege. He was sentenced to

. Lawson attacked a female dancer who performed in a concert at Parramatta jail, seemingly as part of an escape attempt. He died in

Grafton Correctional Centre The former Grafton Gaol, later called the Grafton Correctional Centre and then Grafton Intake and Transient Centre is a heritage-listed former medium security prison for males and females, located in , Clarence Valley Council, New South Wales, A ...

in November 2003.

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* * * * 1927 births 2003 deaths Australian commercial artists Australian comics writers Australian illustrators Australian comics artists Australian people convicted of murder Australian people convicted of rape Australian people who died in prison custody Australian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Australian prisoners sentenced to death Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by New South Wales Prisoners sentenced to death by New South Wales Prisoners who died in New South Wales detention {{AUS-crime-bio-stub