Jerry Bails
Encyclopedia
Jerry Gwin Bails was an American popular culturist
. Known as the "Father of Comic Book Fandom", he was one of the first to approach the comic book
field as a subject worthy of academic study, and was a primary force in establishing 1960s comics fandom.
, Missouri
. A fan of comic books from a very early age, Bails was a particularly avid fan of All-Star Comics, and its premiere superteam (the Justice Society of America
) of whom he was "a fan since the first Justice Society adventure appeared in All-Star Comics #3 (Winter 1941)." He wrote in 1960 that by 1945, he "began my campaign to collect all the back issue
s of this magazine [All-Star Comics]," and six years later when the JSA was dropped, started to work towards their revival.
("and Al Feldstein
was nice enough to respond with advice.")," before attending the University of Kansas City, from which he earned his Bachelor of Science
degree in Physics, and then his Master's degree
in Math. A student teacher by 1953, he gained his Ph.D.
in Natural science
c.1959, and in 1960 moved to Detroit with his wife Sondra "to become Assistant Professor of Natural Science at Wayne State University
."
) to inquire about issues of All-Star Comics. His letter was forwarded to former Justice Society writer Gardner Fox
, and from Fox's reply of July 9th, 1953, the two corresponded regularly. Bails was working steadily toward re-building his personal collection of the early issues of All Star Comics, and was finally able to convince Fox in early 1959 to sell him Fox's personal bound copies of All-Star Comics #1-24.
to Julius Schwartz
similarly inquiring about back issues of All-Star Comics led to Schwartz also putting Thomas in contact with All-Star writer Gardner Fox
. Fox informed Thomas that "he had sold his bound volumes [of All-Star Comics] to a gent named Jerry Bails", and put Thomas in touch with the Detroit-based Bails. Bails and Thomas would go on to "exchange . . . 100 pages' worth of letters in less than five months" starting from the end of November 1960, and forge a friendship which in Thomas' words "set in motion a chain of events which led to Alter Ego, organized comics fandom, the Alley Awards, and maybe a bit more."
#28 (1959
), Bails felt his "efforts [had] finally paid off," and his career as an active fan began. He soon bombarded the DC offices with suggestions for new superhero revivals. For instance, in Justice League of America #4, the letters page
is filled with missives from Bails under different pen names. He did everything he could to fool editor Julius Schwartz
, including mailing the letters from all across the country.
In particular, Bails petitioned for the monthly publication of the JLA, and a year later for the revival of the Golden Age Atom as an all-new "6"-high" hero (to better reflect the name), which "whether as a result of Jerry's prodding DC
or by mere coincidence" revival occurred in January, 1961.
's The Facts Behind Superman, James Taurasi's Fantasy Comics and Bhob Stewart
's The EC Fan Bulletin in 1953-54. These were followed by Ron Parker's Hoohah, Dick and Pat Lupoff's Xero
and Don and Maggie Thompson
's Comic Art. Xero presented essays about comics ultimately collected in a 1970 book, All in Color for a Dime, published in hardcover by Arlington House and by Ace in paperback. Although Bails' innovative ideas changed the shape of comics fandom, and arguably shaped it anew, Xero had a significant role to play in Bails' work.
Bill Schelly writes that, while important building blocks, the science fiction fanzines should be considered in the context of comics fandom. He notes that Don and Maggie Thompson's Comic Art and Xero were published by double-fans [science fiction and comics] and were read mainly by sf fans who generally had little interest in (or disdain for) new comics, even the Schwartz revivals. The Thompsons' interest was in just about every aspect of comic art but the superhero comics of 1961.
Helped in large part to the efforts of DC editor Julius Schwartz
and writer Gardner Fox
, Bails would play a pivotal role in the fledgling field of comics fandom, which he called "panelology" (the study of comics).
, one of the very earliest superhero
comics
fanzine
s. "On January 26, 1961," wrote Roy Thomas in 2003, "I received a letter from Jerry mentioning his idea for a "JLA newsletter" . . . [to which he was intending] to try to enlist Julie Schwartz's cooperation" in February, 1961. The projected title and scope of The JLA Subscriber "gave way to something more ambitious" and, returning from visiting the DC offices in New York, Bails:
Schwartz had, indeed, given Bails copies of Xero #1-3, as well as personal advice and memories based on his own involvement in the earliest science fiction fandom of the 1930s, in which Schwartz played an important — perhaps even integral — role. Working with Thomas and in conjunction with Schwartz, Bails contacted other comic book letter writers and invited them to subscribe to and participate in Alter Ego. Thomas was named co-editor, and asked to contribute "a Mad
-style parody, "The Bestest League of America." By March 28, Bails had prepared the ditto masters
, and shortly thereafter "200 or more" copies of the first issue of the 21-page Alter-Ego #1 (now with a capital "E") were posted to Bails' ever-growing list of fans. The issue featured a "Bestest League" cover by Thomas and Bails, in homage to Mike Sekowsky
's cover for The Brave and the Bold
#29. The finished article became "an amateur journal devoted to the revivals of the costumed heroes at DC and elsewhere, as well as historical studies of what Bails deemed 'The First Heroic Age of Comics
.'"
The original run of Alter Ego lasted 11 issues, spread over a total of 17 years. Ten issues were released between 1961 and 1969, with issue #11 following nine years later, in 1978. Bails edited and published the first four issues of Alter-Ego, before turning it over to fan-artist Ronn Foss (and, initially, Foss' wife, plus his friend "Grass" Green
) who edited issues #5-6. Roy Thomas
edited a further four issues solo, and issue #11 almost a decade later in collaboration with Mike Friedrich
.
's Comic Book Artist. A third, standalone volume was launched as a separate magazine (with similarly revived fanzine the Fawcett Collectors of America as a section) in 1999, and continues to 2011.
The major motivating force behind comics fandom "was to bring fans together for the purpose of adding to their comic book collections." Inspired in part by the science-fiction fanzine/"adzine" The Fantasy Collector, comics fandom had "a need for a publication devoted primarily to the field" rather than the occasional advertisements of comics for sale that appeared in The Fantasy Collector.
Bails' initial thought was "to run such ads in each issue of A/E, but it soon became clear that it couldn't be published often enough." Accordingly, in September, 1961, the first issue of the 20-page Bails-published The Comicollector, the self-styled "companion to ALTER-EGO" (as the masthead declared it), and "first comics advertising fanzine." Included among adverts from the "stalwarts of fandom" (including Bails, John McGeehan and Ronn Foss among others) was a review of the first issue of The Fantastic Four by Roy Thomas, originally destined for the pages of Alter-Ego.
After publishing The Comicollector for a year, Bails passed it on to Ronn Foss, and in 1964 it merged with G. B. Love's fanzine The Rocket's Blast to form The Rocket's Blast and the ComiCollector.
Spinning-off from Alter-Ego after appearing for three issues as a column within that publication, Bails' On the Drawing Board "was devoted to blurbs and news items pertaining to upcoming events in pro comics." Thanks to the links forged, and respect gained, by Bails with various key individuals involved in the creation of comics — and in particular, DC Comics
' major editorial force Julius Schwartz
— he was able to gain advanced knowledge and news of upcoming comics events, launchs and the creators behind them. Released in standalone form as "a single-page news-sheet," On the Drawing Board #4 (#1-3 being applied to the columns appearing in those issues of A/E) debuted on October 7, 1961. Bill Schelly described, in 2003, its impact:
In March 1962, issue #8 was retitled The Comics Reader, and the (generally) monthly title became "a mainstay of fandom," as Bails ceded his editorial duties, continuing until the 1980s under a succession of editors — first Glen Johnson, and later individuals including Mark Hanerfeld and Paul Levitz
, among others.
, the name and workings of the Academy of Comic Book Fans & Collectors became a way "to emphasize the seriousness of comics fans about their hobby." Bails further liked "the idea of a fandom organization that would not only perpetuate the concept of comics as an art form, but would also act as a sort of umbrella for all his ideas and projects, and those of others." The ACBFC's charter, "enthusiastically endorsed by members of fandom" detailed the Academy's intentions: formation of the Alley Awards, publication of The Comic Reader and "a directory of comic fans," to assist in establishing a yearly comics convention and to endorse a "code of fair practice in the selling and trading of comic books." The group lasted at least through early 1969, with a "Marvel Bullpen Bulletins" fan page in Marvel Comics noting that the group "holds an annual poll to determine the most popular;r mags, writers and artists of the preceding year," and directing fans to obtain a ballot from future comics professional Mark Hanerfeld at 42-42 Colden Street in Flushing, New York, part of the New York City
borough
of Queens
.
Bails introduced and attempted to popularize the term "panelologist" for comics fans and their hobby, implying a study of the panels which make up comics. Bails served as the Academy's first Executive Secretary, later passing his role on to fellow fan Paul Gambaccini
(who termed himself "ExecSec2"), who later gave way to David Kaler. The Academy waned, however, "and it was disbanded for lack of interest by the decade's end."
Bails also worked on and published extensive crossreferencing systems allowing researchers the ability to follow the published credits of Golden Age comic book creators. As this approach had never been used before, the data were later appended, and have since been adapted by a variety of comic price guides and comic book historians.
" by Thomas "because surely a caveman had to be the earliest superhero chronologically." (Bill Schelly notes no one "bothered to ask the NEA Syndicate for permission to utilize V. T. Hamlin's comic strip character.")
The Alley Awards were tallied yearly for comics produced during the previous year, with the last year the awards were given out being 1969.
, Mike Vosburg
, and Grass Green
.
Bill Schelly
(among others) notes that the Alley Tally and "even larger fan meetings in Chicago . . . helped build momentum" for these earliest conventions. Bails himself was "on the organizing committee" for the Detroit Triple Fan Fair, 1964. THE DTFF would continue sporadically through the 1970s under its initial format, though expanded; while primarily a comic convention, the event also gave balanced coverage to historic film showings (often running all night long for the convention's duration) and science-fiction literature, in a manner that provided a template for many future convention organizers--most of whom have yet to attain the same level of equal service to this sort of linked fan base.
publication, CAPA-alpha
.
Between 1963 and 1964, "new fanzines were popping up right and left . . . [as] a lot of fans were infected by the "publishing bug," many of them talented writers and artists." In an attempt to focus these emerging talents, and head off the over-abundance of "crud-zines" (poor quality fanzines), which seemed to equal in number their good quality counterparts, Bails adapted the long-standing practice of amateur press alliance
(APAs) for comics, creating the first all-comics APA, "CAPA-alpha" (the first — e.g., 'alpha' — 'Comics A.P.A.').
This allowed the easy formulation of a fanzine, created through submissions by each of its fifty-strong membership, who could all contribute short submissions on a regular basis. Compiled in the regular APA mold by a 'central mailer' (in which role Bails first served), copies of the membership's individual submissions could then be collated and mailed out to everyone. "Now," explained fandom historian Bill Schelly, "fans could get into print and retain editorial control of their material, without publishing their own fanzine."
's Great Comic Book Heroes (1965), Bails' microfilm library was the major source of "substitutes for the real" comics themselves, which were rarely reprinted.
To accommodate readers who did not have access to a microfilm reader, Bails offered a reproduction service of "cover photographs, spanning most of the key #1 issues from the World War II
era," in black & white for $2. These reproductions pre-dated by three decades the four volumes of comic book covers published as The Photo-Journal Guide to Comic Books by Ernie Gerber in the mid-1990s.
Naturally Bails' early efforts dealt with All-Star Comics and DC, in first his All-Star Index and then an Authoritative Index to DC Comics. With Howard Keltner in particular, Bails then compiled several extensive wider inventories of "Golden Age
" comics, including The Collector's Guide to the First Heroic Age of Comics. A partial listing of Bails-involved indexes includes:
."
, by then well under way). The directory itself contained fan listings culled "from Jerry's master mailing list, which was by now 1,600 strong." Bails invited fans to contact each other, "make sure they [all] know about the Academy; help form a local Chapter [and] help Comic Fandom to grow!"
Bails also provided important contributions to the following year's Guidebook to Comics Fandom, effectively a brief guide to the major fanzines then being published. He wrote an introductory essay on the collecting of comics and produced a brief timeline of fandom as well as a "truncated Golden Age index." In addition, he set out in print the "standard grading system for comics" which with some slight revisions "is still used today."
Many creators were completely unknown before the advent of comics fans and fandom in the 1950s and - particularly - 1960s, and Bails was one of the earliest and most vocal supporters of documenting these often-forgetten individuals' credits. To this end, he wrote personally to a large number of creators, and was able to encourage many to share their recollections, credits and - in some cases - personal records to assist in the accuracy of his project.
A major part of the reference work, however, was fan-identification of artistic styles and signature-spotting and recognition, which assumptions often formed the basis for Bails' in-depth questions to creators, who could then offer corrections and additions on the assumptions and deductions. This included collecting and microfilming over one-half million comic book pages and contacting many hundreds of comic book professionals, asking them to fill out questionnaires about their careers.
After two subsequent editions, Bails focused on computerizing the data, ultimately embracing the internet through the medium of the online Who's Who "Bails Project" website. The online database also attempts to cover foreign creators, the small press and alternative publishers of comic books which have received U.S. distribution.
Members of Bails' "advisory board" for the Who's Who include Craig Delich, a long-time friend and teaching colleague of Bails and Ray Bottorff, Jr., who also serves on the board of directors for the Grand Comics Database. A stroke late in Bails' life affected his vision and cut into his ability to pursue work on Who's Who, but until his death he was still adding hundreds of new records each week and consolidating and revising old records.
and Silver Age
DC Comics books. In 1985, DC Comics named Bails as one of the honorees in the company's 50th anniversary publication Fifty Who Made DC Great
.
Bails had three children: a son, Steven, and daughter, Brenda, with his first wife Sondra; and Kirk, with his second wife, Jean He also had 3 grandchildren, from Steven and his wife Irina they had a daughter named Katerina Bails, from Brenda and her husband Roger came two girls, Gabbriel and Hillary Benedict. He was a beloved husband, father, and grandfater. Bails died in his sleep of a heart attack on November 23, 2006. He was 73 years old.
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
. Known as the "Father of Comic Book Fandom", he was one of the first to approach the comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
field as a subject worthy of academic study, and was a primary force in establishing 1960s comics fandom.
Early life
Jerry G. Bails was born June 26, 1933 in Kansas CityKansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
. A fan of comic books from a very early age, Bails was a particularly avid fan of All-Star Comics, and its premiere superteam (the Justice Society of America
Justice Society of America
The Justice Society of America, or JSA, is a DC Comics superhero group, the first team of superheroes in comic book history. Conceived by editor Sheldon Mayer and writer Gardner Fox, the JSA first appeared in All Star Comics #3 ....
) of whom he was "a fan since the first Justice Society adventure appeared in All-Star Comics #3 (Winter 1941)." He wrote in 1960 that by 1945, he "began my campaign to collect all the back issue
Back issue
Back issue may refer to:*A past issue of a magazine or other periodical publication*Back Issue Magazine, a US magazine featuring articles and arts about comics...
s of this magazine [All-Star Comics]," and six years later when the JSA was dropped, started to work towards their revival.
Education
As a young man, he "sent samples of his art to ECEC Comics
Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the Tales from the Crypt series...
("and Al Feldstein
Al Feldstein
Albert B. Feldstein is an American writer, editor, and artist, best known for his work at EC Comics and, from 1956 to 1985, as the editor of the satirical magazine Mad. Since retiring from Mad, Feldstein has concentrated on American paintings of Western wildlife...
was nice enough to respond with advice.")," before attending the University of Kansas City, from which he earned his Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
degree in Physics, and then his Master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in Math. A student teacher by 1953, he gained his Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in Natural science
Natural science
The natural sciences are branches of science that seek to elucidate the rules that govern the natural world by using empirical and scientific methods...
c.1959, and in 1960 moved to Detroit with his wife Sondra "to become Assistant Professor of Natural Science at Wayne State University
Wayne State University
Wayne State University is a public research university located in Detroit, Michigan, United States, in the city's Midtown Cultural Center Historic District. Founded in 1868, WSU consists of 13 schools and colleges offering more than 400 major subject areas to over 32,000 graduate and...
."
Schwartz & Fox
In 1953, Bails wrote to DC (c/o Julius SchwartzJulius Schwartz
Julius "Julie" Schwartz was a comic book and pulp magazine editor, and a science fiction agent and prominent fan. He was born in the Bronx, New York...
) to inquire about issues of All-Star Comics. His letter was forwarded to former Justice Society writer Gardner Fox
Gardner Fox
Gardner Francis Cooper Fox was an American writer best known for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. Comic-book historians estimate that he wrote over 4,000 comics stories....
, and from Fox's reply of July 9th, 1953, the two corresponded regularly. Bails was working steadily toward re-building his personal collection of the early issues of All Star Comics, and was finally able to convince Fox in early 1959 to sell him Fox's personal bound copies of All-Star Comics #1-24.
Roy Thomas
In November 1960, a letter from young comics fan Roy ThomasRoy Thomas
Roy William Thomas, Jr. is an American comic book writer and editor, and Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. He is possibly best known for introducing the pulp magazine hero Conan the Barbarian to American comics, with a series that added to the storyline of Robert E...
to Julius Schwartz
Julius Schwartz
Julius "Julie" Schwartz was a comic book and pulp magazine editor, and a science fiction agent and prominent fan. He was born in the Bronx, New York...
similarly inquiring about back issues of All-Star Comics led to Schwartz also putting Thomas in contact with All-Star writer Gardner Fox
Gardner Fox
Gardner Francis Cooper Fox was an American writer best known for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. Comic-book historians estimate that he wrote over 4,000 comics stories....
. Fox informed Thomas that "he had sold his bound volumes [of All-Star Comics] to a gent named Jerry Bails", and put Thomas in touch with the Detroit-based Bails. Bails and Thomas would go on to "exchange . . . 100 pages' worth of letters in less than five months" starting from the end of November 1960, and forge a friendship which in Thomas' words "set in motion a chain of events which led to Alter Ego, organized comics fandom, the Alley Awards, and maybe a bit more."
"The Second Heroic Age of Comics"
With the debut of the "new Justice Society," the Justice League of America in the pages of The Brave and the BoldThe Brave and the Bold
The Brave and the Bold is the title shared by many comic book series published by DC Comics. The first of these was published as an ongoing series from 1955 to 1983...
#28 (1959
1959 in comics
- October :* October 29: first issue of Pilote, featuring debuts of the series Astérix by René Goscinny, and Albert Uderzo, and Michel Tanguy by Uderzo and Jean-Michel Charlier.-U.S...
), Bails felt his "efforts [had] finally paid off," and his career as an active fan began. He soon bombarded the DC offices with suggestions for new superhero revivals. For instance, in Justice League of America #4, the letters page
Comic book letter column
A comic book letter column is a section of a comic book where readers' letters to the publisher appear. Comic book letter columns are also commonly referred to as letter columns , letter pages, letters of comment , or simply letters to the editor...
is filled with missives from Bails under different pen names. He did everything he could to fool editor Julius Schwartz
Julius Schwartz
Julius "Julie" Schwartz was a comic book and pulp magazine editor, and a science fiction agent and prominent fan. He was born in the Bronx, New York...
, including mailing the letters from all across the country.
In particular, Bails petitioned for the monthly publication of the JLA, and a year later for the revival of the Golden Age Atom as an all-new "6"-high" hero (to better reflect the name), which "whether as a result of Jerry's prodding DC
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
or by mere coincidence" revival occurred in January, 1961.
Fanzines
Largely unbeknownst to Bails and Thomas, comics fandom had been underway for years in a variety of comics fanzines, beginning with Ted WhiteTed White (author)
Ted White is a Hugo Award-winning American writer, known as a science fiction author and editor and fan, as well as a music critic...
's The Facts Behind Superman, James Taurasi's Fantasy Comics and Bhob Stewart
Bhob Stewart
Bhob Stewart is an American writer, editor, artist and film maker who has written for a variety of publications over a span of five decades. His articles and reviews have appeared in TV Guide, Publishers Weekly and other publications, along with online contributions to Allmovie, the Collecting...
's The EC Fan Bulletin in 1953-54. These were followed by Ron Parker's Hoohah, Dick and Pat Lupoff's Xero
Xero (SF fanzine)
Xero was a fanzine edited and published from 1960 to 1963 by Dick Lupoff, Pat Lupoff and Bhob Stewart. With a main focus on science fiction and comic books, Xero also featured essays, satire, articles, poetry, artwork and cartoons on a wide range of other topics.The articles and letter columns...
and Don and Maggie Thompson
Maggie Thompson
Margaret "Maggie" Thompson , is the editor of Comics Buyer's Guide, a monthly comic book industry news magazine...
's Comic Art. Xero presented essays about comics ultimately collected in a 1970 book, All in Color for a Dime, published in hardcover by Arlington House and by Ace in paperback. Although Bails' innovative ideas changed the shape of comics fandom, and arguably shaped it anew, Xero had a significant role to play in Bails' work.
Bill Schelly writes that, while important building blocks, the science fiction fanzines should be considered in the context of comics fandom. He notes that Don and Maggie Thompson's Comic Art and Xero were published by double-fans [science fiction and comics] and were read mainly by sf fans who generally had little interest in (or disdain for) new comics, even the Schwartz revivals. The Thompsons' interest was in just about every aspect of comic art but the superhero comics of 1961.
Helped in large part to the efforts of DC editor Julius Schwartz
Julius Schwartz
Julius "Julie" Schwartz was a comic book and pulp magazine editor, and a science fiction agent and prominent fan. He was born in the Bronx, New York...
and writer Gardner Fox
Gardner Fox
Gardner Francis Cooper Fox was an American writer best known for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. Comic-book historians estimate that he wrote over 4,000 comics stories....
, Bails would play a pivotal role in the fledgling field of comics fandom, which he called "panelology" (the study of comics).
Alter-Ego (A/E)
Bails was the founding editor of Alter-EgoAlter Ego (fanzine)
Alter Ego is an American magazine devoted to comic books and comic-book creators of the 1930s to late-1960s periods comprising what fans and historians call the Golden Age and Silver Age of Comic Books....
, one of the very earliest superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
comics
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
fanzine
Fanzine
A fanzine is a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon for the pleasure of others who share their interest...
s. "On January 26, 1961," wrote Roy Thomas in 2003, "I received a letter from Jerry mentioning his idea for a "JLA newsletter" . . . [to which he was intending] to try to enlist Julie Schwartz's cooperation" in February, 1961. The projected title and scope of The JLA Subscriber "gave way to something more ambitious" and, returning from visiting the DC offices in New York, Bails:
Schwartz had, indeed, given Bails copies of Xero #1-3, as well as personal advice and memories based on his own involvement in the earliest science fiction fandom of the 1930s, in which Schwartz played an important — perhaps even integral — role. Working with Thomas and in conjunction with Schwartz, Bails contacted other comic book letter writers and invited them to subscribe to and participate in Alter Ego. Thomas was named co-editor, and asked to contribute "a Mad
Mad (magazine)
Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. Launched as a comic book before it became a magazine, it was widely imitated and influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The last...
-style parody, "The Bestest League of America." By March 28, Bails had prepared the ditto masters
Spirit duplicator
A spirit duplicator was a low-volume printing method used mainly by schools and churches. It was also used by members of science fiction fandom and early comic book fandom to produce fanzines...
, and shortly thereafter "200 or more" copies of the first issue of the 21-page Alter-Ego #1 (now with a capital "E") were posted to Bails' ever-growing list of fans. The issue featured a "Bestest League" cover by Thomas and Bails, in homage to Mike Sekowsky
Mike Sekowsky
Michael Sekowsky was a Jewish American comic book artist best known as the exclusive penciler for DC Comics' Justice League of America during most of the 1960s, and as the regular writer and artist on Wonder Woman during the late 1960s and early 1970s.-Early life and career:Mike Sekowsky began...
's cover for The Brave and the Bold
The Brave and the Bold
The Brave and the Bold is the title shared by many comic book series published by DC Comics. The first of these was published as an ongoing series from 1955 to 1983...
#29. The finished article became "an amateur journal devoted to the revivals of the costumed heroes at DC and elsewhere, as well as historical studies of what Bails deemed 'The First Heroic Age of Comics
Golden Age of Comic Books
The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books, generally thought of as lasting from the late 1930s until the late 1940s or early 1950s...
.'"
The original run of Alter Ego lasted 11 issues, spread over a total of 17 years. Ten issues were released between 1961 and 1969, with issue #11 following nine years later, in 1978. Bails edited and published the first four issues of Alter-Ego, before turning it over to fan-artist Ronn Foss (and, initially, Foss' wife, plus his friend "Grass" Green
Grass Green
Richard Eugene "Grass" Green was an African American cartoonist notable for being the first black participant in both the 1960s fan art movement and the 1970s underground comics movement...
) who edited issues #5-6. Roy Thomas
Roy Thomas
Roy William Thomas, Jr. is an American comic book writer and editor, and Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. He is possibly best known for introducing the pulp magazine hero Conan the Barbarian to American comics, with a series that added to the storyline of Robert E...
edited a further four issues solo, and issue #11 almost a decade later in collaboration with Mike Friedrich
Mike Friedrich
Mike Friedrich is an American comic book writer and publisher best known for his work at Marvel and DC Comics, and for publishing the anthology series Star*Reach, one of the first independent comics...
.
Alter Ego revival
In 1998, Thomas wrote to publisher John Morrow, and shortly after Thomas relaunched the second volume of Alter Ego on the flipside of issues of TwoMorrows PublishingTwoMorrows Publishing
TwoMorrows Publishing is a publisher of magazines about comic books, founded in 1994 by John and Pam Morrow out of their small advertising agency in Raleigh, North Carolina...
's Comic Book Artist. A third, standalone volume was launched as a separate magazine (with similarly revived fanzine the Fawcett Collectors of America as a section) in 1999, and continues to 2011.
The Comicollector
Shortly after the launch of Alter-Ego, Bails founded The Comicollector, which launched in September 1961.The major motivating force behind comics fandom "was to bring fans together for the purpose of adding to their comic book collections." Inspired in part by the science-fiction fanzine/"adzine" The Fantasy Collector, comics fandom had "a need for a publication devoted primarily to the field" rather than the occasional advertisements of comics for sale that appeared in The Fantasy Collector.
Bails' initial thought was "to run such ads in each issue of A/E, but it soon became clear that it couldn't be published often enough." Accordingly, in September, 1961, the first issue of the 20-page Bails-published The Comicollector, the self-styled "companion to ALTER-EGO" (as the masthead declared it), and "first comics advertising fanzine." Included among adverts from the "stalwarts of fandom" (including Bails, John McGeehan and Ronn Foss among others) was a review of the first issue of The Fantastic Four by Roy Thomas, originally destined for the pages of Alter-Ego.
After publishing The Comicollector for a year, Bails passed it on to Ronn Foss, and in 1964 it merged with G. B. Love's fanzine The Rocket's Blast to form The Rocket's Blast and the ComiCollector.
On the Drawing Board/The Comic Reader
A month after the debut of The Comicollector, Bails also founded and published On the Drawing Board, the forerunner to the long-running news-zine The Comic Reader, designed to showcase the latest comic news.Spinning-off from Alter-Ego after appearing for three issues as a column within that publication, Bails' On the Drawing Board "was devoted to blurbs and news items pertaining to upcoming events in pro comics." Thanks to the links forged, and respect gained, by Bails with various key individuals involved in the creation of comics — and in particular, DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
' major editorial force Julius Schwartz
Julius Schwartz
Julius "Julie" Schwartz was a comic book and pulp magazine editor, and a science fiction agent and prominent fan. He was born in the Bronx, New York...
— he was able to gain advanced knowledge and news of upcoming comics events, launchs and the creators behind them. Released in standalone form as "a single-page news-sheet," On the Drawing Board #4 (#1-3 being applied to the columns appearing in those issues of A/E) debuted on October 7, 1961. Bill Schelly described, in 2003, its impact:
In March 1962, issue #8 was retitled The Comics Reader, and the (generally) monthly title became "a mainstay of fandom," as Bails ceded his editorial duties, continuing until the 1980s under a succession of editors — first Glen Johnson, and later individuals including Mark Hanerfeld and Paul Levitz
Paul Levitz
Paul Levitz is an American comic book writer, editor and executive. The president of DC Comics from 2002–2009, he has worked for the company for over 35 years in a wide variety of roles...
, among others.
The Academy of Comic Book Fans & Collectors
Established in large part solely to deal with the Alley Awards (below), and inspired by Roy Thomas' thoughts on a comics-industry version of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and SciencesAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...
, the name and workings of the Academy of Comic Book Fans & Collectors became a way "to emphasize the seriousness of comics fans about their hobby." Bails further liked "the idea of a fandom organization that would not only perpetuate the concept of comics as an art form, but would also act as a sort of umbrella for all his ideas and projects, and those of others." The ACBFC's charter, "enthusiastically endorsed by members of fandom" detailed the Academy's intentions: formation of the Alley Awards, publication of The Comic Reader and "a directory of comic fans," to assist in establishing a yearly comics convention and to endorse a "code of fair practice in the selling and trading of comic books." The group lasted at least through early 1969, with a "Marvel Bullpen Bulletins" fan page in Marvel Comics noting that the group "holds an annual poll to determine the most popular;r mags, writers and artists of the preceding year," and directing fans to obtain a ballot from future comics professional Mark Hanerfeld at 42-42 Colden Street in Flushing, New York, part of the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
borough
Borough
A borough is an administrative division in various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely....
of Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
.
Bails introduced and attempted to popularize the term "panelologist" for comics fans and their hobby, implying a study of the panels which make up comics. Bails served as the Academy's first Executive Secretary, later passing his role on to fellow fan Paul Gambaccini
Paul Gambaccini
Paul Matthew Gambaccini is a radio and television presenter in the United Kingdom...
(who termed himself "ExecSec2"), who later gave way to David Kaler. The Academy waned, however, "and it was disbanded for lack of interest by the decade's end."
Bails also worked on and published extensive crossreferencing systems allowing researchers the ability to follow the published credits of Golden Age comic book creators. As this approach had never been used before, the data were later appended, and have since been adapted by a variety of comic price guides and comic book historians.
The Alley Awards
The first comic book awards trace their origins to "a letter to Jerry dated October 25, 1961," by Roy Thomas, in which he suggested to Bails that Alter-Ego create its own awards to reward fandom's "favorite comic books in a number of categories" in a manner similar to the Oscars. Initially suggested as 'The Alter-Ego Award,' the resulting idea was soon named 'The Alley Award', "named after Alley OopAlley Oop
Alley Oop is a syndicated comic strip, created in 1932 by American cartoonist V. T. Hamlin, who wrote and drew the popular and influential strip through four decades for Newspaper Enterprise Association...
" by Thomas "because surely a caveman had to be the earliest superhero chronologically." (Bill Schelly notes no one "bothered to ask the NEA Syndicate for permission to utilize V. T. Hamlin's comic strip character.")
The Alley Awards were tallied yearly for comics produced during the previous year, with the last year the awards were given out being 1969.
Convention forerunner
Between March 21 and March 22, 1964, the first annual "Alley Tally" was organized by Bails at his house with the purpose of counting "the Alley Award ballots for 1963." This became notable in retrospect as the first major gathering of comics fans, predating the earliest comic book conventions, which were held later in the year. Attendees included Ronn Foss, Don Glut, Don and Maggie ThompsonMaggie Thompson
Margaret "Maggie" Thompson , is the editor of Comics Buyer's Guide, a monthly comic book industry news magazine...
, Mike Vosburg
Mike Vosburg
Mike Vosburg is an American comic book artist primarily known for his work on the Tales from the Crypt TV series.-Biography:...
, and Grass Green
Grass Green
Richard Eugene "Grass" Green was an African American cartoonist notable for being the first black participant in both the 1960s fan art movement and the 1970s underground comics movement...
.
Bill Schelly
Bill Schelly
Bill Schelly is an author primarily known as a historian of cinema, comic books, and comics fandom. He is also a portrait and comic book artist....
(among others) notes that the Alley Tally and "even larger fan meetings in Chicago . . . helped build momentum" for these earliest conventions. Bails himself was "on the organizing committee" for the Detroit Triple Fan Fair, 1964. THE DTFF would continue sporadically through the 1970s under its initial format, though expanded; while primarily a comic convention, the event also gave balanced coverage to historic film showings (often running all night long for the convention's duration) and science-fiction literature, in a manner that provided a template for many future convention organizers--most of whom have yet to attain the same level of equal service to this sort of linked fan base.
CAPA-alpha
In October, 1964, Bails released the first issue of comics' first dedicated amateur press associationAmateur press association
An amateur press association is a group of people who produce individual pages or magazines that are sent to a Central Mailer for collation and distribution to all members of the group.-Organisation:...
publication, CAPA-alpha
CAPA-alpha
CAPA-alpha was the first amateur press association devoted to comic books, started by Jerry Bails in the United States in 1964....
.
Between 1963 and 1964, "new fanzines were popping up right and left . . . [as] a lot of fans were infected by the "publishing bug," many of them talented writers and artists." In an attempt to focus these emerging talents, and head off the over-abundance of "crud-zines" (poor quality fanzines), which seemed to equal in number their good quality counterparts, Bails adapted the long-standing practice of amateur press alliance
Amateur press association
An amateur press association is a group of people who produce individual pages or magazines that are sent to a Central Mailer for collation and distribution to all members of the group.-Organisation:...
(APAs) for comics, creating the first all-comics APA, "CAPA-alpha" (the first — e.g., 'alpha' — 'Comics A.P.A.').
This allowed the easy formulation of a fanzine, created through submissions by each of its fifty-strong membership, who could all contribute short submissions on a regular basis. Compiled in the regular APA mold by a 'central mailer' (in which role Bails first served), copies of the membership's individual submissions could then be collated and mailed out to everyone. "Now," explained fandom historian Bill Schelly, "fans could get into print and retain editorial control of their material, without publishing their own fanzine."
Microfilm
A "professor of science and technology," Bails "had a technical bent" that saw him embracing new forms of technology and novel ideas in his continued efforts within fandom. Among his ideas was "microfilming rare, hard-to-find Golden Age comics," which film could then be loaned/viewed rather than the tangible comics themselves, reducing considerably wear and tear. Alongside Jules FeifferJules Feiffer
Jules Ralph Feiffer is an American syndicated cartoonist, most notable for his long-run comic strip titled Feiffer. He has created more than 35 books, plays and screenplays...
's Great Comic Book Heroes (1965), Bails' microfilm library was the major source of "substitutes for the real" comics themselves, which were rarely reprinted.
To accommodate readers who did not have access to a microfilm reader, Bails offered a reproduction service of "cover photographs, spanning most of the key #1 issues from the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
era," in black & white for $2. These reproductions pre-dated by three decades the four volumes of comic book covers published as The Photo-Journal Guide to Comic Books by Ernie Gerber in the mid-1990s.
Indices
The lack of reference materials available to comics fans meant that much early fandom activity revolved around indexing various companies and individuals' output. A pioneer in this field, Bails worked with Howard Keltner, Raymond Miller and Fred Von Bernewitz (among others) to index various comics, detailing "what comics had been published, their contents, how many issues they ran, etc."Naturally Bails' early efforts dealt with All-Star Comics and DC, in first his All-Star Index and then an Authoritative Index to DC Comics. With Howard Keltner in particular, Bails then compiled several extensive wider inventories of "Golden Age
Golden Age of Comic Books
The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books, generally thought of as lasting from the late 1930s until the late 1940s or early 1950s...
" comics, including The Collector's Guide to the First Heroic Age of Comics. A partial listing of Bails-involved indexes includes:
- The Authoritative Index to All-Star Comics
- The Collector's Guide to the First Heroic Age of Comics
- Howard Keltner's Index to Golden Age Comic Books
- The Authoritative Index to DC Comics
- The Panelologist presents: the Justice Society of America on Earth-Two
- The Panelologist presents: the Green Lantern Golden Age Index
Price guides
Bails' friend and colleague Ray Bottorff, Jr. recalls that Bails had "begun to create a comic book price guide, when a man named Bob Overstreet contacted him because he was doing the same thing." Bails' extensive notes "became a backbone to the Overstreet Comic Book Price GuideOverstreet Comic Book Price Guide
The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide is an annually published comic book price guide widely considered the primary authority on the subject of American comic book grading and pricing in the hobby/industry....
."
Who's Who...
In addition to his pioneering work in comics indexing, Bails was also involved in the tabulating of information about the people involved in both comics and comics fandom....In Comic Fandom
Described in the ACBFC charter, the directory of fandom was the first concerted effort to provide a centralized store of data on the ever-increasing number of comics fans. Who's Who in Comic Fandom was released in April 1964 by Bails and L. Lattanzi. The volume opened with Bails-penned 'brief chronologies' of both early comics fandom (as he saw it) and the "Second Heroic Age of Comics" (better known as the Silver Age of Comic BooksSilver Age of Comic Books
The Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those in the superhero genre. Following the Golden Age of Comic Books and an interregnum in the early to mid-1950s, the Silver Age is considered to cover the...
, by then well under way). The directory itself contained fan listings culled "from Jerry's master mailing list, which was by now 1,600 strong." Bails invited fans to contact each other, "make sure they [all] know about the Academy; help form a local Chapter [and] help Comic Fandom to grow!"
Bails also provided important contributions to the following year's Guidebook to Comics Fandom, effectively a brief guide to the major fanzines then being published. He wrote an introductory essay on the collecting of comics and produced a brief timeline of fandom as well as a "truncated Golden Age index." In addition, he set out in print the "standard grading system for comics" which with some slight revisions "is still used today."
...Of American Comic Books
Arguably Bails' most important and lasting contribution to comics fandom, and certainly the most valuable to the study of comics' history was the work co-edited by himself and Hames Ware, and published in four volumes between 1973 and 1976. Since his earliest work in fandom, indexing comics and providing recognition to the often nameless and/or uncredited individuals who created them had been one of Bails' main pursuits. After pioneering a plethora of publications, Bails focused his time on better compiling a compendia of this information. The Who's Who of American Comic Books was designed to document the careers of every person to have contributed to, or supported the publication of, original material in U.S. comic books since 1928.Methodology
Many creators were completely unknown before the advent of comics fans and fandom in the 1950s and - particularly - 1960s, and Bails was one of the earliest and most vocal supporters of documenting these often-forgetten individuals' credits. To this end, he wrote personally to a large number of creators, and was able to encourage many to share their recollections, credits and - in some cases - personal records to assist in the accuracy of his project.
A major part of the reference work, however, was fan-identification of artistic styles and signature-spotting and recognition, which assumptions often formed the basis for Bails' in-depth questions to creators, who could then offer corrections and additions on the assumptions and deductions. This included collecting and microfilming over one-half million comic book pages and contacting many hundreds of comic book professionals, asking them to fill out questionnaires about their careers.
Continued work
After two subsequent editions, Bails focused on computerizing the data, ultimately embracing the internet through the medium of the online Who's Who "Bails Project" website. The online database also attempts to cover foreign creators, the small press and alternative publishers of comic books which have received U.S. distribution.
Members of Bails' "advisory board" for the Who's Who include Craig Delich, a long-time friend and teaching colleague of Bails and Ray Bottorff, Jr., who also serves on the board of directors for the Grand Comics Database. A stroke late in Bails' life affected his vision and cut into his ability to pursue work on Who's Who, but until his death he was still adding hundreds of new records each week and consolidating and revising old records.
Later life and death
Through his work, Bails made many friends in the comic book industry, both professionals and fellow enthusiasts. He attended conventions, corresponded via letters (and more recently, e-mail), and selflessly encouraged others to follow in his footsteps. As the unofficial "Father of Comic Book Fandom," he was a much-beloved figure within the comics community. As an established expert on a number of areas within comics, as well as behind-the-scenes, he also wrote introductions and forewords to a number of collections of Golden AgeGolden Age of Comic Books
The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books, generally thought of as lasting from the late 1930s until the late 1940s or early 1950s...
and Silver Age
Silver Age of Comic Books
The Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those in the superhero genre. Following the Golden Age of Comic Books and an interregnum in the early to mid-1950s, the Silver Age is considered to cover the...
DC Comics books. In 1985, DC Comics named Bails as one of the honorees in the company's 50th anniversary publication Fifty Who Made DC Great
Fifty Who Made DC Great
Fifty Who Made DC Great is a one shot published by DC Comics to commemorate the company's 50th anniversary in 1985. It was published in comic book format but contained text articles with photographs and background caricatures...
.
Bails had three children: a son, Steven, and daughter, Brenda, with his first wife Sondra; and Kirk, with his second wife, Jean He also had 3 grandchildren, from Steven and his wife Irina they had a daughter named Katerina Bails, from Brenda and her husband Roger came two girls, Gabbriel and Hillary Benedict. He was a beloved husband, father, and grandfater. Bails died in his sleep of a heart attack on November 23, 2006. He was 73 years old.