Today is the birthday of former
Superman Group Titles Assistant Editor extraordinaire and prolific comic-book writer E. Nelson Bridwell. He was born in Sapulpa, Oklahoma on September 22, 1931.
Nelson's first published work was, appropriately, a
Superboy story in 1965. He then co-created
The Inferior Five in 1966 and
The Secret Six in 1968. Along the way he wrote several classic
Legion of Super-Heroes stories.
Nelson's forte was to explain or expand on story arcs already established. For example, in "The Five Legion Orphans" he established that
Dream Girl, Brainiac 5, and
Mon-El were all orphans (we already knew
Superboy and
Element Lad were, of course). In "The Forgotten Legion" he found a way to return
Star Boy and
Dream Girl to the ranks. And in
Superboy #147, he wrote the first and definitive "Origin of the Legion."
After
the Legion was dumped from the pages of
Adventure Comics and Jim Shooter quit DC,
Nelson took over the writing chores for the group. Due to page constrictions, most of these stories are heavy on characterization and low on plot. However, several still stand up to the test of time, such as "Chameleon Boy's Secret Identity" (where
Cham pretends to be a Caucasian in order to get a girl-friend), "The Fallen Star Boy" (where
the Legion meets the brother of the man
Star Boy killed in self-defense several years earlier), and "One Hero Too Many," where one Legionnaire must quit in order for the organization to stay under a new UP membership law. This particular story is unique in that it shows us a mission monitor board with EVERY member at the time....all 26 of them (25 after the end of the story). This era is sometimes called "the forgotten years" because they are the not
Adventure or
Superboy stories, but some of them are pretty good. (For those interested, they are all collected in
The Legion Archives Vol. 9 and in
Showcase Presents The Legion Vol. 4).
The last bit of important
Legion business
Nelson provided was in a back-up story in
Superboy #172, "Brotherly Hate!" In this story,
Lightning Lord's red-hair is turned white. Mekt Ranzz' hair was white when he first appeared as a member of
the Legion of Super-Villains, but that was the "Adult" version of the character. When he re-appeared in "current" continuity, his hair was just as red as his brother's and sister's. Until this story, that is.
Although
the Legion returned to its own series soon after this and eventually got its own title,
E. Nelson Bridwell never wrote another
Legion story after 1971. Instead he turned his attention to
Captain Marvel and
the Marvel Family, first in
Shazam! and then later in the pages of
World's Finest. He also handled
The Super Friends, a series he wrote consistently for five years. When
The Secrets of the Legion mini-series came out in 1980, he helped plot it with writer Paul Kupperberg.
Unfortunately, E. Nelson Bridwell died on January 23, 1987. His legacy, however, lives on, and will continue to live on well into the future....
Happy Birthday Nelson and thanks for the memories !
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday Nelson! You will always be remembered.
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