Early life and career Born in
Scranton, Pennsylvania, Gill began writing for comic books for the New York City-based
Timely Comics, the first predecessor of
Marvel Comics, during the 1940s period fans and historians call the
Golden Age of Comic Books. The vast majority of his work went unsigned, both in the manner of that time and during his staff-writing position at one company from the 1950s to 1980s, making a comprehensive bibliography difficult or impossible to compile. In addition, Gill's Timely stories were actually written, often pseudonymously for
Funnies, Inc., an outsource "packager" that created comics on demand for publishers testing the waters of the then-new
medium. His earliest confirmed credit is the one-page text story "Following Orders" in
Novelty Press'
Target Comics vol. 8, #11 (#89), cover-dated January 1948. As Gill recalled his start in the business, via his brother, Ray Gill, "My brother was an editor at
Funnies, Inc., an editorial service that packaged comics for publishers. They put [publisher] Martin Goodman (publisher)|[Martin] Goodman – who [owned] Marvel later – into comics, and did the first [comics] in my brother's office". Gill is reportedly among the writers who scripted
Captain America for Timely following the departure of character creators
Joe Simon and
Jack Kirby in late 1941. Around this time, Gill met future
hardboiled detective novelist
Mickey Spillane, a lifelong friend, who also began writing for Funnies, Inc. Following military service in
World War II as a
U.S. Navy radio operator – in which according to family lore Gill's ship was
torpedoed by a
Japanese submarine and Gill's signaling for help amid the sinking led to the rescue of many hands. Spillane and Ray Gill insisted Joe go into freelance writing with them. When superheroes fell out of favor in the post-war years, Gill began scripting teen-humor,
Western and other genre comics for Timely. Following an industry downturn around 1948, he eventually found his way to the low-budget comic-book publisher
Charlton Comics, based in
Derby, Connecticut.
Charlton Comics and the Silver Age At Charlton, beginning in the early 1950s, Gill became the company's primary staff writer for the next thirty years. He was known for his speed, often finishing a full-length comics script in a day and writing as much as an estimated 100 to 125 pages a week across a number of genres, from
crime fiction to science fiction,
romance to
war stories. The character would eventually become a stalwart of the DC stable, as would
Blue Beetle, an old
Fox Comics superhero revived by Gill and artists
Bill Fraccio and
Tony Tallarico as a campy, comedic character in
Blue Beetle #1 (June 1964). In 1967, Charlton editor
Dick Giordano introduced the company's "Action Hero" superhero line, with new characters that included Gill and artist
Pat Boyette's
The Peacemaker as well as Gill and company
art director Frank McLaughlin's
Judomaster. In other areas, he collaborated with Ditko on the giant-ape series
Konga and on the movie-spinoff series
Gorgo.
Later life and career When Giordano was hired at industry leader
DC Comics in 1969, he commissioned scripts from Gill for such titles as
The Secret Six and the toy-license property
Hot Wheels. Gill continued to work regularly at Charlton throughout this period, notably on the ongoing
Vietnam War feature "
Shotgun Harker and Chicken" for Charlton's war title ''
Fightin' Marines''. In 1975, Gill and artist
John Byrne co-created the
post-apocalyptic series
Doomsday + 1 (1976–1977), the first series-creator credit for future industry-star Byrne. In 1983, Gill wrote two stories featuring
Secret Agent X-9 for
King Features Syndicate. These stories were illustrated by
Jack Sparling and only saw print in European comic books. When Charlton Comics ceased publication in 1986, Gill retired from comic-book scripting save for an occasional freelance story for DC. His final recorded credit is as one of the colorists on the small-press superhero comic
Ebony Warrior #2 (June–July 1993), published by
Ania. He appeared as a guest, with fellow Charlton alumni
Willie Franz and
Sam Glanzman, at a New York City
comics convention panel, broadcast November 21, 2000, on the
WBAI radio show '
Nuff Said! Gill, who suffered from complications from a fall at the Shady Knoll Health Center in
Seymour, Connecticut, and who in the last part of his life spent much time at the Doyle Senior Center, playing
pool in the morning and
poker in the afternoon, died of undisclosed causes at age 87 in Seymour. There was no funeral, according to his wishes, and his only surviving relative, niece Carol Anderson, took his ashes to a cemetery in
Bridgeport, Connecticut, where his wife and son are buried. ==Awards==