DEATH IS THE PRIZE:Cliff and Steve

 So would WROTE this thing ("Death Is The Prize"), anyway?

Oh. Well, then.

"Cliff & Steve". Yeah, well, I guess if I wrote Golden Age Green Arrow stories, I would have been too embarrassed to put my name on them, too.  

But even this I believe is a DECEPTION. Cliff & Steve were the artists; the unnamed writer for this story was almost certainly regular Green Arrow writer Mort Weisinger (whose crimes against humanity are legion, but who invented, among other things "The Imaginary Story", so if you ever enjoyed an Elseworlds tale, you have Mort to thank).

Almost certainly Cliff is Cliff Young and Stete is Steve Brodie.  Both were Golden Age G.A. artists, not writers.  

A Cliff Young drawing.

Cliff Young did write a book on Drawing Drapery which you can still buy today at Target, believe it or not.

 

You cannot buy his other book "Figure Drawing Without a Model", because it's out of print.

Good luck sleeping tonight.

It's also not available because
it's SHEER PORNOGRAPHIC FILTH.

This, of course, is "Top Light", Green Arrow's underappeciated (and underdressed) female Golden Age villain.  Rather a free spirit she was.
"Would you like to see more of Top Light? Write and let us know!"

Steve Brodie was a weirdly-built daredevil/bar owner who jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge and lived.

They don't make 'em like that any more.

But that's not the right Steve Brodie. Neither is Steve Brodie, the doughy movie star whom you remember from "Donovan's Brain" (1953).

They don't make 'em like that any more.

No, Steve Brodie The Artist is a MYSTERY man. No photos, no bio.  There's really just ONE thing I know about Steve Brodie: he created exactly ONE character for DC Comics.

LEAPO THE CLOWN A.K.A BULL"S-EYE, GREEN ARROW'S GREATEST VILLAIN

And that's all I need to know for Mystery Artist Steve Brodie to be one of my Golden Age Heroes.