Jerry Bails, PhD, retired from teaching science at Wayne State University in the mid-1990s, and passed away on November 23, 2006. His life’s work, Who’s Who in American Comic Books, is available online. His wife Jean, who has represented Jerry in the comics community on occasion, continues to live in St. Clair Shores, Michigan.
Bill Spicer has kept a relatively low profile over the years after Graphic Story Magazine (formerly Fantasy Illustrated) finished its run in 1975, though he followed it up by publishing a few issues of the broader based pop culture Fanfare. Starting in 1968, he worked as a freelance comic book letterer for Western Publishing (Gold Key), then Dark Horse (notably Paul Chadwick’s Concrete and The World Below, plus many one-shots), and numerous long-running manga serials for Viz Comics until 2006, when he retired. Most recently he has written articles for and contributed vintage material to three upscale biographies—Grant Geissman’s The Mad Life and Fantastic Art of Al Feldstein!, Fantagraphics’ His World: The Art and Life of Wallace Wood, and volume one of Greg Sadowski’s Creeping Death from Neptune: The Life and Comics of Basil Wolverton.
Roy Thomas, who became one of the most prolific and influential writers in comic books’ Silver Age and beyond, continues to actively write for the medium, when he can spare the time from editing the revival of Alter Ego that took flight in 1998 and is currently published eight times a year. He has written for both movies and television, and is the author of the humongous 75 Years of Marvel (Taschen, 2014). Roy and his wife (and sometime writing partner) Dann live on a forty-acre estate in South Carolina, along with an assortment of llamas, birds, and other beasts.
Louis Black, who probably spent more actual time with Binder than any other fan, now resides in Austin, Texas, where he is the founder and editor of the weekly Austin Chronicle and a co-founder of the South By Southwest Music, Film, and Interactive Conferences. Over the past decade Black has devoted much of his energy to producing films, including Be Here To Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt; the Peabody Award winning The Order of Myths; and Sir Doug and the Genuine Texas Cosmic Groove, a documentary about Doug Sahm. He is currently producing narrative films as well while preparing an American Masters episode on Richard Linklater. He still collects comic books.
Michael Uslan is the originator and executive producer of the Batman/Dark Knight movie franchise and the author of the memoir, The Boy Who Loved Batman (Chronicle Books, 2011). At age thirteen, Otto Binder became his mentor into the world of comic book history and transformed his life.
In reality, many others received manna from Binder during the Golden Age of comic fandom: Wayne DeWald, Robert Klein, Martin Greim, Phil Seuling, John Benson, Frank Miller, Bob Cosgrove, Al Bradford, and the list goes on.
Alas, virtually all of Otto’s friends and colleagues from the 1940s are gone now, and most from the 1950s too: Isaac Asimov, C. C. Beck, Wendell Crowley, Al Feldstein, Kurt Schaffenberger, Julius Schwartz, Mort Weisinger, and Bill Woolfolk. Fortunately, they are remembered in dozens of books devoted to telling the history of the pulps and the comic books of those wonderful, halcyon days, when—as Woolfolk put it—“we were young men in the prime of our youth, with plenty of money and plenty of acceptance. It was a great time.”
APPENDIX
OTTO BINDER BIBLIOGRAPHY
Works written before 1936 were written in collaboration with Earl Binder, under the nom de plume “Eando Binder.” Those subsequent science fiction writings credited to “Eando” were written solely by Otto. For clarity, the stories that are documented as co-written by Earl Binder are marked with an asterisk (eighteen short stories, two serials, and two novels).
SCIENCE FICTION: NOVELS AND COLLECTIONS
*1934 Dawn to Dusk, Wonder Stories: Nov, Dec, & Jan 1935
*1934 Enslaved Brains, Wonder Stories: July, Aug, & Sept (rpt. in Fantastic Story, 1951; Avalon, 1965)
1936 Spawn of Eternal Thought, Astounding: April/May
1937 Queen of the Skies, Astounding: Nov
1939 The Impossible World, Startling Stories: Mar (rpt. Curtis, 1967)
1939 Lords of Creation, Argosy (rpt. Belmont, 1969)
*1939 Martian Martyrs (as John Coleridge), Science Fiction: Mar (rpt. Columbia, 1940)
1939 Prison of Time, Dynamic Science Stories: April/May
1940 The Cancer Machine, Richard Frank
1940 Five Steps to Tomorrow, Startling Stories (rpt. Curtis, 1968)
*1940 The New Life (as John Coleridge), Science Fiction: Mar (rpt. Columbia, 1940)
1965 Adam Link—Robot, Paperback Library
“I, Robot”
“The Trial of Adam Link”
“Adam Link in Business”
“Adam Link’s Vengeance”
“Adam Link, Robot Detective”
“Adam Link, Champion Athlete”
“Adam Link Saves the World”
1965 Anton York, Immortal, Belmont Books
Conquest of Life
Life Eternal
The Three Eternals
The Secret of Anton York
1967 The Avengers Battle the Earth-Wreckers, Bantam
1969 Menace of the Saucers, Belmont Books
1971 The Double Man, Curtis
1971 Get Off My World, Curtis
1971 Night of the Saucers, Belmont Books
1971 Puzzle of the Space Pyramids, Curtis
1971 Secret of the Red Spot, Curtis
1971 Terror in the Bay (as Ione Frances Turek), Curtis
1972 The Mind from Outer Space, Curtis
1972 The Forgotten Colony (as Otto O. Binder), Popular Library
1973 The Frontier’s Secret (as Ian Francis Turek), Popular Library
1973 The Hospital Horror (as Otto O. Binder), Popular Library
NONFICTION
1959 The Golden Book of Space Travel, Golden Press
1959 The Moon: Our Neighboring World, Golden Press
1959 Planets: Other Worlds of Our Solar System, Golden Press
1960 Golden Book of Atomic Energy, Golden Press
1961 Golden Book of Jets and Rockets, Golden Press
1962 On Tiptoe Beyond Darwin, private edition
1962 Victory in Space, Walker
1963 Careers in Space, Walker
1964 Riddles of Astronomy, Basic Books
1967 What We Really Know About Flying Saucers, Fawcett
1968 Flying Saucers Are Watching Us, Belmont Books
1974 Mankind: Child of the Stars (with Max H. Flindt), Fawcett (rev. of On Tiptoe Beyond Darwin, 1962)
SHORT STORIES AND NOVELLAS
*“The First Martian,” Amazing Stories, 1932 (first story)
*The Moon Mines, Wonder Stories, April 1933
*“Murder on the Asteroid,” Wonder Stories, June 1933
*“The Green Cloud of Space,” Wonder Stories, May 1934
*“85 and 87,” Amazing Stories, Oct 1934
*The Thieves from Isot, Wonder Stories, Oct 1934
*The Robot Aliens, Wonder Stories, Feb 1935
*“Shadows of Blood,” Weird Tales, April 1935
*“Set Your Course by the Stars,” Astounding, May 1935
*“In a Graveyard,” Weird Tales, Oct 1935
*Ships That Come Back, Astounding, Nov 1935
The Crystal Curse, Weird Tales, Mar 1936
The Hormone Menace, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Aug 1936
“The Time Entity,” Astounding, Oct 1936
“Static,” Thrilling Wonder Stories, Dec 1936
“S O S in Space,” Astounding, Jan 1937
“The Elixir of Death,” Weird Tales, Mar 1937
Life Disinherited, Astounding, Mar 1937
*The Chemical Murder, Amazing Stories, April 1937
The Judgement Sun, Thrilling Wonder Stories, April 1937
“Diamond Planetoid” (as Gordon A. Giles), Astounding, May 1937
“Strange Vision,” Astounding, May 1937
The Chessboard of Mars, Thrilling Wonder Stories, June 1937
“The Ring Bonanza,�
� Startling Stories, July 1947
Conquest of Life, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Aug 1937
“Vision of the Hydra” (as Gordon A. Giles), Thrilling Wonder Stories, Aug 1937
“When the Sun Went Out,” Astounding, Sept 1937
*“A Comet Passes,” Thrilling Wonder Stories, Oct 1937
“Via Etherline (as Gordon A. Giles), Thrilling Wonder Stories, Oct 1937
Queen of the Skies, Astounding, Nov 1937
*Blue Beam of Pestilence, Amazing Stories, Dec 1937
“The Time Contractors,” Astounding, Dec 1937
The Anti-Weapon, Astounding, Feb 1938
Life Eternal, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Feb 1938
“Via Asteroid” (as Gordon A. Giles), Thrilling Wonder Stories, Feb 1938
Wayward World (as Gordon A. Giles), Astounding, Feb 1938
Eye of the Past, Astounding, Mar 1938
From the Beginning, Weird Tales, June 1938
The Space Pirate, Amazing Stories, June 1938
“Via Death” (as Gordon A. Giles), Thrilling Wonder Stories, Aug 1938
“The Atom Smasher” (as Gordon A. Giles), Amazing Stories, Oct 1938
“Orestes Revolts,” Astounding, Oct 1938
“Master of Telepathy,” Amazing Stories, Dec 1938
The Metal Ocean, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Dec 1938
“I, Robot,” Amazing Stories, Jan 1939 (1st Adam Link story)
“Science Island,” Startling Stories, Jan 1939
Flight of the Starshell (as Gordon A. Giles), Thrilling Wonder Stories, Feb 1939
Valley of Lost Souls Amazing Stories, Feb 1939
The Impossible World, Startling Stories, Mar 1939
“Trapped by Telepathy,” Amazing Stories, Mar 1939
“The Flame from Nowhere,” Amazing Stories, April 1939
“The Jules Verne Express,” Thrilling Wonder Stories, April 1939
“Rope Trick,” Astounding, April 1939
The Invisible Robinhood, Fantastic Adventures, May 1939
“Moon of Intoxication,” Thrilling Wonder Stories, June 1939
“Giants of Anarchy,” Weird Tales, June-July 1939
*“The Life Battery,” Startling Stories, July 1939
“The Trial of Adam Link,” Amazing Stories, July 1939
The Man Who Saw Too Late, Fantastic Adventures, Sept 1939
The Missing Year, Amazing Stories, Oct 1939
“Via Venus” (as Gordon A. Giles), Thrilling Wonder Stories, Oct 1939
The Three Eternals, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Dec 1939
“Where Eternity Ends,” Science Fiction, 1939
“Adam Link in Business,” Amazing Stories, Jan 1940
“Via Pyramid” (as Gordon A. Giles), Thrilling Wonder Stories, Jan 1940
“Waters of Death,” Thrilling Wonder Stories, Jan 1940
“Adam Link’s Vengeance,” Amazing Stories, Feb 1940
“Son of the Stars,” Famous Fantastic Mysteries, Feb 1940
“The Little People,” Fantastic Adventures, Mar 1940
The Time Cheaters, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Mar 1940
“Via Sun” (as Gordon A. Giles), Thrilling Wonder Stories, Mar 1940
“Adam Link, Robot Detective,” Amazing Stories, May 1940
“Gems of Life,” Thrilling Wonder Stories, May 1940
“The Destroyers of Mars,” Action Stories, June 1940
*“Doom From the Void” (as John Coleridge), Science Fiction, June 1940
“Adam Link, Champion Athlete,” Amazing Stories, July 1940
Five Steps to Tomorrow, Startling Stories, July 1940
The Secret of Anton York, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Aug 1940
*“Polar Doom” (as John Coleridge), SF Quarterly, Summer 1940
“Via Mercury” (as Gordon A. Giles), Thrilling Wonder Stories, Oct 1940
“Via Catacombs” (as Gordon A. Giles), Thrilling Wonder Stories, Nov 1940
“Adam Link Fights a War,” Amazing Stories, Dec 1940
“Via Intelligence” (as Gordon A. Giles), Thrilling Wonder Stories, Dec 1940
One Thousand Miles Below, Planet Stories, Winter 1940
The Cancer Machine, R. Frank’s Bizarre Series, 1940
“And Return,” Comet, Jan 1941
“Adam Link in the Past,” Amazing Stories, Feb 1941
“The Teacher from Mars,” Thrilling Wonder Stories, Feb 1941
“The Winking Lights of Mars” (as Gordon A. Giles), Amazing Stories, Feb 1941
*“The Life Beyond” (as John Coleridge), Science Fiction, Mar 1941
“Mystery World,” Thrilling Wonder Stories, April 1941
“Adam Link Faces a Revolt,” Amazing Stories, May 1941
Land of the Shadow Dragons, Fantastic Adventures, May 1941
“We Are One, Comet, May 1941
Vassals of the Master World, Planet Stories, Fall 1941
Via Jupiter, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Feb 1942
“Adam Link Saves the World,” Amazing Stories, April 1942
“Space Hitch-Hiker,” Super Science Stories, May 1942
“Double or Nothing,” Thrilling Wonder Stories, Oct 1942
After an Age, Amazing Stories, Nov 1942
“The Spore Doom,” Fantastic Story, Fall 1950
Enslaved Brains, (see also earlier entry), Fantastic Story, Winter 1951
“The Time Cylinder,” Science Fiction Plus, Mar 1953
“Cosmic Blinker,” Science Fiction Plus, May 1953
“A Warning to the Furious,” Fantasy & Science Fiction, Aug 1953
“The Monster,” Science Fiction Quarterly, Feb 1954
“The Violators,” Planet Stories, Fall 1954
“Iron Man,” Future, 1955
“All in Good Time,” Signs and Wonders (ed. R. Elwood), Revell, 1972
“Any Resemblance to Magic,” The Long Night of Waiting (ed. R. Elwood), Aurora, 1974
“Better Dumb Than Dead,” Journey to Another Star (ed. R. Elwood), Lerner, 1974
“The Killer Plants” (as Giles A. Gordon), The Killer Plants (ed. R. Elwood), Lerner, 1974
“The Missing World,” The Missing World (ed. R. Elwood), Lerner, 1974
Otto Binder also wrote eighty-seven short Jon Jarl text stories for Captain Marvel Adventures. (The last four were unpublished, due to the sudden cancellation of CMA.)
COMIC BOOK BIBLIOGRAPHY
As mentioned in the body of this book, Otto Binder wrote over three thousand comic book stories from 1938 to 1969. In the 1940s, his only competitors with regard to output were Gardner Fox, Gaylord DuBois, and Robert Kanigher. This author does not propose to list them here, due to space considerations. Binder’s own list of his comics work runs some seventy pages, and he left off in 1964. (He continued to write for comic books until 1970.)
Readers who wish to investigate his comic book credits in detail are referred to the Grand Comics Database at www.comics.org. A search using Binder’s name can be done and printed out; however, be sure you have plenty of paper in your printer.
For those interested in seeing a bit of Otto Binder’s personal records of his comic book work, some samples are reproduced on the following pages.
ENDNOTES
CHAPTER 2—AN AMERICAN TALE BEGINS
1. Jim Steranko, The Steranko History of Comics, Vol. 2 (Reading, PA: Supergraphics, 1972), 13. Steranko cites Michael “Curley” Binder’s date of birth as November 25, 1906. Since the April 12 date comes from a letter written by Otto Binder to Jerry Bails dated January 28, 1970, I defer to Otto on this (admittedly) minor point.
2. Otto Binder, Memoirs of a Nobody [unpublished], 1948.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid. Binder must have been referring to A Princess of Mars or another John Carter book, for Edgar Rice Burroughs never wrote a book with the published title John Carter of Mars.
5. Otto Binder and Earl Binder, “An Autobiographical Sketch of Eando Binder,” Fantasy Magazine no. 38 (September 1936): 14.
6. The “and” in “Eando�
�� could be said to be derived from the first three letters of Earl Andrew Binder’s middle name.
7. Otto Binder and Earl Binder, “An Autobiographical Sketch of Eando Binder,” 14.
8. Eando Binder, “85 and 87,” Amazing Stories 9, no. 6 (October 1934): 96.
9. Otto Binder and Earl Binder, “An Autobiographical Sketch of Eando Binder,” 15.
10. Ibid.
11. Jim Steranko, History of Comics, Vol. 2, 13.
12. Ibid.
CHAPTER 3—CONNECTIONS
13. E. Hoffmann Price, “Otis Adelbert Kline: Two Memoirs,” in Oak Leaves 1, no. 2, ed. David Anthony Kraft (Winter 1970–71): 3.
14. Tom Fagan, J. Randolph Scott, and Frank Miller, interview with Otto Binder [unpublished], October 29, 1973.
15. David Anthony Kraft, unpublished interview with Otto Binder, from a forthcoming book on Otis Adelbert Kline. This excerpt is © 2016 by David Anthony Kraft, Agent for the literary estate of Otis Adelbert Kline.
16. The term fanzine, a contraction of fan and magazine, wasn’t coined until 1941, when SF fan Louis Russell Chauvenet used the term in print.
17. Although “sf” (lower case) is often used to abbreviate “science fiction” by writers and fans of the genre, the author feels that those unaccustomed to this practice will be better served by using “SF” (capitalized) throughout this book.
18. Sam Moskowitz, The Immortal Storm (Westport, CT: Hyperion Press, Inc., 1974), 13.
19. Richard Lupoff, “Otto O. Binder (1911–1974),” Locus magazine no. 167 (1974): 1, 2.
Otto Binder: The Life and Work of a Comic Book and Science Fiction Visionary Page 27