Leonard Starr

Comics was a big word when I was a kid. You had comics about everything: funny animals , westerns, mystery and horror stories, detectives…you name it. Even super heroes. Now of course, if you're not working in the latter, no one pays much attention to you, and your chances for financial success as an artist are nil. Consequently, conversations on who rates as the best in the business over the years is usually limited to the folks who worked in this particular genre. Occasionally an Eisner or Barks reference slips in there but I'm not sure they are ever seriously considered. Nor is Leonard Starr. At least not by the uneducated. While there are a few who might give Leonard competition as an artist and draftsman, and a few who might compete as writers, it's hard to find anyone in the field who has ever put art and story together as successfully Leonard Starr. Maybe Hal Foster, Caniff, the aforementioned Eisner and Barks and a select handful of others…and I'm not sure any of them are superhero artists.

When Leonard  was on the west coast as a special guest at the San Diego convention a couple years back, we took the opportunity to finally meet. The two cartoonists who had the biggest influence on my work as a youngster were Joe Kubert and Leonard Starr. Joe I met early on in my career in the DC offices, but Leonard, since he did comic strips, I'd simply never had the chance of meeting when I visited New York. Leonard was visiting his friend Tom Sawyer who had been his assistant at one time;Tom had moved to the west coast, where he achieved his own fame at a TV writer and producer, most notably of Murder She Wrote. I drove out to Tom's place in Malibu for lunch with both of them. I was a little trepidatious meeting someone who was in his 80's, but when Leonard walked into the room, the first thing I blurted out was, "Good God, do you have a picture in your attic?" (A Dorian Gray reference) Not only did the man look 25 years younger than he should've, but his manner and conversation throughout the lunch always belied his age.

Normally during these lunches with comic folks, I would hear some tidbit about Stan Lee or some other comic book luminary that I would be less than interested in. Leonard and Tom wound up talking about their studio days in New York with connections to Carl Sandberg, Andy Warhol , Marilyn Monroe and opera. The lunch only needed Don Draper to make it complete. Beginning with the scenic drive out through Malibu Canyon, it was a magical afternoon.

Fortunately, Leonard's magnificent run on stage is currently begin reprinted by Classic Comics Press. SO if you've never had the thrill of reading Mary Perkins On Stage, do yourself a favor and pick up one of these books.  As a kid I rarely got to read more than the Sunday pages of the strip, but having the chance to read the entire stories, I've really come to appreciate just what a magnificent storyteller and writer this man is. In my conversing with Leonard you realize that this is a man who is not only extremely well read and knowledgable about art and the cinema, but is also a student of the greatest dramatic form, the opera. What follows is a short piece I did  a few years back for the CAPS newsletter.

LEONARD STARR

In the 20’s and 30’s the great actresses were Garbo and Deitriech. In the 40’s there was Claudette Colbert and Paulette Goddard. In the 50’s and 60’s there was Liz Taylor and Mary Perkins. One might argue that Mary Perkins wasn’t a REAL person- au contraire, mon frere. With the magic of his writing and wizardry of his brush, all of Leonard Starr's characters were as real as anything the celluloid had to offer.

Starr began his career doing backgrounds for artists such as Carl Pheiffer, Ed Ash Jr. and Bob Oksner for Funnies Inc. and Fawcett Pub. among others. He was still attending the Pratt HighInstitute in NYC at the time, but these were the war years and jobs were plentiful and talent scarce.The money was great for a high schooler and the work undemanding. As Leonard explained, you weren’t expected to do too artistic of a job--often that was detrimental to what the publisher wanted.

Starr assumed he could simply turn it on and leap forward as an artist when the time was right. It was only when he moved on to eventually doing his own work that he found that an incredible effort was required for even a minor improvement in the quality. But it is apparent he never shrank from  the task.

Leonard's first jobs were for superheroes (Timely’s Flaming Torch was one) where “posing” was essential. The superb acting skills he brought to his characters were more evident in the western stories that he did at D.C. during the early fifties.The also reflected Starr’s ability as a draftsman and his flair for drawing realistic figures, both of which were important in the advertising work he was doing.

Having just gone through a divorce Starr decided it was time for a career move and a different life. He approached the syndicates where a number of ideas including one about a medical missionary (as first generation immigrants the Starr’s had planned on their son being a doctor) and one about an young actress. The syndicates mulled over the properties-- then fate intervened: Alex Raymond unfortunately was killed. Reading this news item and afraid that there talent might be lured away as a replacement on RIP KIRBY an astute executive literally deboarded a train on his way home and called Starr to tell him a contract was ready. MARY PERKINS, ON STAGE was born. ( As a footnote, Leonard recommended his good friend John Prentice for the Rip Kirby job...the rest is history.)

Starr lists Raymond, Caniff and Noel Sickles as the major influences on his work, and they are all evident in ON STAGE. The grace and movement of the characters, the stylish costumes and backdrops, the heavy use of black and silhouettes were always strong elements. But like Caniff, Starr understood that unless the story grabbed the reader it didn’t matter how pretty the drawings were; and Leonard’s writing was every bit as good as the artwork.

A soap opera about an actress would seem to have little appeal to a young boy of ten. But every Sunday ON STAGE was the first strip I turned to, even bypassing Prince Valiant and Dick Tracy. It was characters like Maximus, the handsome actor with putty for a face, the tough hood Johnny Q, the evil but beautiful Morgana and so many others that drew me in.

Unfortunately, times change, and newspaper story strips have declined dramatically in readership. Consequently, in 1979 the syndicate proposed to Starr the option of dropping his strip and taking over the duties on ANNIE- whose popularity boosted by the musical and movie adaptation was soaring . Leonard  brought his own elements of style to the Harold Gray strip.

In the 80’s Leonard wrote a number of KELLY GREEN stories drawn by studiomate Stan Drake. Kelly is a detective and the stories were written with adult sensibilities; they are a terrific read and well worth tracking down.

More than anything, Starr’s work has always combined the best aspects of the comic strip and film. Given a camera instead of a brush, Leonard would have undoubtably become a great cinematographer. He would have been a successful screenwriter or director. But it was his ability to mesh all of these talents that makes him a living legend as a cartoonist. I hope that Mr. and Mrs. Starr understood that the medical profession’s loss has been the graphic story’s gain.

For those of you who would like to see more of Leonard's incredible work, I recommend picking up a couple of volumes of On Stage from Classic Comics Press:
http://www.classiccomicspress.com/
And Alter Ego issues 111-113 have run a very in depth interview with the artist/writer. Avalaible
at Two Tomorrows:
http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1032&zenid=q3kamks9rgpt1db74hvfjoin46

Lori Returns in Living Color! Part III

OH MY GOD! I'm turning into Chaykin. I completely forgot to mention my co-creator Pete Ventrella in this space. That's unforgivable!  Pete's writing really brought a life and a resonance to all those characters- he's not a man easily forgotten, but one who should be truly appreciated.

So here's the final installment of Lori In Living Color!  The  lagniappe this week will be the Voodoo Mansion short, "A Rose By Any Other Name."  And yes, the zombie Horatio was modeled after yours truly, however he's looking much younger these days that I am…. but then he lives with a microbiologist who is constantly recharging his vital fluids. Or maybe I draw him better than whoever is drawing me.

On the slate for the next blog is  about a piece on the most underrated cartoonist in the business: Leonard Starr. When you don't draw superheroes people tend to gloss over your work.And shortly after that I've a Bob McGinnis tribute planned with 40 never before seen pencil roughs of some of his paperback covers.

Best,

Mike

 

Lori Returns in Living Color! Part II

YIKES!!! I JUST NOTICED HOW BOADLY THE TYPE REPRODUCED ON THIS ISSUE. I'LL BE REPOSTING BOTH THESE PAGES AND THE LAST INSTALLMENT FOR PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY WANT TO READ THE BOOK.  BEST, MIKE

This week I had the interesting experience of receiving a copy of the Classics Illustrated Kidnapped graphic novel that I did over twenty years ago but had never seen print until now. While I was ecstatic that I was finally seeing a printed version of the book  (I think I spent close to ten months working on it with Don Cameron, who was my assistant at the time) my initial reaction was disappointment.  I just hope that I have learned a bit about drawing since doing that project.

I often have that reaction when I'm looking at older reprints of my work. Most of the time it is a frustration in realizing that I could have done better. For whatever reason that never happens to me with the Lori Lovecraft material. While there are certainly shortcomings in the material, I always feel that I did the best I could possibly do at the time. I loved that stuff, and I didn't want to take any shortcuts. Which explains why it took 10 years to produce 6-7 stories.

And here's more of the color version of Into the Past. Enjoy.

Lori Returns in Living Color!

For all of you who've been waiting with bated breath, here is the second half of Into the Past, with Lori Lovecraft in living color!
I'd like to say more about this, but working for a living has been taking up all of my time lately.

JOE KUBERT

My earliest emotional memory of a comic book was as the age of five slamming shut in terror a story about a caveman fighting a giant octopus; I had no idea at the time that the cartoonist would have such an impact on my life and career. The story was by Joe Kubert in one of the issues of Tor. At 10 or 11 I remember discovering another series that seemed head and shoulders about whatever else I saw in comics in those days. That's was Joe's Viking Prince.

I was just beginning to doodle in those days and becoming aware that different artists drew different features, and this particular artist had me hooked. A year later the superhero craze hit and as a skinny adolescent boy they immediately hooked into my fantasies- then I saw the cover of Brave and Bold #36 with Hawkman.

It changed my life. Looking at that cover and reading the issue I knew I wanted to draw comics- and draw like this. I had officially become aware of Joe Kubert.

While I think that Alex Toth was one of the truly great artists in the field of comics, I never liked his work as a kid. It wasn't until I was in my 20's and working professionally that I was able to appreciate what he was doing. And too often  I reread books or reviewed movies that had thrilled me at an early age only to react with chagrin as an adult. Hitchcock I loved as a kid, and I love his movies now. I can still reread Sax Rohmer and the thrills are intact. N.C. Wyeth got me then, still gets me now as does my favorite singer Joni Mitchell.  In comics it’s Joe Kubert.

Kubert is the essence of style AND substance. He’s the Cary Grant of his field,
smoothly and seemingly effortlessly gracing his way through stories.  At the age of 30 I recall a fan telling me: “Oh, I know you! You’re  You’re one of those OLD guys.” In a young man’s field Joe just got better with age. He tells me he sold his first professional work at the age of ll 1/2 and even his last work done in his 80's there was still a life in the line and a dynamism in his layouts that made him a CONTEMPORARY of his sons Adam and Andy (two excellent artists in their own right.)

To try and cover Joe’s professional career would take a volume or two so I’ll try and keep it brief. As a teenager in the forties, he learned the craft  inking numerous fine cartoonists such as Mort Meskin and Will Eisner. But he soon proved he could handle features on his own when he took over the Hawkman strip in Flash Comics and he became a mainstay at DC Comics.

The decade of the fifties brought major changes, the first being Joe’s marriage to Muriel in l95l, the same year he was drafted in the army. A year later after his tour of duty, Kubert returned to comics in a different capacity. With his friend Norman Maurer (who as married to Moe Howard's daughter) he became editor and publisher at St. John’s publications where they pioneered the first 3-D comics. Oddly enough, while the books they were producing at St. John were first rate (Tor, Three Stooges, Mighty Mouse) Joe felt that is was not the gimmickry of 3-D that led to its quick rise and fall but poor material.

Being involved in the business end of comics provided Joe with added experience when choosing work as he continued on with his career. At St. John, specifically on the Tor feature, Joe’s drawing sensibilities had moved forward dramatically. He had continued to refine his storytelling techniques and became more involved in the writing.When he returned to DC comics you can follow a major change in his approach to rendering the artwork of the course of the Viking Prince feature.  The first issues are very linear with a slick thick and thin brushline. By the end of the run two years later he had adapted a much more complicated crosshatching technique. It didn’t look BUSIER, just more subtle. Joe claimed that with the exception of consciously trying to adapt a more commercial style ala Caniff in his early days, that all the changes in his work over the years simply reflected his increased artistic abilities.

Hawkman, Sgt. Rock, Enemy Ace, Tarzan, Ragman....the list just went on with one solid feature after another. He became an editor at DC comics. Joe also drew the controversial  “Tales of the Green Beret” newspaper strip.If Kubert had only his comics credentials his list of achievements would be major- but he didn't stop there.

In l976, with his five children grown and out of the house, Joe and Muriel combined their skills (she was a business college graduate) and opened the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art. He felt that there was simply no school that taught the skills needed to enter our career (and he was probably tired of answering numerous questions/letters from fanboys like me). More than that, the school  provided Joe with a chance to  give something back to the profession as well as train a new generation (including his aforementioned sons) that could take graphic storytelling another step forward.  forward.  

Graphic storytelling: that is the essence of Joe Kubert’s abilities.I once asked Alex Toth why he thought Joe with his abilities never moved out of the field of comics. His reply was simply:"He's just a dyed-in-the-wool cartoonist-he just loves what he does." It's that love that is so evident in the work.

In the late 50’s as comics began a rebirth of popularity all the styles were very linear, especially among the popular fan cartoonists. You had outlines- you filled them in with color. Heavy use of black was avoided. Both Joe and Alex never accepted this. Both used black like a color, designing panels with high contrast lighting and strong graphic shapes. Where most work was flat, Joe’s had a tonal, three dimensional quality, and an overall darkness in the stories than suggested something both mysterious and wonderful.

Cinematography: I think that Joe really became his own man with Tor, experimenting with large double-page splashes, wonderful impressionistic backgrounds, clear clean action scenes and lots of use of the dramatic closeup. His work began to reflex the cinemascope aspect of movies as well as their dramatic content. Since that time, his stories became less concerns with drawing and more about wielding a camera. Like Leonard Starr, I would have loved to have seen Joe direct his own feature.

Movies (animated and life action) move in real time; comics have there own Einsteinian rules of time and space. Not only are you designing a picture that has to fit in chronology and style with each of it’s companions, but they all must be integrated on the page to form a single comprehensive design. No one in the business understood that better than Joe. Each frame is part of a whole and yet unique on its own.

Joe was my inspiration to become a cartoonist. The work still gives me thrills chills and a wonderful consternation of “How in the hell did he DO that.” The love of the craft constantly shines through. But his artistic achievements are understated when you compare them to the man himself. Knowing him and working around him brought so many of us to another level of excellence. Joe was just a really  great guy. While I'll always miss the man, he had an incredible life filled with success in his career, surrounded by so many that he mentored. And at the center of this was always his family.  The world is a better place for having had people like Joe and Muriel around.