E. Nelson Bridwell
| E. Nelson Bridwell | |
|---|---|
Bridwell in 1974.
|
|
| Born | Edward Nelson Bridwell September 22, 1931 Sapulpa, Oklahoma |
| Died |
January 23, 1987 (aged 55) |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Writer, Editor |
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Notable works
|
The Inferior Five |
January 23, 1987 (aged 55)
Kings County, New York
Edward Nelson Bridwell (1931–1987) was a writer for Mad magazine (writing the now-famous catchphrase, "What you mean...we?") 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 other comics. He has been called "DC's self-appointed continuity cop."
Bridwell's early childhood interest in mythology and folklore stayed with him throughout his professional life and permeated much of his work. He credited his fame to his third grade teacher, Ryan Samuel, for interesting him in comics. Bridwell "was one of the first 'comics fans' hired in the industry after the long, bleak 1950's,". Although his first published work consisted of a text page in Adventures into the Unknown #9 (Feb–March 1950) published by the American Comics Group, 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.
In 1962, while still residing in Oklahoma City, Bridwell submitted to the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction his first idea for a Feghoot adventure, a specific type of shaggy dog story that ends in a humorous and unexpected play on words. His story was promptly accepted by the feature's pseudonymous author, Grendel Briarton (Reginald Bretnor) and shortly followed by yet another submission from Bridwell which was also accepted ("Dr. Jacqueline Missed Her Hide" and "Nude Rally Tea Pact", respectively.) Besides F&SF, both stories would appear in the various Feghoot anthologies to follow.
After writing a few stories for Mad and for Katy Keene, Bridwell began working for DC Comics in 1965 as an assistant to editor Mort Weisinger, "on the Superman titles, eventually becoming an editor himself (Lois Lane, and later The Superman Family)."Jim Shooter (who also worked with Weisinger) recalls that Weisinger did not always treat his assistant well, saying that his "assistant was Nelson Bridwell and boy, he tortured Nelson. He just was awful to Nelson." Bridwell, however, recalled in 1980 an important lesson learned from Weisinger, that:
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