Julius Schwartz, R.I.P.
Mark Evanier described Julius Schwartz as well as anyone could:
He was one of the founding fathers of science-fiction fandom and later of comic book fandom. For a time, he was an agent for science-fiction authors where among other accomplishments, he sold the first stories by a kid named Ray Bradbury. But you could only go so far in that field so when he heard about an opening as an editor of comic books, he grabbed it, figuring it might be good for a few years of increased income. On his way to the job interview, he later claimed, he read the first comic book he’d ever read. He apparently gleaned enough of the form because for the rest of his life, Julius Schwartz was not only an employee of DC Comics but, some said, the best comic book editor there ever was.
Some of the best comics I ever read in my life as a comics fan were edited by Julius Schwartz. I wanted to say thank you, so a couple of weeks ago I sent in an e-mail to an address that Evanier set up to receive well-wishes while Schwartz was in the hospital. Probably he never got to see my message, but I hope that the overwhelming number of messages let him know that there are a lot of people in the world who benefited from his work.
So long, Julie. Thanks for the ride. (sniff)
Old school AFSCME has coliced with union tech. Keep it up Ms A.K. We used to share a house and bits of a zine, now its goals by net. A volunyeer union goon I is and will remain JCD
It took me a while to figure out who you were from that cryptic message. The zine clue was the giveaway. 🙂 Hello.