Sponsored Comics: Laura Good


Here we go with one of the highlights of the Family Comics section. Laura Good is just a straight steal on Mary Worth, but the cartoonist is none other than the great Russ Manning. Manning, of course, is universally revered for his fantastic work on the Tarzan and Star Wars strips, not to mention the great comic book series Magnus Robot Fighter (one of my all-time favorite guilty pleasures).

Anybody know who this Veleri person is that gets a credit on the first strip?

If you’re disappointed to see Manning working on such a pedestrian offering, hold on because we haven’t seen the last of him in this section!

8 comments on “Sponsored Comics: Laura Good

  1. The same “Veleri” credited in Strickler’s E&P book for a 1958 comic entitled “Jonathon”?

    And has anyone ever found out who the “Yang” that assisted and signed Warkentin’s “Star Trek” in 1980 was?

  2. I like it. His style is a bit more cartoony than the stuff he did for Gold Key. So which installments did you pick here? The first and the last? How long did each story run? Did the last issue stop mid-run or was the series cut off?

  3. DD – according to Art Lortie, Yang was an office boy who occasionally was pressed into service to letter and ink backgrounds. No full name known.

    Ger – on most of these strips I’ve been showing first and last from my run. Unless the series went on longer (and original art is known for the 11th issue) the stories were all still running.

    –Allan

  4. My Papa, Vernon Rieck collaborated on this strip: his pen name “Veleri” is a contraction of VErnon LEroy RIeck, and usually indicates that he is drawing and writing the storyline. He is most famous for his strip Johnny Stardust. The strip Jonathon was inspired by the antics of my cousin Jonathon Miller. Papa also created the strip “Jennifer” from Jonathon’s sister Jennifer Miller. At the time, many cartoonists really struggled to make a living and if they belonged to a syndicate, they would often draw/ink or write storyline on others’ namesakes’ strips…anything to bring money in. Vernon worked for Walt Disney Studios in the 1950’s, and also Warner Brothers. He could draw in any style, so if a guy was out sick, he was often asked by the syndicate to draw some of the panels or strips. Often, cartoonists were not the owners of strips they invented, (the syndicate or publisher owned the strip) so an artist could draw or ink or write and not be credited. My father had contracts under different pen names, so he was able to be more prolific, and thus earn more money.

  5. My father, Vernon Rieck is the famous Veleri. Veleri was his preferred pen name, and was an anagram of his name. He worked in NYC as a comic strip artist, under his own name and various aliases. He was an excellent mimic and could draw in multiple styles. Eventually, in the 1950's, Walt Disney hired him and he ran the in-house magazine.
    I have some of his drawings and comics that survived his death in mid 1963. He lived in West Hollywood.

  6. My father, Vernon Rieck is the famous Veleri. Veleri was his preferred pen name, and was an anagram of his name. He worked in NYC as a comic strip artist, under his own name and various aliases. He was an excellent mimic and could draw in multiple styles. Eventually, in the 1950's, Walt Disney hired him and he ran the in-house magazine.
    I have some of his drawings and comics that survived his death in mid 1963. He lived in West Hollywood.

  7. My father, Vernon Rieck is the famous Veleri. Veleri was his preferred pen name, and was an anagram of his name. He worked in NYC as a comic strip artist, under his own name and various aliases. He was an excellent mimic and could draw in multiple styles. Eventually, in the 1950's, Walt Disney hired him and he ran the in-house magazine.
    I have some of his drawings and comics that survived his death in mid 1963. He lived in West Hollywood.

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