Leonard Starr (October 28, 1925 – June 30, 2015) was an American cartoonist, comic book artist, and advertising artist, best known for creating the newspaper comic strip On Stage and reviving Little Orphan Annie.

Early life

Born in 1925 in New York City, Starr graduated from Manhattan's High School of Music and Art and then studied at Pratt Institute.

Career

While attending Pratt during between 1942 and 1943, Starr worked for the Harry "A" Chesler and the Funnies, Inc. studios, contributing to the early comic-book features produced at these studios.

In the late 1940s, he drew for EC Comics, including War Against Crime, before working both as an advertising artist and producing a large amount of work for both the American Comics Group (ACG) and DC Comics 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, Gang Busters, Pow-Wow Smith, Indian Lawman and Star-Spangled War Stories, mainly prior to 1957. Between 1955 and 1956, he moved from comic books to comic strips with uncredited work on King Features' Flash Gordon.

Other work

Starr returned to comic books briefly during the 1970s and 1980s, working on "Morbius, the Living Vampire" for Marvel in 1975 and providing art for DC's Who's Who in the DC Universe (1986) and for a Superman and Lois Lane story in Action Comics. For Dargaud in Paris, he created Kelly Green with Stan Drake in 1980. This series of graphic novels about the sexy and capable female action heroine 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 to take over writing the strip Winnie Winkle (without credit) which he did until its end in 1996. He also ghost wrote Rip Kirby 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 Rankin Bass animated television show ThunderCats, and also act as the story editor and head writer. Moved to Westport, Connecticut, in 1970 where I still live today." Starr wrote 23 episodes for ThunderCats. He also worked on the Rankin Bass series Ghost Warrior (1985). To publicize the reprints he was a guest at the 2008 New York Comic Con and 2009 San Diego Comic-Con. He died in 2015, aged 89.

Screenwriting

Television

  • Festival of Family Classics (1972)
  • ThunderCats (1985–1987): seasons 1–2 head writer
  • SilverHawks (1986)
  • The Comic Strip (1987)

Film

  • The Red Baron (1972)

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. December 9, 1967. p. 28
  • Crichton, David (2011). Hear the Roar!. Telos Publishing.
  • Leonard Starr official site
  • NCS Awards
  • Leonard Starr cartoons: An inventory of his cartoons at Syracuse University
  • Hanging Out with Leonard Starr by John Lustig