Allan Asherman 1947-2023

Allan Asherman is a name familiar to older generations of comics and SF fans, but remained a relatively little known figure. He died on Friday after a serious fall and his passing should not go unnoticed.

Allan was born April 21, 1947, poised to be the first television generation, raised on the live-action children’s fare, notably The Adventures of Superman which captivated him. He was enamored of science fiction and comic books, which proved foundational in his life.

He told Chris Landry in a 1978 interview at Alpha Log, “I really can’t conceive of the time in my life that I wasn’t into [writing about science fiction]. I started to write in college for my college paper, The Oracle, at the State University of New York-New Paltz. And they asked me to do a movie review. I handed in a review that was much too long to be printed, because I got carried away. They sent me out to do a review of an Andy Warhol movie and I referred to Andy Warhol films as a product of ‘The Emperor’s New Suit of Clothes’ syndrome, where people were looking at something that had virtually nothing in it, but were afraid to comment on the fact for fear that they would be called stupid and shallow. And they liked it and they asked me to do a series of reviews on movies and I did. And when I transferred to Long Island University, and majored in journalism, I kept writing for the paper. They had a science fiction club and their fanzine, called The Seldon Scene, a pun on ‘seldom seen’ I guess, was also the first fanzine in which Juan Bodea, to my knowledge, was published, his cartoons. I had a good friend in college. Bill Stillwell, who was an artist, is today an M.D. doing medical illustrations for text books, and we both had our first story and art in that same issue. There’s a certain feeling that you get when you see your name in print, and it’s a disease. You can’t live without it once you’ve seen it. I caught it, so I know. And this is really how I got into it.”

By the late 1960s, he was a regular contributor to SF fanzines and fell hard for Star Trek, becoming a major fan, parlaying his passion into writing about it. Interestingly, online records indicate he only wrote two published SF stories, both appearing in zines: “The Hunters” (Perihelion #3 1967) and “I Mind” (Vertex 1973).

He was a regular contributor to fanzines as both writer and artist. This led to his finding The Star Trek Con, a one day even at the Newark Public Library, the real first Star Trek convention. After that he became a regular attendee and panelist at shows large and small.

Allan became a collector of memorabilia and after gaining his BA in Journalism, he went on to write for numerous SF magazines, notably Castle of Frankenstein, before becoming a mainstay at the short-lived Monster Times, where I believe I first encountered his name. During this period he also wrote text pieces for Skywald’s Psycho and Nightmare before graduating to Marvel’s Monster Madness.

In 1973, he was hired as an assistant editor at DC Comics, backstopping Joe Kubert, Robert Kanigher, and Joe Simon. He was among the first collection of assistant editors dubbed the Junior Woodchucks. Notably, he wrote fine historic pieces for Amazing World of DC Comics as well as mostly uncredited various short features for his editor’s titles.

During all this time, he continued to attend science fiction and comics conventions, seeking out memorabilia from the shows he loved. His basement apartment in Brooklyn was beginning to become an East Coast version of the famed Ackermansion. That is, until a freak rain storm flooded his apartment, ruining countless objects, including one of George Reeves’ Superman uniforms.

After leaving DC Comics in 1975, he was immortalized as WGBS Weatherman Oscar Asherman. According to Paul Levitz, he was hired repeatedly, working in the company’s film library between editorial and the print library,

He went on to write for numerous publications, notably the Star Trek Compendium, one of the earliest works to examine the series as a whole. In the early 1980s, he went on to produce the Star Trek Interviews book and The Making of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. There’s also the unpublished The Star Trek That Never Was. He’s also written Star Wars – The Full Story: The Making of the World’s Greatest Space Adventure Movie, with Jonathon Green and Doug Murray and Batman Returns Official Collector’ Magazine.

Allan returned to DC as its librarian in the 1980s, where I finally got to know him personally. During his time keeping the company’s print material organized and available to researchers, he was also moonlighting as a prolific writer of copy for Columbia House’s mail order subscription series to the very television shows he grew up watching. I can’t find an authoritative list of all the shows he wrote about. Additionally, Allan lent his knowledge for the supplementary material for the Criterion Collection’s Forbidden Planet laser disc (and subsequent DVD).

When DC allowed me to produce a Who’s Who in Star Trek, there was no one better suited to pen the two issues than Allan, who earned many compliments for the details he brought to the bios.

Allan had a sly sense of humor, which didn’t reveal itself often, and he did a marvelous imitation of George Takei’s voice, so good it could fool people.

Allan eventually found love with Arlene Lo and they married with Arlene joining DC as its proofreader in the late 1980s. While Allan separted from DC about a decade back, Arlene remained on staff until the company relocated to Burbank. Allan had tried to find interest in projects based on the shows he loved but he retreated from public life, refusing public appearances and interviews. As far as I know, his final piece of published writing was a love letter to his days on staff in the 70s for Back Issue. He made his last public appearance at Trek Long Island in May.

We were never close and he could definitely be prickly, but I liked him and we got along very well. He was forerunner of the fans and writers who followed, a knowledgeable and talent journalist whose passion for the subjects was always evident.

While I hadn’t seen him in over a decade, I will miss him.

#Tags: Adventures of Superman, Allan Asherman, Alpha Log, Amazing World of DC Comics, Arlene Lo, Castle of Frankenstein, Chris Landry, Columbia House, fanzines, Monster Madness, Monster Times, Nightmare, Psycho, Skywald, Star Trek, Star Trek Compendium, The Making of Star Trek II, Who's Who in Star Trek