Lee Elias

Lee Elias (May 21, 1920 – April 8, 1998) where his work included features such as "Captain Wings" in Wing Comics, on which he succeeded Bob Lubbers, as well as the Western hero Firehair.

After leaving Fiction House in 1946, he worked for several different comics companies, including Timely Comics, Hillman Periodicals, and National/DC where he worked on such characters as the Flash, Tommy Tomorrow, and co-created the Fiddler and the original Star Sapphire with writer Robert Kanigher in All-Flash #32 (Dec. 1947).

Black Cat It was Elias's work on Black Cat, a stuntwoman turned crimefighter, for Harvey Comics, that stood out in this period. The series was praised by comics historian Trina Robbins for its "logical" and "straightforward" approach, in contrast to more fantasy-oriented titles like Wonder Woman. Elias worked both as a penciler and an inker in this series, with an art style largely influenced by artists such as Milton Caniff and Noel Sickles. Elias worked for a period as Caniff's assistant. He used the same style for the comic book version of Terry and the Pirates, Caniff's classic comic strip in the same period. Lee Elias left comic books after the 1954 publication of Fredric Wertham's anti-comics book Seduction of the Innocent, which used four of his Black Cat panels as examples of "depraved" comic art.

Beyond Mars Elias' work on comic strips included a two-year stint as an assistant to Al Capp on Li'l Abner. His best known comic strip was Beyond Mars, which ran from 1952 to 1955 and was co-created by Elias and science fiction writer Jack Williamson. but was syndicated in Europe and Australia. It was the last Sunday strip to be color-engraved by hand, according to comic strip historian Rick Marschall.

Later career Elias drew the "Green Arrow" backup feature in Adventure Comics and World's Finest Comics from 1959 to 1964. Elias only drew the first two appearances of the character and was succeeded on the feature by Alex Toth. His other work for DC in the 1960s included Cave Carson and Adam Strange. In 1972, Elias came back to American comic books, working mainly on DC's various horror titles and secondary Marvel Comics titles including Power Man and The Human Fly. His last major project was The Rook series for Warren Publishing, a black-and-white time travel series which played to his strengths as a Western and science fiction artist. With the cancellation of The Rook in 1982, Elias retired from comics, though he continued teaching at the School of Visual Arts and The Kubert School.