The comic book community is just now hearing of the death of writer Michael Fleisher, who passed away last February 2 at the age of 75. I don't know a lot about the man. I met him once — a brief, unpleasant encounter — and will leave it to others to write more fully about him. I understand the Comics Journal staff will have a story about him shortly on their website.
What I can tell you is that Fleisher came into the industry around 1971 when he secured a contract to write several super-hero "encyclopedias" and was granted access to the library at DC Comics for research purposes. He spent so many hours in the office that he got to know the staff and began writing scripts for their comics. A special favorite of editor Joe Orlando, Fleisher wrote countless stories for DC's mystery/ghost comics and did long runs on The Spectre, Jonah Hex and many others. His work had many fans and some hard-to-gauge number of detractors.
A lot of people in comics probably remember him best because in 1986, he sued The Comics Journal and writer Harlan Ellison for what Fleisher felt were defamatory remarks in an interview Ellison gave that publication. The suit created great controversy and consumed weeks of court time but the jury was out less than 90 minutes before finding in favor of the Journal, Ellison and the First Amendment. (Full Disclosure: I was supposed to testify for the defendants but the judge disallowed my testimony on a technicality.)
Not long after the verdict, Fleisher largely disappeared from the American comic book industry. He was reportedly living in Oregon when he died earlier this year. We do not know the cause.