Alvin Schwartz was born in New York City in 1916. He wrote his first comics for Fairy Tale Parade in 1939, followed by his first Batman story in 1942, his first Batman newspaper strip in August 1944 and his first Superman newspaper strip in October 1944. Before that, he had written extensively for an editor at Max Gaines. He had also written for Fawcett's now defunct Captain Marvel. While writing most of DC's newspaper strips between 1944 and 1952, he also went on to do Aquaman, Vigilante, Slam Bradley, Date With Judy, Buzzy, House of Mystery, Tomahawk, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Newsboy Legion and numerous others in a long career with DC that ended in 1958.
After his 1958 departure from comics, Schwartz developed the now well-known techniques of psycho-graphics, typological identification and others, as Research Director for The Institute for Motivational Research. He also provided strucural and marketing advice to some of America's largest corporations ranging from General Motors to General Foods. He was subsequently appointed to an advisory committee of the American Association of Advertising Agencies
Schwartz wrote extensively outside of comics. He authored three novels for Arco Press. His novel, The Blowtop was published by Dial in 1948. Under the title Le Cinglé, it became a best seller in France. He also wrote and lectured on superheroes at various universities and received a prestigious Canada Council Grant for a study on the religious symbolism in popular culture, using Superman as a springboard. In 1968, he moved to Canada, where he wrote many documentaries for the Canadian National Film Board, as well as a number of economic and social studies for the Canadian government. In the 1980s, he wrote a metaphysical autobiography, An Unlikely Prophet and a weekly web column while writing.
Alvin Schwartz died in 2011 of heart-related complications.
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