Oskar Lebeck

Oskar Lebeck (August 30, 1903 – December 20, 1966) was a stage designer and an illustrator, writer and editor (mostly of children's literature) who is best known for his role in establishing Dell Comics during the 1930s and 1940s period known as the Golden Age of Comic Books.

Lebeck was born in Germany where he did stage design for Max Reinhardt. Moving to the United States in 1930 he did similar work for the Broadway productions of Florenz Ziegfeld and Earl Carroll. By the mid-1930s he was working as an industrial designer of textiles and furniture while also writing (and sometimes illustrating) children's books, mostly for Grosset & Dunlap. Titles included The Diary of Terwilliger Jellico (1935); The Story of the Automobile City (1936) and Clementina the Flying Pig (1939); in addition he illustrated an abridgement of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz published in 1939.

In 1938 Western Publishing hired him as an art director/managing editor to help launch its line of comic books, financed and distributed by Dell. Lebeck oversaw Western's New York editorial office. Notably he hired Walt Kelly who became one of the star creators of the line, best known for originating Pogo while there. Lebeck also selected John Stanley to bring panel cartoon character Little Lulu to comic books.

Writer Gaylord Du Bois described Lebeck as "a man of immense drive [who] had a way of developing the best ability and the fervent loyalty of the artists and writers who worked under him." Du Bois co-authored with Lebeck three adventure novels for children in 1941: Stratosphere Jim and His Flying Fortress; Rex, King of the Deep; and The Hurricane Kids on the Lost Islands. Although the latter at the end mentions a sequel (The Hurricane Kids in the Canyon of Cliff Dwellers) it was never published.

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