Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Len Brown, Mars Attack, rip, thunder agents, topps
Len Brown, Co-Creator Of Mars Attacks & Thunder Agents, Dies Aged 84
Len Brown, Topps co-creator of Mars Attacks and T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, dies aged 84
Len Brown, the Topps executive and creator behind some of the most memorable (and occasionally banned) trading cards of the 20th century and co-creator of Tower Comics’ T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, has died, aged 84. He died on the 11th of August 2026, in Bee Cave, Texas, of arteriosclerosis. His widow, Abby Demel Brown, confirmed the cause.
Lee Brown was born on the 7th of October, 1941, in Brooklyn, and joined Topps Chewing Gum’s Product Development department shortly after high school, where he worked for more than four decades, rising to Creative Director/Director of New Product Development. He wrote baseball-card backs, developed non-sports lines, and worked with comics talent, including Wally Wood, Basil Wolverton, Jack Davis, Art Spiegelman, Jay Lynch, and Mark Newgarden.
In 1962, he pitched Mars Attacks to his boss, Woody Gelman, drawing on Wally Wood’s cover for EC’s Weird Science #16 and the look of the aliens in This Island Earth. Wally Wood did the initial sketches; Bob Powell and Norman Saunders finished the painted cards. The <a href="https://comicvibe.com/listen-the-delicate-art-of-releasing-a-hit-streaming-series/” title=”LISTEN: The Delicate Art of Releasing a Hit Streaming Series”>series was a hit with kids and a scandal with parents. It was pulled from some racks and later became the basis for Tim Burton‘s 1996 film and the Topps comic book line, which Len Brown also wrote for, and many crossovers since. Len Brown also wrote the card text. “He was the world’s most mature 12-year-old,” Art Spiegelman later said. “He could sense immediately, ‘This is what kids will love.'”
Three years later, Wally Wood asked Len Brown to help launch a superhero line for Tower Comics. Brown supplied the name T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents (from the Thunder Riders in the old Gene Autry serial The Phantom Empire) and wrote the origin of Dynamo. Wally Wood, as a joke, gave the character the civilian identity, Len Brown. He also wrote for Warren’s Creepy and contributed to Topps’ Mars Attacks comics in the 1990s.
At Topps, he oversaw or helped shape Wacky Packages, Garbage Pail Kids, Civil War News and a long list of other stickers, cards and novelties. After retiring around 2000, he moved to the Austin area with Abby and hosted classic country-music shows on KOOP and other stations. He is survived by his wife, Abby, children Jonathan and Valarie from his first marriage, stepsons Todd, Eric, and Harris Demel, and two step-grandsons. Eric posted, “My mom and the world lost a beautiful soul; a kind, loving, witty, creative genius. If I didn’t tell you who he was, you would never know, because this former creative director at Topps was the most humble person I’ve ever known. He will be greatly missed.”
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