PAUL KUPPERBERG: My 13 Favorite E. NELSON BRIDWELL Projects
The celebrated Mr. K pays a birthday tribute to the human comics encyclopedia… — UPDATED 9/22/24: The late, great E. Nelson Bridwell was born 93 years ago! Perfect time to reprint this piece, which first ran on his birthday in 2021! Dig it. — Dan — By PAUL KUPPERBERG Nelson Bridwell (Sept. 22, 1931 – Jan. 23, 1987) is a name that should be familiar to every fan of DC Comics’ Silver and Bronze Ages. Starting at DC in 1965 as assistant to Superman editor Mort Weisinger, Nelson would spend the next 30 years helping shape the adventures of the Superman family of characters as both an editor and a writer. Nelson had an encyclopedic mind and was an expert on not only DC’s history and continuity, but the Bible and the works of Shakespeare as well, but we knew him mainly as the company’s Chief Continuity Cop. Nelson was one of the first professionals I ever met, in 1971 when Paul Levitz and I went up to DC to gather news for our fanzine Etcetera (which would become The Comic Reader). Later, he would serve as my collaborator or editor on two of my early high-profile assignments (more on them below), but he was always on call to answer those tough Kryptonian trivia questions, such as, “Hey, Nelson, where was the habitat of the Thought-Beast?” and, “What was the name of Jor-El’s nasty cousin when he was a boy?” (The Scarlet Jungle and Cru-El. For real.) Coincidentally, I posted about Nelson recently on my website in a short piece (from which I cribbed some of this intro) accompanying a 1981 interview with Nelson from the fanzine Comics Feature, so please do check that out for more of his story in his own words. Which leaves me nothing left to say except I hope you’ll join me in remembering Nelson, who was born 90 years ago, and enjoy these, MY 13 FAVORITE E. NELSON BRIDWELL PROJECTS, in chronological order: — Mad Magazine #38 (March 1958). The funny thing about Nelson was that upon meeting him, “funny” wasn’t your first impression. He was a roundish man with a crewcut and horn-rimmed glasses in a black suit, with a shy demeanor and friendly smile, so you had to really listen to realize how funny he actually was. Or have read his body of...
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