RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books Heaven gets a new Editor...

From Newsarama:

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Comics legend Julie Schwartz passed away this morning at 2:30 am at Winthrop Hospital in New York from complications related to his recent battle with pneumonia. He was 89 years old.

The architect of much of the Silver Age of comics, this year, Schwartz would have celbrated 60 years of working with DC Comics. He was an inspiration to at least two generations of comics creators, and his influences and contributions to the medium will be felt for decades and decades to come. Despite his age, Schrawtz had a very active presence at comic book conventions up to and including last year, prior to the decline in his health.

Schwartz’s longtime friend Mark Evanier has written an obituary that can be found here .

The funeral for Julie is scheduled for tomorrow morning, February 9th.

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Sad to hear this -- Julie was a famously good guy, and I mourn that he lacks the immortality 1992's AMBUSH BUG NOTHING SPECIAL bemused him to have...

Sad, but the man had a busy and productive life which he made the most of.

Julius Schwartz was famous for being written into the comics several times. The Ambush Bug special noted above was probably the last time (I think), but his Earth-Prime counterpart appeared in some early 1970s issues of THE FLASH and JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA and met some of the "fictional" characters which he edited. Later, in the mid-1980s a special issue of SUPERMAN was created in which the Earth-1 Julius Schwartz, an out-of-work homeless guy, meets up with Superman and eventually meets his Earth-Prime counterpart as well. It turns out in that story that the E-1 Schwartz had come up with the ideas for Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the Flash (under different names) before they ever appeared in public on Earth-1, and the real-life superheroes ended up causing his fictional creations to sell poorly, eventually leaving him without a job. It was a special 75th birthday (I think) issue of SUPERMAN which was done behind his back and without his knowledge in order to surprise him. It was quite cool, and it is hard to imagine a modern counterpart to Julius Schwartz. Longtime Super-books editor Mike Carlin is as hated as he is loved, and though Denny O'Neil has the history as an editor and writer for the Bat-books, among others, he is not Julius Schwartz.

Julius Schwartz was probably the one man most responsible for ushering in the "Silver Age of comics" with his revamping of the classic golden age characters the Flash, Green Lantern, the Atom, Hawkman, and especially the Justice League of America, an updated version of the old Justice Society of America. Stan Lee would likely have long ago quit comics altogether had it not been for Julius Schwartz's bringing back the super-hero as a popular genre. All the modern writers, artists, and editors are standing in his shadow, and all of us as comics fans owe Julie a debt of gratitude.

I remember the Ambush Bug, Superman, and Flash appearances.

He kind of embodied the Silver Age on DC's side.

tho you gotta admit it's creepy he had a girls name....

Yes. He also doubled as the ship's events coordinator on the Love Boat.

Good old Julie Schwartz. There will be a lot of stuff written about him over the next weeks, because of the amount of influence he had over the Silver Age of comics. My childhood, spent reading Superman comics, associates Schwartz as closely to Supes as Curt Swan.

I thought that was just the name of her favourite cocktail, as made by Isaac.

heh, you said tail....

That's nothing - you said SCHWARTZ.

I'll be in mourning for a few days. You'll be able to find me reading assorted silver age comics as I pay tribute to a true giant among the comic industry! Rest in peace Julie! You certainly earned it!