Edward Nelson Bridwell (September 22, 1931 – January 23, 1987) was an American writer for '' Mad'' magazine (writing the now-famous

catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

, "What you mean...we?" in a 1958 parody of ''

The Lone Ranger The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture. He first appeared in 1933 in a ...

'') and various

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

s published by

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

. One of the writers for the ''

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

and ''

Super Friends ''Super Friends'' is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes which ran from 1973 to 1985 on ABC as part of its Saturday-morning cartoon lineup. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera and was based on the Justice League of Am ...

'', he also wrote ''The

Inferior Five The Inferior Five (or I5) are a parody superhero team appearing in books by the American publisher DC Comics. Created by writer E. Nelson Bridwell and artist Joe Orlando, the team premiered in the DC Comics title ''Showcase (comic book), Showcase ...

'', among other comics. He has been called "DC's self-appointed continuity cop."

Career

Bridwell was born on his grand-parents' farm, Oak Hill Dairy, near Sapulpa, Oklahoma, a small city with at the time a population of a little over 10,000 people, and grew up in Oklahoma City. Bridwell's early childhood interest in mythology and folklore stayed with him throughout his professional life and permeated much of his work. He credited his fame to his third grade teacher, Ryan Samuel, for interesting him in comics. Bridwell "was one of the first 'comics fans' hired in the industry after the long, bleak 1950s".O'Connell, Margaret. "With One Magic Word...: A Talk With E. Nelson Bridwell!" in Richard Howell and

Carol Kalish Carol Kalish (February 14, 1955Kraft, David Anthony. 1984, "Sales Director Carol Kalish: Marvel's Direct Sales Manager Tells Her Side," ''Comics Interview'', vol. 1, no. 18, pp. 57-71. – September 5, 1991) was an American writer, editor, comic b ...

(ed.s) ''Comics Feature'' #10 (

New Media Publishing New Media Distribution/Irjax Enterprises was a comic book Distribution (marketing), distributor and Comic book publisher, publisher active from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. In 1978, the company's legal actions against the dominant distributor o ...

, July 1981) Although his first published work consisted of a text page in ''

Adventures into the Unknown ''Adventures Into the Unknown'' was an American comic-book magazine series best known as the medium's first ongoing horror-comics title. Published by the American Comics Group, initially under the imprint B&I Publishing, it ran 174 issues (cove ...

'' #9 (Feb–March 1950) published by the

American Comics Group American Comics Group (ACG) was an American comic book publisher started in 1939 and existing under the ACG name from 1943 to 1967. It published the medium's first ongoing horror-comics title, ''Adventures into the Unknown''. ACG's best-known cha ...

, he had since he "was still a kid" created various characters who would later evolve into those used in comics such as ''The Inferior Five''. In 1962, while still residing in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

, Bridwell submitted to the '' Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' his first idea for a Feghoot adventure, a specific type of

shaggy dog story In its original sense, a shaggy-dog story or yarn is an extremely long-winded anecdote characterized by extensive narration of typically irrelevant incidents and terminated by an anticlimax. In other words, it is a long story that is intended ...

that ends in a humorous and unexpected play on words. His story was promptly accepted by the feature's pseudonymous author, Grendel Briarton (Reginald Bretnor), and shortly followed by yet another submission from Bridwell which was also accepted ("Dr. Jacqueline Missed Her Hide" and "Nude Rally Tea Pact", respectively.) Besides ''F&SF'', both stories would appear in the various Feghoot anthologies to follow. After writing a few stories for '' Mad'' and for ''

Katy Keene Katy Keene is a character created by Bill Woggon that has appeared in several comic book series published by Archie Comics since 1945. She is a model/actress/singer marketed by the publisher as "America's Queen of Pin-Ups and Fashions". In the b ...

'', Bridwell began working for

in 1965 as an assistant to editor

Mort Weisinger 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 ...

, "on the

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

titles, eventually becoming an editor himself (''

Lois Lane Lois Lane is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1 (June 1938). Lois is an award-winning ...

'', and later ''

The Superman Family ''The Superman Family'' is an American comic book series published by DC Comics from 1974 to 1982 featuring supporting characters in the ''Superman'' comics. The term "Superman Family" is often used to refer to the extended cast of characters of c ...

'')." He wrote scripts for various Weisinger-edited series, such as ''Superboy'' and ''The Legion of Super-Heroes,'' as well as writing for DC anthology titles such as ''Unexpected, Mystery in Space'' and ''Strange Adventures.''

Jim Shooter James Shooter (born September 27, 1951) is an American writer, editor, and publisher in the comics industry. Beginning his career writing for DC Comics at the age of 14, he had a successful but controversial run as editor-in-chief at Marvel Comic ...

(who also worked with Weisinger) recalls that Weisinger did not always treat his assistant well, saying that his "assistant was Nelson Bridwell and boy, he tortured Nelson. He just was awful to Nelson." Bridwell, however, recalled in 1980 an important lesson learned from Weisinger, that: :"You've got to keep in mind that while there are a lot of people who've read about the characters before, there are always new people coming along, and you've got to realize that you can't count on them to know the whole legend of the character." This lesson set him in good stead both when he helped DC produce three 1970s anthologies — ''Superman from the Thirties to the Seventies'' (1971), ''Batman from the Thirties to the Seventies'' (1971), and ''Shazam from the Forties to the Seventies'' (1977) — and when he wrote for the comic book series based on "one of the best rated TV shows on Saturday morning", ''Super Friends''. Concurrent with his duties for DC, Bridwell "was submitting material as a freelancer to ''Mad''", some of which was illustrated by

Joe Orlando Joseph Orlando (April 4, 1927 – December 23, 1998) was an Italian Americans, Italian-American illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades. He was the associate publisher of ''Mad (magazine), Mad'' and ...

, who Bridwell in 1965 first suggested as artist for ''The Inferior Five''.

Continuity

Recalling an early interest in comic book continuity, Bridwell "remembered getting a bit perturbed at times when I was a kid by having things that didn't fit", particularly over the wide range of

Martian Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, has appeared as a setting in works of fiction since at least the mid-1600s. Trends in the planet's portrayal have largely been influenced by advances in planetary science. It became the most popular celes ...

races in evidence in the adventures of DC's

Atom Atoms are the basic particles of the chemical elements. An atom consists of a atomic nucleus, nucleus of protons and generally neutrons, surrounded by an electromagnetically bound swarm of electrons. The chemical elements are distinguished fr ...

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superheroine who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in ''All Star Comics'' Introducing Wonder Woman, #8, published October 21, 1941, with her first feature in ''Sensation Comic ...

, and Superman characters. Bridwell was also an early advocate of the theory that the

Marvel Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics ...

and DC characters "exist in the same universe", citing early inter-company crossovers such as '' Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man'' and a cross-company interlocking storyline, with real-world crossover characters, between ''

Justice League of America The Justice League, or Justice League of America (JLA), is a group of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in '' The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). Writer Gardner Fox conceived t ...

'' #103, ''

Thor Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...

'' #207 and ''

Amazing Adventures ''Amazing Adventures'' is the name of several anthology comic book series, all but one published by Marvel Comics. The earliest Marvel series of that name introduced the company's first superhero of the late-1950s to early-1960s period fans and h ...

'' #16. Bridwell's love and knowledge of old comics led to his becoming editor on numerous reprint books, including digests, giant-size comics, and hardcover anthologies. He also worked as assistant editor to

Julius Schwartz Julius "Julie" Schwartz ( ; June 19, 1915 – February 8, 2004) was an American comic book editor, and a science fiction agent. He was born in The Bronx, New York. He is best known as a longtime editor at DC Comics, where at various times he ...

, keeping track of continuity between the numerous

titles published. Part of his job was to manage the letter columns for all the Superman titles, and in response to constant reader questions, Bridwell standardized the

Kryptonian Kryptonians are a fictional extraterrestrial race within the DC Comics universe that originated on the planet Krypton. The term originated from the stories of DC Comics superhero, Superman. The stories also use "Kryptonian" as an adjective to ref ...

language and alphabet. Dubbed "

Kryptonese Kryptonians are a fictional extraterrestrial race within the DC Comics universe that originated on the planet Krypton (comics), Krypton. The term originated from the stories of DC Comics superhero, Superman. The stories also use "Kryptonian" as an ...

", Bridwell established the 118-character alphabet, which was used by DC until John Byrne's 1986 "reboot" of the Superman universe.

The Inferior Five

Bridwell and

created the ''Inferior Five'' in '' Showcase'' #62 (May–June 1966). Talking about the humorous super-hero series, Bridwell recalls that: :"Jack Miller came up with the idea of a group of incompetent heroes, and at first he came up with the title ''The Inferior Four''. When I created five heroes, he changed it to ''The Inferior Five''. I completely created the heroes as a clown set, and Joe Orlando created the costumes."

Other comics

Bridwell wrote for several other DC titles, including ''

Action Comics ''Action Comics'' is an American comic book/Comic anthology, magazine series that introduced Superman, one of the first major superhero characters. The publisher was originally known as Detective Comics Inc., which later merged into National ...

Adventure Comics ''Adventure Comics'' is an American comic book series published by DC Comics from 1938 to 1983 and revived from 2009 to 2011. In its first era, the series ran for 503 issues (472 of those after the title changed from ''New Adventure Comics''), ...

, Shazam!,

World's Finest Comics ''World's Finest Comics'' is an American comic book series published by DC Comics from 1941 to 1986. The series was initially titled ''World's Best Comics'' for its first issue; issue #2 (Summer 1941) switched to the more familiar name. Michael ...

'', and ''The

Legion of Super-Heroes The Legion of Super-Heroes is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino, the Legion is a group of superpowered beings living in the 30th and 31st centuries of t ...

''. Bridwell and artist

Frank Springer Frank Springer (December 6, 1929 – April 2, 2009) was an American comics artist best known for Marvel Comics' '' Dazzler'' and '' Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.''. As well, in collaboration with writer Michael O'Donoghue, Springer created one ...

co-created the '' Secret Six'' in the first issue of the team's eponymous series in May 1968. The first use of the ''

'' name on a DC Comics publication was in '' Limited Collectors' Edition'' #C–41 (December 1975–January 1976) which reprinted stories from ''Justice League of America'' within a new framing sequence by Bridwell and artist

Alex Toth Alexander Toth (; June 25, 1928 – May 27, 2006) was an American cartoonist active from the 1940s through the 1980s. Toth's work began in the American comic book industry, but he is also known for his animation designs for Hanna-Barbera through ...

. In 1976, Bridwell and

Ric Estrada Ric Estrada (February 26, 1928 – May 1, 2009) was a Cuban Americans, Cuban-American comics artist who worked for companies including the major American publisher DC Comics. He also worked in comic strips, political cartoons, advertising, story ...

launched an ongoing ''Super Friends'' comic book series. Bridwell edited DC Comics' first comic book

limited series In the field of comic books, and particularly in the United States, a limited series is a comics series with a predetermined number of issues. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is finite and determined ...

, '' The World of Krypton'' (July–September 1979). He co-wrote ''Secrets of the Legion of Super-Heroes'' with

Paul Kupperberg Paul Kupperberg (; born June 14, 1955) is an American writer and comics editor. He is currently a writer and executive editor at Charlton Neo Comics and Pix-C Webcomics, and a contributing author with Crazy 8 Press. Formerly, he was an editor for ...

and followed it with ''The Krypton Chronicles''. He co-created the Justice League members

Fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...

and

Ice Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...

in the ''Super Friends'' series and introduced the

Global Guardians The Global Guardians is a team of DC Comics superheroes whose members hail from countries around the world. The concept originated in the ''Super Friends'' Saturday morning cartoon, which aired after the comics stories in ''Super Friends'' #7-9, ...

in ''

DC Comics Presents ''DC Comics Presents'' is a comic book series published by DC Comics from 1978 to 1986 which ran for 97 issues and four ''Annual''s. It featured team-ups between Superman and a wide variety of other characters in the DC Universe. A recurring bac ...

'' #46 (June 1982). He wrote ''

Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! ''Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew!'' is a DC Comics series about a team of talking animals in fiction, talking animal superheroes called the Zoo Crew. The characters first appeared in a 16-page DC Comics insert previews, special insert ...

'', ''The Oz/ Wonderland War'' trilogy, as well as occasional stories for the black-and-white horror comics ''

Creepy Creepiness is the state of being creepy, or causing an unpleasant feeling of fear or unease to someone and/or something. Certain traits or hobbies may make people seem creepy to others; interest in horror or the macabre might come across as 'c ...

'' and ''

Eerie Eerie may refer to: * Feeling of creepiness * Eerie (magazine), ''Eerie'' (magazine), an American horror comic first published in 1966 * Eerie (Avon), ''Eerie'' (Avon), a 1947 horror comic * Eerie (film), ''Eerie'' (film), a 2018 Filipino horror fi ...

'', published by

Warren Publishing Warren Publishing was an American magazine company founded by James Warren (publisher), James Warren, who published his first magazines in 1957 and continued in the business for decades. Magazines published by Warren include ''After Hours (magazin ...

. His last freelance writing work was for '' Cracked'' magazine. As an editor, Bridwell compiled a number of issues of '' DC 100 Page Super Spectacular'', collecting out-of-print stories from the DC archive, often under new covers featuring a Bridwell-created character key.

Papers

Following his death from lung cancer on January 23, 1987, his papers were acquired by the McFarlin Library at the

University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a Private university, private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Presbyterian Church, although it is now nondenominational, and the campus ...

in 1989.

Homages

* In ''

Watchmen ''Watchmen'' is a comic book Limited series (comics), limited series by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colorist John Higgins (comics), John Higgins. It was published monthly by DC Comics in 1986 and 19 ...

'',

Captain Metropolis ''Watchmen'' is a twelve-issue comic book Limited series (comics), limited series created by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, and John Higgins (comics), John Higgins, published by DC Comics in 1986 and 1987. ''Watchmen'' focuses on six main characters ...

was named "Nelson Gardner" as a tribute to Bridwell and to

Gardner Fox Gardner Francis Cooper Fox (May 20, 1911 – December 24, 1986) was an American writer known best for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. He is estimated to have written more than 4,000 comics stories, including 1,500 for DC ...

. * ''

Astro City ''Astro City'', also known as ''Kurt Busiek's Astro City'', is an American superhero anthology comic book series centered on a fictional American city of that name. Created and written by Kurt Busiek, the series is mostly illustrated by Brent And ...

'' #5 introduced "Mr. Bridwell" (alias), a shape-shifting extraterrestrial and undercover advance scout for the invading "Enelsians", compiling, much like his (and their) namesake, an encyclopedic database of Earth's superheroes.

Awards and honors

In 2005, Bridwell was posthumously inducted into the Oklahoma Cartoonists Hall of Fame in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, located in the Toy and Action Figure Museum. In 2019, he was recognized with the Bill Finger Award.

Bibliography

DC Comics

*''

'' (

): #379, 383, 385–387, 390–391 (1969–1970); (Private Life of

Clark Kent Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

): #459, 464; (

Krypto Krypto, also known as Krypto the Superdog, is a superhero dog appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with the character Superman. In most continuities, Krypto is Superman's pet dog, usually depicted as a ...

): #462; (

): #561, 563, 576, 580 (1976–1984) *''

'' (Legion of Super-Heroes): #350, 351, 356, 403; (

Supergirl Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original, current, and most well known Supergirl is Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman. Th ...

): #383, 387, 393–394, 409 (1966–1971); (

Dial H for Hero ''Dial H for Hero'' is a comic book feature published by DC Comics about a magical dial that enables an ordinary person to become a superhero for a short time, such as an hour, by selecting the letters H-E-R-O in order. Each time it is used, the ...

): #489–490; ( Shazam!): #491–492, 498 (1982–1983) *''Amazing World of Superman Metropolis Edition'' (1973) *''

'' #208, 213 (1969) *''

'' #10–11 (1982–1983) *''

'' #44, 46, 71, ''Annual'' #1 (1982–1984) *''

Detective Comics ''Detective Comics'' (later retitled as ''Batman Detective Comics'') is an American comic book series published by Detective Comics, later shortened to DC Comics. The first volume, published from 1937 to 2011 (and later continued in 2016), is ...

'' (

Hawkman Hawkman is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Dennis Neville, the original Hawkman first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1, published by All-American ...

): #428, 434, 446, 452, 454–455; (

Elongated Man Elongated Man (Randolph William "Ralph" Dibny) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He first appeared in ''The Flash'' #112 (February 25, 1960). The character made his live-action debut on The CW's live-actio ...

): #430 (1972–1976) *''

The Flash The Flash is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date, cover-dated Jan ...

'' #175 (1967) *''

House of Mystery ''The House of Mystery'' is the name of several horror comics, horror, fantasy comics, fantasy, and mystery fiction, mystery comics anthology, comics anthologies published by DC Comics. It had a companion series, ''The House of Secrets (DC Comi ...

'' #178–179, 184, 205, 209, 217, 229, 253, 257 (1969–1978) *''

'' #1–7 (1967–1968) *''

Krypton Krypton (from 'the hidden one') is a chemical element; it has symbol (chemistry), symbol Kr and atomic number 36. It is a colorless, odorless noble gas that occurs in trace element, trace amounts in the Earth's atmosphere, atmosphere and is of ...

Chronicles'' miniseries #1–3 (1981) *''The New Adventures of Superboy '' #9, 12, 23–24; (Dial H for Hero): #28–49 (1980–1984) *'' Secrets of Haunted House'' #8 (1977) *''

Secrets of Sinister House ''Secrets of Sinister House'' was a horror-suspense anthology comic book series published by DC Comics from 1972-1974, a companion to '' Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion''. Both series were originally inspired by the successful ABC soap opera ''D ...

'' #8, 12, 14 (1972–1973) *'' Shazam!'' #10–12, 16, 18, 25, 27–28, 30–35 (1974–1978) *'' Showcase'' (Inferior Five): #62–63, 65; ( Maniaks): #68–69, 71 (1966–1967) *''

Strange Adventures ''Strange Adventures'' is a series of American comic books published by DC Comics, the first of which was August–September 1950, according to the cover date, and published continuously until November 1973. Original series ''Strange Adventure ...

'' #186 (1966) *''

Superboy Superboy is an identity used by several fictional superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. These characters have been featured in several eponymous comic series, in addition to ''Adventure Comics'' and other series ...

'' #123, 131, 137, 142–143, 146–147; (Legion of Super-Heroes): #172, 176, (1965–1971) *''

'' #1–19, 21, 23, 25–40, 42–47, ''Special'' #1 (1976–1981) *''

'' #170, 187, 203, 233–234, 287, 289 (1964–1975); 408 (1985) *''

Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane ''Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane'' is an American comic book series published monthly by DC Comics. The series focusing on the adventures of Lois Lane began publication with a March/April 1958 cover date and ended its run in September/October ...

'' #66, 79 (1966–1967) *''

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' is an American comic book series published by DC Comics from September–October 1954 until March 1974, spanning a total of 163 issues. Featuring the adventures of Superman supporting character Jimmy Olsen, it conta ...

'' #118, 120, 123–124, 128–129, 150, 152 (1969–1972) *''

Weird War Tales ''Weird War Tales'' is a war comic book title with supernatural overtones published by DC Comics. It was published from September - October 1971 to June 1983. Publication history The original title ran for 12 years and 124 issues. It was an an ...

'' #17 (1971-1983) *''

'' (Shazam!) #253–270, 272–282 (1978–1982)

EC Comics

*'' Mad'' #27, 34, 38–40, 44, 53, 137, 158 (1956–1975) *''Mad Special'' #27, 30, 36 (1978–1981) *''More Trash From Mad'' #2 (1959) *''Worst From Mad'' #1 (1958)

Warren Publishing

*''

'' #142 (1982) *''

'' #2, 16, 24 (1966–1969) *''Eerie Yearbook 1970'' (1969)

References

External links

"DC Profiles #29: E. Nelson Bridwell"
at the Grand Comics Database * *
E. Nelson Bridwell
at Mike's Amazing World of Comics {{DEFAULTSORT:Bridwell, E. Nelson 1931 births 1987 deaths American comics writers American comic book editors Deaths from lung cancer in New York (state) People from Sapulpa, Oklahoma Silver Age comics creators Writers from Oklahoma Bill Finger Award winners DC Comics people