Editing Gardner Fox (section)

===Golden Age===
{{Main article|Golden Age of Comic Books}}
Fox's earliest stories for [[DC Comics]] featured the fictional district attorney [[Speed Saunders]] with art by [[Creig Flessel]] and later [[Fred Guardineer]] beginning at least with ''[[Detective Comics]]'' #4 (June 1937).<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.mikesamazingworld.com/mikes/features/story.php?storyid=48|title= ''Detective Comics'' #4 'The Mystery of San Jose Island'|first= Mike|last= Voiles|year= 2015|publisher= Mike's Amazing World of Comics|df=mdy-all|access-date= September 7, 2015}}</ref><ref name="GCD">{{gcdb|type=writer|search=Gardner+Fox|title=Gardner Fox}}</ref> Speed Saunders was initially credited to "E.C. Stoner," which many believe to be a Fox pseudonym,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.thrillingdetective.com/speed.html|title= Speed Saunders|first= Kevin Burton|last= Smith|date= n.d.|publisher= ThrillingDetective.com|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130426193602/http://thrillingdetective.com/speed.html|archive-date= April 26, 2013|url-status= live|df=mdy-all|access-date= July 31, 2008|quote= Who was E.C. Stoner? A pseudonym? Noted comic writer Gardner Fox, a lawyer at the time, has also been credited with creating the character. Certainly, he wrote some of the stories.}}</ref> and Fox has gone on record as claiming he created the character, "cashing in on my law school work".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fox |first=Gardner |date=December 1961 |title=Inside the Atom |journal=Showcase No. 35 |publisher=DC Comics |issue= |pages=}}</ref> As the 1930s progressed, Fox added writing credits for Steve Malone and Bruce Nelson for ''Detective Comics'' to his workload, as well as [[Zatara]] for early issues of ''[[Action Comics]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.mikesamazingworld.com/mikes/features/story.php?storyid=2619|title= ''Action Comics'' #8 'The Indian Prince'|first= Mike|last= Voiles|year= 2015|publisher= Mike's Amazing World of Comics|df=mdy-all|access-date= September 7, 2015}}</ref>

During [[World War II]], Fox assumed responsibility for a variety of characters and books of several of his colleagues who had been [[military conscription|drafted]]. He worked for numerous companies including [[Marvel Comics]]' 1940s predecessor, [[Timely Comics]]; [[Vin Sullivan]]'s [[Magazine Enterprises]], [[Columbia Comics]] where he created [[Skyman (Columbia Comics)|Skyman]];<ref>Though Ogden drew the first story and first cover, one source credits writer Fox and editor [[Vin Sullivan]] as creating the character in 1939, without giving specifics or the source of this information: {{cite book|first=Michael| last=Vance| title=Forbidden Adventures: The History of the American Comics Group| publisher=Greenwood Press|location=[[Westport, Connecticut|Westport]], [[Connecticut]]|year=1996|isbn=0-313-29678-2|page=114}}</ref> and at [[Entertaining Comics|EC]], where he served a brief stint as chief writer. With the waning popularity of superheroes, Fox contributed [[Western comics|western]], [[Science fiction comics|science fiction]], humor, [[Romance comics|romance]], and [[talking animals in fiction|talking animal]] stories.

====Batman====
{{Main article|Batman}}
During July 1939, just two issues after the debut of the character Batman by artist [[Bob Kane]] and scripter [[Bill Finger]], Fox wrote the first of his several tales for that character,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wallace|first1= Daniel|last2=Dolan|first2=Hannah, ed.|chapter= 1930s|title = DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle|publisher=[[Dorling Kindersley]]|year=2010|location= London, United Kingdom|isbn= 978-0-7566-6742-9 |page= 24|quote = Writer Gardner Fox took over from Finger for a few subsequent installments of the feature and introduced such gadgets as the Batarang and the Batgyro.}}</ref> introducing an early villain in the story "The Batman Meets [[Doctor Death (comics)|Doctor Death]]".<ref name="Death">{{cite web |url= http://www.mikesamazingworld.com/mikes/features/story.php?storyid=3601|title= ''Detective Comics'' #29 'The Batman Meets Doctor Death'|first= Mike|last= Voiles|year= 2015|publisher= Mike's Amazing World of Comics|df=mdy-all|access-date= September 7, 2015}}</ref> Alongside Kane and Finger, Fox contributed to the evolution of the character, including the character's first use of his [[Batman's utility belt|utility belt]], which "contain[ed] choking gas capsules,"<ref name="Death"/> as well as writing the first usages of both the [[Batarang]] and the Batgyro, an [[autogyro]] precursor to the [[Batcopter]], two issues later.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.mikesamazingworld.com/mikes/features/story.php?storyid=3771|title= ''Detective Comics'' #31 'Batman Vs. the Vampire'|first= Mike|last= Voiles|year= 2015|publisher= Mike's Amazing World of Comics|df=mdy-all|access-date= September 7, 2015}}</ref>

Fox returned to the Batman in 1964. <small>''([[#Silver Age|See below]])''</small>

====Sandman====
{{Main article|Sandman (Wesley Dodds)}}
During 1939, Fox and artist [[Allen Bert Christman|Bert Christman]] co-created the character of the [[Sandman (Wesley Dodds)|Sandman]], a [[gasmask]]-wearing costumed crime-fighter whose first appearance in ''[[Adventure Comics]]'' #40 (July 1939)<ref>Wallace "1930s" in Dolan, p. 25: "Writer Gardner Fox and artist Bert Christman established the gas-masked and trench-coated Sandman in ''Adventure Comics'' #40 in July [1940]."</ref> was pre-empted by an appearance in ''[[New York World's Fair Comics]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.mikesamazingworld.com/mikes/features/story.php?storyid=3282|title= ''New York World's Fair Comics'' #1 "Sandman at the World's Fair"|first= Mike|last= Voiles|year= 2015|publisher= Mike's Amazing World of Comics|df=mdy-all|access-date= September 7, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.toonopedia.com/sandman1.htm |title=The Sandman |first=Don |last=Markstein |year=2011 |publisher=[[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]] |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120524104907/http://www.toonopedia.com/sandman1.htm |archive-date=May 24, 2012 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all |quote=''Adventure Comics'' #40 wasn't quite the character's first appearance, though. The 1939 issue of ''New York World's Fair Comics'', an extra-big anthology DC put out to capitalize on the eponymous event, contained a Sandman story, and probably hit the stands a week or two before his first ''Adventure'' story (though the one in ''Adventure'' is believed to have been written and drawn earlier). }}</ref>

====The Flash====
{{Main article|The Flash (Jay Garrick)}}

Fox is credited with writing the first three of six stories in the inaugural issue of ''[[Flash Comics]]'' (Jan. 1940), including the debut of the titular character, The [[Flash (Jay Garrick)|Flash]].<ref>Wallace "1940s" in Dolan, p. 30: "DC shattered the sound barrier with the debut of the Flash, a blindingly fast mystery man written by Gardner Fox and drawn by Harry Lampert."</ref> With a hero described as a "modern-day [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]]", the title feature saw college student Jay Garrick imbued with superhuman speed after inhaling [[hard water]] vapors.<ref name="Fifty">{{Cite comic| writer = Marx, Barry| cowriters = [[Joey Cavalieri|Cavalieri, Joey]] and Hill, Thomas| artist = Petruccio, Steven | editor = Marx, Barry| story = Gardner Fox DC's Universe Expands | title = [[Fifty Who Made DC Great]]| date = 1985| publisher = DC Comics| page = 16}}</ref> The character went on to appear in a host of nineteen-[[1940s in comics|forties]] comics, including ''[[All-Star Comics|All Star]]'', ''[[Comic Cavalcade]]'', ''The Big [[All-American Comics|All-American Comic]] Book'', ''Flash Comics'' and his own title, ''[[All-Flash]],''<ref name="Fifty"/> so named because, unlike ''Flash Comics'', all the stories in it were about The Flash.

====Hawkman====
{{Main article|Hawkman (Carter Hall)}}
Describing the origins of [[Hawkman (Carter Hall)|Hawkman]], Fox recalled, "I was faced with the problem of filling a new book that publisher [[Max Gaines]] was starting... As I sat by the window I noticed a bird collecting twigs for a nest. The bird would swoop down, pick up the twig, and fly away. I thought, 'Wouldn't it be great if the bird was a lawman and the twig a crook!'"<ref name="Fifty"/> The character bore a visual resemblance to the [[Prince Vultan|Hawkmen]] who had appeared in the Flash Gordon comic strip in the mid-1930s.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cronin |first=Brian |date=2022-10-25 |title=Was Hawkman's Real Life Origin Somehow the Same as Batman's Fictional Origin? |url=https://www.cbr.com/hawkman-real-life-origin-same-batman-fictional-origin-gardner-fox/ |access-date=2024-04-03 |website=CBR |language=en}}</ref>

Debuting as the third story in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (Jan. 1940) — "Fox's imagination [transformed] that bird [into] the soaring, mysterious Hawkman."<ref name="Fifty"/> With art by Dennis Neville,<ref>Wallace "1940s" in Dolan, p. 30: "In the same issue [#1] Gardner Fox wrote the first story featuring Hawkman...in a story drawn by Dennis Neville."</ref> the origin of the 'Winged Wonder' featured archaeologist and collector Carter Hall reliving his past life as [[Khufu|Prince Khufu]] of [[ancient Egypt]], creating a costume (powered by Nth metal), confronting the [[reincarnation]] of [[Hath-Set]], his former nemesis, and meeting his reincarnated love interest, Shiera Saunders.<ref>{{cite book |last=Zawisza |first=Doug |date=2008 |title=Hawkman Companion |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LuW7HjMky-EC&pg=PA185 |location=Raleigh, North Carolina |publisher=TwoMorrows Publishing |page=185 |isbn=978-1-893905-93-1}}</ref>

====The Justice Society of America====
{{Main article|Justice Society of America|Doctor Fate|Starman (Ted Knight)}}
Regularly writing more than six stories in five titles per month, every month throughout the early 1940s, Fox continued to create new features.<ref name="Mike">{{cite web |url= http://www.mikesamazingworld.com/mikes/features/creator.php?creatorid=23|title= Gardner F. Fox|first= Mike|last= Voiles|year= 2015|publisher= Mike's Amazing World of Comics|df=mdy-all|access-date= September 7, 2015}}</ref>

At the time, DC Comics consisted of two discrete sub-companies, [[Max Gaines]]' [[All-American Publications]] and [[Harry Donenfeld]] & [[Jack Liebowitz]]'s [[National Periodical Publications]]. Though he continued to script for National/Detective Comics, Inc., Fox became the chief writer for All-American. While Fox's Dr. Fate (and other titles) was published by National; Sandman, Hawkman and the Flash were released by All-American. For Winter 1940, the third issue of All-American's ''[[All Star Comics]]'' debuted the [[Justice Society of America]], the first superhero team in comics. Fox had worked on the Hawkman, Flash and Sandman features in ''All-Star'' for its first two issues (Summer and Autumn 1940), but from issue #3 (Winter), he assumed full writing duties for the issue, with all features by different artists working within the [[framing device]] wherein the characters were described as part of a "Justice Society".<ref name="Wallace p33">Wallace "1940s" in Dolan, p. 33: "DC took the 'greatest hits' premise of the comic to its logical conclusion in ''All Star Comics'' #3 by teaming the Flash, the Atom, Doctor Fate, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Hourman, Sandman, and the Spectre under the banner of the Justice Society of America for an ongoing series."</ref><ref name="Levitz p56">{{cite book|author-link= Paul Levitz|last=Levitz|first= Paul|chapter= The Golden Age 1938–1956|title= 75 Years of DC Comics The Art of Modern Mythmaking|publisher= [[Taschen]]|year=2010|location= Cologne, Germany|isbn= 9783836519816|page= 56 |quote= Mayer and Fox cooked up one of the biggest ideas in superhero history: What if the varied stars of ''All-Star Comics'' actually met and worked together?}}</ref>

In the pages of ''All-Star Comics'' #3, in collaboration with editor [[Sheldon Mayer]] and with artists including E. E. Hibbard, Fox created the first [[superhero]] team, the [[Justice Society of America]].<ref name="Wallace p33" /><ref name="Levitz p56" /> Each character – Dr. Fate, the Sandman, the Flash, and Hawkman were joined by [[Hourman|Hour-Man]], the [[Spectre (comics)|Spectre]], the [[Atom (Al Pratt)|Atom]] and [[Alan Scott|Green Lantern]] – was introduced individually (by [[Johnny Thunder]]), and related a solo adventure, before being charged at the title's end with remaining a loose team by the [[Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation|Director of the FBI]]. During April 1941, Fox created the character of [[Starman (DC Comics Golden Age)|Starman]] with artist [[Jack Burnley]] in the pages of ''Adventure Comics'' #61 (April 1941),<ref>Wallace "1940s" in Dolan, p. 36: "Gardner Fox and artist Jack Burnley presented the new costumed hero Starman in this issue."</ref> and the character would later join the JSA. Fox wrote the Justice Society's adventures from ''All Star Comics'' #3 until leaving the feature as of issue #34 (April–May 1947) with a story that introduced a new super-villain, the [[Wizard (DC Comics)|Wizard]].<ref>Wallace "1940s" in Dolan, p. 55: "Gardner Fox penned his last story about the Justice Society of America in this issue. The writer...introduced an ill-tempered illusionist called the Wizard."</ref><ref>{{cite book|last= Thomas|first= Roy| author-link = Roy Thomas|chapter= "The Men (and One Woman) Behind the JSA: Its Creation and Creative Personnel|title = All-Star Companion ''Volume 1''|publisher=TwoMorrows Publishing|year=2000|location= Raleigh, North Carolina|isbn= 1-893905-055|pages= 23–24}}</ref>

====Non-DC work====
[[File:Out of This World 1 page.jpg|thumb|180px|Crom, the Barbarian in [[Out of This World Adventures]] #1, June 1950, art by [[John Giunta]].]]
Between 1940 and 1941, Fox wrote for the Columbia Comic Corporation, penning stories featuring characters including "Face," "Marvelo," "Rocky Ryan," "Skyman," and "Spymaster."<ref name="Bails"/> For approximately three years (1947–1950), Fox wrote for [[EC Comics]], including scripts and text pieces which appeared in the titles ''[[The Crypt of Terror]]'', ''[[The Vault of Horror (comics)|The Vault of Horror]]'' and ''[[Weird Fantasy]]'', as well as in the lesser-known ''Gunfighter'', ''Happy Houlihans'', ''[[Moon Girl (EC Comics)|Moon Girl]]'', ''Saddle Justice'' and the new trend title ''[[Valor (comic book)|Valor]]'', among others.<ref name="Bails"/>

Towards the end of the decade, and the start of the 1950s, he worked for [[Magazine Enterprises]] on features including "The Durango Kid," the first [[Phantom Rider|Ghost Rider]], "Red Hawk," "Straight Arrow" and "Tim Holt," in whose comic the Ghost Rider appeared.<ref name="Bails"/> Fox wrote some of the required text pieces for Magazine Enterprises, which were required by the Post Office to qualify magazines and comics for cheaper postal rates.<ref name="Bails"/>

Throughout the 1950s, Fox wrote stories for [[Avon Comics]], most notably tales of "Crom the Barbarian", the first [[sword and sorcery]] comic series<ref>[https://amazingstories.com/2013/06/crom-the-barbarian-the-first-true-ss-comic/ Crom the Barbarian" is the first true S&S comic]</ref> and of "Kenton of the Star Patrol."<ref name="Bails"/>