Marvel Try-out Book

Last updated
The Official Marvel Comics Try-Out Book
Marvel-TryOutBook-1983.jpg
Cover for the original 1983 edition, showing the various stages of comic book creation, from pencils, to inks, to colors.
Date1983
Main characters Spider-Man
Publisher Marvel Comics
Creative team
Writers Jim Shooter
Pencillers John Romita, Jr.
Original publication
LanguageEnglish
ISBN 0939766760

The Official Marvel Comics Try-Out Book is an oversize book originally published by Marvel Comics in 1983. Conceived by then-Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter, the book was in the form of a contest encouraging up-and-coming comics creators to try their hand at getting a job with the company. The winner would be awarded a professional assignment with Marvel.

Contents

The book described the respective jobs and accompanying tools of a writer, penciller, inker, letterer, and colorist, and then provided pages ready for the hopeful cartoonist to work on. An unfinished Spider-Man story (titled "Personals") was the springboard for the try-out portion, which among other features contained blank, pre-ruled pages for pencilers, pre-penciled "non-photo blue" pages (by artist John Romita, Jr.) to be inked and lettered, and completed black-and-white pages to be colored. The entire book was printed on two-ply 11" × 17" paper, replicating the size that typical original comic book art was drawn at before it was photographically reduced to print size.

Publication history

Though the book was published in 1983, the contest winners were not announced until 1986. [1] The initial winners were:

For their outstanding entries, the winners received a commemorative certificate. They were also promised "their first regular professional assignment, which will be finishing the Spider-Man story 'Personals' which was begun in the Try-Out Book. The result of their labors will be published next spring in a special giant-sized issue of The Amazing Spider-Man ". [1] That promised issue was never published. However, artist Bagley is now a well-known penciller who would go on to have an extended run on Amazing Spider-Man in the 1990s and then Ultimate Spider-Man with Brian Michael Bendis in the 2000s. Inker Hazlewood has had a steady career, mostly for DC Comics, since the late 1980s. Duffie and Pasda have yet to see their work in print.

1996 edition

In 1996 a new edition of The Marvel Try-Out Book was released, edited by Marvel Submissions Editor John Lewandowski and featuring an introduction by Bagley. The New Official Marvel Try-Out Book #2 maintains the same overall format as the original, but features an X-Men story drawn by Andy Kubert. In addition, the new version takes into account advances in computer technology in the production of comics. Other changes include fewer pencilled pages to ink over than in the original book, which are printed in black ink rather than "non-photo blue". This means inkers must use tracing paper rather than being able to ink directly on the art.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inker</span> Comic book or graphic novel line artist

The inker is one of the two line artists in traditional comic book production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Klaus Janson</span> Artist

Klaus Janson is a German-born American comics artist, working regularly for Marvel Comics and DC Comics and sporadically for independent companies. While he is best known as an inker, Janson has frequently worked as a penciller and colorist.

Sal Buscema is an American comics artist, primarily for Marvel Comics, where he enjoyed a ten-year run as artist of The Incredible Hulk and an eight-year run as artist of The Spectacular Spider-Man. He is the younger brother of comics artist John Buscema.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Bagley</span>

Mark Bagley is an American comics artist. He has worked for Marvel Comics on such titles as The Amazing Spider-Man, Thunderbolts, New Warriors, Venom and Ultimate Spider-Man and for DC Comics on Justice League of America, Batman and Trinity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Romita Sr.</span> American comic book artist

John Victor Romita Sr. is an American comic book artist best known for his work on Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man and for co-creating characters including Mary Jane Watson, the Punisher, and Wolverine. Romita is the father of John Romita Jr., also a comic book artist and husband of Virginia Romita, for many years Marvel's traffic manager.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Larry Lieber</span> American comic book artist and writer

Lawrence D. Lieber is an American comic book artist and writer best known as co-creator of the Marvel Comics superheroes Iron Man, Thor, and Ant-Man; for his long stint both writing and drawing the Marvel Western Rawhide Kid; and for illustrating the newspaper comic strip The Amazing Spider-Man from 1986 to September 2018. From 1974 to 1975, he was editor of Atlas/Seaboard Comics. Lieber is the younger brother of the late Marvel Comics writer, editor, and publisher Stan Lee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erik Larsen</span> Comic creator

Erik J. Larsen is an American comic book artist, writer, and publisher. He currently acts as the chief financial officer of Image Comics. He gained attention in the early 1990s with his art on Spider-Man series for Marvel Comics. In 1992 he was one of several artists who stopped working for Marvel to found Image Comics, where he launched his superhero series Savage Dragon – one of the longest running creator-owned superhero comics series – and served for several years as the company's publisher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marie Severin</span> American comic book artist (1929-2018)

Marie Severin was an American comics artist and colorist best known for her work for Marvel Comics and the 1950s' EC Comics. She is an inductee of the Will Eisner Comics Hall of Fame and the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame.

Karl Kesel is an American comics writer and inker whose works have primarily been under contract for DC Comics. He is a member of Periscope Studio and is best known for his collaborations with fellow artist Tom Grummett on The Adventures of Superman, Superboy, and Section Zero, as well as the first Harley Quinn comic title.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al Milgrom</span> American comic book writer

Allen L. Milgrom is an American comic book writer, penciller, inker and editor, primarily for Marvel Comics. He is known for his 10-year run as editor of Marvel Fanfare; his long involvement as writer, penciler, and inker on Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man; his four-year tenure as West Coast Avengers penciller; and his long stint as the inker of X-Factor. He often inks Jim Starlin's work. Milgrom is the co-creator of DC superhero Firestorm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liam Sharp</span> British comic book artist

Liam Roger Sharp is a British comic book artist, writer, publisher, and co-founder/CCO of Madefire Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sol Brodsky</span> American comic book artist

Soloman Brodsky was an American comic book artist who, as Marvel Comics' Silver Age production manager, was one of the key architects of the small company's expansion to a major pop culture conglomerate. He later rose to vice president, operations, and vice president, special projects. "Sol was really my right-hand man for years", described Marvel editor and company patriarch Stan Lee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Todd Nauck</span> American comic book artist and writer

Todd Nauck is an American comic book artist and writer. Nauck is most notable for his work on Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man,Young Justice and his own creation, Wildguard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Lieber</span> American illustrator

Steve Lieber is an American comic book illustrator known for his work on books such as Detective Comics and Hawkman, and the critically acclaimed miniseries Whiteout, which was adapted into a 2009 feature film starring Kate Beckinsale. His other works include the Eisner Award-winning sequel Whiteout: Melt, and the thrillers Shooters and Underground. With writer Nat Gertler, he co-authored The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating a Graphic Novel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Esposito (comics)</span>

Mike Esposito, who sometimes used the pseudonyms Mickey Demeo, Mickey Dee, Michael Dee, and Joe Gaudioso, was an American comic book artist whose work for DC Comics, Marvel Comics and others spanned the 1950s to the 2000s. As a comic book inker teamed with his childhood friend Ross Andru, he drew for such major titles as The Amazing Spider-Man and Wonder Woman. An Andru-Esposito drawing of Wonder Woman appears on a 2006 U.S. stamp.

Paul Ryan was an American comic artist. Ryan worked extensively for Marvel Comics and DC Comics on a number of super-hero comic book titles. He is best known for his 1991 to 1996 run as penciler on Fantastic Four, which represents his longest association with an individual comic book series. From 2005 until his death in 2016, Ryan penciled and inked the daily newspaper comic strip The Phantom for King Features Syndicate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon D'Agostino</span> Italian-American comic book artist

John P. D'Agostino Sr., generally credited as Jon D'Agostino was an Italian-American comic-book artist best known for his Archie Comics work. As well, under the pseudonym Johnny Dee, he was the letterer for the lead story in the Marvel Comics landmark The Amazing Spider-Man No. 1, as well as other seminal Marvel comics.

Doug Hazlewood is an American comic book artist, known primarily for inking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Javier Rodríguez (artist)</span> Spanish comic book artist (born 1972)

Javier Rodríguez is a Spanish comic book artist working primarily as a colorist for the American market. Among his most notable works are Batgirl: Year One, Daredevil and The Amazing Spider-Man.

<i>Action Comics</i> 1000 Comic book issue

Action Comics #1000 is the 1,007th issue of the original run of the comic book/magazine series Action Comics. It features several Superman stories from a variety of creators, including previously unpublished artwork by Curt Swan, who drew Superman for nearly four decades. It was a commercial and critical success, being the most-ordered comic of the month.

References