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 .
25-734: 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/Prize contributors included Leonard Starr , Mort Meskin , John Prentice , Joe Maneely , John Severin , Will Elder , Carmine Infantino , Bruno Premiani , Dick Ayers , George Klein , Jack Abel , Ed Winiarski , and Dick Briefer . In 1940, Crestwood's Prize Publications , already established as
50-465: A Crestwood/Prize salesman urged Kirby and Simon to launch their own comics company, Mainline Publications , while the duo continued to produce work for Crestwood under contract. When the duo rearranged and republished artwork from an old Crestwood story in the Mainline title In Love , Crestwood refused to pay Simon and Kirby. After reviewing Crestwood's finances, Simon & Kirby's attorney stated that
75-488: 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 in 1970 where I still live today." Starr eventually wrote 23 episodes for ThunderCats . He also worked on
100-739: A producer of pulp magazines , jumped onto the superhero bandwagon with the new title Prize Comics . The first issue (March 1940) featured the non-superpowered, costumed crime fighter K the Unknown, whose name was changed to the Black Owl in issue #2 (April 1940). In Prize Comics #7 (December 1940), writer-artist Dick Briefer introduced the eight-page feature "New Adventures of Frankenstein ", an updated version of 19th-century novelist Mary Shelley 's much-adapted Frankenstein monster . Considered by comics historians including Don Markstein "America's first ongoing comic book series to fall squarely within
125-484: A variety of formats, including booklets , comic strips , comic books , editorial cartoons , graphic novels , manuals , gag cartoons , storyboards , posters , shirts , books , advertisements , greeting cards , magazines , newspapers , webcomics , and video game packaging . A cartoonist's discipline encompasses both authorial and drafting disciplines (see interdisciplinary arts ). The terms "comics illustrator", "comics artist", or "comic book artist" refer to
150-408: A year and a half, Simon & Kirby were launching companion titles for Crestwood to capitalize on the success of this new genre. The first issue of Young Love (Feb. 1949) also sold well with "indistinguishable" content from its parent-title. Further spin-off titles Young Brides (married couples' stories) and In Love ("book-length" stories) also followed from Crestwood/Prize, and were produced by
175-723: 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 's pencils. He graduated to drawing for early Timely / Marvel Comics titles, including the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner . Throughout the 1940s, Starr worked for a plethora of publishers of both comic books and pulps , including Better Publications , Consolidated Book, Croyden Publications, E. R. Ross Publishing, Fawcett Comics (doing Don Winslow of
200-599: 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 , at which he received an Inkpot Award . In 1979 he revived the comic strip Little Orphan Annie . The strip had been in reprints since 1974 after a string of unsuccessful artists had succeeded the famous creator Harold Gray , who had died in 1968. Retitled Annie , Starr's incarnation of
225-654: The Republican elephant . Comic strips received widespread distribution to mainstream newspapers by syndicates . Calum MacKenzie, in his preface to the exhibition catalog, The Scottish Cartoonists (Glasgow Print Studio Gallery, 1979) defined the selection criteria: Many strips were the work of two people although only one signature was displayed. Shortly after Frank Willard began Moon Mullins in 1923, he hired Ferd Johnson as his assistant. For decades, Johnson received no credit. Willard and Johnson traveled about Florida , Maine, Los Angeles , and Mexico, drawing
250-531: The horror genre", the feature, set in New York City c. 1930 , starred a guttural, rampaging creature actually dubbed "Frankenstein" (unlike Shelley's nameless original monster). Launched with a cover date of September 1947, the Prize Group title Young Romance signaled its distinction from traditional superhero and genre comics with a cover banner stating the series was "designed for
275-500: The 18th century, poked fun at contemporary politics and customs; illustrations in such style are often referred to as "Hogarthian". Following the work of Hogarth, editorial/political cartoons began to develop in England in the latter part of the 18th century under the direction of its great exponents, James Gillray and Thomas Rowlandson , both from London. Gillray explored the use of the medium for lampooning and caricature , calling
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#1732780256329300-623: The Navy , 1944–46), Hillman Periodicals and M. C. Combs. He worked with Joe Simon and Jack Kirby on their earlier romance comics titles, in particular the Crestwood/Prize title Young Romance . 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 and DC Comics titles during
325-551: The Simon & Kirby stable of artists and writers. The long-running horror/suspense title Black Magic debuted in 1950. According to Jack Kirby, the idea for Spider-Man originated with him and Simon, who developed a character called The Silver Spider for Black Magic , who was subsequently not used. Ironically, eventual Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko drew a six-page story in Black Magic vol. 4, #3 (Dec. 1953). In 1954,
350-693: 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 , adventure and humor, the strip featured tight, realistic graphics and, from the beginning, strong layouts, design and storytelling. He received the National Cartoonists Society 's Story Comic Strip Award for On Stage in 1960 and 1963, and their Reuben Award in 1965. He continued producing Mary Perkins, On Stage until 1979. Starr would later cite
375-452: The company owed them $ 130,000 over the past seven years. Crestwood paid them $ 10,000 in addition to their recent delayed payments. Crestwood gave up publishing comics in 1963, selling off its remaining romance comics to publisher DC Comics . It continued to publish humor magazines, such as Sick , up until 1968 (when Sick was acquired by Hewfred Publications). Leonard Starr Leonard Starr (October 28, 1925 – June 30, 2015)
400-505: 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. 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 ' Flash Gordon . In 1957, Starr created
425-499: The first time plus excerpts of sketchbooks from early in Starr's career. 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 comics illustrators / artists in that they produce both the literary and graphic components of the work as part of their practice. Cartoonists may work in
450-775: The king ( George III ), prime ministers and generals to account, and has been referred to as the father of the political cartoon. While never a professional cartoonist, Benjamin Franklin is credited with the first cartoon published in The Pennsylvania Gazette on May 9, 1754: Join, or Die , depicting the American colonies as segments of a snake. In the 19th century, professional cartoonists such as Thomas Nast , whose work appeared in Harper's Weekly , introduced other familiar American political symbols, such as
475-479: The more adult readers of comics". Told from a first person perspective, underlining its claim to be recounting "true" stories, the title was an instant success, "becoming Jack and Joe's biggest hit in years" and selling "millions of copies" and a staggering 92% of its print run. Crestwood increased the print run by the third issue to triple the initial numbers, as well as upgraded the title from bimonthly to monthly through issues #13–72 (Sept. 1949 – Aug. 1954). Within
500-475: The picture-making portion of the discipline of cartooning (see illustrator ). While every "cartoonist" might be considered a "comics illustrator", "comics artist", or a "comic book artist", not every "comics illustrator", "comics artist", or a "comic book artist" is a "cartoonist". Ambiguity might arise when illustrators and writers share each other's duties in authoring a work. The English satirist and editorial cartoonist William Hogarth , who emerged in
525-489: 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
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#1732780256329550-666: 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. 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 and 2009 San Diego Comic-Con . He died June 30, 2015. Classic Comics Press has announced plans to publish Cannonball Carmody in English for
575-478: The strip while living in hotels, apartments and farmhouses. At its peak of popularity during the 1940s and 1950s, the strip ran in 350 newspapers. According to Johnson, he had been doing the strip solo for at least a decade before Willard's death in 1958: "They put my name on it then. I had been doing it about 10 years before that because Willard had heart attacks and strokes and all that stuff. The minute my name went on that thing and his name went off, 25 papers dropped
600-708: The work of Alex Raymond and Milton Caniff as influences on the strip's artwork. Starr returned to comic books very 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
625-525: 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 . 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 . While attending Pratt during 1942–43, Starr worked for the Harry "A" Chesler and
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