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Leonard Starr
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 ''Mary Perkins, On Stage, On Stage'' and reviving ''Little Orphan Annie''. Early life Born in 1925 in New York City Starr graduated from Manhattan's The High School of Music and Art, 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. For Funnies, he began as a background artist, eventually inking Bob Oksner's pencils. He graduated to drawing for early Timely Comics, Timely/Marvel Comics titles, including the Human Torch and the Namor, Sub-Mariner. Throughout the 1940s, Starr worked for a plethora of publishers of both comic books and pulp magazines, pulps, including Thrilling Publications, Be ...
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Mary Perkins, On Stage
''Mary Perkins, On Stage'' (originally titled simply ''On Stage'') is an American newspaper comic strip by Leonard Starr for the Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate. It ran from February 10, 1957, to September 9, 1979, with the switch to the longer title in 1961. Some papers carried the strip under the shortened title ''Mary Perkins''. The strip came to a conclusion when Starr left in 1979 to take over ''Little Orphan Annie''. Origins Having previously worked on comic books, Starr decided to try to publish a newspaper comic strip. Starr submitted his concepts to Moe Riley, a vice president at the Chicago Tribune Syndicate. Riley chose two of Starr's ideas: one about a missionary who worked in foreign countries and the other about a young woman who comes to New York to become an actress. The syndicate chose the second idea, and Starr was hired to produce ''On Stage''. Characters and story Starr's scripts mixed soap opera, adventure and broad humor, while the art was character ...
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Thrilling Publications
Thrilling Publications, also known as Beacon Magazines (1936–37), Better Publications (1937–43) and Standard Magazines (1943–55), was a pulp magazine publisher run by Ned Pines, publishing such titles as ''Startling Stories'' and ''Thrilling Wonder Stories''. Pines became the president of Pines Publications in 1928. Pines folded most of his magazines in 1955 but continued to lead the company until 1961. Cover artists Pines' cover artists included Earle K. Bergey, John Parker, George Rozen, and Rudolph Belarski. Paperbacks In 1942 Pines started Popular Library, a paperback publishing house, and devoted himself to that company after closing his other ventures. Popular reprinted materials from the pulps. Characters * The Black Bat * Captain Danger * Captain Future (a separate comic book character, unrelated to the pulp character, also existed) * Crimson Mask * Green Ghost (also appeared in comics) * Masked Detective * Masked Rider (purchased from Martin G ...
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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 character was the 1960s satirical humor hero Herbie Popnecker, who starred for a time in ''Forbidden Worlds''. Herbie would later get his own title and be turned into a superhero called the Fat Fury. Founded by Benjamin W. Sangor, ACG was co-owned by Fred Iger from 1948 to 1967."Iger, Fred"
at Bails, Ware
Iger's father-in-law, Harry Donenfeld, head of National Periodical Publications (later known as DC Comics), was also a co-owner in the early 1960s (though Donenfeld was severely incapacitated and out of the business after an accident in 1962).
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List Of Entertaining Comics Publications
Entertaining Comics, commonly known as EC Comics, was a major publisher of comic books in the 1940s and 1950s. The letters EC originally stood for Educational Comics. EC's ''Pre-Trend'' titles are those published by Max Gaines and his son William M. Gaines, who took over the family business after his father's death in 1947. In 1950, with the addition of writer and artist Al Feldstein, EC found success with their ''New Trend'' line, including their horror titles ''Tales From the Crypt'', ''The Haunt of Fear'' and '' The Vault of Horror''. A line of science fiction titles soon followed, ''Weird Science'' and ''Weird Fantasy'', illustrated by the best artists in the business, such as Wallace Wood, Reed Crandall, Johnny Craig, George Evans, Graham Ingels, Jack Davis, Bill Elder, Joe Orlando, Al Williamson and Frank Frazetta. In addition to original stories, the books also featured adaptations of Ray Bradbury's short stories. The ''New Direction'' group was a response to the Comics ...
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EC Comics
E.C. Publications, Inc., (doing business as EC Comics) is an American comic book publisher. It specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the '' Tales from the Crypt'' series. Initially, EC was founded as Educational Comics by Maxwell Gaines and specialized in educational and child-oriented stories. After Max Gaines died in a boating accident in 1947, his son William Gaines took over the company and renamed it Entertaining Comics. He printed more mature stories, delving into horror, war, fantasy, science-fiction, adventure, and other genres. Noted for their high quality and shock endings, these stories were also unique in their socially conscious, progressive themes (including racial equality, anti-war advocacy, nuclear disarmament, and environmentalism) that anticipated the Civil Rights Movement and the dawn of the 1960s counterculture. In 1954–55, censorship pre ...
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1988 In Comics
Notable events of 1988 in comics. Events and publications January * January 16: The first episode of David Sutherland's gag comic '' Totally Gross Germs'' is published in ''The Beano''. February * February 1: ** The first episode of Bud Grace's '' Piranha Club'' appears in print. The series will run until 2018. ** The first episode of Rick Detorie's newspaper comic '' One Big Happy'' is published. * February 12: Belgian comic artist François Craenhals is knighted in the Order of the Belgian Crown. * February 19: ** The Dutch comics magazine '' Eppo Wordt Vervolgd'' changed its name to ''Sjors en Sjimmie Weekblad'', based on the popularity of their signature series '' Sjors en Sjimmie''. It continued until 1994, after which it was renamed as ''Sjosji''. ** In the first issue, Hanco Kolk and Peter de Wit's photo comic ''Mannetje en Mannetje'' makes its debut. March * March 14: **''Time'' features cover and interior art for Superman's 50th anniversary by John Byrne and J ...
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Eclipse Comics
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 store, comic book specialty store market. It was one of the first to offer royalties and Creator ownership in comics, creator ownership of rights. Creators whose early work appears in Eclipse publications included Scott McCloud, Timothy Truman, Dan Brereton, James Hudnall and Chris Ware, while the publisher also produced creator-owned work by Don McGregor, Mark Evanier, Gene Colan, Alan Moore, Steve Englehart, Steve Gerber and P. Craig Russell. History Foundation The company was founded as Eclipse Enterprises by brothers Jan and Dean Mullaney – the sons of early electronica musician Dave Mullaney of the band Hot Butter – in April 1977. Dean Mullaney later claimed that he was inspired to create the company after learning of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's struggles to ...
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Richard Howell (comics)
Richard Howell (born November 16, 1955) is an American comics artist best known as the co-founder and editor of Claypool Comics. Career Richard Howell entered the comics industry in 1977 with his self-published series '' Portia Prinz of the Glamazons''. Beginning in 1980, he and his partner Carol Kalish co-edited the New Media/Irjax line of magazines. They also ran the New Media/Irjax-owned Boston-area distributor Solar Spice and Liquors, named after a fictional corporation created by science fiction writer Poul Anderson. Howell replaced Peter B. Gillis as editorial director of New Media/Irjax in June 1981. Howell began working for Marvel Comics in 1982 and DC Comics in 1983. Writer Tony Isabella and Howell produced ''The Shadow War of Hawkman'' limited series in 1985 and an ongoing ''Hawkman'' series the following year. Howell and writer Steve Englehart crafted a twelve-issue ''The Vision and the Scarlet Witch'' limited series in 1985-1986, wherein the Scarlet Witch bec ...
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Young Romance
''Young Romance'' is a romantic comic book series created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby for the Crestwood Publications imprint (trade name), imprint Prize Comics in 1947 in comics, 1947. Generally considered the first Romance comics in the United States (1946–1975), romance comic,Ro, Ronin. ''Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and the American Comic Book Revolution'' (Bloomsbury, 2004)''Young Romance''
at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Accessed May 27, 2008
the series ran for 124 consecutive issues under Prize imprint, and a further 84 (issues #125-208) published by DC Comics after Crestwood stopped producing comics.


Background

In his introduction to Eclipse Comics' 1988 in comics, 1988 collection of some of the earliest Joe Simon, Simon & Jack Kirby, Kirby Romance comics in the United States (1946–1975), ro ...
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Crestwood Publications
Crestwood Publications, also known as Feature Publications, was a magazine publisher that also published comic books from the 1940s through the 1960s. Its title ''Prize Comics'' contained what is considered the first ongoing horror comic-book feature, Dick Briefer's "Frankenstein". Crestwood is best known for its Prize Group imprint, published in the late 1940s to mid-1950s through packagers Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, who created such historically prominent titles as the horror comic ''Black Magic'', the creator-owned superhero satire '' Fighting American'', and the first romance comic title, '' Young Romance''. For much of its history, Crestwood's publishers were Teddy Epstein and Mike Bleier. In the 1940s the company's general manager was Maurice Rosenfeld, and in the 1950s the general manager was M.R. Reese. In the mid-1950s, the company office manager was Nevin Fidler (who later became Simon & Kirby's business manager). In addition to Simon and Kirby, notable Crestwood/Pri ...
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Romance Comics In The United States (1946–1975)
Romance comics are a genre of comic books that were most popular during the Golden Age of Comics. The market for comics, which had been growing rapidly throughout the 1940s, began to plummet after the end of World War II when military contracts to provide disposable reading matter to servicemen ended. This left many comic creators seeking new markets. In 1947, part of an effort to tap into new adult audiences, the romance comic genre was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby with the Crestwood Publications title '' Young Romance''. History As World War II ended the popularity of superhero comics diminished, and in an effort to retain readers comic publishers began diversifying more than ever into such genres as war, Western, science fiction, crime, horror and romance comics. The genre took its immediate inspiration from the romance pulps; confession magazines such as '' True Story''; radio soap operas, and newspaper comic strips that focused on love, domestic strife, and heartache ...
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Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby (; born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comics artist, comic book artist, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew up in New York City and learned to draw cartoon figures by tracing characters from comic strips and editorial cartoons. He entered the nascent comics industry in the 1930s, drawing various comics features under different pen names, including Jack Curtiss, before settling on Jack Kirby. In 1940, he and writer-editor Joe Simon created the highly successful superhero character Captain America for Timely Comics, predecessor of Marvel Comics. During the 1940s, Kirby regularly teamed with Simon, creating numerous characters for that company and for National Comics Publications, later to become DC Comics. After serving in the European Theater of Operations, United States Army, European Theater in World War II, Kirby produced work for DC Comics, ...
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