Michael Fleisher Explained

Birth Name:Michael L. Fleisher
Birth Date:1 November 1942
Nationality:American
Alma Mater:University of Michigan
Area:Writer

Michael Lawrence Fleisher (November 1, 1942 — February 2, 2018)[1] [2] [3] was an American writer known for his DC Comics of the 1970s and 1980s, particularly for the characters Spectre and Jonah Hex.

Biography

Early life and career

Fleisher was raised in New York City.[4] His parents divorced when he was four years old, and Fleisher developed the foundation of his later Western writing by spending Saturdays with his visiting father at Western movie double features. "I saw two Westerns every Saturday for years," Fleisher recalled in 2010. "So it wasn't very hard to write [Westerns] at all."

Fleisher wrote three volumes of The Encyclopedia of Comic Books Heroes, doing some research on-site at DC Comics. He started comic book scripting in 1972, co-writing with Lynn Marron the full-issue supernatural story "Death at Castle Dunbar" in DC's Secrets of Sinister House #5 (July 1972). He co-wrote supernatural short stories with Maxene Fabe in DC's House of Mystery, and a solo story in the companion title House of Secrets #111 (Sept. 1973). Collaborating with Russell Carley, who provided art breakdowns for Fleisher's scripts,[5] Fleisher wrote seven stories for those titles and Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion late in 1973. Fleisher scripted the Steve Ditko-created Shade, the Changing Man series in 1977-1978.[6] Fleisher made several contributions to the Batman mythos in the early 1980s. He reintroduced the Crime Doctor in Detective Comics #494 (Sept. 1980),[7] co-created the Electrocutioner in Batman #331 (Jan. 1981),[8] and wrote the origin of the Penguin in The Best of DC #10 (March 1981).[9]

The Spectre

After becoming, variously, an assistant editor and an associate editor under Joe Orlando on the DC humor series Plop! and the superhero anthology series Adventure Comics, Fleisher, with Carley's script-breakdown assistance, began writing the feature "The Spectre" in the latter title. Beginning with the 12-page "The Wrath of ... the Spectre" in issue #431 (Feb. 1974),[10] Fleisher and artist Jim Aparo went on to produce 10 stories of the supernatural avenger through issue #440 (July 1975) (without Carley's assistance toward the end) that became controversial for what was considered gruesome, albeit bloodless, violence. As comics historian Les Daniels observed, the character, created during the 1940s Golden Age and briefly revived in the late 1960s,

Jonah Hex

Fleisher wrote DC Comics' Jonah Hex character for more than a dozen years, beginning in 1974 in Weird Western Tales (taking over from the character's creator, John Albano), then from 1977 to 1985 in the character's self-titled comic.[11] A sequel series, Hex (1985–1987) transported the character into a postapocalyptic setting, making him the lead in a science-fiction feature.[12]

Controversy and later career

Writer Harlan Ellison in a 1979 interview praised Fleisher's comics work, while also describing Fleisher and his work as "crazy", "certifiable", "twisted", "derange-o", "bugfuck", and a "lunatic". He also claimed that a Publishers Weekly review called Fleisher's novel Chasing Hairy "the product of a sick mind", and that Fleisher's Spectre run on Adventure Comics had been discontinued by DC Comics because the company "realized they had turned loose a lunatic on the world."[13] While Ellison stated that some of what he was claiming was said "in some humor",[14] Fleisher, saying his "business reputation has been destroyed" and believing he was falsely portrayed as insane, filed a $2 million libel suit against Ellison, publisher Gary Groth and the magazine in which the interview appeared, The Comics Journal.[15] [16] The case came to court in 1986 and resulted in a verdict for the defendants.[17] [18]

Afterward, Fleisher attended college at Columbia University in New York City, from 1987 to 1991, while also writing for the British comics magazine 2000 AD.[19] Leaving the comics field that year, he moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan for graduate school at the University of Michigan, spending from 1994 to 1996 researching his Ph.D thesis on commercialized cattle theft in Tanzania while living for two years near Nairobi.[20] He then spent a year in New York writing his dissertation and earned a doctorate in anthropology. After that, he worked as a "freelance anthropological consultant carrying out research assignments for humanitarian organizations in the developing world." Fleisher died from complications of Alzheimer's disease in Beaverton, Oregon on February 2, 2018.[21]

Bibliography

Books

Comic books

Atlas/Seaboard Comics

DC Comics

2000AD

"The Arena of Long Knives" (with Kev Walker, in 2000 AD Yearbook 1992, 1991)

Marvel Comics

Warren Publishing

Collections

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Miller . John Jackson. John Jackson Miller. Comics Industry Birthdays . . June 10, 2005 . Iola, Wisconsin . https://web.archive.org/web/20110218031356/http://cbgxtra.com/knowledge-base/for-your-reference/comics-industry-birthdays . February 18, 2011 . dead. mdy-all.
  2. Web site: Fleisher, Mike . Jerry . Bails . Jerry Bails . 2006 . Who's Who of American Comic Books 1928-1999 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130825233930/http://www.bailsprojects.com/bio.aspx?Name=FLEISHER%2C%2BMIKE . August 25, 2013 . live . August 25, 2013. mdy-all.
  3. Web site: Michael Lawrence Fleisher. Autumn Funeral and Cremation Services. Tigard, Oregon. https://web.archive.org/web/20180314154336/http://www.autumn-funerals-cremation.com/obituaries/obituary/2186_Michael_Lawrence_Fleisher . March 14, 2018. live. mdy-all. March 14, 2018.
  4. Michael Fleisher interview. Back Issue!. 42. 5. TwoMorrows Publishing. August 2010. Raleigh, North Carolina.
  5. See, for instance, House of Mystery #218 (Oct. 1973): "The Abominable Ivy" at the Grand Comics Database
  6. Book: McAvennie. Michael. Dolan. Hannah, ed.. 1970s. DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. Dorling Kindersley. 2010. London, United Kingdom . 978-0-7566-6742-9 . 174 . Steve Ditko returned to mainstream comics with Shade, the Changing Man. Joined by writer Michael Fleisher, Ditko unveiled the story of Rac Shade, a secret agent-turned-fugitive from the extra-dimensional world of Meta..
  7. Book: Manning. Matthew K.. Dougall. Alastair, ed.. 1980s. Batman: A Visual History. Dorling Kindersley. 2014. London, United Kingdom. 137. 978-1465424563. Not glimpsed since the Golden Age of comics, Bradford Thorne, alias the Crime Doctor, made his return in the lead story of this issue by guest writer Michael Fleisher and artist Don Newton..
  8. Manning "1980s" in Dougall, p. 138: "Plotted by Batman's new regular writer Marv Wolfman with dialog by Michael Fleisher and art by Irv Novick, this story saw Batman face this new costumed threat."
  9. Manning "1980s" in Dougall, p. 139: "After 40 memorable years as Batman's bird-obsessed number two foe, the Penguin had his bizarre beginnings finally revealed to a curious readership in this completely new origin tale ... written by Michael Fleisher with pencils by Romeo Tanghal."
  10. McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 159 "The Spectre re-materialized in the pages of Adventure Comics. This time, however, he brought along an all-out wrathful disposition, delivering punishments that not only fit the crimes, but arguably exceeded them ... [Michael] Fleisher and [Jim] Aparo's run lasted only ten issues, yet it was widely regarded as some of their finest work, and the character's seminal period."
  11. McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 173: "Jonah Hex rode his horse out of Weird Western Tales and into his own comic ... Longtime Hex scribe Michael Fleisher and artist José Luis García-López detailed the bounty-hunter traveling to Whalenberg, Tennessee."
  12. Manning, Matthew K. "1980s" in Dolan, p. 214: "Transported from the Wild West of the past to a dystopic future society, Jonah Hex had to adapt to the times in this brave new world and series crafted by writer Michael Fleisher and artist Mark Texeira."
  13. Groth. Gary. Gary Groth. Harlan Ellison interview. The Comics Journal. 53. 68–107. Fantagraphics Books. Winter 1980. Seattle, Washington.
  14. Cusick, Rick. "Bugfuck!", Gauntlet #9, volume II, 1995, via HarlanEllison.com. WebCitation archive.
  15. Pratt, Charles. "The Insanity Offence: The Fleisher/Ellison/Comics Journal Libel Case", Ansible #48, February 1987. WebCitation archive.
  16. "Newswatch: Notice From The Editors," The Comics Journal #59 (October 1980), p. 19
  17. "Newswatch: Comics Journal wins Fleisher libel suit," The Comics Journal #113 (December 1986), p. 11
  18. The Comics Journal #115 (April 1987), pp. 51-142: Section on Fleisher lawsuit
  19. http://www.comicsbulletin.com/interviews/3547/michael-l-fleisher-never-in-the-wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time/ "Michael L. Fleisher: Never in the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time"
  20. Fleisher, Back Issue! #42, pp. 14-15
  21. Web site: Michael Fleisher: Comic Book Writer, 1942-2018. Lortie. Arthur. Catron. Michael. Michael Catron. March 21, 2018. The Comics Journal. Fantagraphics Books. Seattle, Washington. https://web.archive.org/web/20180616200051/http://www.tcj.com/michael-fleisher-comic-book-writer-1942-2018/. June 16, 2018. live. mdy-all.
  22. Book: Sanderson. Peter. Peter Sanderson. Gilbert. Laura, ed.. 1970s. Marvel Chronicle A Year by Year History. Dorling Kindersley. 2008. London, United Kingdom. 190. 978-0756641238. The Man-Thing returned in a new short-lived series, originally written by Michael Fleisher with pencil art by Jim Mooney..

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Michael Fleisher".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.