Forgotten All-Star: A Biography Of Gardner Fox by Jennifer DeRoss (ebook review).

I bought the Kindle version of ‘Forgotten All-Star: A Biography of Gardner Fox by Jennifer DeRoss with my own money after trying a sample for free, and I’m glad I did. The Kindle version doesn’t work for diagrams and charts, but they’re not that important, though a more dedicated Fox fan might prefer the paperback for that reason.

Growing up in the 1960s, I read Marvel Comics and regarded Silver Age DC as inferior and slightly silly. Now, I believe that Silver Age DC is not inferior, but rather unique, even though some of his works, particularly those by Gardner Fox, may be considered silly. Gardner Fox’s science was pure fantasy, akin to a villain using his tornado power to create copies of the Justice League. Being silly doesn’t always imply negativity, as it often provides a sense of relaxation and entertainment.

The stories have a certain charm, and so do the heroes. While Marvel superheroes were arguing and falling out with their girlfriends and worrying about the bills, Gardner Fox’s heroes had a stress-free private life with a secure job and a steady girlfriend who was destined to become a wife. Flash was a scientist working for the police, and Green Lantern was a test pilot. Like Asimov’s characters, they tended to be calm, cerebral, organized guys without tumultuous emotional lives. In this way, they resembled their creator.

Gardner Fox was born into an affluent family, did well at school and university, and married a nice lady from another solid middle-class family. They had two children and lived a settled life. The only peculiar thing about him was that he wrote comicbooks for a living, which was not a prestigious occupation at the time. He started out with a career in law, writing comics in the evening for fun and extra income. It was the Great Depression, after all. However, according to this biographer, he became disillusioned with the justice system and switched to being a full-time writer. Reading Edgar Rice Burroughs as a child sparked his interest in imaginative fiction, and he loved the pulp magazines, especially fantasy and science fiction. Underneath the sober three-piece suit lurked a big kid wanting to play.

Writer Jennifer DeRoss makes much of his strong sense of justice, perhaps influenced by his significant work on the ‘Justice Society of America’ in the 1940s ‘Golden Age All-Star Comics’ and the ‘Justice League of America’ in the 1960s Silver Age. I’m uncertain if comic titles serve as a clue to character development. Does his work on ‘The Flash’ prove he was flashy? However, Fox was a devout Roman Catholic with solid, old-fashioned values, and a predilection towards fair play and justice fits into that. In real life, the courts and the practice of law are a cynical business, ill-suited for strict moral principles. On the other hand, it’s also boring hard work, and many writers have quit that profession to scribble instead. Gardner Fox wasn’t the first and won’t be the last.

With a modern academic mindset, Jennifer DeRoss is inclined to scrutinize 1940s comicbooks for signs of racism and sexism. She devotes a whole chapter to contemplating why Wonder Woman was the secretary for the Justice Society of America. I skipped it. Mercifully, there isn’t too much of this sort of thing. Retrofitting one’s modern values to a different age is futile. For what it’s worth, she concludes that Fox was not at all racist and he respected women because he knew several strong, capable females in his own life, especially his sister.

Despite pop stars and actors making it so, a career in the arts does not necessarily require a wild, chaotic lifestyle. Gardner Fox maintained a steady writing schedule and kept large reference files and scrapbooks of information that might be useful in his fiction. Nowadays, we can look up everything instantly on Google, but, back then, writers and artists didn’t have that option, and keeping an extensive reference library was common. Fox’s stories demonstrate his extensive knowledge of history and mythology. He thought part of his mission was to educate and hoped the kids would look up the cited facts. Every day, he ate breakfast at 07:30, worked from 08:00 until 12:00 for lunch, and continued until 18:00 for dinner. Of course, this was a typical day at home. There were other occasions when he traveled to the DC Comics offices to consult with his editors. He and Julius Schwartz worked out the plots together. Fox and his wife also had an active social life in the community, so they often dined out. Even so, the schedule shows how he led his life.

The number of works is too large to list. Check online. Fox began in comics before Superman, writing the Steve Saunders strip in Detective Comics # 4. He worked on early Batman stories and invented many of the gadgets associated with the character at that time, including the utility belt and the batarang. He scripted the first superhero team in Justice Society of America’ and co-created the Golden Age Flash and Hawkman. When superheroes died out after World War II, he kept busy writing westerns and science fiction short stories for the pulp magazines. The new version of The Flash famously launched the Silver Age of comics in Showcase # 4 (October 1956). Fox was on hand to contribute to the superhero revival, writing scripts for Flash, Hawkman, Green Lantern, and many others. The Justice League of America brought back the super-team idea, and Fox’s brilliant idea of Earth-Two, conceived in ‘Flash Of Two Worlds’ (The Flash # 123 (September 1961)), allowed the JSA to coexist with the JLA and even team up for ‘Crisis’ events. This was a major contribution to the DC Comics Universe. I have seen a YouTube interview with Julius Schwartz, in which he claims he came up with all the ideas, but that’s standard for comicbook editors.

Grateful as only a corporation can be, DC Comics effectively sacked Gardner Fox, John Broome, Arnold Drake, and others in 1968 by not giving them any more work. They had the gall to ask for medical benefits and a pension plan. Fox briefly worked at Marvel Comics, but found it unsuitable, so he ventured into writing sorcery novels and other genres. He got by.

Is Gardner Fox forgotten? Probably. T’was ever thus. Similar to Jack Kirby, Gardner Fox receives recognition for his street names and other contributions to television shows that feature super-characters, yet most viewers likely overlook these details. Professionals such as Roy Thomas still hold fond memories of Gardner Fox, and during his lifetime, he significantly contributed to the growth of comic fandom, leading some to hold his memory in high regard. Old men, who were children at the time, treasure luxurious hardback reprint editions of his classic works. His stories are family-friendly, mildly educational, and light entertainment, and there are over 4,000 of them available. Together with his children, he leaves behind a legacy of solid citizens who actively contribute to their society. Gardner was a decent chap, and he deserved a biography. Well done to Jennifer DeRoss for putting in the work. This book is worth a look.

Eamonn Murphy

November 2024

(pub: Pulp Hero Press, 2019. 242 page Kindle edition 14997kB. Price: £ 6.64 (UK), $ 7.99 (US). ASIN‏:‎ B07W9J7JND

check out website: www.PulpHeroPress.com