Joseph Samachson (October 13, 1906 – June 2, 1980) was an American scientist and writer, primarily of science fiction and

comic a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicat ...

books.

Biography

Joseph Samachson was born on October 13, 1906, in

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County. It was the federal capital, capital of the United States from November 1 until D ...

, the son of Russian Jewish parents, Anna (Roshansky) and David Louis Samachson, a businessman.Biography by Joe Desris, in ''Batman Archives'', Volume 3 (

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 ...

, 1994), p. 224 Samachson died of complications from

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

on June 2, 1980, in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. He had a son, Michael Samachson, and a daughter, the photographer Miriam Berkley.

Career

Biochemist

A graduate of

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

, he earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

at the age of 23. He was an assistant professor at the College of Medicine, University of Illinois. He also headed a laboratory in metabolic research at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Hines, Illinois, a research unit dealing with diseases that affect the skeleton. Comics historian

Jerry Bails Jerry Gwin Bails (June 26, 1933 – November 23, 2006) 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 primar ...

wrote that Samachson worked as a research chemist for the American Molasses Company until 1938, leaving to become a "freelance technical writer".

Author

As a writer, Samachson translated several scientific papers. He also wrote science fiction and comics.

Science fiction and pulps

He wrote many science fiction works (under the pseudonym William Morrison), including two novels published in '' Startling Stories'', the 1937 pulp title ''Murder of a Professor'' and short stories for several magazines, including ''Money from Heaven'' (1942). He also penned a couple of '' Captain Future'' pulp novels c.1941–1942 (under the house name "Brett Sterling"), and had work appear in the

science fiction magazine A science fiction magazine is a publication that offers primarily science fiction, either in a hard-copy periodical format or on the Internet. Science fiction magazines traditionally featured speculative fiction in short story, novelette, nov ...

Galaxy A galaxy is a Physical system, system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar medium, interstellar gas, cosmic dust, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek ' (), literally 'milky', ...

''. Gnome Press published '' Mel Oliver and Space Rover on Mars'' in1954. and was also published in a Dutch translation.

Comics

He is believed to have begun working for

in late 1942, working on comics scripts for characters notably including

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 ...

. He also wrote scripts for comics and characters including Sandman,

Green Arrow Green Arrow is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Mort Weisinger and designed by George Papp, he first appeared in ''More Fun Comics'' No. 73 on September 19, 1941 (cover dated November 1941), th ...

, Airwave and Robotman, as well as "a string of 17 science-fiction stories in 1955 and 1956".Who's Who in American Comic Books: Joe Samachson
Accessed May 8, 2008 In 1955, he created (with artist Joe Certa) the

Martian Manhunter The Martian Manhunter (J'onn J'onzz) is a superhero in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Joseph Samachson and artist Joe Certa, the character first appeared in the story "The Manhunter from Mars" in ''Detective Comics ...

in the pages of ''

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 ...

'' #225. Usually credited as author on the initial strip, some commentators believe that he may have produced the plot, but that writer Jack Miller (who most believe succeeded Samachson in writing the character with the next issue), may have produced the first script.

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

also suggests that Samachson wrote "many subsequent" appearances of J'Onn J'Onzz rather than just the first. Jerry Bails also lists Samachson as having co-created the historical DC character

Tomahawk A tomahawk is a type of single-handed axe used by the many Native Americans in the United States, Indian peoples and nations of North America, traditionally resembles a hatchet with a straight shaft. Etymology The name comes from Powhatan langu ...

. In 1943 Samachson also created the character Two-Gun Percy, which first appeared under the

imprint All Funny Comics and was drawn by Bernard Baily. In 1975, DC Comics adapted an unused story he wrote in the 1940s featuring the Seven Soldiers of Victory into a six-part serial in

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''), ...

#438-443.

Television

Samachson also wrote scripts for

Captain Video and His Video Rangers ''Captain Video and His Video Rangers'' is an American science fiction television series that aired on the DuMont Television Network and was the first series of its genre on American television. The series aired between June 27, 1949, and Apri ...

.Samachson obituary, p. 61 of the June 5, 1980 ''Trenton Evening Times''

Other work

With his wife Dorothy Samachson, he wrote about theater ("Let's Meet the Theatre" and "The Dramatic Story of the Theatre"), music ("Masters of Music" and ''The Fabulous World of Opera''), ballet, archeology (''Good Digging'') and a number of other titles, including ''Rome'', a

Rand McNally Rand McNally is an American technology and publishing company that provides mapping software and hardware for consumer electronics, commercial transportation, and education markets. The company is headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois with a di ...

"Cities of the World" title. In addition, Samachson was a frequent contributor to scientific journals and the author of ''The Armor Within Us: The Story of Bone.''

References

External links

* (pseudonym) * * *
SF Encyclopedia entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Samachson, Joseph 1906 births 1980 deaths 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American biochemists American comics writers American people of Russian-Jewish descent American male novelists American science fiction writers Deaths from Parkinson's disease in Illinois American male short story writers 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers