Oskar Lebeck

• Born 1893-08-30 · Died 1966-12-20

Lebeck was born in Germany. Moving to the United States in 1930 he did stage design 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. 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 and John Stanley. Lebeck left Western in 1949, although he continued to work for the company as a consultant. While semi-retired he teamed with artist Alden McWilliams to launch on June 16, 1952 the science fiction daily comic strip Twin Earths (with a Sunday version added March 1, 1953). In 1957 Lebeck retired fully and McWilliams assumed scripting duties for the strip.