George Kashdan

George Kashdan (May 17, 1928 – June 3, 2006) was an American comic book writer and editor, primarily for DC Comics, who co-created such characters as Tommy Tomorrow, Mysto, Magician Detective, and others. He was additionally a screenwriter for such animated television series as The Mighty Hercules and The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure.

Biography

Early life

Kashdan was born in The Bronx, New York City, New York, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Chicago.

Comics

In 1947, after having written two comic book scripts for DC Comics, he was hired as an editor at that Manhattan-based publishing company, where his brother, Bernard Kashdan, was a business executive who'd joined the company in 1940. George Kashdan's first two recorded comic-book credits, appearing the same month, are writing the "Congo Bill" backup feature in Action Comics #105 (Feb. 1947), and co-writing, with Bernie Breslauer and DC managing editor Jack Schiff, the first story of spaceman Tommy Tomorrow, co-created with artist Howard Sherman, in DC's Real Fact Comics #6 (Feb. 1947).

He became a story editor on Action Comics beginning with #106 (March 1947), mostly editing and rewriting the backup features on that anthology title, which headlined Superman, helmed by fellow story editor Mort Weisinger. As Kashdan recalled his start at the company, "There was a small emergency there. One of the editors with whom I had worked was Bernie Breslauer. ... He was in the hospital briefly and Mort called me. He said, 'Hey, we need an editor here.' Bernie came back and I remained, basically as a copy editor. I wasn't buying stories or giving out plots, or giving out assignments of any sort. Bernie died a year or two later, I guess — around 1950. I moved into his desk.

In 1962, Kashdan and artist Nick Cardy launched the Aquaman ongoing series for DC. Kashdan primarily wrote for DC's mystery and war comics series including G.I. Combat, House of Mystery, House of Secrets, The Unexpected, Weird War Tales, and The Witching Hour. His final story "Strange Rescue" was published in Sgt. Rock #421 (April 1988).

Animation

From 1963 to 1966, Kashdan was one of the writers of The Mighty Hercules series for Adventure Cartoon Productions. He worked on Filmation Associates' The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure in 1967–1968.