Sense of Wonder: My Life in Comic Fandom--The Whole Story
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).
"1126839686"
Sense of Wonder: My Life in Comic Fandom--The Whole Story
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).
19.95 In Stock
Sense of Wonder: My Life in Comic Fandom--The Whole Story

Sense of Wonder: My Life in Comic Fandom--The Whole Story

by Bill Schelly
Sense of Wonder: My Life in Comic Fandom--The Whole Story

Sense of Wonder: My Life in Comic Fandom--The Whole Story

by Bill Schelly

Paperback

$19.95 
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Overview

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).

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781623171513
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
Publication date: 04/17/2018
Pages: 392
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

BILL SCHELLY has been chronicling and adding to the pop culture fringes since the mid-1960s. He became widely known in the comics community thanks to his popular fanzine Sense of Wonder (1967-1972). In 1998, he became associate editor of the Eisner Award-winning magazine Alter Ego, a post he still holds. Schelly has written several biographies of film and comics artists, including comedian Harry Langdon and Joe Kubert. His American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1950s was nominated for a Harvey Award. He recently authored Harvey Kurtzman, The Man Who Created Mad and Revolutionized Humor in America, which was published in 2015. It received the Will Eisner Comics Industry Award in 2016 for Best Comics-Related Book. Schelly has also received an Inkpot Award from Comic-Con International: San Diego.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

Part 1

1 More Powerful than a Locomotive 7

2 Family Matters 15

3 The Day it All Clicked 23

4 Welcome to Fandomland 37

5 I Yam What I Yam 59

6 Enter: Marshall Lanz 81

7 Sense of Wonder the Birth of the Fanzine 95

8 Coloring Outside the Lines 105

9 Full-Throttle Fanac 121

10 Stranger in a Strange Land 133

11 Confessions of a Fanzine Editor 151

12 Blame it on the Bossa Nova 163

13 A Successor for Alter ego 181

14 The Life you Save May be your own 195

15 Secret Identity no More 207

16 The Pulsing heart of fandom 215

17 The Fan Sitting two rows Back 231

Part 2

18 Breaking up is Hard to do 241

19 Giving Voice to Silent Films 255

20 Super Ups, Super Downs, Super Comics 267

21 Putting Down Roots 287

22 Batman Brought me Back 297

23 The Golden age of Comic Fandom 317

24 Hamster Press 329

25 The Apt of Biography 347

26 Jaimeson's Journey 367

27 Fandom's Fiftieth Birthday 383

28 Mad About Harvey 391

29 Love Street 405

Index 410

About the Author 420

Other Books Bill Schelly 421

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