E. Nelson Bridwell

Infobox Comics creator

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imagesize = 150px
caption = Caricature of E. Nelson Bridwell by Dave Manak (c. 1976)
birthname = Edward Nelson Bridwell
birthdate = 1931
location = Sapulpa, Oklahoma
deathdate = January 23, 1987
deathplace =
nationality = American
area = Writer
alias =
notable works =
awards =

Edward Nelson Bridwell (1931 - 1987) was a writer for "Mad" magazine (writing the now-famous catch phrase, "What you mean we, white man") and various comic books published by DC Comics. One of the writers for the "Batman" comic strip and "Super Friends", he also wrote "The Inferior Five", among comics. Bridwell was noted for possessing an encyclopaedic knowledge of various comics-related trivia.

Career

E. Nelson Bridwell, whose early childhood interest in mythology and folklore stayed with him throughout his professional life and permeated much of his work, "was one of the first "comics fans" hired in the industry after the long, bleak 1950s,"Margaret O'Connell, ""With One Magic Word...": A Talk With E. Nelson Bridwell!" in Richard Howell and Carol Kalish (ed.s) "Comics Feature" #10 (New Media Publishing, July 1981)] . Although his first published work consisted of text pages in comics published by the American Comics Group in the late 1940sFact|date=July 2008, 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".

Bridwell began working for DC Comics in 1965 as an assistant to editor Mort Weisinger, "on the "Superman" titles, and eventually became an editor himself ("Lois Lane", and later "Superman Family")." Jim Shooter, (who also worked with Weisinger) recalls that Weisinger did not always treat his assistant too well, saying that his "assistant was Nelson Bridwell and boy, he tortured Nelson. He just was awful to Nelson." [ [http://www.wtv-zone.com/silverager/interviews/shooter_2.shtml "The Silver Age Sage: Interview with Jim Shooter, part 2" by BDS] . Accessed July 16, 2008] Bridwell, however, recalled in 1980 an important lesson learned from Weisinger, that::"You've got to keep in ming 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", "Batman" and "Shazam!" "From the Thirties to the Seventies." - 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, who would later be suggested by Bridwell as artist for "The Inferior Five". [ [http://twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/articles/01orlando.html Excerpts from Jon Cooke's interview with Joe Orlando, from "Comic Book Artist" #1 (TwoMorrows)] . Accessed July 16, 2008]

Continuity

Recalling an early interest in comicbook 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 races in evidence in the adventures of DC's Atom, Wonder Woman and Superman characters. Bridwell was also an early advocate of the theory that the Marvel and DC characters "exist in the same universe," citing early crossovers such as "Superman/Spider-Man" and a cross-company inter-locking storyline (with real-world crossover characters) between "Justice League of America" #103, "Thor" #207 and "Amazing Adventures" #16.

His 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, keeping track of continuity between the numerous Superman titles published.

The Inferior Five

Talking about the origins of one of his more famous 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."The "Inferior Five" concept revolved around a set of "second-generation super-heroes," a trend that would later take off industry-wide, soon after "The Inferior Five" #1's debut with Marvel Comics' "Giant-Size Avengers" #1, which initially identifyed Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch as "the son and daughter of The Whizzer and Miss America."

Other comics

Bridwell wrote for several other DC titles, including "Action Comics", "Adventure Comics", "Super Friends", "The Secret Six", "Shazam!", "Superman", "World's Finest Comics" and "The Legion of Super-Heroes".

He wrote "Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew" in "The Oz/Wonderland War" trilogy, as well as occasional stories for the black-and-white horror comics "Creepy" and "Eerie", published by Warren Publications.

He co-created a number of characters, including the JLA members Fire and Ice, and as editor compiled a number of "100-Page Super-Spectaculars," collecting out-of-print stories from the DC archive, often under new covers featuring a Bridwell-created character key. [ [http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2008/03/07/bridwell-appreciation-day/ "Comics Should Be Good!: Bridwell Appreciation Day" by Greg Hatcher, March 7, 2008] . Accessed July 16, 2008]

Papers

Following his death on January 23, 1987, his papers were acquired by the McFarlin Library at the University of Tulsa in 1989. [ [http://www.lib.utulsa.edu/history/Chronology.htm McFarlin Library Through the Years...] . Accessed May 15, 2008]

=Ho

* In "Watchmen", Captain Metropolis was named "Nelson Gardner" as a tribute to Bridwell and to Gardner Fox.
* "Astro City" #5 featured a shapeshifting Enelsian, disguised as "Mr Bridwell".

Awards and honors

He was posthumously inducted into the Oklahoma Cartoonists Hall of Fame in October 2005.

elect bibliography

Editor & annotater

*"Superman: From the 30s to the 70s"
*"Batman: From the 30s to the 70s"
*"Shazam!: From the 40s to the 70s"
*"The Great Superman Comic Book Collection"

References

External links

* [http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2008/03/07/bridwell-appreciation-day/ "Bridwell Appreciation Day" by Greg Hatcher]
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0108845/ E. Nelson Bridwell at the IMDb]
* [http://www.comicbookdb.com/creator.php?ID=485 E. Nelson Bridwell at the ComicBookDb]