Leo Dorfman

Leo Dorfman (February 17, 1914 – July 9, 1974) (also credited as Geoff Brown and David George) was an American writer of comic books throughout the Silver Age. Although the majority of his work was for DC Comics, he also wrote for Dell Comics and Gold Key Comics.

Early life

Dorfman grew up on New York City's Lower East Side.

Career

Leo Dorfman began working for National Periodical Publications in the 1950s. Comics historian Mark Evanier has estimated that Dorfman may have been "the most prolific scripter" for Superman during the 1960s.

Dorfman's work included the creation of the Superman supporting character Pete Ross in 1961 as well as writing the "Superman Red/Superman Blue" story in ''Superman'' #162 (July 1963), which inspired a year-long plot arc in 1998. As the writer of '' Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane'', he and artist Kurt Schaffenberger crafted Catwoman's first appearance in the Silver Age of Comic Books in issue #70 (Nov. 1966) and updated Lois Lane's fashions to a then-more contemporary look in #80 (Jan. 1968). Dorfman also modernized Jimmy Olsen, making him a more independent figure who solved crimes as "Mr. Action", with less help from Superman. Dorfman wrote ''World's Finest Comics'' #175 (May 1968) which featured Neal Adams' first Batman story. In 1971, Dorfman created the ''Ghosts'' anthology series for DC.McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 147

He produced stories for Gold Key Comics' supernaturally-themed ''The Twilight Zone'', ''Ripley's Believe it or Not!'', '' Boris Karloff Mystery'' and ''Grimm's Ghost Stories''. One of Gold Key's editors at the time told Mark Evanier "Leo writes stories and then he decides whether he's going to sell them to DC or ''Ghosts''or to us. He tells us that if they come out good, they go to us and if they don't, they go to DC. I assume he tells DC the opposite."

Leo Dorfman died unexpectedly on July 9, 1974, at the age of 60 while still writing for ''Ghosts''. Editor and longtime friend Murray Boltinoff replaced Dorfman with Carl Wessler as the series' primary writer.

Bibliography

DC Comics

* ''Action Comics'' #288–289, 292–325, 327–333, 335, 337, 340, 345–346, 348–350, 354–359, 362–366, 369–372, 374–376, 379–382, 389, 393–404, 406, 411, 413, 417–418 (1962–1972)
* ''Adventure Comics'' #313, 387–388, 392, 396 (1963–1970)
* '' DC Special Series'' #7 (1977)
* ''Ghosts'' #1–10, 13, 17–20, 25–30, 32, 34, 36–37, 40 (1971–1975)
* '' Limited Collectors' Edition'' #C–32 (1975)
* ''Secrets of Sinister House'' #18 (1974)
* ''Superboy'' #111, 118–119, 122–124, 132, 134, 137, 139, 146, 148, 173, 175–184, 186–192, 194, 196 (1964–1973)
* ''Superman'' #152, 160–162, 168, 171, 173, 176–182, 185–186, 203, 210, 218–219, 221, 225–226, 228–229 (1962–1970)
* '' The Superman Family'' #164, 167, 170 (Jimmy Olsen) (1974–1975)
* '' Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane'' #31–32, 35–38, 40–43, 50, 53–55, 57, 61–64, 66–67, 69–71, 73–76, 78, 80–82, 84–85, 87, 89, 94, 96, 101 (1962–1970)
* ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' #52, 59–64, 66–69, 74–76, 78–79, 81–84, 86, 91–94, 96–98, 100, 102–103, 106, 108, 115, 119–121, 123–127, 129–130, 132, 154–163 (1961–1974)
* '' The Unexpected'' #149, 157, 170 (1973–1975)
* '' The Witching Hour'' #36, 45 (1973–1974)
* ''World's Finest Comics'' #160, 164, 171, 175, 183 (1966–1969)

Dell Comics

* ''Four Color'' #794, 800, 831, 910, 1173, 1288 (1957–1962)
* ''Lone Ranger'' #78 (1954)
* ''Roy Rogers Comics'' #84 (1954)
* ''The Twilight Zone'' #01860–207, #12–860–210 (1962)

Fawcett Comics

* ''Fawcett Movie Comic'' #20 (1952)
* ''Motion Picture Comics'' #105, 109–110 (1951–1952)

Gold Key Comics

* ''Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery'' #4–5 (1963)
* '' Boris Karloff Thriller'' #1 (1962)
* ''Doc Savage'' #1 (1966)
* '' G-8 and His Battle Aces'' #1 (1966)
* ''Gunsmoke'' #1 (1969)
* ''Judge Colt'' #2–4 (1970)
* ''Lassie'' #65–66 (1966)
* '' M.A.R.S. Patrol Total War'' #1–10 (1965–1969)
* ''Mystery Comics Digest'' #2, 6, 18–19, 23–24 (1972–1975)
* ''Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' #22, 25, 27 (1970–1971)
* ''The Twilight Zone'' #1–2, 5, 12, 14–18, 20 (1962–1967)
* ''UFO Flying Saucers'' #1 (1968)

References

External links

*
* on '' Two for the Money''

Analysis of Dorfman's work on ''Superboy'', as compared to that of other writers
!-- This is not spam. I wrote this Wikipedia article, and I added the link to the Grost analysis, and I'm an admin so I should know damn well what spam is. -->

Leo Dorfman
at Mike's Amazing World of Comics

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorfman, Leo
1914 births
1974 deaths
American comics writers
DC Comics people
People from the Lower East Side
Silver Age comics creators
Writers from Manhattan