Comic Books 101: The History, Methods and Madness

399 Pages·2009·9.9 MB·English

by  Chris Ryall, Scott Tipton

COMIC BOOKS 101

The HISTORY, METHODS and MADNESS

CHRIS RYALL and SCOTT TIPTON
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. [phone]. First Edition.

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

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DISTRIBUTED IN CANADA BY FRASER DIRECT
100 Armstrong Avenue
Georgetown, ON, Canada L7G 5S4
Tel: [phone]

DISTRIBUTED IN THE U.K. AND EUROPE BY DAVID & CHARLES
Brunel House, Newton Abbot, Devon, TQ12 4PU, England
Tel: [phone], Fax: [phone]
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

To 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 first place To Bernadette BakerBaughman 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”

CHRIS SAYS

And to Scott, my first friend in comics, my partner 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.
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
DEDICATION

For 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.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION BY STAN LEE

AUTHORS' PREFACE

PART I THE WAY IT BEGAN

1 Newspaper Strips vs. Comic Books

2 The Rise of National Comics

3 The Golden Age

4 Timely Comics

5 Fawcett Comics

6 Dell and Disney

7 EC Comics and the Comics Code Authority

8 Marvel and DC

9 Image Comics

10 Indies and Small Press
11 Manga

12 Collapse and Recovery

PART II BREAKING IT DOWN

1 Anatomy of a Comic Book

2 The Comic-Book Page

3 The Roles of Creators

4 Comic Books vs. Graphic Novels

PART III GIVE ME DC
1 Superman

2 Batman

3 Wonder Woman

4 The Flash

5 Green Lantern

6 The Justice Society of America

7 The Justice League of America

8 Watchmen

PART IV MAKE MINE MARVEL

1 Sub-Mariner

2 Captain America

3 The Fantastic Four

4 The Incredible Hulk