Leonard Starr
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Leonard Starr (October 28, 1925 – June 30, 2015) was an American
cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and g ...
,
comic book artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...
, and advertising
artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...
, best known for creating the newspaper
comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics ter ...
'' On Stage'' and reviving ''
Little Orphan Annie ''Little Orphan Annie'' is a daily American comic strip created by Harold Gray and syndicated by the Tribune Media Services. The strip took its name from the 1885 poem " Little Orphant Annie" by James Whitcomb Riley, and it made its debut on ...
''.


Early life

Born October 28, 1925, in New York City, Starr graduated from Manhattan's High School of Music and Art and then studied at
Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was founded in 1887 ...
.


Career

While attending Pratt during 1942-43, Starr worked for the Harry "A" Chesler and the Funnies, Inc. studios, contributing to the early comic book features produced at these studios. For Funnies, Inc., he began as a background artist, eventually inking
Bob Oksner Bob Oksner (October 14, 1916 in Paterson, New Jersey – February 18, 2007) was an American comics artist known for both adventure comic strips and for superhero and humor comic books, primarily at DC Comics. Biography Oksner's early work ...
's pencils. He graduated to drawing for early Timely/
Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in ...
titles, including the
Human Torch The Human Torch (Jonathan "Johnny" Storm) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is a founding member of the Fantastic Four. He is writer Stan Lee's and artist Jack Kirby's reinvention of a si ...
and the Sub-Mariner. Throughout the 1940s, Starr worked for a plethora of publishers of both comic books and pulps, including
Better Publications Standard Comics was a comic book imprint of American publisher Ned Pines, who also published pulp magazines (under a variety of company names that he also used for the comics) and paperback books (under the Popular Library name). Standard in t ...
, Consolidated Book, Croyden Publications, E. R. Ross Publishing,
Fawcett Comics Fawcett Comics, a division of Fawcett Publications, was one of several successful comic book publishers during the Golden Age of Comic Books in the 1940s. Its most popular character was Captain Marvel (DC Comics), Captain Marvel, the alter ego of ...
(doing ''Don Winslow of the Navy'', 1944–46), Hillman Periodicals and M. C. Combs. He worked with
Joe Simon Joseph Henry Simon (October 11, 1913 – December 14, 2011) was an American comic book writer, artist, editor, and publisher. Simon created or co-created many important characters in the 1930s–1940s Golden Age of Comic Books and served as the ...
and
Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comic book artist, writer and editor, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He gre ...
on their earlier
romance comics Romance comics is a comics genre depicting strong and close romantic love and its attendant complications such as jealousy, marriage, divorce, betrayal, and heartache. The term is generally associated with an American comic books genre published t ...
titles, in particular the Crestwood/Prize title '' Young Romance''. Howell, Richard, "Introduction" to ''Real Love - The Best of the Simon and Kirby Romance Comics" 1940s-1950s'' (
Eclipse Books Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market. It was ...
,
1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...
)
In the late 1940s, he drew for
EC Comics Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books, which specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-195 ...
, including ''
War Against Crime War is an intense armed conflict between State (polity), states, governments, Society, societies, or paramilitary groups such as Mercenary, mercenaries, Insurgency, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violenc ...
'', before working both as an advertising artist and producing a large amount of work for both the
American Comics Group American Comics Group (ACG) was an American comic book publisher started in 1939 and existing under the ACG name from 1943 to 1967. It published the medium's first ongoing horror-comics title, ''Adventures into the Unknown''. ACG's best-known ch ...
and
DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
titles during the early to mid-1950s. His DC work spanned a large number of covers, and work on titles as diverse as '' Doctor 13'', ''
House of Mystery ''The House of Mystery'' is the name of several horror, fantasy, and mystery Comics anthologies published by DC Comics. It had a companion series, ''The House of Secrets''. It is also the name of the titular setting of the series. First serie ...
'', ''
Gang Busters ''Gang Busters'' is an American dramatic radio program heralded as "the only national program that brings you authentic police case histories." It premiered on January 15, 1936, and was broadcast over 21 years through November 27, 1957. Histo ...
'', '' Pow-Wow Smith, Indian Lawman'' and ''
Star-Spangled War Stories ''Star Spangled War Stories'' was the title of a comics anthology published by DC Comics that featured war-themed characters and stories. Among the features published in this series were writer-editor Robert Kanigher and artist Jerry Grandenetti' ...
'', mainly prior to 1957. For ACG, he worked on ''Adventures into the Unknown'', ''Operation Peril'' and ''Soldiers of Fortune'' among other titles. In 1955-56, he moved from comic books to comic strips with uncredited work on
King Features King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial c ...
' ''
Flash Gordon Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established ''Buck Rogers'' adve ...
''.


''Mary Perkins, On Stage''

In 1957, Starr created the comic strip '' On Stage'', later titled ''Mary Perkins, On Stage'' for the Chicago-Tribune-New York News Syndicate. Characterized by a mix of
soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
, adventure and humor, the strip featured tight, realistic graphics and, from the beginning, strong layouts, design and storytelling. He received the
National Cartoonists Society The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...
's Story Comic Strip Award for ''On Stage'' in 1960 and 1963, and their
Reuben Award The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...
in 1965. He continued producing ''Mary Perkins, On Stage'' until 1979. Starr would later cite the work of
Alex Raymond Alexander Gillespie Raymond Jr. (October 2, 1909 – September 6, 1956) was an American cartoonist who was best known for creating the '' Flash Gordon'' comic strip for King Features Syndicate in 1934. The strip was subsequently adapted into m ...
and
Milton Caniff Milton Arthur Paul Caniff (; February 28, 1907 – April 3, 1988) was an People of the United States, American cartoonist famous for the ''Terry and the Pirates (comic strip), Terry and the Pirates'' and ''Steve Canyon'' comic strips. Biography ...
as influences on the strip's artwork.


Other work

Starr returned to comic books very briefly during the 1970s and 1980s, working on "
Morbius, the Living Vampire Morbius the Living Vampire, real name Michael Alexander Morbius, Doctor of Medicine, M.D.,''Morbius the Living Vampire'' (vol. 1) #1. Marvel Comics. Doctor of Philosophy, Ph.D., is a fictional Character (arts), character appearing in American comi ...
" for Marvel in 1975 and providing art for DC's ''
Who's Who in the DC Universe ''Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe'' (1985–87), usually referred to simply as ''Who's Who'', is the umbrella title for a number of comic book series which DC Comics published to catalogue the wide variety of fictional cha ...
'' (1986) and for a
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 ...
and
Lois Lane Lois Lane is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in ''Action Comics'' #1 (June 1938). Lois is an award-winning journalist for ...
story in ''
Action Comics ''Action Comics'' is an American comic book/Comic anthology, magazine series that introduced Superman, one of the first major superhero characters. The publisher was originally known as National Allied Publications, and later as National Comics ...
''. For
Dargaud Société Dargaud, doing business as Les Éditions Dargaud, is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics series, headquartered in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. It was founded in 1936 by Georges Dargaud (), publishing its first comics in 1943. ...
in Paris, he created ''
Kelly Green Shades of chartreuse are listed below. Historically, many of these colors have gone under the name of either yellow or green, as the specifics of their color composition was not known until later. Wrapping the spectrum into a color wheel In a c ...
'' with
Stan Drake Stanley Albert Drake (November 9, 1921 – March 10, 1997) was an American cartoonist best known as the founding artist of the comic strip ''The Heart of Juliet Jones''. Born in Brooklyn, Drake worked in the back of a Dugan's Donut truck for a do ...
in 1980. This series of
graphic novels A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...
about the sexy and capable female
action hero An action hero (sometimes action heroine for women) is the protagonist of an action film or other form of entertainment which portrays action, adventure, and often violence. Other media in which such heroes appear include swashbuckler films, We ...
ine Kelly Green, were illustrated by Drake. In 1985 he wrote and illustrated an action/adventure graphic novel published only in France ''Operation Psy'' featuring Cannonball Carmody. That same year he was enlisted by artist
Frank Bolle Frank W. Bolle (June 23, 1924 – May 12, 2020) was an American comic-strip artist, comic book artist and illustrator, best known as the longtime artist of the newspaper strips ''Winnie Winkle'' and ''The Heart of Juliet Jones''; for stints on th ...
to take over writing the strip ''
Winnie Winkle ''Winnie Winkle'' is an American comic strip published during a 76-year span (1920–1996). Ten film adaptations were also made. Its premise was conceived by Joseph Medill Patterson, but the stories and artwork were by Martin Branner, who wrote t ...
'' (without credit) which he did until its end in 1996. He also ghost wrote ''
Rip Kirby ''Rip Kirby'' is an American comic strip created by Alex Raymond and Ward Greene featuring the adventures of private detective Rip Kirby. The strip ran from 1946 to 1999 and was in the hands of artist John Prentice for more than 40 years. Pub ...
'' as a favor to his friend, artist John Prentice, in the strip's final years. Starr expanded into animation in the 1980s, as he noted, "Started writing television scripts in the early 1970s, and in 1984 I was asked to develop and write the bible for the animated television show '' ThunderCats'', and also act as the story editor and head writer. Moved to
Westport, Connecticut Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, along the Long Island Sound within Connecticut's Gold Coast. It is northeast of New York City. The town had a population of 27,141 according to the 2020 U.S. Census. History ...
in 1970 where I still live today." Starr eventually wrote 23 episodes for ''ThunderCats''. He also worked on the Rankin Bass series ''Ghost Warrior'' (1985). In the 1980s Starr attended as a guest several comic conventions held in New York. Also, he was a guest at the 1982
San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is co ...
, at which he received an
Inkpot Award The Inkpot Award is an honor bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International. It is given to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of popular culture, at CCI's annual c ...
.


''Little Orphan Annie''

In 1979 he revived the comic strip ''
Little Orphan Annie ''Little Orphan Annie'' is a daily American comic strip created by Harold Gray and syndicated by the Tribune Media Services. The strip took its name from the 1885 poem " Little Orphant Annie" by James Whitcomb Riley, and it made its debut on ...
''. The strip had been in reprints since 1974 after a string of unsuccessful artists had succeeded the famous creator
Harold Gray Harold Lincoln Gray (January 20, 1894 – May 9, 1968) was an American cartoonist, best known as the creator of the newspaper comic strip ''Little Orphan Annie''. Early life Harold Gray was born in Kankakee, Illinois on January 20, 1894, to Este ...
, who had died in 1968. Retitled ''Annie'', Starr's incarnation of the strip received the National Cartoonists Society's Story Comic Strip Award in 1983 and 1984. Starr continued it successfully until his retirement in 2000.


Later life

Beginning in 2006, Starr produced new artwork for the covers to the ongoing series of ''On Stage'' reprint volumes published by Classic Comics Press. To publicize the reprints he was a guest at the 2008
New York Comic Con The New York Comic Con is an annual New York City fan convention dedicated to Western comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, cosplay, toys, movies, and television. It was first held in 2006. History The New York Comic Con is a f ...
and 2009
San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is co ...
. He died June 30, 2015. Classic Comics Press has announced plans to publish Cannonball Carmody in English for the first time plus excerpts of sketchbooks from early in Starr's career.Cannonball Carmody
/ref>


Bibliography


ThunderCats

* ''Exodus'' * ''The Unholy Alliance'' * ''Berbils'' * ''The Slaves of Castle Plun-Darr'' * ''The Tower of Traps'' * ''The Ghost Warrior'' * ''The Spaceship Beneath the Sands'' * ''Lion-O's Anointment First Day: The Trial of Strength'' * ''The Crystal Queen'' * ''Lion-O's Anointment Second Day: The Trial of Speed'' * ''Lion-O's Anointment Third Day: The Trial of Cunning'' * ''Lion-O's Anointment Fourth Day: The Trial of Mind Power'' * ''Lion-O's Anointment Final Day: The Trial of Evil'' * ''ThunderCats Ho!'' Parts 1-5 * ''Mumm-Ra Lives!'' Parts 1-5


References


Further reading

*Amash, Jim (2012). ''Alter Ego'' Nos.110-113. In-depth four part interview with Starr on his career. *Cobb, David. "When it got to be moose-hunting time in the bar, Starr turned up On Stage". ''
Toronto Telegram ''The Toronto Evening Telegram'' was a conservative, broadsheet afternoon newspaper published in Toronto from 1876 to 1971. It had a reputation for supporting the Conservative Party at the federal and the provincial levels. The paper competed wit ...
''. Dec. 9, 1967. p. 28 *Crichton, David (2011). ''Hear the Roar!''. Telos Publishing.


External links


Leonard Starr official siteNCS Awards
* *

* ttp://www.lastkisscomics.com/2009/08/02/hanging-out-with-leonard-starr/ Hanging Out with Leonard Starrby
John Lustig John Lustig (born January 25, 1953) is an American comics writer and former journalist, principally known for his Disney comics scripts featuring Donald Duck and other members of Disney's Duck family. Lustig's scripts have been illustrated by Wi ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Starr, Leonard 1925 births 2015 deaths American comic strip cartoonists American comics artists Chicago Tribune people Reuben Award winners The High School of Music & Art alumni Pratt Institute alumni