Mort Leav was born in New York City. In 1936 he handled daily and Sunday comic strips. He broke into comic books in 1941 when he joined the Eisner-Iger shop. He drew 'ZX-5, Spies in Action' for Fiction House. He later drew 'Doll Man' and 'Uncle Sam' for Quality and 'The Hangman' for MLJ while still with Iger. In 1942 he designed his most famous character, 'The Heap', and at the same time he began working for Busy Arnold's Quality Group on 'Blackhawk', and 'Kid Eternity'. Mort Leav left in 1943 because he was drafted and he turned his attention to illustrating army magazines. After the war, Leav did several 'Captain America' tales for Timely before he became art director and chief artist at Orbit Publications in 1946. He drew almost all the cover and lead stories for books such as 'Wild Bill Pecos', 'Wanted', and 'Patches'. Leav left Orbit in 1954, and after two years as a freelance commercial artist, he joined an advertising agency. There he drew some of the first television storyboards.
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