Norb Reinsel

(1930-2004)

A fan of comics and Edgar Rice Burroughs, Charles (Norb) Reinsel published 100 issues of Norb’s Notes and five issues of Comics, Cinema, and Collecting. At Pittcon (1960) he was elected first treasurer of the newly formed Burroughs Bibliophiles. During most of his fanzine publishing years, Reinsel lived in Clarion, PA. From 1966 until about 1973, Reinsel published Big Brother, a play by mail gaming zine for the Diplomacy hobby.

In a fanzine called Tales of Torment, published in the early sixties and seventies, John Stockman parodied Reinsel and Norb’s Notes, along with other collectors of comics and ERBiana. Several of Stockman’s stories are available in a collection entitled The Crackpot, edited by Dwight Decker, forward by Richard Lupoff (Ramble House & Surinam Turtle Press, 2015).

In 1986 Charles Reinsel pleaded guilty to the first degree murder of Barbara Motter, his former wife, and third degree murder of her husband, Herman Motter. Reinsel was sentenced to life in prison, where he died in 2004.

Fanzines

• Norb's Notes [1960-1966]
• Comics, Cinema, and Collecting [1962-1963]
• Big Brother [1966-ca. 1973]