J. Francis McComas

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Jesse Francis McComas (1911–1978) became one of the key behind-the-scenes figures in American science fiction. He worked in publishing before moving into editorial roles that would make his name familiar to generations of readers and writers.

He is especially remembered as the co-founder, with Anthony Boucher, of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, launched in 1949. McComas also co-edited the landmark 1946 anthology Adventures in Time and Space with Raymond J. Healy, a book often noted for helping define and popularize science fiction for a broader readership.

Alongside his editorial work, he wrote a number of stories under his own name and the pseudonym Webb Marlowe. His long connection to the genre is still visible in the J. Francis McComas Fantasy and Science Fiction Collection at the San Francisco Public Library, built from the collection he donated in the mid-1960s.