In 1974, legendary Marvel Comics publisher Stan Lee approached underground pioneer Denis Kitchen and offered a way for them to collaborate. Their resulting series was called Comix Book and featured work by many of the top underground cartoonists including Joel Beck, Kim Deitch, Justin Green, Harvey Pekar, Trina Robbins, Art Spiegelman (first national appearance of Maus), Skip Williamson, and S. Clay Wilson. The Best of Comix Book showcases 150-pages of classic underground comix (printed on newsprint, as they originally appeared), many never before reprinted.
A Hulk-sized tome spanning eight decades of the heroic rise of Marvel as it magically mutated from 1939's four-color upstart to a 1960s pop-culture dynamo to current Hollywood heavy hitter. With essays by comics historian Roy Thomas and a huge fold-out timeline that chronicles the entire Marvel history
Now back in print and timed for its 50th anniversary—the landmark book Origins of Marvel Comics by Stan Lee! A deluxe, collector’s edition of the original Origins of Marvel Comics including a new cover, essays, and more. Originally published in 1974, Origins of Marvel Comics features the first appearance of characters who have dominated the pantheon of Marvel’s modern storytelling mythology—Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Thor, and Doctor Strange—along with a second Silver Age tale featuring these special heroes, all hand-picked and introduced by the one and only Stan Lee, and serving as an essential showcase for writers and artists such as Stan himself, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Romita, and Marie Severin. Whether viewed as a historical artifact that launched an industry of presenting Marvel Comics to a broad audience of fans or a collection of the best in Silver Age comics by many of the greatest creators to ever put pencil to paper, Origins of Marvel Comics highlights both the lasting greatness of these iconic characters as well as the monumental contributions of the talented creators who launched an entire storytelling universe.
The Secret History of Marvel Comics digs back to the 1930s when Marvel Comics wasn't just a comic-book producing company. Marvel Comics owner Martin Goodman had tentacles into a publishing world that might have made that era’s conservative American parents lynch him on his front porch. Marvel was but a small part of Goodman’s publishing empire, which had begun years before he published his first comic book. Goodman mostly published lurid and sensationalistic story books (known as “pulps”) and magazines, featuring sexually-charged detective and romance short fiction, and celebrity gossip scandal sheets. And artists like Jack Kirby, who was producing Captain America for eight-year-olds, were simultaneously dipping their toes in both ponds. The Secret History of Marvel Comics tells this parallel story of 1930s/40s Marvel Comics sharing offices with those Goodman publications not quite fit for children. The book also features a comprehensive display of the artwork produced for Goodman’s other enterprises by Marvel Comics artists such as Jack Kirby and Joe Simon, Alex Schomburg, Bill Everett, Al Jaffee, and Dan DeCarlo, plus the very best pulp artists in the field, including Norman Saunders, John Walter Scott, Hans Wesso, L.F. Bjorklund, and Marvel Comics #1 cover artist Frank R. Paul. Goodman’s magazines also featured cover stories on celebrities such as Jackie Gleason, Elizabeth Taylor, Liberace, and Sophia Loren, as well as contributions from famous literary and social figures such as Isaac Asimov, Theodore Sturgeon, and L. Ron Hubbard.
The Avengers are dead--long live the Avengers! Earth's Mightiest Heroes--Captain America, Thor, Vision and Iron Man--are living separate lives, not tied to any team but when a threat from beyond the stars targets our world, fate draws them together once more, alongside Nova, Ms. Marvel, and Miles Morales, a.k.a. Spider-Man! COLLECTING: All-New, All-Different Avengers #1-6; Avengers #0 (All-New, All-Different story); Free Comic Book Day 2015 (A story).
Based on interviews with Stan Lee and dozens of his colleagues and contemporaries, as well as extensive archival research, this book provides a professional history, an appreciation, and a critical exploration of the face of Marvel Comics. Recognized as a dazzling writer, a skilled editor, a relentless self-promoter, a credit hog, and a huckster, Stan Lee rose from his humble beginnings to ride the wave of the 1940s comic books boom and witness the current motion picture madness and comic industry woes. Included is a complete examination of the rise of Marvel Comics, Lee's work in the years of postwar prosperity, and his efforts in the 1960s to revitalize the medium after it had grown stale.
One day in 1942, a kid who liked to draw responded to an advertisement in the New York Times. He carried his portfolio to a young, upstart publishing company, landing a job on the spot. That company would become Marvel Comics ...Allen Bellman participated in the early years of popular characters like Captain America, the Human Torch, and the Sub-Mariner. One day he left the comics field and never looked back. Five decades later, an intrepid "Golden Age" comic book collector located him. Allen received a hero's welcome from comic book historians, and now appears at conventions nationwide, proclaiming "I was there!" Herewith, his circuitous journey back to comics ...In the pages of Timely Confidential, Allen recalls growing up in Brooklyn, and commuting to the McGraw-Hill building (and later the Empire State Building) every morning to work at Timely Comics; friction between different divisions among artists and writers; brushes with celebrities; Martin Goodman's failed expansion into Broadway plays; his departure from the comic industry in the 1950s; a second career as a graphic designer and photographer; a move from the New York City area, capital of publishing worldwide, to the Florida tropics; his return to the world of comic book fandom nearly six decades after leaving the field.
Masterworks of literature - retold in the Mighty Marvel Manner! In the late 1970s, respected comic book writers and talented artists joined forces to adapt many of the world's most famous stories onto the comic book page. From adventure tales like The Last of the Mohicans, Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe and Ivanhoe, to horror staples Frankenstein and The Invisible Man! Whether it's the classical poetry of The Iliad and The Odyssey, the dystopian sci-fi of The War of the Worlds, or the terrifying tales of Edgar Allan Poe, this collection of cultured classics is sure to thrill you from cover to cover! Featuring world-famous and beloved characters like Robin Hood and Alice in Wonderland, and illustrated versions of novels by such authors as Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Jules Verne and many more! COLLECTING: MARVEL CLASSICS COMICS (1976) 13-36
