Jack Kirby was an American comic book artist, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew up in New York City and learned to draw cartoon figures by tracing characters from comic strips and editorial cartoons. He entered the nascent comics industry in the 1930s, drawing various comics features under different pen names, including Jack Curtiss, before settling on Jack Kirby. In 1940, he and writer-editor Joe Simon created the highly successful superhero character Captain America for Timely Comics, predecessor of Marvel Comics. During the 1940s, Kirby regularly teamed with Simon, creating numerous characters for that company and for National Comics Publications, later to become DC Comics.
Spider-Man is a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book Amazing Fantasy #15 in the Silver Age of Comic Books. He has been featured in comic books, television shows, films, video games, novels, and plays.
Stephen John Ditko was an American comic book writer best known for being the co-creator of Marvel superhero Spider-Man and creator of Doctor Strange. He also made notable contributions to the character of Iron Man, introducing the character's red and yellow design.
Timely Comics was the common name for the group of corporations that was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics.
James F. Steranko is an American graphic artist, comic book writer/artist, comics historian, magician, publisher and film production illustrator.
Wallace Allan Wood was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, widely known for his work on EC Comics's titles such as Weird Science, Weird Fantasy, and MAD Magazine from its inception in 1952 until 1964, as well as for T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, and work for Warren Publishing's Creepy. He drew a few early issues of Marvel's Daredevil and established the title character's distinctive red costume. Wood created and owned the long-running characters Sally Forth and Cannon.
Tales to Astonish is the name of two American comic book series, and a one-shot comic, all published by Marvel Comics.
Tales of Suspense is the name of an American comic book anthology series, and two one-shot comics, all published by Marvel Comics. The first, which ran from 1959 to 1968, began as a science-fiction anthology that served as a showcase for such artists as Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and Don Heck, then featured superheroes Captain America and Iron Man during the Silver Age of Comic Books before changing its title to Captain America with issue #100. Its sister title was Tales to Astonish. Following the launch of Marvel Legacy in 2017, Tales of Suspense was once again resurrected at issue #100, featuring the Winter Soldier and Hawkeye in a story called "The Red Ledger".
Werner Roth was an American comic book artist, perhaps best known for immediately succeeding Jack Kirby on Marvel Comics' The X-Men.
Vincent Colletta was an American comic book artist and art director. He was one of Jack Kirby's frequent inkers during the 1950s-1960s Silver Age of comic books. This included some significant early issues of Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four, and a long, celebrated run on the character Thor in Journey into Mystery and The Mighty Thor.
Martin Goodman was an American publisher of pulp magazines, digest sized magazines, paperback books, men's adventure magazines, and comic books, who founded the comics magazine company Timely Comics in 1939. Timely Comics would go on to become Marvel Comics, one of the United States' two largest comic book publishers along with rival DC Comics.
Soloman "Sol" 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 popular 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.
Florence Steinberg was an American publisher of one of the first independent comic books, the underground/alternative comics hybrid Big Apple Comix, in 1975. Additionally, as the secretary for Marvel Comics editor Stan Lee and the fledgling company's receptionist and fan liaison during the 1960s Silver Age of Comic Books, she was a key participant of and witness to Marvel's expansion from a two-person staff to a pop culture conglomerate.
"Bullpen Bulletins" was the news and information page that appeared in most regular monthly comic books from Marvel Comics. In various incarnations since its inception in 1965 until its demise in 2001, it included previews of upcoming Marvel publications, profiles of Marvel staff members, and a monthly column written by Stan Lee known as "Stan's Soapbox" or "Stan Lee's Soapbox".
FOOM was Marvel Comics' self-produced fan magazine of the mid-1970s, following the canceled Marvelmania and preceding Marvel Age. Running 22 quarterly issues, it was initially designed and edited by comic book writer-artist Jim Steranko.
Marvelmania International was comic-book publisher Marvel Comics' authorized but independently operated fan club from 1969 to 1971, which absorbed the Merry Marvel Marching Society begun in 1964. It included a six-issue fan magazine, Marvelmania Magazine.
Stan Lee was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Comics which later became Marvel Comics. He was Marvel's primary creative leader for two decades, expanding it from a small publishing house division to a multimedia corporation that dominated the comics and film industries.
Kirby: King of Comics is a 2008 biography of Jack Kirby written by Mark Evanier. The book won various awards including a 2009 Eisner Award for Best Comics-Related Book. While it was met with mixed reception from critics, various publications recommend it to comic fans. It was published by the art book publisher Abrams Books, it is extensively illustrated with Kirby's artwork, including original art comic pages with production notes in blue ink and was re-released in 2017.
Origins of Marvel Comics is a 1974 collection of Marvel Comics comic book stories, selected and introduced by Marvel writer and editor Stan Lee. The book was published by Marvel Fireside Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, and was Marvel's first trade paperback collection.
