Learned Today

Today I learned that legendary comics editor Julius Scwartz died on Sunday morning.

I’d been with Sam and Julia all weekend and hadn’t done my usual round of eavesdropping on Neil and Mark. So I had a good weekend but I missed the news.

Schwartz wasn’t popular in the cultural sense. He wasn’t publicly known as a comics powerhouse like Jack Kirby, Bob Kane, or Siegel and Schuster, but his role in comics was just as significant (if not more so).

Neither Batman or Superman (or countless other heroes) would have the resonance they do without his contribution to their mythology.

How many people can claim to be the godfather of Batman and Superman?

And it was Schwartz who opened a door to a young kid named Ray Bradbury. Without Ray, you may have avoided having to put up with all this garbage from me.

So he does have to answer for that, I suppose.

——

In the shower this morning, I heard a report on NPR about an old movie theater being refurbished in Gaza City. At the end of the report, they interviewed kids about what kinds of movies they wanted to see. They shouted out “Rambo! Van Damme! Jackie Chan!” and the usual list of action franchises.

But, as the reporter closed, the last two words of the broadcast were a set of names shouted out by one of the boys:

“Superman! Batman!”

Rest in Peace, Julie…