Leonard "Leo" Nowak (December 24, 1907 in

Elizabeth, New Jersey Elizabeth is a city and the county seat of Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.New J ...

Inyokern, California Inyokern (formerly Siding 16 and Magnolia) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kern County, California, United States. Its name derives from its location near the border between Inyo and Kern Counties. Inyokern is located west of Ridgecrest, a ...

) was an American illustrator known for his work on

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

during the

Golden Age of Comic Books The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era of American comic books from 1938 to 1956. During this time, modern comic books were first published and rapidly increased in popularity. The superhero archetype was created and many well-known char ...

, when he was one of

Joe Shuster Joseph Shuster (; July 10, 1914 – July 30, 1992), professionally known simply as Joe Shuster, was a Canadian-American comic book artist best known for co-creating the DC Comics character Superman, with Jerry Siegel, in ''Action Comics'' #1 (c ...

's assistants.the Shuster Shop: 1941-42
at comics.org; published no later than November 22, 2002 (date of earliest revision on archive.org); retrieved January 5, 2015 In this role, he was the first (in both the

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

and the comic book) to portray

Lex Luthor Alexander Joseph "Lex" Luthor () is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Lex Luthor originally appeared in ''Action Comics'' #23 (cover dated: Apr ...

as bald; in Luthor's earlier appearances, he had red hair.Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #79
by Brian Cronin, at

Comic Book Resources ''Comic Book Resources'', also known by the initialism CBR, is a website dedicated to the coverage of comic book–related news and discussion. History Comic Book Resources was founded by Jonah Weiland in 1995 as a development of the Kingdom Co ...

; published November 30, 2006; retrieved January 5, 2015 Prior to joining Shuster, Nowak had studied art with

Frank N. Wilcox Frank Nelson Wilcox (October 3, 1887 – April 17, 1964) was a modernism, modernist Americans, American artist and a master of watercolor. Wilcox is described as the "Dean of Cleveland School (arts community), Cleveland School painters," though s ...

Leo Nowak
at the Papillon Gallery; retrieved January 5, 2015 and

Henry Keller Henry George Keller (April 3, 1869 – August 3, 1949) was an American artist who led a generation of Ohio watercolor painters of the Cleveland School. Keller's students at the Cleveland School of Art and his Berlin Heights, Ohio summer school i ...

,Leo Nowak: Keywords and Quick Facts
at AskART; retrieved January 5, 2015 but instead worked as a musician.Superman: The High-Flying History of America's Most Enduring Hero
by

Larry Tye Larry Tye is an American non-fiction author and journalist known for his biographies of notable Americans including Edward Bernays (1999) Satchel Paige (2009), Robert F. Kennedy (2016) and Joseph McCarthy (2020). From 1986 to 2001, Tye was a repor ...

, published May 21, 2013, by Random House (via Google Books) One day, during his time off, Nowak painted a mural in a nightclub where he played regularly; a salesman who admired the work told Nowak that Siegel and Shuster were looking for artistic assistance.Remembering Superman artist Leo Nowak
by Michael Sangiacomo, at ''

the Plain Dealer ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. In fall 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily and 15th on Sunday. As of Ma ...

''; published December 27, 2013; retrieved January 5, 2015 Nowak visited their studio and was hired immediately. In 1942, Nowak co-created (with

Jerry Siegel Jerome Siegel ( ; October 17, 1914 – January 28, 1996)Roger Stern. ''Superman: Sunday Classics: 1939–1943'' DC Comics/Kitchen Sink Press, Inc./ Sterling Publishing; 2006 was an American comic book writer. He is the co-creator of Superman, in ...

) the first character to be known as Robotman.Robotman
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

; published no later than 2009; retrieved January 5, 2015 In 1943, Nowak was drafted into the United States Army, and left comics. In the 1970s, Nowak moved to

Inyokern Inyokern (formerly Siding 16 and Magnolia) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kern County, California, United States. Its name derives from its location near the border between Inyo and Kern Counties. Inyokern is located west of Ridgecrest, a ...

, where he became a

political cartoon A political cartoon, a form of editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically combine a ...

ist.Leo Nowak
at

Lambiek Galerie Lambiek is a Dutch comic book store and art gallery in Amsterdam, founded on November 8, 1968 by Kees Kousemaker (, – Bussum, ), though since 2007, his son Boris Kousemaker is the current owner. From 1968 to 2015, it was located ...

; published 13 July 2007; retrieved 5 January, 2015

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nowak, Leo 1907 births 2001 deaths American comics artists American cartoonists Artists from Elizabeth, New Jersey Golden Age comics creators