Science fiction author and comics scripter Otto Binder was born August 26, 1911 in Bessemer Michigan. His writing career began in 1930 when his story "The First Martian" was published in "Amazing Stories". He continued to write science fiction and other 'pulp fiction' throughout the '30's, but in December 1935 he landed a day job as an editor at Otis Kline's literary office in New York City. In October of 1939 he began to freelance as a comics scriptwriter to supplement his income. The famous (or notorious!) Harry "A" Chesler Studio contracted with comics artists and scripters to supply mainstream publishing houses with comics pages, and Binder worked there for his brother Jack, the shop foreman.

Otto's first script was a new sci-fi series called "Dan Hastings"; he also wrote scripts for "Power Nelson", "Vulcan", "the Black Owl", and "Captain America". In March 1941 he began working for Fawcett Publications on the "Captain Venture" strip, going on to write scripts for "Bulletman", "Dr. Voodoo" and "Spy Smasher". Binder eventually became Fawcett's premiere scriptwriter.