Recently when I was in my regular comic book shop, Third Eye Comics of Annapolis (who are the
BEST in the business), I found a book called "Sense of Wonder" by Bill Schelly. I don't remember Bill's name, but he's been in the comic fanzine business since the 1960s, creating Fan publications about comic books. He's also a talented artist and has written and illustrated his own characters in his fanzines.
Although I never read a fanzine about comics, and stuck to the superhero comics themselves, this book also caught my attention because Bill came out of the closet, too (which is just a very minor part of the story). The story is really about the comic book movement and his part in promoting it, and meeting so many famous writers and artists in the comic book field in the 70s, 80s and beyond.
This is a great book for any comic book fan!- Rob
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).