thumb|right|Binder's "[[I, Robot (short story)|I, Robot" was the cover story in the January 1939 issue of Amazing Stories.]]

thumb|right|Binder's novella Land of the Shadow Dragons was the cover story in the May 1941 issue of Fantastic adventures.

Otto Oscar Binder August 26, 1911 – October 13, 1974

Biography

Early life and career

Otto Oscar Binder was born on August 26, 1911, in Bessemer, Michigan, the youngest of six children of a German Lutheran family that had emigrated from Austria the year before. They settled in Chicago in 1922, during a period rich with science fiction, which enthralled Binder and his brother Earl. most prominently marketing the stories of Robert E. Howard, although insufficient business during this Great Depression era forced Kline to close his company after a year and a half. the latter of whom he co-created with Marc Swayze.

Binder spent from 1941 to 1953 with Fawcett, writing "986 stories ... out of 1,743, over half the entire Marvel Family saga", per comic-book writer-editor E. Nelson Bridwell. His first Captain Marvel comic-book story was "Captain Marvel Saves the King" in Captain Marvel Adventures #9 (April 1942). He wrote for numerous other Fawcett features, as well as many two-page text fillers that were required in comics in order to be eligible for magazine postal rates. His text stories in Captain Marvel Adventures, under the "Eando" pseudonym, starred Lieutenant Jon Jarl of the Space Patrol. During his time at Fawcett, Binder co-created with Swayze and C. C. Beck such characters as Mary Marvel, Uncle Dudley, Mr. Tawky Tawny, Black Adam, and Mr. Mind, as well as two of Doctor Sivana's four children: the evil teens Thaddeus Sivana Jr. and daughter Georgia.

Other comics work

Binder left Fawcett when the company shut down its comic book division in 1953, but found no shortage of work. For Timely Comics, the 1940s company that would evolve into Marvel Comics, he [co-]created Captain Wonder, the Young Allies, Tommy Tyme and the patriotically themed superheroine Miss America, and wrote for stories starring Captain America, the Human Torch, the Sub-Mariner, the Destroyer, the Whizzer, and the All-Winners Squad.

He then moved on to his best-known DC work, the Superman group of titles, including launching the Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen series in 1954. Binder and artist Al Plastino collaborated on the Superboy story in Adventure Comics #247 (April 1958) that introduced the Legion of Super-Heroes, a teen superhero team from the future that eventually became one of DC's most popular features. Binder and Plastino debuted the supervillain Brainiac and the Bottle City of Kandor in Action Comics #242 (July 1958) and co-created Supergirl in Action Comics #252 (May 1959). With various artist collaborators, he co-created Krypto the Super Dog, the Phantom Zone, and the supporting characters Lucy Lane, Beppo the Super Monkey, and Titano the Super Ape. In the first issue of Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, he introduced Jimmy Olsen's signal-watch, and in #31, Jimmy's Elastic Lad identity.

DC writer-editor E. Nelson Bridwell credits Binder as creating the first "Imaginary Tale, for Lois Lane", and of writing "most of the early" Bizarro stories, including at least the first "Tales of the Bizarro World" feature. and Bizarro World was introduced in Action Comics #263 (April 1960). Binder scripted what Bridwell calls the "classic [storyline] 'Superman's Return to Krypton.'" He first discussed this hypothesis in his 1968 book Flying Saucers Are Watching Us (later called Unsolved Mysteries of the Past, Tower Publications; reissue edition, 1970). He wrote Mankind Child of the Stars with Max Flindt in 1974, discussing the concept of "astroevolution". Erich von Däniken wrote a foreword for the book, which was revised and reprinted in 1999. He wrote extensively about UFOs in magazines, including articles detailing the experiences of claimed UFO contactee Ted Owens.

New works

Binder's previously unpublished 1953 story, "The Unwanted", has been adapted as a graphic novel by Robert L. Reiner. Published in early 2023 by Fantagraphics, the manuscript had been given to Reiner in the late sixties when he was a teenage fanzine editor and publisher. The story describes a census to be taken in the distant future. A civilization of "Mastermen" rule a galactic empire and visit this planet to determine if it is worthy to join an imperial congress. Membership means access to technology and protection. In evaluating this particular planet, the Mastermen are shocked by what they find. The book is illustrated by artist Angelo Torres and sculptor and speed painter Stefan Koidl.

Final years and death

Binder became editor of Space World magazine, a move that ended in bankruptcy in the early 1960s. As he recalled in 1974:

Otto Binder's daughter Mary, had been on her way to school one morning when a car jumped the curb, went into the driveway in front of the school, and killed her. As film producer and comics historian Michael Uslan, a family friend, recalled, "Otto never recovered. His wife never recovered. She had a breakdown, and Otto started drinking, and eventually he dropped dead of a heart attack. And the three of them were gone, like in a flash."

Awards and legacy

Binder was posthumously inducted into the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 2004. He was the posthumous recipient of the Bill Finger Award in 2010.

Binder is referenced in the first episode of the 2015 television series Supergirl as the title character prevents a crippled jet from crashing into the "Otto Binder bridge".

Bibliography

DC Comics

  • Action Comics #127–146, 182, 195, 200, 202, 204–260, 262–265, 267–268, 270–273, 317, 320, 323, 326, 331, 335–337, 341–342, 344, 349–353, 357, 359, 361–364, 367–369, 371–372, 374–377 (1948–1969)
  • Adventure Comics #130–147, 201–204, 206, 210–211, 214–215, 217–222, 226–227, 229–231, 233–238, 241–242, 245–247, 249, 251, 255–257, 259–265, 276, 278–279, 282, 287, 289, 355 (1948–1967)
  • Detective Comics #138–147, 150, 203–205, 207–224 (1948–1955)
  • House of Mystery #32, 37, 181, 257 (1954–1978)
  • Metal Men #30–32 (1968)
  • Mystery in Space #19–23, 26–52, 54, 57–58. 108, 110 (1954–1966)
  • Showcase #9–10 (Lois Lane) (1957)
  • Star-Spangled Comics #81, 85–87, 89–90, 94 (1948–1949)
  • Strange Adventures #42, 44–54, 57, 59–66, 71–72, 75–78, 80–92, 94–100, 103, 108–110, 188, 193, 200, 202 (1954–1967)
  • Superboy #37–38, 40, 42–64, 66–78, 80–81, 85, 92, 99, 114–115, 118, 121–122, 124–127, 130–133, 136, 139–140, 144–145 (1954–1968)
  • Superman #97, 109, 111, 114–115, 117, 121–124, 126–127, 129–134, 138–140, 142–143, 146, 173, 176–177, 179, 184, 186, 188–189, 192, 194, 196, 205, 215 (1955–1969)
  • Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #1–5, 14, 17–19, 22–23, 27, 55–61, 71 (1958–1967)
  • Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #1–37, 39–41, 44–48, 50–51, 84, 87–90, 98, 105, 112, 116–118 (1954–1969)
  • World's Finest Comics #33–34, 37–44, 105–106, 108 (1948–1960)

Fawcett Comics

  • America's Greatest Comics #2, 6, 8 (1942–1943)
  • Bulletman #3, 9–10, 14 (1942–1946)
  • Captain Marvel Adventures #8–11, 14, 16–18, 20–58, 61–76, 78–97, 100–150 (1942–1953)
  • Captain Marvel Jr. #1–18, 21, 23, 28–29, 35–36, 38–63, 65, 68, 70–74, 76–90, 93, 95–96, 101–102 (1942–1951)
  • Destination Moon #1 (1950)
  • Ibis the Invincible #1–2 (1942–1943)
  • Marvel Family #1–4, 7, 10, 53 (1945–1950)
  • Mary Marvel #1–8, 10–24, 26–28 (1945–1948)
  • Master Comics #16, 18–19, 21–22, 25, 33, 40 (1941–1943)
  • Whiz Comics #21–22, 27–28, 39 (1941–1943)

Gold Key Comics

  • Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom #7 (1964)

Marvel Comics

  • All Winners Comics #21 (1947)
  • Captain America Comics #8–9, 12, 15, 18, 23, 32, 35, 37–40, 62 (1941–1947)
  • Kid Komics #1, 4–5 (1943–1944)
  • Marvel Classics Comics #2, 4, 11, 13 (1976)
  • Marvel Mystery Comics #49–66, 70–72 (1943–1946)
  • Young Allies #12–13, 18–20 (1944–1946)

Quality Comics

  • Doll Man #5 (1943)
  • National Comics #27 (Uncle Sam) (1942)

Novels

  • Lords of Creation (1949)
  • Adam Link—Robot (1965)
  • Anton York, Immortal (1965)
  • Enslaved Brains (1965)
  • The Avengers Battle the Earth-Wrecker (1967)
  • What We Really Know about Flying Saucers (1967)

References

Further reading

  • Schelly, Bill. Otto Binder: The Life and Work of a Comic Book and Science Fiction Visionary. 2nd edition. Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books, 2016.
  • "A Real-Life 'Marvel Family': A 1973 Talk with Golden Age Artisans Jack & Otto Binder". Interview conducted by Richard Kyle, transcribed by Brian K. Morris. Alter Ego #55 (December 2005) pp. 58–67.
  • Lieutenant Jon Jarl in "The World Stealers", Captain Marvel Adventures #78 (1947)
  • Otto Binder at Mike's Amazing World of Comics
  • Otto Binder at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators