It would appear that no one here posted about the death of fabulous artist Leonard Starr , who died on June 30 . I only found out this day myself .
Most of all , Starr did the continuity strip MARY PERKINS ON STAGE , but he did many other things in the comics & animation world - including , in his post-Mary Perkins years when he did the 2nd generation post-Broadway (Little Orphan) ANNIE daily strip, DC super-hero credits ! And story editor/scripter on the THUNDERCATS TV series , for all you nonreconstructed Gen-Xers out there .
RIP , Mr. Starr .
Replies
I've seen fairly little of his work, but he was a great comics artist. He did a lot of comic book work before starting On Stage. I would think a lot of his work can be found at Comic Book Plus. The cartoony style he used for Annie is very unlike his other work and (in my opinion) doesn't show just how good he really was. He was in the same league as Stan Drake and John Prentice. (I've seen fairly little of their work too, but I think I can say that.) There's an obituary/recollection by Ron Goulart here. Rest in peace.
Reading the Goulart article, I was very happy to learn they will be putting out a Kelly Green Omnibus Edition this year. Leonard Starr's writing and Stan Drake's art make these gorgeous, intelligent graphic novels.
I have the first three of the Kelly Green graphic novels. I only learned last year there was a fourth one, and only learned today there was a fifth one!
Luke is right; for Annie, Leonard Starr was mimicking Harold Gray, but his work in his own style is gorgeous.