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Approaching Xero:
The SF Prehistory of Comics FandomRob Hansen
ISBN 978-1-916508-38-5
Most of this book is devoted to an exploration of the impact of comics on science fiction fandom – SF fanzines were discussing the comics as early as 1936, hurling both bouquets and brickbats – and the ensuing threads of consequences that led to and/or merged into comics fandom. Other topics include the comics story that put the 1957 World SF Convention on Mars, superhero cosplay at Worldcons from their earliest days, the birth of British comics fandom, and Rob Hansen’s own memories of being both an SF and a comics fan in the UK.
First published as an Ansible Editions ebook for the TAFF site on 1 July 2025. Cover art by Phil Bronson for his Scienti-Comics #2, August 1940. Over 40,000 words.
Additional related artwork can be found on this page at Rob Hansen's site.
A printed paperback edition is also available, released simultaneously with the ebook: click here for more. All proceeds from paperback sales go to TAFF.
From the Foreword
I was at first surprised to discover mystery cons had been started by science fiction fans, but I shouldn’t have been. As I’ve noted elsewhere, and as the hacker group Anonymous used to proclaim: “We Are Everywhere”. We were there at the birth of Tolkien fandom, music fanzines (which didn’t begin with punk – see Beyond Fandom – Fans, Culture, and Politics in the 20th Century), the media fandom that outsiders think is SF fandom (see Faan Fiction, 1930-2020), and several others. We were also there as comics fans from the earliest days of SF fandom, producing comics fanzines before the formation of modern comics fandom and even before EC fandom. We were, however, very much a small minority and, as you will see, the relationship back then between SF fans and the comics was often a fractious one.
[...]
So then, as a 1960s DC Comics house ad would have announced this volume:
WHO is the British SF fan with a life-size bust of a comics character in his living room?
WHICH future comics pro claimed Harlan Ellison tried to abduct him at gunpoint?
WHEN did Walt and Madeleine Willis meet Wonder Woman and Doctor Fate?
WHAT secret may have lain behind Superman’s chest emblem for the past 80 years?
HOW did Anthony Boucher name a DC comics character a decade before that character was created?
The answers lie within.
