Bill Schelly

The American Comic Book Chronicles continues its ambitious series of full-color hardcovers where TwoMorrows' top authors document every decade of comic book history from the 1940s to today! Bill Schelly authors the volume on the 1950s era of Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley, with a year-by-year account of the most significant publications, notable creators, and impactful trends, including: the rise of the great EC "New Trend" titles (Tales of the Crypt, Weird Science), Harvey Kurtzman's Mad, and Carl Barks' classic work on Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge! Plus, read about the publication of Dr. Fredric Wertham's notorious anti-comics book, Seduction of the Innocent, and the Senate hearings on juvenile delinquency that led to the creation of the Comics Code, changing the face of comics for decades to come!

A fascinating story of growing up as a gay fan of comic books in the 1960s, building a fifty-year career as an award-winning writer, and interacting with acclaimed comic book legends Award-winning writer Bill Schelly relates how comics and fandom saved his life in this engrossing story that begins in the burgeoning comic fandom movement of the 1960s and follows the twists and turns of a career that spanned fifty years. Schelly recounts his struggle to come out at a time when homosexuality was considered a mental illness, how the egalitarian nature of fandom offered a safe haven for those who were different, and how his need for creative expression eventually overcame all obstacles. He describes living through the AIDS epidemic, finding the love of his life, and his unorthodox route to becoming a father. He also details his personal encounters with major talents of 1960s comics, such as Steve Ditko (co-creator of Spider-Man), Jim Shooter (writer for DC and later editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics), and Julius Schwartz (legendary architect of the Silver Age of comics).

Otto Binder: The Life and Work of a Comic Book and Science Fiction Visionary chronicles the career of Otto Binder, from pulp magazine author to writer of Supergirl, Captain Marvel, and Superman comics. As the originator of the first sentient robot in literature ("I, Robot," published in Amazing Stories in 1939 and predating Isaac Asimov's collection of the same name), Binder's effect on science fiction was profound. Within the world of comic books, he created or co-created much of the Superman universe, including Smallville; Krypto, Superboy's dog; Supergirl; and the villain Braniac. Binder is also credited with writing many of the first "Bizarro" storylines for DC Comics, as well as for being the main writer for the Captain Marvel comics. In later years, Binder expanded from comic books into pure science writing, publishing dozens of books and articles on the subject of satellites and space travel as well as UFOs and extraterrestrial life. Comic book historian Bill Schelly tells the tale of Otto Binder through comic panels, personal letters, and interviews with Binder's own family and friends. Schelly weaves together Binder's professional successes and personal tragedies, including the death of Binder's only daughter and his wife's struggle with mental illness. A touching and human story, Otto Binder: The Life and Work of a Comic Book and Science Fiction Visionary is a biography that is both meticulously researched and beautifully told, keeping alive Binder's spirit of scientific curiosity and whimsy.

Harvey Kurtzman created Mad, and Mad revolutionized humor in America. Kurtzman was the original editor, artist, and sole writer of Mad, one of the greatest publishing successes of the 20th century. But how did Kurtzman invent Mad, and why did he leave it shortly after it burst, nova-like, onto the American scene? For this heavily researched biography, Bill Schelly conducted new interviews with Kurtzman s colleagues, friends and family, including Hugh Hefner, R. Crumb, Jack Davis, and many others, and examined Kurtzman s personal archives. The result is the true story of one the 20th century s greatest humorists: Kurtzman's family life, the details of the FBI's investigation during the McCarthy Era, his legal battles with William M. Gaines (publisher of Mad), are all revealed for the first time. Rich with anecdotes, this book traces Kurtzman s life from his Brooklyn beginnings to his post-Mad years, when his ceaseless creativity produced more innovations: new magazines, a graphic novel, and Little Annie Fanny in Playboy."

This sequel to Alter Ego: The Best of the Legendary Comics Fanzine presents more fantastic features from the fabled magazine begun in 1961 by Jerry Bails and Roy Thomas — covering undiscovered gems from all 11 original issues published between 1961 and 1978! Editors Roy Thomas and Bill Schelly uncover never-revealed secrets about the first super-hero fanzine ever published, with vintage articles about Tor, Hawkman, the Spectre, Blackhawk, the Justice League of America, the All-Winners Squad, Robotman, Wonder Woman, the Heap, the Lensmen/Green Lantern connection, and so much more! Plus rarely-seen comics stories by Joe Kubert, Ronn Foss, and Roy Thomas and Sam Grainger, as well as Roy's entire "Bestest League of America" parody, collected for the first time ever!

Joe Kubert sealed his reputation as one of the greatest American comic-book cartoonists of all time with the four-color adventures of Sgt. Rock of Easy Company, Enemy Ace, and Tarzan, all done for DC Comics during the 1960s and 1970s (themselves already the subject of archival editions)... but he had been working in comics since the 1940s. In fact, young Kubert produced an exciting, significant body of work as a freelance artist for a variety of comic book publishers in the postwar era, in a glorious variety of non-super hero genres: horror, crime, science fiction, western, romance, humor, and more. For the first time, 33 of the best of these stories have been collected in one full-color volume, with a special emphasis on horror and crime. The Kubert work in this book is that of a burgeoning talent attacking the work with tremendous panache, and in the process, developing a style that became one of the most distinctive in the medium. Since these stories were written and drawn in the pre-Comics Code era, they are more thrilling, violent and sexy (by contemporary standards) than much of his later, Code-constrained work. And just the titles of the comic books from which these stories are taken are wonderfully evocative of a bygone era of four-color fun: Cowpuncher, Abbott and Costello Comics, Three Stooges, Eerie, Planet Comics, Meet Miss Pepper, Strange Terrors, Green Hornet Comics, Whack, Jesse James, Out of This World, Crime Does Not Pay, Weird Thrillers, Police Lineup, and Hollywood Confessions. As with Fantagraphics acclaimed Steve Ditko and Bill Everett Archives series, Weird Horrors and Daring Adventures boasts state-of-the-art restoration and retouching, and historical notes by the book 's editor Bill Schelly, author of the Art of Joe Kubert art book and Man of Rock Kubert biography.