I’ve mentioned Mark Evanier’s blog here in PopCult many times.  Mark is in fine health these days, but he also seems to be the go-to guy for obituaries in many areas of entertainment, and yesterday he brought us news of three notable passings. 

 Jerry Bails was the father of comic book fandom.  He founded one of the first comic book fanzines, Alter Ego, back in the late 1950s, and laid the groundwork for most of the scholarly research done on the comic book medium.  He passed away yesterday at the age of 73.  I never met Jerry Bails, but I’ve known who he was for as long as I can remember reading.  He always had letters of comment printed in the comic books from which I learned to read.  Mark has a more detailed obit here, and links to an even more detailed article about Bails by longtime comic book fan Bill Schelly, which can be found here.

 Betty Comden, the playwright-lyricist for “On The Town,” “Peter Pan,” “The Will Rogers Follies,” “Singin’ In The Rain,” and many other classic musicals passed away at the age of 89. Evanier has more information here. 

 Chris Hayward was a television writer who contributed to some of the funniest shows in television history. “Bullwinkle,” “Get Smart,” and “The Munsters,” and “Barney Miller” were some of his many works.  Evanier writes in more detail about the man, who passed away Monday at age 81 here.