Larry Lieber facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Larry Lieber |
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Lieber in January 2012
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| Born | October 26, 1931 New York City, U.S. |
| Area(s) | Writer, Penciller, Editor |
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Notable works
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Rawhide Kid Iron Man Thor Ant-Man |
| Awards | Bill Finger Award |
Larry Lieber (born October 26, 1931) is an American writer and artist for comic books. He is famous for helping create some of Marvel Comics' most popular superheroes. These include Iron Man, Thor, and Ant-Man.
Lieber also spent many years writing and drawing the Marvel Western series Rawhide Kid. Later, he illustrated The Amazing Spider-Man newspaper comic strip from 1986 to 2018. He is the younger brother of Stan Lee, who was a very important writer, editor, and publisher at Marvel Comics.
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Larry Lieber's Early Life
Larry Lieber was born in Manhattan, New York City, on October 26, 1931. His parents, Celia and Jack Lieber, were immigrants from Romania. His older brother was Stanley Martin Lieber, who became known as Stan Lee.
When Larry was six months old, his family moved to The Bronx. They lived in a small apartment. Larry and his brother Stan shared a bedroom. When Larry was about ten, his brother joined the U.S. Army. Larry and his parents then moved back to Manhattan, to the Washington Heights area.
Larry was interested in art and drawing from a young age. He went to George Washington High School in Washington Heights. After his mother passed away when he was 16, Larry lived with his brother Stan and his wife, Joan, for a short time.
When he was 17, Larry worked as a messenger for The New York Times. He also found work at a studio that made movie posters.
Lieber's Career in Comics
Starting in Comics
In 1941, Larry's brother, Stan Lee, became the editor of Timely Comics. This company later became Marvel Comics. Larry started working for the company as an art assistant. He would do "paste-ups" for magazines. At the same time, he studied art at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.
Larry soon began drawing comic books. His first known work was a four-page story called "Cop on the Beat" in 1951. Later that year, he joined the U.S. Air Force. He served for four years during the Korean War, spending two years in Okinawa.
Working for Atlas Comics
After his military service, Lieber studied at the Art Students League in Manhattan. He still wanted to be an artist, especially for comics. He started drawing again for his brother, Stan Lee, at Atlas Comics. This was the company that came before Marvel Comics in the 1950s.
His first confirmed drawing work after the service was in Journey into Unknown Worlds in 1956. He also drew for many romance comics like Love Romances. Larry remembered that Stan told him he wrote romance stories very well.
In 1958, Atlas Comics had a difficult time. Most of the staff were let go, except for Stan Lee. Stan asked Larry to help him write stories, as Stan was doing all the writing himself. Larry began writing stories for famous artist Jack Kirby to draw. Kirby had recently returned to the company.
Lieber wrote stories for Kirby's science fiction and giant-monster comics. These included Journey into Mystery, Strange Tales, Tales of Suspense, and Tales to Astonish. His first confirmed script was for "I Led the Strange Search for Manoo" in Amazing Adventures in 1961.
Creating Marvel Superheroes
Larry Lieber helped create some of Marvel's most famous superheroes. He wrote the first stories for:
- Thor (with artist Jack Kirby) in Journey into Mystery
- Iron Man (with Kirby and Don Heck) in Tales of Suspense
- Ant-Man (with Kirby) in Tales to Astonish
Lieber also created the secret identities for these heroes: Don Blake (Thor), Tony Stark (Iron Man), and Henry Pym (Ant-Man).
His first superhero story was Thor's debut in Journey into Mystery #83 (August 1962). In this story, he introduced "uru," the special metal Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, is made from. Lieber said he liked the name "uru" because it was short and easy to use.
Lieber's Thor stories also introduced other important Marvel characters from Norse myths. These include Loki, Odin, and Balder. He also created their home, Asgard, and the Bifrost Rainbow Bridge. For another series, he co-created the villain Wizard for the Human Torch in Strange Tales #102 (November 1962).
After writing the first Iron Man story, other writers took over. Lieber also wrote the first nine Ant-Man stories before other writers continued the series.
Lieber said that his brother Stan was a great editor and writing teacher. Stan made very few changes to Larry's scripts, usually just a line or two. This helped Larry learn and improve his writing.
The Rawhide Kid and Later Work
Lieber mostly stopped working on superheroes to focus on Rawhide Kid. This was a Marvel Western series that he wrote and drew. He worked on it from issue #41 (August 1964) until 1973.
After his time on Rawhide Kid ended, Lieber found less work at Marvel. He wrote and sometimes drew Western or Sgt. Fury war-comics stories. He also did standalone tales for Marvel's black-and-white magazines like Vampire Tales. He said this was a difficult time for him.
Lieber considered working for DC Comics, a rival company. However, he felt he couldn't because his brother Stan was at Marvel. He thought they might see him as a "spy."
Atlas/Seaboard and Return to Marvel
In 1974, Lieber left Marvel to become an editor at Atlas/Seaboard Comics. This was a new company started by Martin Goodman, who had founded Marvel Comics. Goodman wanted to compete with Marvel and DC Comics. Lieber was hired to edit their black-and-white comic magazines.
When Atlas/Seaboard closed in late 1975, Lieber tried to create a newspaper comic strip. Then, Stan Lee offered him a job editing Marvel UK. This was a part of Marvel that produced comics for the UK market. Lieber wrote new stories for the superhero Captain Britain for Marvel UK. He also wrote and drew some Spider-Man stories.
Hulk and Spider-Man Comic Strips
In 1978, Lieber began drawing the new daily and Sunday comic strip The Incredible Hulk. Stan Lee wrote this strip. Lieber also started writing it in early 1979. He continued to write and draw parts of the strip until it ended in 1982. Stan Lee even told Larry that the Hulk strip was "very good" and "even more dramatic" than the Spider-Man strip.
From 1980 to 1981, while working on the Hulk strip, Lieber also drew parts of The Amazing Spider-Man comic strip. He then took over as the main artist for the daily strip in 1986. He also drew the Sunday page from 1990 until at least 1995.
In 2010, Lieber explained how he worked with Stan Lee on the Spider-Man strip. Stan would send him a full script, and Larry could make small changes. Larry would send his drawings to Stan, who would review them and sometimes suggest changes to the writing or art. Larry retired from drawing the strip in July 2018. His final strip appeared on September 8, 2018.
Awards and Recognition
Larry Lieber has received several awards for his work in comics:
- In 2003, he received an Inkpot Award from the San Diego Comic-Con.
- In 2008, he received the Bill Finger Award. This award honors comic creators for their writing. He received it at the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards ceremony at San Diego Comic-Con.
See also
In Spanish: Larry Lieber para niños
