Julius Schwartz was an American Science Fiction literary agent and comicbook editor. Born in 1915 in the Bronx, New York, to Romanian Jewish immigrants, he was in the right place at the right time to catch the early years of Science Fiction pulp magazines. He read ‘Amazing Stories’ and loved it. Publisher Hugo Gernsback had many flaws but he printed fan letters with the correspondent’s name and address, which enabled them to contact each other. Young Julius read a letter from Mortimer Weisinger, who had established a fan club in the Bronx, so he joined up. At the first meeting he attended, it was just him and Weisinger because everyone else had stormed off in a rage. They had done so because club treasurer Mort had spent all the club’s money on ‘SF magazines, candy and the movies’. Not put off by this early evidence of Weisinger’s character, Julie stayed and became his best friend. Birds of a feather? Not quite. Schwartz was never as bad as Mort, who was an infamous bullying tyrant as a DC editor. Schwartz was more affable, easy to get along with by all accounts.
That was later. First, they started a Science Fiction fanzine called ‘The Time Traveller’. For content, they went around to all the SF magazine editors in New York to ask them about upcoming issues. They also sent letters to authors asking what they were working on. Toiling in their lonely niche, both groups were happy to give out news, so the fanzine became popular. After a while, Julie and Mort realised they knew what editors wanted and set up the first specialist Science Fiction literary agency, the Solar Sales Service. They contacted writers, offering to submit their stories and save them postage on multiple submissions, for a ten per cent fee on acceptance. For writers, this made sense and for Mort and Julie it made money. Then Weisinger got the job as editor of ‘Thrilling Wonder Stories’ and Schwartz carried on with the agency alone. He became the agent for many writers and knew most of the rest.
During the war, which Schwartz avoided because of his terrible eyesight, the SF magazine market slumped, probably because of paper shortages and our hero had to look for other ways to support himself. Some of his writers worked in comicbooks on the side and he managed to get a job as assistant editor under Shelly Mayer at All American Comics, which DC soon took over. Schwartz settled in there for the rest of his working life. The editor’s job involved helping writers develop plots and he takes credit for many significant Silver Age story developments, including the multiverse with Earth Two, revamping Batman back to his roots as a detective and making Superman less powerful to add drama. How much of this was the writers’ idea and how much Schwartz the reader must decide for himself.
‘Man Of Two Worlds’ is a useful read for anyone interested in the early history of Science Fiction magazines and comicbooks. Schwartz knew nearly everyone and there are plenty of interesting anecdotes. He tends to give himself a lot of credit for certain ideas but in a tongue-in-cheek manner that’s not too unbearably egotistical. The book is quite expensive for such a quick read and only aficionados of his two worlds will find it worth the money. I did.
Eamonn Murphy
November 2026
(pub: HarperCollins, 2000. 224 page paperback. Price: varies. ISBN: 978-0-38081-051-2)
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