Editing Gardner Fox (section)

==Early life and career==
Gardner Cooper Fox{{efn|name=FrancisCooper}} was born in [[Brooklyn]], New York City, the son of Julia Veronica (Gardner) and Leon Francis Fox, an engineer.<ref name=tcj114 /><ref>{{cite book|last1= Reginald|first1= Robert|last2= Menville|first2= Douglas, ed.|last3= Burgess|first3= Mary A., ed.|title= Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, Volume 2|publisher= [[Borgo Press]]|date= 2010|location= Rockville, Maryland|page= 902|isbn= 978-0941028776|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=3nPYfqEbfrsC&q=%22Leon+Francis+Fox+%28an+engineer+%29+and+Julia+V.+Gardner.%22&pg=PA902}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last= Reginald|first= Robert|title= Contemporary Science Fiction Authors|publisher= Borgo Press|date= 2009|location= Rockville, Maryland|page= 99|isbn= 978-1434478573|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=qwXhmXlVT_oC&q=%22Leon+Francis+%26+Julia+Veronica+%28Gardner%29+Fox%22&pg=PA99}}</ref> Unlike many of his contemporaries in the comic book field, such as [[Jack Kirby]] and [[Jerry Siegel]], who came from poor backgrounds, Fox came from an affluent family from Long Island.<ref>{{cite web|last=Avila|first=Mike|title=Gardner Fox, co-creator of the Flash, Hawkman, and the Earth-2 concept, belongs on comics' Mount Rushmore|date=2020-05-18|publisher=[[Syfy]]|url=https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/gardner-fox-co-creator-of-the-flash-hawkman-and-the-earth-2-concept-belongs-on-comics-mount|accessdate=2024-07-10}}</ref> His family was of Irish and English descent, with his first known American ancestor being the either Irish-or-English born Richard Fox arriving in Connecticut in 1635.<ref>{{harvnb|DeRoss|2019|p=4}}</ref> Fox had a sister, Catherine (born 1916), known as "Kay".<ref name=dRxv>{{harvnb|DeRoss|2019|p=xv}}</ref>

Fox recalled being inspired at an early age by the great fantasy fiction writers. On or about his eleventh birthday, he was given ''[[The Gods of Mars]]'' and ''[[The Warlord of Mars]]'' by [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]], books which "opened up a complete new world for me."<ref name="1972CAC"/> He "read all of Burroughs, [[Harold Lamb]], [[Talbot Mundy]]," maintaining copies "at home in my library" some 50 years later.<ref name="1972CAC"/>

Fox received a law degree from [[St. John's University (New York City)|St. John's College]] and was admitted to the New York [[bar (law)|bar]] in 1935.<ref name=tcj114 /> He practiced for about two years,<ref name=tcj114 /> but as the [[Great Depression]] continued he began writing for DC Comics editor [[Vin Sullivan]]. Debuting as a writer in the pages of ''[[Detective Comics]]'', Fox "intermittently contributed tales to nearly every book in the DC lineup during the Golden Age."<ref name="Fifty"/> He was a frequent contributor of prose stories to the [[Pulp magazine|pulp]] science fiction magazines of the 1930s and 1940s.<ref>{{cite book |last=Green |first=Paul |date=2016 |title=Encyclopedia of Weird Westerns: Supernatural and Science Fiction Elements in Novels, Pulps, Comics, Films, Television and Games |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nyu6CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |page=109 |isbn=9781476662572}}</ref>

On November 14, 1937, Fox married Lynda J. Negrini.<ref name=dRxv/> They had two children,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fox |first=Gardner F. |date=Summer 1947 |title=P. S.'s Feature Flash |journal=Planet Stories |volume=3 |issue=7 |pages=117}}</ref> Jeffrey Francis Fox (born April 9, 1940), and Lynda Anne Fox (born March 21, 1943).<ref name=dRxv/>

A [[polymath]], Fox included numerous real-world historical, scientific, and mythological references in his comic strips, once saying, "Knowledge is kind of a hobby with me".<ref name="1972CAC"/> For instance, during a year's worth of ''[[Atom (Ray Palmer)|Atom]]'' comic strip stories, Fox referred to the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956]], the [[space race]], 18th-century England, miniature card painting, [[Norse mythology]], and [[numismatics]]. He revealed in letters to fan [[Jerry Bails]] that he kept large troves of reference material, mentioning during 1971, "I maintain two file cabinets chock full of stuff. And the attic is crammed with books and magazines....Everything about science, nature, or unusual facts, I can go to my files or the at least 2,000 books that I have".<ref name="1972CAC"/>