Jerry Bails
Jerry Gwin Bails (June 26, 1933 – November 23, 2006) was an American popular culturist. Known as the "Father of Comic Book Fandom," he was one of the first to approach the comic book field as a subject worthy of academic study, and was a primary force in establishing 1960s comics fandom. Biography. Early life. Jerry G. Bails was born on June 26, 1933 in Kansas City, Missouri. A fan of comic books from a very early age, Bails was a particularly avid fan of "All-Star Comics", and its premiere superteam (the Justice Society of America) of whom  he was "a fan since the first Justice Society adventure appeared in "All-Star Comics" #3 (Winter 1941)." He wrote in 1960 that by 1945, he "began my campaign to collect all the back issues of this magazine ["All-Star Comics"]," and six years later when the JSA was dropped, started to work towards their revival. In the letters column of "Fantastic Four" #22 (cover-dated Jan. 1964) the editor refers to him as "one of fandom's most articulate critics." Education. As a young man, he "sent samples of his art to EC ("and Al Feldstein was nice enough  to respond with advice.")," before attending the University of Kansas City, from which he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Physics, and then his Master's degree in Math. A student teacher by 1953, he gained his Ph.D. in Natural science c.1959, and in 1960 moved to Detroit with his wife Sondra "to become Assistant Professor of Natural Science at Wayne State University." Comics fandom. Roots. In 1953, Bails wrote to DC (c/o Julius Schwartz) to inquire about issues of "All-Star Comics". His letter was forwarded to former "Justice Society" writer Gardner Fox, and from Fox's  reply of July 9, 1953, the two corresponded regularly. Bails was working steadily toward re-building his personal collection of the early issues of "All Star Comics", and was finally able to convince Fox in early 1959 to sell him Fox's personal bound copies of "All-Star Comics" #1-24. Bails said that he fell into comics fandom in large part due to his circumstances: