Gill, Joe
Entry updated 11 September 2023. Tagged: Author, Comics.
Working name of Joseph P Gill (1919-2006), highly productive US Comics scriptwriter and colourist who is certainly among the most prolific comics writers of all time and could indeed be in the number-one position; so much of his work appeared without credit that the true figures may never be known. He was first active in the 1940s with Timely Comics, precursor of Marvel Comics, and in the 1950s became strongly associated with Charlton Comics. There he wrote many sf scripts for – to list only those titles given full entries in this encyclopedia – Space Adventures (1952-1964, 1967), Unusual Tales (1955-1965), Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds (1956-1965), Out of This World (1956-1959), Outer Space (1958-1959) and Space War (1959-1964). For Space Adventures he created Captain Atom in 1960 with artist Steve Ditko; another still-active creation was the second incarnation of the Blue Beetle in Blue Beetle #1 (June 1964) with artists Bill Fraccio and Tony Tallarico. Also of note is Doomsday + 1 (1975-1977), created with the artist John Byrne, in which three astronauts who had been launched to a Space Station just as an accidental nuclear World War Three began return to have adventures on the much changed Post-Holocaust Earth.
Gill retired for the most part from comics when Charlton closed down in 1986, though contributing occasional freelance scripts to DC Comics and colourist work elsewhere. He was a posthumous recipient of the Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing in 2020. [DRL]
Joseph P Gill
born Scranton, Pennsylvania: 13 July 1919
died Seymour, Connecticut: 17 December 2006
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