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Leon Lazarus (August 22, 1919 – November 28, 2008) Social Security Death Index record for Leon Lazarus, Social Security Number 128-10-7400. was an American writer-editor for publisher Martin Goodman's Magazine Management Company, as well as for Goodman's Timely Comics and Atlas comic book companies, the two predecessors of Marvel Comics. The uncredited author of countless comic-book stories from 1947 through at least 1965 – with his name long considered a possible pseudonym on the rare occasions it appeared – the 85-year-old Lazarus was located in 2005 by comics historians who then initiated efforts to document his credits and fill some of the many gaps in the mass media record.
In addition to comic books, Lazarus wrote paperback books, including two in the "Nick Carter" detective novel series, as well as children's books for Little Golden Books. His magazine writing included pieces for the men's adventure magazines Saga, Stag, and Blue Book, and the more general-interest Coronet.
He is not to be confused with the science fiction book reviewer and writer Dr. Henry Leon Lazarus.
When Berg, Rico and fellow editor Ernie Hart moved on, later in the 1940s, Lazarus worked as an assistant to Al Jaffee, who came in as editor of the teen-humor line. As cartoonist and comics commentator Fred Hembeck observed, "Leon read through all the submissions, weeding out the junk and only passing on the worthwhile material to Jaffee; and Leon had mastered the ability to improve a six-pager with just a few judicious edits. Plus, Al really liked the guy. Basically, Jaffee found him indispensable". Among the writers with whom Lazarus worked as an editor was Patricia Highsmith, the future novelist, whose early career included writing romance comics for Timely/Atlas.Interview, Alter Ego, p.50
Marjorie Lazarus in 1948 and 1949 separately contributed "44 or 45" two-page text-filler stories. She was assigned these freelance pieces not by her husband, but by Joellen Murdock, a secretary who made those assignments. Leon Lazarus wrote approximately 40 of these, in addition to what he estimated were "over 800 comic book stories."
Lazarus was let go from Timely, along with virtually all the staff save for editor-in-chief Stan Lee and secretary Murdock, on a Friday in January 1950.Interview, Alter Ego, pp. 50–52
Shortly after Atlas briefly suspended publishing in 1957, following the collapse of the company's newsstand distributor, Lazarus began writing for Magazine Management, the parent company owned by publisher Martin Goodman. Under editor Noah Sarlett, Lazarus said, "I wrote 350 stories for their men's magazines, going into the 1960s. I also worked for staff Bruce Jay Friedman."Interview, Alter Ego, p. 57 When Lazarus himself was briefly employed as a staff editor there, he worked with such staff writers as Mario Puzo, future author of The Godfather.
Lazarus had two public credits during the 1960s Silver Age of comic books: the suspense-mystery story "Wes Wilson, Worry-Wart" in the American Comics Group (AGC) comic Unknown Worlds #6 (March 1961); and the Henry Pym superhero story "When Attuma Strikes" in Tales to Astonish #64 (Feb. 1965). His Marvel Comics credit, during the period in which the former Timely/Atlas began establishing itself as a significant force in popular culture, came about, Lazarus recalled, when publisher Goodman
Leon and Marjorie Lazarus had two daughters: Rochelle, who as of January 2009 was press and communications director for the Tenafly, New Jersey, Jewish culture center Kaplen JCC on the Palisades, and Sherry, an editor for an online art museum, the Art Renewal Center.
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