Mort Weisinger

Mort Weisinger
Nationality	American
Area(s)	Writer, Editor
Notable works	Superman
Awards	Inkpot Award, 1978

Mortimer Weisinger (April 25, 1915 - May 7, 1978) was an American magazine and comic book editor best known for editing DC Comics' Superman during the mid-1950s to 1960s, in the Silver Age of comic books. He also co-created such features as Aquaman, Green Arrow, and Johnny Quick, served as story editor for the Adventures of Superman television series, and compiled the often-revised paperback 1001 Valuable Things You Can Get Free.

Biography

Early life and career

Weisinger was born in the Washington Heights section of New York City, New York and raised in the Bronx, Weisinger was the son of a Jewish businessman in the garment trade. At 13, he had his introduction to science fiction via a borrowed copy of the August 1928 issue of Amazing Stories (featuring Buck Rogers and The Skylark of Space). By 1930, Weisinger was active in some of the earliest SF fan clubs, such as the Scienceers, and fanzines, such as The Planet. In 1932, he and future professional editors Julius Schwartz and Forrest J. Ackerman founded The Time Traveller, which they styled "Science Fiction's Only Fan Magazine". The claim was more than mere youthful bravado, according to SF historian Sam Moskowitz, who described the 'zine as the first devoted entirely to science fiction. The young fans published interviews with, and short pieces by, established SF writers, and in the process gained familiarity with the personalities and situations of the genre in that era.

After high school, Weisinger attended New York University, where he worked as editor of the college's newspaper and magazine, but left before graduating. In late 1934, Weisinger and Schwartz formed the Solar Sales Service, the first literary agency to specialize in the related genres of SF, horror, and fantasy. Edmond Hamilton was the agency's first client, and Solar Sales eventually represented many prominent SF and fantasy writers, including Stanley Weinbaum, H. P. Lovecraft, and Ray Bradbury. But while Schwartz continued the agency into the early 1940s, Weisinger moved on; he took a job with the Standard Magazine chain, publisher of a range of pulp magazines. Standard had acquired writer-publisher Hugo Gernsback's defunct Wonder Stories and added it to Standard series of "Thrilling" publications (Thrilling Detective Stories, Thrilling Western Stories, and others). Weisinger became the editor of Thrilling Wonder Stories, and bought stories by Hamilton and others from his former partner Schwartz. Weisinger soon was editing a range of other pulps by Standard, including Startling Stories and Captain Future.

DC and Superman

Adventure Comics #296 (May 1962). Editor Weisinger's Superman and Superboy stories often featured outlandish situations. Cover art by Curt Swan, inks by George Klein.

In March 1941, Weisinger moved from Standard Magazines to National Comics (later DC) to edit Superman. This was interrupted by his World War II military service, during which he served as a sergeant in Special Services, and wrote scripts for a U.S. Army radio show in New York City. He met and married (Sept. 27, 1943) his wife, the former Thelma Rudnick. They would have two children, a daughter, Joyce, and son, Hendrie.

Weisinger returned to his job at National after his discharge from military service in 1946, and resumed his editorship of the Superman comics. His tenure was marked by the introduction of a variety of new concepts and supporting characters, including Supergirl, Krypto the Super Dog, the Phantom Zone, the Legion of Super-Heroes, and a variety of types of kryptonite. One recurring element was plots involving Lois Lane trying to prove Superman was Clark Kent, and "imaginary stories" (non-canonical "what if" scenarios not binding on the title's history).

Many of Weisinger's ideas came from talking to children in his neighborhood, asking them what they wanted to see, and then using those ideas, uncredited. In fact, Weisinger, unaware of the writer's age, used the work of young Jim Shooter, whose writing during that time included a popular run on "The Legion of Super-Heroes" series in Adventure Comics. Weisinger was noted by some for having a micromanaging attitude and a heavy-handed, overbearing treatment of his writers and artists.

Weisinger encouraged a static picture book style of illustration in his stories, and was known for reusing previously published stories as new story ideas. A noted example of this is a 1950s story featuring Superman encountering an alien being he thought might have been his long-lost brother; this was reused in the early 1960s as a Superboy story introducing Mon-El.

During Weisinger's reign, the Superman comics maintained a reasonably tight internal continuity, but related little to the rest of the DC Universe. He was succeeded in 1970 by his childhood friend and longtime colleague Julius Schwartz.

Later life

Weisinger was living in Great Neck, New York at the time of his death. He was survived by his wife and children.

References

• Moskowitz, Sam. Seekers of Tomorrow: Masters of Modern Science Fiction. World Publishing, Cleveland, Ohio, 1996. Ballantine Books, New York, 1967; pp. 107-22.
• Schwartz, Julius, with Brian M. Thomsen. Man of Two Worlds: My Life in Science Fiction and Comics. HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 2000
• Legion of Super-Heroes Archive, Volume 8 (DC Comics, 1998, ISBN 1-56389-430-0), p. 242, "Biographies"

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