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Comic Books 101

CINCINNATI, OHIO

www.impact-books.com

chris ryall and scott tipton

The history, methods and madness

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Comic Books 101: The History Methods and Madness. Copyright © 2009 by Chris Ryall and Scott Tipton. Manufactured in China. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. Published by IMPACT Books, an imprint of F+W Media, Inc., 4700 East Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45236. (800) 289-0963. First Edition.

Other fi ne IMPACT Books are available from your local bookstore, art supply store, online supplier or visit our website at www.fwmedia.com.

13 12 11 10 09 5 4 3 2 1

DISTRIBUTED IN CANADA BY FRASER DIRECT100 Armstrong AvenueGeorgetown, ON, Canada L7G 5S4Tel: (905) 877-4411

DISTRIBUTED IN THE U.K. AND EUROPE BY DAVID & CHARLESBrunel House, Newton Abbot, Devon, TQ12 4PU, EnglandTel: (+44) 1626 323200, Fax: (+44) 1626 323319Email: postmaster@davidandcharles.co.uk

DISTRIBUTED IN AUSTRALIA BY CAPRICORN LINKP.O. Box 704, S. Windsor NSW, 2756 AustraliaTel: (02) 4577-3555

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication DataRyall, Chris. Comic books 101 : the history, methods and madness / by Chris Ryall and Scott Tipton. -- 1st ed. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-1-60061-187-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)ISBN-13: 978-1-44030-790-4 (EPUB)

1. Comic books, strips, etc.--History and criticism. I. Tipton, Scott. II. Title. III. Title: Comic books one hundred one. IV. Title: Comic books one hundred and one. PN6710.R93 2009 741.5’9--dc22 2008044966

Edited by Sarah LaichasDesigned by Wendy DunningCover art by Gabriel RodriguezProduction coordinated by Matt Wagner

Introduction © 2008 Stan LeeOutro © 2008 by the Kilimanjaro Corporation

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTSTo Jenny, Julie and Lucy, and our families for the enabling, love, patience and support

To Sarah Laichas, our editor, for making us and the book look so good, and to F+W’s Wendy Dunning and Pam Wissman for the opportunity to look good in the fi rst place

To Bernadette Baker-Baughman and Gretchen Stelter for believing in and championing the project

To Tom Morris and Matt Morris for the initial push

To Kevin Smith and Ming Chen for being there at the start

To Ted Adams and Darlene Anderson for the guidance, support and leadership

To Mark Engblom, David Messina and Nick Roche for the “Toon Chris and Scott art”

Special thanks to Gabriel Rodriguez for the cover illustration, Charlie Kirchoff, Tom B. Long and Leonard O’Grady for the interior colors, Clive Barker, Joe Casey, Carr D’Angelo, Paul Dini, Harlan Ellison, Mark Evanier, Joe Hill, Joshua Jabcuga, Stan Lee, Brian Lynch, Jud Meyers, Gene Simmons, David Tipton, J.C. Vaughn, Mark Waid and Marv Wolfman for their invaluable contributions

DEDICATIONFor our mothers, Patricia Ryall and Diane Tipton, who were taken from us three days apart in the fall of 2007, but left us with a lifetime of comic-

book encouragement and love.

Chris Says

And to Scott, my first

friend in comics, my part-

ner on the website where

this book got its start and

a friend for whom I’d take a

gamma bomb blast any day.

Scott Says

And to Chris, who asked

me to start this whole Comics

101 thing years ago. If I knew

then what I know now . . . well,

I wouldn’t change a thing.

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TABLE OF CONTENTSI N T R O D U C T I O N B Y S TA N L E E 6

A U T H O R S ’ P R E F AC E 8

PART I

The Way It Began . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

1 Newspaper Strips vs. Comic Books 12 | 2 The Rise of National Comics 16

3 The Golden Age 18 | 4 Timely Comics 21 | 5 Fawcett Comics 24

6 Dell and Disney 26 | 7 EC Comics and the Comics Code Authority 28

8 Marvel and DC 35 | 9 Image Comics 38 | 10 Indies and Small Press 40

11 Manga 42 | 12 Collapse and Recovery 45

PART II

Breaking It Down . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

1 Anatomy of a Comic Book 48 | 2 The Comic-Book Page 51

3 The Roles of Creators 56 | 4 Comic Books vs. Graphic Novels 61

PART III

Give Me DC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

1 Superman 64 | 2 Batman 72 | 3 Wonder Woman 80 | 4 The Flash 85

5 Green Lantern 91 | 6 The Justice Society of America 97

7 The Justice League of America 105 | 8 Watchmen 111

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PART IV

Make Mine Marvel . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

1 Sub-Mariner 114 | 2 Captain America 117 | 3 The Fantastic Four 122

4 The Incredible Hulk 128 | 5 Spider-Man 133 | 6 The Mighty Thor 141

7 Iron Man 145 | 8 The Avengers 149 | 9 The X-Men 158

PART V

Around the Four-Color World . . . . . . . . . . 163

1 Disney Comics 164 | 2 Image Comics 166 | 3 Dark Horse Comics 168

4 Bone 172 | 5 Top Shelf Productions 174 | 6 IDW Publishing 178

PART VI

The Creators: The Men Behind Supermen . . . . 183

1 Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster 184 | 2 Bob Kane 186 | 3 Will Eisner 188

4 Stan Lee 193 | 5 Jack Kirby 196 | 6 Steve Ditko 202

7 Chris Claremont 205 | 8 John Byrne 207 | 9 George Pérez 211

10 Frank Miller 213 | Interlude: Mark Gruenwald 217 | 11 Alan Moore 223

12 Neil Gaiman 226 | 13 Grant Morrison 228 | 14 Mark Waid 230

PART VII

Hooray for Hollywood . . . . 231

1 Superman 232 | 2 Batman 239 | 3 Movies 250 | 4 Television 261

S U P P L E M E N TA L R E A D I N G 273

S W E E T D R E A M S B Y H A R L A N E L L I S O N ® 274

A B O U T T H E A U T H O R S 278

I N D E X 280

Make Mine Marrvel

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The Creatatorrs::The Men Behind Supermen

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