Sense of Wonder

April 15, 2018
When Schelly read his first Superman comic at age eight in 1960, it set him off on a lifetime path. Schelly's discovery of superheroes was fortuitously timed, as his adolescence coincided with the development of comics fandom, a movement of comics-besotted enthusiasts who shared their passion through self-published fanzines and occasional conventions. Fandom served as a surrogate social outlet for the shy teenager, who was taunted by bullies and disturbed by awareness of his incipient homosexuality. After graduating college and abandoning his hopes of becoming a professional comics artist, Schelly's life turns away from fandom in directions both mundane (underemployment and romantic stagnation) and unusual (surrogate fatherhood with a lesbian couple). He reconnected with fandom in 1990, leading to a late-life career as author of a well-received series of biographies of such comics artists as Harvey Kurtzman and John Stanley. The core audience for this memoir of a life in thrall to comics is Schelly's fellow fans, but his reminiscences of this bygone subculture long before superheroes entered the mainstream warrants a wider readership.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)