The Bill Schelly Reader: Collected Essays about Comic Books, Comic Fandom & James Bond

by Bill Schelly, Bob McLain (Editor), Jeff Gelb (Foreword)

The Best of Bill

Bill Schelly has been writing about comics and fandom since 1965. In over 50 years one can do a lot of writing, and The Bill Schelly Reader includes some of the author's best work on subjects ranging from the golden age of comic fandom to James Bond.

Schelly takes us back to the very beginnings of comic fandom with such articles as:

"Batmania": a short history of the early 1960s fanzine (the first fanzine Bill Schelly ever read) credited for a resurgence of interest in Batman comics during a time of dwindling sales

"The First Comicons": a retrospective on the first conventions organized by comics fans, from the Alley Tally Party to larger events in major cities like New York and Chicago

"It Started on Yancy Street": an issue-by-issue look at the first fanzine devoted entirely to Marvel Comics, and why an unwelcome decision by Marvel led to its demise

In addition, book includes articles about the Silver Age Batman, Hawkman by Joe Kubert, the James Bond books by Ian Fleming, and an interview with the author. With dozens of vintage photos and images!

“Bill Schelly is one of the great writers about comics and fandom.”
Alex Dueben, Smash Pages

252 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 4, 2019

About the author

BILL SCHELLY is the Eisner Award-winning author of HARVEY KURTZMAN, THE MAN WHO CREATED MAD AND REVOLUTIONIZED HUMOR IN AMERICA, voted Best Comics-Related Book of 2015. He began researching the history of comic fandom in 1991, resulting in the book The Golden Age of Comic Fandom (1995), then became associate editor of Alter Ego magazine, a post he holds to the present day. Schelly has written several biographies of film and comics artists, including movie comedian Harry Langdon and comic book scribe Otto Binder, co-creator of Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes. In 2008, he authored Man of Rock, a biography of celebrated comics writer-artist Joe Kubert. Schelly's American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1950’S (2013) was nominated for a Harvey Award. He has received acclaim as the premier historian of comic fandom, and perhaps the top biographer of comic book creators.

Reviews

[David Macpherson · Rating 4 out of 5]

All in all, this was a very nice collection of articles about early comic fandom and comic book creators. The writing is clear and the research was quite good. Early comic fandom is not my pirmary interest but the writing made it very enjoyable.. I really liked the descriptions of what it took to create a fanzine back in the day they to use stencils and mimeographs.