Loony Leo

Loony Leo © Juke Box Productions AstroFacts Status: Retired (as a hero) Real Name: Loony Leo Origin: Kurt Busiek's Astro City Vol.2 #13 Affiliation: occasional sidekick to The Gentleman in late 1940s and perhaps into the early 1950s Base of Operations: Romeyn Falls/Astro City First Appearance: 1946 Personal Data Height: x’x” Weight: xx lbs Hair: A nice orange mane InfoDump Headlines: February 7, 1957: Kiddie TV Star Involved in Teenybopper Drug Death from the Los Angeles Times Appearances (in Publication Order): Kurt Busiek's Astro City Vol.2 #13 Animated Cartoons Leo Las Vegas The Wacky Zany Lion All-Out Madcap Jungle Jive Thrilling Misadventures Days of Loony and Roses Zoot Soup Life Action Films Leo's Trip to the Moon Panama Leo Event Timeline 1946     Flashback Professor Borzoi's Belief Ray Inadvertantly Brings Loony Leo to Life. 1957/02/07     Headline Kiddie TV Star Involved in Teenybopper Drug Death. 1958     Flashback Loony Leo Becomes a Recluse For Six Years. 1964     Flashback Honor Guard's Near Fatal Encounter With the Myth-Master. 1964     Flashback Zzardo Meets a Reclusive Loony Leo. Loony Leo A "pocket hero" and sidekick to The Gentleman in the late 1940s. Later he expanded his role as an entertainer, becoming a movie star, a TV show personality, a part-owner and the host of Loony Leo's restaurant and nightclub in Astro City. His life story is part tragic, part humorous, part melancholy, and part deadly serious. History In the 1940s, Fago's Funny Features created many cartoon characters, including Loony Leo. These cartoon films were distributed to movie theaters and shown before feature films. The Loony Leo cartoons featured Leo, his rascally nephews, and Leo's chaste romance with lioness Lola. Loony Leo began life in 1946, as a side effect of Professor Borzoi's Belief Ray invention, which brought movie creatures alive and off the screen, terrorizing film-goers. The Gentleman was barely holding his own against one such giant gorilla monster when Leo intervened, taking the Belief Ray away from Professor Borzoi and smashing it. This act caused the film monster to fade away, and almost sent Loony Leo with it, until the Gentleman called for the crowd to help by believing in Leo. Loony Leo crossed the Gentleman's path several times after that, always to the Gentleman's benefit. Fago's Funny Features then attempted to take ownership of Loony Leo on the grounds that they had created him. This case was ultimately settled out of court, but rulings issued before the settlement occurred have become important precedents, cited in later court cases involving artificial beings. When Fago's Funny Features offered Leo a chance at a starring role, he went to Hollywood, making live-action Loony Leo films, Leo's Trip to the Moon. Initially very successful, this gimmick eventually grew old. In 1954, the box office of Panama Leo was so disappointing that Leo was dropped from the Fago stable. Leo then became the host and emcee of Loony Leo's Fun-Time Farm, a children's TV show, until 1957, when he discovered the death of Corliss McBride. While Leo was not indicted, being even distantly connected to an underage prostitute who had died from a drug overdose was enough to force him out of television. Leaving Hollywood, Leo wandered across America for several years until he encountered an alien named Zzardo. That chance meeting led to Leo's involvement in The Myth-Master Incident. Leo then faded from view for over twenty years, until the opening of Loony Leo's restaurant in Astro City. He continues to be the host of the restaurant to this day, as well as making occasional appearances in television ads. Powers Leo acts as a belief focus who soaks up psychic energy. It is very difficult to harm or even destroy him. Since his cartoon form is now persistent, Leo has all the advantages of being a cartoon character in real life. He cannot starve nor freeze to death. In keeping with the conventions of cartoons, presumably he would not fall when running in the air at great heights, until that is, he makes the mistake of looking down...