PAUL KUPPERBERG: My 13 Favorite JULIUS SCHWARTZ Moments in Comics
A BIRTHDAY SALUTE: The storied DC editor was born 110 years ago, on June 19, 1915… — UPDATED 6/19/25: This piece first ran on Julius Schwartz’s birthday in 2021, in slightly different form. It holds up just as well today. Dig it. — Dan — Paul Kupperberg — comics writer, novelist, historian and 13th Dimension columnist — has a spectacular new publication out: Direct Comments, collecting about two dozen never-completely-published interviews from the ’70s to the ’90s, mostly with some of DC’s greatest creators. We’re talking folks like John Byrne, Denny O’Neil, Jerry Ordway, Jim Aparo, Dick Giordano and many, many more. You can order the $20 paperback through Amazon — and to spotlight this treasure trove of comics-history gold, we’re kicking off a weekly series in which Paul will pay tribute to his favorite works by 13 of these creators. The series will mostly run weekends through the summer, with a few exceptions, and many installments will be timed to the creators’ birthdays. Of course, there’s no better place to start than with famed DC editor Julius Schwartz, whose interview is in the book — and who was born 110 years ago on June 19, 1915. — Dan By PAUL KUPPERBERG “I told Alfie (Bester) I could see no reason for going down and applying for the job (as editor at All American Comics). I had no qualifications whatsoever. Including that I had never read a comic book in my life. In fact, people in the science fiction community had a name for people who worked in comic books, “squinkas,” a name thought up by Manley Wade Wellman, who was one of my clients. Because, he explained, that when he read a comic book, he sort of had to squink his eyes to read the copy. The funny part is, that although I had never read a comic book, I knew everyone in the science fiction field who was involved in comics. … In any event, I brought a couple of comic books, read them going down on the subway to 25 Lafayette Street, I believe it was. I was interviewed by the editor-in-chief, the only editor there at the time was Sheldon Mayer. He must have been delighted by my abilities and qualifications, so he hired me.” — Julie Schwartz, from Direct Comments: Comic Book Creators in...
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