Jerry Gwin Bails was an American popular culturist.
19 Facts About Jerry Bails
1.
2.
Jerry G Bails was born on June 26,1933 in Kansas City, Missouri.
3.
In 1953, Jerry Bails wrote to DC to inquire about issues of All-Star Comics.
4.
Jerry Bails's letter was forwarded to former Justice Society writer Gardner Fox, and from Fox's reply of July 9,1953, the two corresponded regularly.
5.
Fox informed Thomas that "he had sold his bound volumes [of All-Star Comics] to a gent named Jerry Bails", and put Thomas in touch with the Detroit-based Bails.
6.
Jerry Bails soon bombarded the DC offices with suggestions for new superhero revivals.
7.
Jerry Bails did everything he could to fool editor Julius Schwartz, including mailing the letters from all across the country.
8.
Jerry Bails was the founding editor of Alter-Ego, one of the very earliest superhero comics fanzines.
9.
Shortly after the launch of Alter-Ego, Jerry Bails founded The Comicollector, which launched in September 1961.
10.
Jerry Bails introduced and attempted to popularize the term "panelologist" for comics fans and their hobby, implying a study of the panels which make up comics.
11.
Jerry Bails served as the Academy's first Executive Secretary, later passing his role on to fellow fan Paul Gambaccini, who later gave way to Dave Kaler.
12.
The first comic book awards trace their origins to "a letter to Jerry dated October 25,1961," by Roy Thomas, in which he suggested to Bails that Alter-Ego create its own awards to reward fandom's "favorite comic books in a number of categories" in a manner similar to the Oscars.
13.
Jerry Bails himself was "on the organizing committee" for the Detroit Triple Fan Fair, 1964.
14.
In October 1964, Jerry Bails released the first issue of comics' first dedicated amateur press association publication, CAPA-alpha.
15.
Jerry Bails worked on and published extensive cross-referencing systems allowing researchers the ability to follow the published credits of Golden Age comic book creators.
16.
Jerry Bails contributed to the following year's Guidebook to Comics Fandom, a brief guide to the major fanzines being published.
17.
Jerry Bails wrote to a large number of creators and was able to encourage many to share their recollections, credits and, in some cases, personal records to assist in the accuracy of his project.
18.
Jerry Bails wrote introductions and forewords to a number of collections of Golden Age and Silver Age DC Comics books.
19.
Jerry Bails died in his sleep of a heart attack on November 23,2006.