Showing posts with label Leonard Starr. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Leonard Starr. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Romance on the Range ADVENTURES IN ROMANCE "Stopgap: the Saga of Coby Nash"

Though not strictly a "Western romance" title......St John's anthology Adventures in Romance was an attempt to mix several genres with romance...including contemporary high adventure, swashbuckling pirates, and, as you'll see, Westerns...to attract both male and female readers!





Despite running romance strips in almost every genre (except horror and sci-fi), the book only lasted two issues.
Illustrator Leonard Starr spent a decade in comics before moving on to newspaper comic strips, first as an assistant on Flash Gordon, then as the creator/writer/artist of the long-running Mary Perkins: On Stage!
He's best known to contemporary audiences as the creator/writer/designer of the animated TV series ThunderCats!
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Monday, March 18, 2013

COWBOY SAHIB "Konchak the Cossack"

Despite not being the title character...
...Cowboy Sahib became the cover-featured character for this struggling ACG title from before his first appearance to the end of the book's run...which, unfortunately was this issue, his second appearance!
This tale from Hooded Horseman #26 (1953) was written by ACG editor Richard Hughes and illustrated by Leonard Starr, best known for his own newspaper comic strip Mary Perkins, On Stage, becoming the writer/artist of Little Orphan Annie after it was revived due to the success of the Broadway musical adaptation, and co-creating the animated series ThunderCats.
With the Hooded Horseman's cancellation, this storyline came to an end...or did it?
Not quite.
In 1954, with horror comics dying out due to the witch-hunt begun by Dr Fredric Wertham, ACG cancelled their line of terror titles.
However, since the second-class mailing licenses for the cancelled books were already paid for, the editors decided to continue the cancelled books' numbering with different subject matter including westerns and romance titles.
(Otherwise they'd have to pay new fees for  second-class mailing licenses for new series!)
In this case, Out of the Night, which ended with #17, was retitled Hooded Horseman as of #18!
The revived book continued the strips from the earlier version of Hooded Horseman, including Sahib Cowboy (who no longer had the cover slot).
As of #22, the Hooded Horseman rode off into the sunset for the last time.
Sahib Cowboy became the first strip to (technically) be cancelled before it began, since he ran from #25 to #26, then #18 to #22 in the same titled book!
There's more Sahib Cowboy to come!
Watch for him!

Monday, September 3, 2012

COWBOY SAHIB "Origin"

Now here's something you don't see everyday...
...I mean besides a a six-gun-shooting cowboy astride a tiger!
It's a cover featuring a character who isn't even in the comic book!
When he premiered in the next issue, it was under a different cover...
Here's his debut appearance (and origin) from ACG's Hooded Horseman #26 (1952) in a decidedly-different take on cowboys and Indians. (ahem)
It seems the skill-set for being a cowboy is transferable to almost any environment!
Written by Richard Hughes and illustrated by Leonard Starr, best known for his own newspaper comic strip Mary Perkins, On Stage, becoming the writer/artist of Little Orphan Annie after it was revived due to the success of the Broadway musical adaptation, and co-creating the animated series ThunderCats.
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