William Carl Schelly (November 2, 1951 – September 12, 2019) was an Eisner Award-winning author who chronicled the history of comic books and comic book fandom, and wrote biographies of comic book creators, including Otto Binder, L.B. Cole, Joe Kubert, Harvey Kurtzman, John Stanley, and James Warren as well as silent film comedian Harry Langdon.^[2]

Early life

Bill Schelly was born in Walla Walla, Washington, and had been a comic book enthusiast since 1960.^[3] He was living in a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania when he heard about comics fandom in 1964. Upon seeing his first amateur publication about comics, a mimeographed fanzine called Batmania, Schelly decided to become a fanzine publisher himself. He launched Super-Heroes Anonymous in February 1965, the first in a string of magazines he edited and published until 1972.

It was for his fanzine Sense of Wonder that Schelly became known to the comics community.^[1] Begun while living in Pittsburgh, but mostly published after he moved to Lewiston, Idaho, in 1967, it began as a collection of amateur comic strips and stories. In 1970, while attending the University of Idaho, Schelly changed the format of Sense of Wonder to a "general fanzine" made up of articles and artwork about the history of comic books. By the end of its 12-issue run, Sense of Wonder had presented the first attempt to chronicle the whole career of comics innovator Will Eisner, as well as work by Steve Ditko, Frank Frazetta and Stanley Pitt. It was discontinued after he graduated from the University of Idaho with a B.S. in education in 1973.^[1]

Writing

In 1990, Schelly began researching the history of the classic era of comic book fandom. Eventually, his research culminated in a book-length manuscript called The Golden Age of Comic Fandom It was well-received, quickly sold out, and was nominated for a Will Eisner Comic Industry Award.^[1] A revised and expanded edition was published in 1998, and another printing was done in 2003.

Awards

Schelly won a San Diego Comic-Con International Inkpot Award for Fandom Services in 2011^[4] and the 2016 Eisner Award for Best Comics-Related Book for his biography, Harvey Kurtzman: The Man Who Created Mad and Revolutionized Humor in America (Fantagraphics Books, 2015)^[5]

Death

Bill Schelly died September 12, 2019, due to blood clotting in the lungs during chemotherapy for his recently diagnosed multiple myeloma.^[2]