Tenth Letter of the Alphabet: Under Cover: Marvel By Design

Monday, December 20, 2021

Under Cover: Marvel By Design—The Index and Art Credits

Marvel By Design: Graphic Design Strategies of the World’s Greatest Comics Company is published by Gestalten. The book has excellent design and superb printing. This post is about the index and amount of art selected per artist.

The index, in general, is arranged alphabetically by chapter title. Each chapter has a numerical list of art exhibits with or without art and writing credits. Here are the indexed chapters in order of appearance.

A Brief History of Marvel

An Oral History of Dawn of X

How Marvel Became Marvel

Introduction: The Art of Designing Marvel

Marvel Beyond Marvel

Marvel’s Type

The Graphic Elements: Color Palettes

The Graphic Elements: Covers

The Graphic Elements in Focus: Black Panther

The Graphic Elements in Focus: Black Widow

The Graphic Elements in Focus: Captain America

The Graphic Elements in Focus: Captain Marvel & Ms. Marvel

The Graphic Elements in Focus: Fantastic Four

The Graphic Elements in Focus: Iron Man

The Graphic Elements in Focus: Spider-Man

The Graphic Elements in Focus: Storm

The Graphic Elements in Focus: The Winter Soldier

The Graphic Elements in Focus: Thor

The Graphic Elements: Layouts

The Graphic Elements: Lettering

The Graphic Elements: Logos

The Marvel Method: Then and Now

A lot of people made Marvel Comics what it was and is today and they deserve to be credited for their work. In the book there is room under every exhibit for a name or names. Instead, you have to look in the index for the credits which may or may not include names. For example, on page 39 of “The Graphic Elements: Covers” chapter is Jack Kirby’s cover for The X-Men #1. The index says “Uncanny X-Men (1963) #1 September 1, 1963” without crediting Kirby. The index for this chapter lists 101 covers (12 by Kirby) and credits just 33 artists.

Here is a tally, with sources, of art by Jack Kirby who, sometimes, wasn’t credited in the text and index. Additions and corrections welcomed.

Cover: Captain America–Captain America #109, January 1969

Page:/Exhibit Number–/Source

5: 1–The Avengers #3, January 1964

12: 2–Red Raven Comics #1, August 1940

22: 22–Marvel Treasury Special Featuring Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles #1, September 1976; index says Captain America Bicentennial Battles

39: 1–The X-Men #1, September 1963; index says Uncanny X-Men

41: 8–Captain America Comics #1, March 1941; 15–Tales of Suspense #4, July 1959

42: 16–Tales to Astonish! #1, January 1959; 19–Strange Tales #97, June 1962; 20–Journey Into Mystery #89, February 1963; 21-The Incredible Hulk #1, May 1962

43: 28–The X-Men #17, February 1966; index says Uncanny X-Men

44: 29 (corner box)–Sub-Mariner #1, May 1968

45: 32 (corner box)–Captain America #111, March 1969

46: 33 (corner box)–Silver Surfer #1, August 1968

47: 34 (corner box)–The Invincible Iron Man #1, May 1968

48: 35–Fantastic Four #33, December 1964

51: 53–Daredevil #1, April 1964 (with Bill Everett); 57–Tales of Suspense #39, March 1963

70: 3–The Avengers #4, March 1964

71: 5–Fantastic Four #51, June 1966

96: 66–Captain America Comics #1, March 1941

98: 72–Tales to Astonish #16, February 1961

100: 78–The Avengers #1, September 1963

102: 81–Captain America Comics #6, September 1941

131: 1–The Fantastic Four #1, November 1961

136: 5, 6, 7–Captain America Comics #1, March 1941; letterer Howard Ferguson not credited for exhibit number 8 in the index

140: 16–Strange Tales #97, June 1962

142: 24, 25–The Avengers #1, September 1963

143: 27–The X-Men #1, September 1963; index says Uncanny X-Men

144: 29, 31, 32, 33–The Incredible Hulk #1, May 1962; 30–The Incredible Hulk #2, July 1962

145: 34, 36–The Fantastic Four #1, November 1961; 35–Fantastic Four #14, May 1963; 37–Fantastic Four #51, June 1966

146: 42–Fantastic Four #51, June 1966; caption does not use the term Kirby Krackle

160: several panels are based on Kirby art

176: 83–The Fantastic Four #1, November 1961

189: 195–The Fantastic Four #1, November 1961

211: 1–The Mighty Thor #158, November 1968; not listed in the index

212: 1–The Fantastic Four #1, November 1961; 3–The Fantastic Four #6, September 1962

214: 7–Fantastic Four #17, August 1963; 8–Fantastic Four #71, February 1968; 9–Fantastic Four #106, November 1971

215: 20–The Fantastic Four #7, October 1962; 21–Fantastic Four #17, August 1963; 22–Fantastic Four #26, May 1964; 23–Fantastic Four #48, March 1966; 24–Fantastic Four #71, February 1968; 25–Fantastic Four #72, March 1968

220: 1–Tales of Suspense #39, March 1963; 2–Tales of Suspense #48, December 1963

224: 24–The Invincible Iron Man #1, May 1968; 25–Tales of Suspense #57, September 1964

227: 36 (corner box)–he Invincible Iron Man #33, January 1971; 37 (corner circle)–The Invincible Iron Man #46, May 1972; 38 (corner circle)–The Invincible Iron Man #71, November 1974

234: 1–Captain America Comics #1, March 1941; 2–The Avengers #10, November 1964; index credits Avengers Classic #10, May 2008, which reprinted The Avengers #10

238: 31–Captain America #100, April 1968; 35–Captain America Comics #1, March 1941; 36–Captain America #100, April 1968; 37–Captain America #109, January 1969

242: 1–Journey Into Mystery #83, August 1962

245: 19–Journey Into Mystery #89, February 1963; 20–Journey Into Mystery #123, December 1965; 21–Journey Into Mystery #125, February 1966; 22–The Mighty Thor #141, June 1967

246: 23–The Mighty Thor #154, July 1968

247: 24–Journey Into Mystery #104, May 1964; 25–Journey Into Mystery #125, February 1966; 26–The Mighty Thor #141, June 1967

248: 39–The Mighty Thor #156, September 1968; 40 (corner box and background art)–The Mighty Thor #169, October 1969

250: 1, 3, 4–Fantastic Four #52, July 1966

256: 29–Fantastic Four #52, July 1966

262: 22–Tales of Suspense #53, May 1964

264: 1–Amazing Fantasy #15, August 1962

270: 45–The Amazing Spider-Man #1, March 1963

Below is an art tally for selected artists. Figures in parentheses represent the number of exhibits on a page. Additions and corrections welcomed.

Jim Steranko, pages 6, 21, 42, 45 (3), 61, 66, 72 (2), 75, 78, 82, 88, 89, 91, 94, 98, 124–text about the X-Men logo, 140 (4), 143 (3), 149 (2)

John Romita, pages pages 16, 32–photo, 49, 60, 96, 142, 258, 261, 262, 266, 270 (3), 272, 274, 275

Steve Ditko, pages, 16, 17, 49, 70, 72, 75, 98, 140, 141, 190, 268, 269, 270 (3)

Walt Simonson, pages 23, 50, 55, 76, 112, 151 (5), 242, 247 (2), 248 (3)

Frank Miller, pages 53 (3), 55, 81, 82, 84, 85, 95, 97, 150 (7), 262

John Buscema, pages 42, 44, 46, 48, 74*, 77*, 99, 133*, 146* (3). *Index erroneously credits Gene Colan as the artist on The Silver Surfer #1, August 1968.

John Byrne, cover–Black Panther, pages 47, 50 (2), 52, 54, 55 (3), 102, 111

Gene Colan, pages 42 (2), 47, 48 (2), 49 (3), 220

Don Heck, pages 31, 96, 147 (3), 258

Gil Kane, pages 86, 201, 234, 256

Dave Cockrum, pages 17, 230, 232

Alex Schomburg, pages 14 (2), 15 (3), 41

Bill Sienkiewicz, pages 55, 92, 103

Bill Everett, pages: 51, 80, 134

Russ Heath, pages 15, 41

Marie Severin, pages 21, 74

Jim Starlin, pages 86, 97

Herb Trimpe, pages 40, 83