Today in Comics History, October 26: Happy birthday, Larry Lieber!

Born on this day in 1931: comic book writer and artist Larry Lieber, co-creator of Thor, Loki, Jane Foster, Ant-Man, Iron Man, Groot, Spider-Man's parents Mary and Richard Parker, and more! His writing and artwork appear in The Rawhide Kid, Kid Colt: Outlaw, Two-Gun Kid, Tales to Astonish, Tales of Suspense, Journey into Mystery, Strange Tales, My Own Romance, Teen-Age Romance, Captain Britain, and the proverbial etc.!


from (top) Mighty Marvel Calendar 1978-1979 (Marvel, 1977-1978);
(bottom) Marvel Age #34 and 94 (Marvel, January 1986 and November 1990); text by Jim Salicrup (#34) and Chris Eliopoulis and Barry Dutter (#94); pencils and inks by Ron Zalme; colors by Adam Philips (#34) and Marie Javins (#94)



As mentioned above, Lieber drew a substantial number of issues of Marvel's Western RRawhide Kid...


from "Bullpen Bulletins" in Marvel Comics cover-dated March 1970
...and the Amazing Spider-Man and Incredible Hulk syndicated comic strips, as well as contributing a lot of the 1950s-60 Marvel Atlas-period monster tales. face fronbt, True Be-Lieber!


from Marvel Tales Annual #1 (Marvel, September 1964);
(right) Fantastic Four Annual #7 (Marvel, November 1969)
In the seventies Lieber left Marvel to work as editor for Atlas/Seaboard, an ambitious but ill-fated publisher with big plans but a short life of just over a year.


from Atlas/Seaboard comics cover-dated July 1975
Following the collapse of Atlas, Larry returned to Marvel to write scripts for their budding UK comics department.


from FOOM #16 (Marvel, December 1976)
I didn't mention it before, but he's Stan Lee's brother! Imagination and talent do run in the family! Altho' to the best of my knowledge, Larry's never taken credit for anybody else's work.


from Amazing Fantastic Incredible: A Marvelous Memoir (Simon & Schuster, January 2019), script by Peter David and Stan Lee, art by Colleen Doran
Tom Scioli's graphic novel biography of Jack Kirby remembers him this way:



from Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics (Ten Speed, July 2020), script and art by Tom Scioli
Like many of the other early Marvel Age creators, you could sometiems find Larry as a character within the stories! Here's a metafictional horror story written by Larry within the pages of the comics!


from "Them!" in Tales of Suspense #50 (Marvel, February 1964), plot by Stan Lee, script and pencils by Larry Lieber, inks by George Roussos, letters by Sam Rosen
Can you find Larry among the Bullpen members a-gapin' and a-gawkin' at the beached Sub-Mariner on this splash page?




from Sub-Mariner (1968 series) #19 (November 1969), script by Roy Thomas, pencils and colors by Marie Severin, inks by Johnny Craig, letters by Artie Simek
And here's Larry brain-storming a Spidey tale alongside The Man himself and the great JR (SR)!



from "Here We Go-a-Plotting" in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5 (Marvel, November 1968), script and pencils (and colors?) by Marie Severin, inks by Frank Giacoia, letters by Artie Simek
A very happy 92nd birthday to you, Larry! And here's to many more!