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 

Neal Adams, page 65 

Frank Brunner, page 148

Sal Buscema, page 49

Howard Chaykin, page 52 

Ron Frenz, page 191 

Joe Maneely, page 42 

Moebius, page 74 

George Perez, page 91 


George Tuska, page 138 

Wally Wood, page 42 


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(Next post on Monday: Comic Book Trademarks, Part 5)

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