The Legion of Super-Heroes made its first appearance in the Superboy story in Adventure Comics #247 (April 1958). ™ and © DC Comics.
Of “The Shyest Boy in Town” in Superboy #80, author Michael E. Grost wrote, “It contains a heartfelt plea to leave ‘different’ youths alone, and to respect their individuality. Such works in the 1950s and 1960s were often coded pleas to not discriminate against gay people; they also were general looks at nonconformism. The antagonist in this tale is a psychologist, Dr. Wiles, who has schemes for making Clark Kent less shy. It’s clear that such attempts to make Clark less shy will hurt Clark, and his need to lead a secret life, in this case as Superboy. This fable suggests in a profound way the need for resistance to such schemes. It is very haunting and powerful. Its ending, which suggests that it is better to leave people alone than to try to influence/coerce them into changing, seems Taoist in its philosophy.”130
Grost further opined, “It is clear that the Superman stories have been undervalued by people who are upset by their gender portrayal. Anyone who believes men should be mainly violent or aggressive is going to have trouble with these works.”131 Much of the equality among individuals shown in the Superman series came from the typewriter of Otto Binder.
Along the theme of promoting both equality and individuality, Binder wrote the story that introduced the Legion of Super-Heroes in Adventure #247 (April 1958). One of the key themes of the Legion was the acceptance of individuality, for each of its members has a unique power. Their ranks were both male and female. This band of “different” teenagers living in the far-flung future was initially shown as a trio. Binder was responsible for co-creating Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy, and Lightning Lad, but for him it was just another story. Employing other writers, Mort Weisinger built the Legion into one of DC’s most enduring franchises. They took over the lead feature in Adventure #300, and have been around in one form or other ever since.
Binder also wrote the first story featuring a villain who would become Superman’s ongoing nemesis: Brainiac, the alien whose shrinking ray could steal whole cities from planet surfaces and place them in bottles. In “The Super-Duel in Space” in Action Comics #242 (July 1958), Superman learns that this fate had befallen the Kryptonian city of Kandor, sometime before the planet exploded. This set up a whole series of stories featuring trips into the tiny bottled city, once the Earth visitor was reduced to a suitable size. Over time, the mythos of Kandor would become elaborate. Readers were fascinated by the idea of a bottled city, which offered continuing looks at Kryptonian society without having to use time travel.
The character of Brainiac was changed to an intelligent robot in 1964, when it was discovered that a scientist named Edmund C. Berkeley had invented a “Brainiac Computer Kit” in 1955. In the announcement, which appeared in Superman #167, Weisinger said, “The fictional character ‘Brainiac’ was created for us by Otto Binder, a famous science fiction writer. In deference to [Mr. Berkeley’s] Brainiac, which pre-dates ours, with this issue of Superman, we are changing the characterization of our Brainiac so that the master-villain will henceforth possess a ‘computer personality.’” Weisinger then gave a plug to the home computer kit available from Berkeley.
Perhaps the most significant character introduced by Otto Binder for National at this time was Superman’s cousin, Supergirl.
Just as National seemed to be importing creators from the former Fawcett bullpen, they also adopted the idea of a female version of their lead hero from their old competitor. It’s fitting that Otto Binder wrote all the early stories of Kara, Superman’s cousin, since he’d also written the adventures of her predecessor, Mary Marvel. Indeed, shortly after being asked by Mort Weisinger to submit scripts for the Superman titles, Binder had suggested introducing a Supergirl. As Binder later told the story, Mort looked at him scornfully, and asked, “Oh, you mean like Mary Marvel?” Then, a few years later, Weisinger himself told Binder his latest original story idea: Supergirl. Binder merely smiled, and responded, “Oh, you mean like Mary Marvel, Mort?”132
First Binder wrote a try-out story in Superman #123 (August 1958). In “The Girl of Steel!,” a Supergirl is conjured up magically by Jimmy Olsen, who has found an ancient totem with special powers. This tale (penciled by Dick Sprang and inked by Stan Kaye) must have met with considerable approval from the readers, for it emboldened Weisinger to order a script from Binder that would add a Supergirl to the Superman mythos as a permanent, ongoing character. This was accomplished by the brilliantly written tale “The Supergirl from Krypton!” in Action Comics #252 (May 1959).
The opening caption by Binder reads, “As we all know, Superman arrived on earth in a space rocket long ago, when he was Superbaby! The Man of Steel has always thought he was the sole survivor of the tragic catastrophe that destroyed his home world, Krypton! But fate has many strange twists! And the happiest event in Superman’s lonely life occurs one day, which will astound and delight all fans of Superman, too! For this is not an ordinary tale of Superman, but the launching of a new member of our ‘super family!’” (In this context, the use of the word family can’t help but remind one of the Marvel Family.)
The story itself is a model of economy, as is the art by Al Plastino. In just eight pages, Superman discovers a rocket landing near Metropolis that contains a teenage girl who not only wears a costume based on his own, but has all his super powers. “Don’t worry, Superman,” she says, smiling. “I’m alive without a scratch!” Equally amazing is the story she tells to explain how she too could be from the planet Krypton: a chunk of the planet had stayed intact after it exploded, and its denizens managed to live for years under a dome that was constructed to keep the air from dissipating. When, like other pieces of Krypton, the large fragment turns into Kryptonite, the survivors cover its surface with lead to protect them from the deadly rays. It’s only when a meteor shower ruptures that lead shielding that Argo City is doomed, and a teenage Supergirl is sent in a rocket ship to Earth by her scientist father.
Of all the elements Otto Binder brought to the Superman mythos, one of the most captivating was Kandor, the Kryptonian city in a bottle. Action Comics #242 (July 1958). ™ and © DC Comics.
As with many of the SF ideas that Binder had written for Schwartz’s Mystery in Space and Strange Adventures, the science is—like Argo City’s lead shielding—full of holes, but that isn’t important. It’s just credible enough to explain Supergirl’s existence, which is all that was needed. When Superman discovers that the girl’s father was his father’s brother, making them cousins, science fiction quickly yields to an emotional suffusion that’s genuinely powerful. “This is perhaps the happiest moment in Superman’s life, to find he has a long-lost living relative from his native world!” reads the caption, with Superman vowing, “We may be orphans, but we have each other now! I’ll take care of you like a big brother, cousin Kara!”
Otto Binder wrote the first story featuring Mary Marvel back in 1942. Seventeen years later, he wrote the story that introduced Supergirl, Superman’s cousin, in Action Comics #252 (May 1959). ™ and © DC Comics.
Weisinger had already decided that Supergirl would have her own series, bumping Tommy Tomorrow from the back of Action Comics. The Supergirl stories, which would be drawn by comics veteran Jim Mooney, would be much milder than those of her cousin, since the idea was to do something especially for the female readers, who were thought to be more interested in seeing a girl use super powers “closer to home.” Unfortunately, the early stories—penned by Binder—seem disappointing, mostly concerned as they are with trivial matters around the orphanage that was her home at first. But comic book editor Diana Schutz doesn’t agree.
In her introduction to the first Supergirl Archives, Schutz wrote, “Powerless in the grown-up world of the early 60s, a little girl could hardly be faulted for wishing that she were Superman’s cousin, for pretending to fly, for wanting to save the world, if only in secret. Back in those days, after all, children—especially little girls—were taught
to be seen and not heard. And our female fantasies weren’t necessarily even so grandiose. What little girl wouldn’t envy the Girl of Steel’s ability to super-clean her bedroom or to complete her homework in three seconds? Supergirl was everything we weren’t, and yet she was close enough in age to be everything we could aspire to.”133 Weisinger was probably right to have Binder keep Kara close to the orphanage in the early stories. Eventually, the series became more exciting, especially after Supergirl’s existence was revealed to the world. Kara proved to be a popular addition, appearing in Action Comics for many years (through issue #376), and then in other books, including a couple of her own.
All these and more characters and concepts comprise a rich source of story material that was explored further by others on Weisinger’s writing staff. Binder (in conjunction with Weisinger) provided the building blocks that supported the Superman family of comics for most of the next decade.
Despite his good fortune in finding a key slot at National, Otto Binder’s leaner times in the early 1950s had opened his eyes to the risks of having all his eggs in the comic book basket. The critics hadn’t been able to ban all comic books, but they had destroyed EC, and in late 1954 had forced publishers to form an “independent” self-reviewing panel called the Comics Code Authority. Comic books would still be published, but the industry was shown to be weak, and it certainly seemed as if its better days were in the past.
After the demise of Fawcett’s comic book line, Jack Binder got out of comics for good. Otto’s older brother had a low opinion of comics—or, more specifically, of the men who published and ran the show at the major comic book companies. He knew there was no way to make any real money as a freelancer in the field, and hadn’t gotten rich running his shop, either. He was much happier living the life of a country squire in upstate New York, making his living as a part-time art teacher, and with a sign-and-statuary enterprise that proved surprisingly lucrative. One of his ideas could suddenly strike a nerve, and he could make a lot of money in a relatively short period of time.
By 1959 Jack was fifty-seven. His daughter Bonnie—the youngest child—would finish high school by the decade’s end. Otto was nine years younger than Jack, had a daughter just starting grade school, and was nowhere near thinking about retirement. If he was going to get a leg up financially, he needed to be an owner rather than a piece-worker.
Therefore, toward the end of the 1950s, OOB decided to diversify his writing outside of comics, and to look for entrepreneurial opportunities. Both now led him to return to the field that he always considered his true love: space science. Science fiction didn’t offer much to him, but science fact seemed loaded with potential, given current events.
When the Russians successfully launched Sputnik, the world’s first space satellite, in 1957, the American public was suddenly fascinated with “the space race.” Americans wondered why the United States hadn’t been first in space. This interest excited Otto. He saw that it had the potential to open up many opportunities for freelance writing on the subject.
In these two books for Golden Press in 1959, Binder skillfully introduced children to “earth’s neighbors” in the solar system. ™ and © respective copyright holders.
Binder had been regularly writing text fillers for Dell comics. Now he scripted two sixteen-page booklets, Mission to Mars (May 1959) and Journey to the Sun (May 1960) for Dell. He also demonstrated a gift for writing nonfiction space material for young readers. Binder wrote Planets: Other Worlds of Our Solar System in 1959 for Golden Press, a book featuring thrilling full-color illustrations by George Solonevich. That same year came The Moon: Our Neighboring World, again with gorgeous Solonevich artwork. While these are written at the level of a ten- or eleven-year-old, they are full of fascinating facts about gravitation, the tides, stargazing, and the history of what OOB liked to call “astro-science.” They respected their readers’ intelligence, and sold in massive numbers. Others he penned were The Golden Book of Jets and Rockets and The Golden Book of Atomic Energy.
Then came the opportunity to become co-publisher of a magazine. Otto Binder was approached by William Woolfolk to edit and co-own a new magazine to cash in on the space craze. It was Woolfolk’s idea, perhaps inspired by Space Age magazine that first appeared in the beginning of 1959, edited by Martin Caidin for Quinn Publishing. Woolfolk recalled, “I had money, but nothing near the money to launch a major magazine, which is a million dollars.”134 Woolfolk had $75,000—a large sum in 1959, but not enough. He needed a partner.
He had already approached Otto about being his editor. “It was between Otto and Willy Ley for that job,” Woolfolk remembered. “I suspect I chose Otto not only because he was highly competent, but also we had been friends for so long.”135 But Woolfolk had difficulty finding investors, and wanted to know if Binder could come up with enough money to make the magazine a “go.”
Binder had nothing like $75,000 to invest. In fact, it seems he had little or no savings at all. What had happened to all the money he’d earned in Captain Marvel’s heyday? Binder himself wondered where it had gone. Taxes had taken much of it, of course, and he had been sending regular checks to Mother Binder all through the years. He also spent freely on his daughter (ballet lessons, music lessons, et al.) and paid for the upkeep of his son Robert, which was expensive. In a later story, Binder puts words in a character’s mouth that could easily have come from his own: “Money! The magic key to the good life! But it only passes through my hands!”136
Space World #2 (July 1960).
™ & © respective copyright holders.
Binder’s only substantial asset was the Englewood house, which he owned free and clear. He was excited and nervous. This might be the opportunity that would ensure his family’s financial future. He was passionate about the subject matter, and loved the idea of editing a space magazine, but would there be enough money in it? It’s certain Woolfolk and Binder did a lot of number crunching. Their conclusion was that if the magazine was a success, they would both do moderately well at first, and very well over time.
In addition, the editor of Space World would have an impressive byline for sales to other media, including books on related subjects. Binder could become the leading popular culture analyst of the space program, and the benefits of exploration in outer space. He figured he ought to be able to make as much or more on related freelance writing as he would in the SW editorial chair. Of course, nothing precluded a return to comics if it didn’t work out.
Otto and Ione mortgaged their house and cashed in an insurance policy so that they could put up $25,000. This was less than Woolfolk hoped for, but it would help. Woolfolk calculated that it ought to be just enough if they planned things carefully: “I knew many ways of going around bargain hunting [for material]. I knew we could get material out of the government, for example. They were anxious to help promote [the space program]. They had writers that would help, too, and I came up with a lot of ideas.”137 It would be up to Otto to coordinate the contents of each issue, including writing some of the articles.
The first issue of Space World was dated May 1960. It sold for fifty-cents a copy, and totaled sixty-eight 8½ x 11 inch pages—the same size as Time. Printed on slick paper, it approximated the appearance and feel of Look or Life magazine.
Otto thought Space World had an excellent chance of catching on. “To me, the real-life astronautics events are more exciting and ‘imaginative’ than any fictional plot I ever had, or ever could conceive,” he said after the magazine was into its third year. “Nothing Adam Link, Anton York, or other science fiction pulp heroes could do, nor any of the most amazing feats of Captain Marvel or Superman, can hold a candle to the supreme adventure of Astronaut John Glenn in merely leaving earth and America for the first time. Nor could all the super-brainy and super-brawny people that marched out of my mind equal a tenth of the thrill I will feel within the near future, when writing of the first men stepping out to stir up the age-old dust on the moon. The factual deed in space e
xploration, even the simplest first step, is infinitely more pulse-pounding than all the greatest epics of heroic fiction. The youth of today are going to live the things we wrote very pale versions about. And I’m going to be their ‘space reporter,’ for as long as I’m privileged to be around as mankind’s venture among the stars unfolds.”138
Otto’s editorial in the first issue began, “Space World is the news magazine of astro-science. In this, our first issue, and in all succeeding issues, we will bring you comprehensive coverage of every important event related to this most exciting era in mankind’s history. Most of you undoubtedly have found the space news from many sources disjointed and even contradictory. We will put the jigsaw puzzle together for you.”
That debut issue began appropriately with “How We Can Beat the Russians,” by Ernest Haussman, and followed with intelligent yet readable pieces by Willy Ley, Wernher von Braun, and Isaac Asimov. Binder wrote “Secrets the Satellites Are Telling,” which explained what earth scientists had learned thus far from the sixteen satellites that had circled the Earth by 1960.
Part of the deal was that Binder would continue to work for Weisinger until the magazine got off the ground and could pay him a salary. But it wasn’t long before he was forced to cut back on his work for National. Weisinger gave him an ultimatum: “Produce more, or I’m going to have to find someone who will.” He did: Superman originator Jerry Siegel, who returned for an equally distinguished run of stories.
Later, Otto wrote that his editorial duties on Space World “resulted in my comics scripts for DC petering away until finally Mort Weisinger understandingly let me off the hook and gave me what he loyally calls ‘an indefinite leave of absence’ with the option of returning to the Superman fold any time I wish.”139 His last work for National was done in October 1960. For the first time since 1940, Otto was completely out of the comic book business. While he continued to earn some money doing freelance science writing, one thing was clear: the Binders’ financial future was riding on the success of Space World.
Otto Binder: The Life and Work of a Comic Book and Science Fiction Visionary Page 16