"Enclosed is a rough draft of a F.F. page..."

October 3, 2013 8:15 AM

Sean Howe digs up "a February 1966 letter from then-Staff Writer Denny O’Neil to Marvel fan Jay DeNatale, [which] includes what’s possibly the earliest insider account of Marvel from someone other than Stan Lee." (via)
posted by griphus (8 comments total)

Marvel Comics: The Untold Story was awesome. (This excerpt from Marvel in the 1970s was the best part.) I wish that more of the ancillary material that shows up in his Tumblr could have made it into the book.

I am also really looking forward to Fantagraphics' The Secret History of Marvel Comics, which is coming out this month. Judging from the posted chapter, it promises to be a much more thorough muckraking than Howe's book was.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 8:25 AM on October 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

Seconding the recommendation of Marvel Comics: The Untold Story - its a great read, if somewhat grim at points - the old story of creators getting screwed out of everything repeats a lot.

They could do a DC one, but it would be too depressing.
posted by Artw at 8:38 AM on October 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

After reading Chris Sims' article on Bob Kane, yeah, I really don't want to know how those particular sausages were made.
posted by griphus at 8:40 AM on October 3, 2013 [2 favorites]

Interesting to see the contrast between the "it's all Stan!" company line and the acknowledgment that yeah, Jack Kirby co-wrote that run of FF, once he gets into the nuts-and-bolts part.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:49 AM on October 3, 2013

Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book
is pretty good for early DC stuff and what led up to it... Also it covers the real life inspiration for several events in Kavalier & Clay (also worth a read).
posted by Artw at 9:16 AM on October 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

Seconding the recommendation of Marvel Comics: The Untold Story

I'm halfway thru it (just finished the chapter on Jim Shooter and Secret Wars), so I'll second-and-a-half the recommendation.

Thanks for the link to his Tumblr, 1970s Antihero; I wasn't aware of it.
posted by Gelatin at 12:05 PM on October 3, 2013

Related: An Open Letter to Young Freelancers, by Mark Waid.
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:00 PM on October 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

I swear too much on this site too tell you how fucking great that was.

Thanks.
posted by converge at 2:14 AM on October 4, 2013