Sense of Wonder Format: Paperback

A fascinating story of growing up as a gay fan of comic books in the 1960s, building a fifty-year career as an award-winning writer, and interacting with acclaimed comic book legends

Award-winning writer Bill Schelly relates how comics and fandom saved his life in this engrossing story that begins in the burgeoning comic fandom movement of the 1960s and follows the twists and turns of a career that spanned fifty years. Schelly recounts his struggle to come out at a time when homosexuality was considered a mental illness, how the egalitarian nature of fandom offered a safe haven for those who were different, and how his need for creative expression eventually overcame all obstacles. He describes living through the AIDS epidemic, finding the love of his life, and his unorthodox route to becoming a father. He also details his personal encounters with major talents of 1960s comics, such as Steve Ditko (co-creator of Spider-Man), Jim Shooter (writer for DC and later editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics), and Julius Schwartz (legendary architect of the Silver Age of comics).

BILL SCHELLY has been chronicling and adding to the pop culture fringes since the mid-1960s. He became widely known in the comics community thanks to his popular fanzine Sense of Wonder (1967-1972). In 1998, he became associate editor of the Eisner Award-winning magazine Alter Ego, a post he still holds. Schelly has written several biographies of film and comics artists, including comedian Harry Langdon and Joe Kubert. His American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1950s was nominated for a Harvey Award. He recently authored Harvey Kurtzman, The Man Who Created Mad and Revolutionized Humor in America, which was published in 2015. It received the Will Eisner Comics Industry Award in 2016 for Best Comics-Related Book. Schelly has also received an Inkpot Award from Comic-Con International: San Diego.