Joseph Samachson

Born in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1906, Joseph Samachson earned a chemistry Ph.D. from Yale at age 23. He worked as a research chemist and later held academic and clinical positions in biochemistry, eventually becoming an associate clinical professor at Loyola University in Chicago.

From the 1940s onward, he wrote science fiction, pulp stories, and novels, publishing most of his fiction as William Morrison. He produced roughly 80 short stories and also wrote two Captain Future tales under the house name Brett Sterling. His science-fiction work was later praised as unusually neglected, and a collection of his best Morrison stories appeared posthumously as The Sly Bungerhop.

Samachson also wrote for DC Comics, scripting stories featuring Batman, Green Arrow, Sandman, and other characters. In 1955, he and artist Joe Certa created the Martian Manhunter, who first appeared in Detective Comics #225. Samachson died in Chicago on June 2, 1980.