This book is an updated history of the American comic book by an industry insider. You'll follow the development of comics from the first appearance of the comic book format in the Platinum Age of the 1930s to the creation of the superhero genre in the Golden Age, to the current period, where comics flourish as graphic novels and blockbuster movies. Along the way you will meet the hustlers, hucksters, hacks, and visionaries who made the American comic book what it is today. It's an exciting journey, filled with mutants, changelings, atomized scientists, gamma-ray accidents, and supernaturally empowered heroes and villains who challenge the imagination and spark the secret identities lurking within us.

About the Author
The Author: Shirrel Rhoades is a former executive vice president of Marvel Entertainment and publisher of Marvel Comics. During a forty-plus-year career, he has held executive positions with Reader's Digest, Ladies' Home Journal, Redbook, Harper's, and Scholastic. He taught magazine management for seventeen years at New York University's Center for Publishing, and he continues to consult in the magazine and comics industries.

Reviews
"One part history and one part how-to add up to a book that really puts the 'Pow' back into comics." (Joe Quesada, Editor-in-Chief, Marvel Comics)
"Shirrel Rhoades reflects on his journey through the world of comics as a reader, collector, and executive, offering a very personal perspective on a unique American art form and industry." (Paul Levitz, President and Publisher of DC Comics)
"It's a rare treat to read a book on this peculiar medium by a man who knows it as well, from the inside, as Shirrel Rhoades - and a fast, fun, crystal-clear book it is." (Gerard Jones, Author of 'Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangster, and the Birth of the Comic Book')
"One part history and one part how-to add up to a book that really puts the 'Pow' back into comics." (Joe Quesada, Editor-in-Chief, Marvel Comics)
"Shirrel Rhoades reflects on his journey through the world of comics as a reader, collector, and executive, offering a very personal perspective on a unique American art form and industry." (Paul Levitz, President and Publisher of DC Comics)
"It's a rare treat to read a book on this peculiar medium by a man who knows it as well, from the inside, as Shirrel Rhoades - and a fast, fun, crystal-clear book it is." (Gerard Jones, Author of 'Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangster, and the Birth of the Comic Book')



Book Information
ISBN 9781433101106
Author Shirrel Rhoades
Format Hardback
Page Count 354
Imprint Peter Lang Publishing Inc
Publisher Peter Lang Publishing Inc
Weight(grams) 930g