Otto Binder: The Life and Work of a Comic Book and Science Fiction Visionary by Schelly Bill

Author:Schelly, Bill [Schelly, Bill]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Tags: BIO007000 Biography & Autobiography / Literary
ISBN: 9781623170387
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
Published: 2016-06-06T22:00:00+00:00

Lois Lane and Superman. Art by Kurt Schaffenberger. ™ and © DC Comics.

Schaffenberger had a slick, precise style, and was especially adept at drawing women—not just their faces, but their mannerisms, the way their bodies moved, and the way they dressed. “Kurt Schaffenberger’s artwork was simply excellent!” Otto enthused. “I think he ‘made’ Lois Lane by his artwork. More importantly, he tells the story with his art. Many artists kill a story by failing to make good transitions from panel to panel to keep the continuity intact. Choosing how to show each scene is vital and Kurt always chooses right.”129

While Jimmy, Superboy, and Lois were the three characters that Binder wrote the most for in the late 1950s, he also scripted the hero who started it all, Superman himself. Some of his most memorable stories are “The Invulnerable Enemy,” “Titano, the Super Ape,” “The Story of Superman’s Life,” and “Superman’s Battle with Hercules.” He also planted the seed for what would become a series of “imaginary stories” about the Superman family.

As early as “Superboy’s Most Amazing Dream,” in Adventure #211 (April 1955), Binder demonstrated a penchant for presenting alternate realities for established characters by the use of the dream story device. It may have been born out of Otto’s own daydreams about how his life might have been different if he had made different choices. From a practical standpoint, the dream stories offered more plot possibilities to a writer who was turning out as many as four short Superboy scripts each month.

But it was with the publication of “Superman’s Other Life” in Superman #132 (1959) that the most direct antecedent to the popular “imaginary story” series appeared. In this three-part tale, which ranks as one of Binder’s true masterworks for the Superman titles, Superman sees what his life would have been like if Krypton hadn’t exploded, and he had never been rocketed to Earth as a child. In the story, Batman and Robin suggest (as their birthday gift) that Superman feed available data into his Super Univac computer, which will then predict what would have happened on an attached television screen. What follows differs from the subsequent imaginary stories in that it allows Superman, Batman, and Robin to comment on the action in the story, as they watch it unfold before their eyes. In the course of the tale, Superman finds out that he would have had a younger brother, that Krypton would have had its own hero named Futuro, and that he would eventually have ended up becoming Superman on Krypton. Interestingly, the tale is presented as though it truly is what would have happened to Superman if Krypton hadn’t been doomed.

The first official imaginary story was “Mr. and Mrs. Clark (Superman) Kent” in Lois Lane #19 (August 1960). The authorship is in question. Jerry Siegel claimed he wrote it, and so did Otto Binder. With the number of stories they produced, it’s hardly surprising that memories can get mixed up. Otto openly admitted that his records were not perfect, though he estimated they were “ninety-eight percent correct.

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