Peter Sanderson

Last updated
Peter Sanderson
4.11.15PeterSandersonByLuigiNovi2.jpg
Sanderson at the 2015 East Coast Comicon in Secaucus, New Jersey
Born (1952-04-25) April 25, 1952 (age 70)
Milton, Massachusetts
Area(s)Writer, historian, critic, academic
Notable works
 Marvel Saga
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe

Peter Sanderson Jr. (born April 25, 1952) [1] is a comic book critic and historian, [2] as well as an instructor/lecturer in the New York area concerning the study of graphic novels/comic books as literature. [3]

Contents

He is best known for his work as a researcher at the two main American comics companies, DC and Marvel, where he helped to catalog the various fictional characters that comprised their respective continuities.

Career

As a teenager, and later, at Columbia University, Sanderson's first involvement in the comics field was as a "letterhack," a frequent contributor to comic book letter columns. His missives impressed DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz enough for Schwartz expand the letter columns in some titles to a second, separate page (such as "Flash-Grams — Extra", "Letters To the Batcave — Extra", and "JLA Mailroom — Special Peter Sanderson Edition") to facilitate Sanderson's analysis. [4] In the early 1980s Sanderson wrote for comics hobbyist magazines, including The Comics Journal , Amazing Heroes , [5] and Comics Feature .

From there, Sanderson broke into the comic book industry proper. He was first hired by DC Comics, where he was given the task of reading every comic book published by the company since 1935. His research was used by Len Wein to write Who's Who in the DC Universe . [6] Sanderson then went to work for Marvel Comics, where he was mentored by writer/editor Mark Gruenwald as Marvel's first scholar and archivist, which saw Sanderson placed in charge of Marvel's library. [7] Sanderson contributed as a researcher on the various Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe series in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Sanderson was also the writer of the Marvel Saga and Wolverine Saga limited series. These titles did not follow the typical art-centered comic book format. Instead, the two series were prose chronicles of the fictional histories of comic book characters, which Sanderson culled from previous titles Marvel had published over the years. The text was supplemented by individual panels excerpted from the comic books that served as Sanderson's sources.

Sanderson writes an online column entitled Comics in Context, which (in Sanderson's own words) is "a weekly series of critical essays on comics, cartoon art, and related subjects" (those "related subjects" can run the gamut from film adaptations of comic books, to other media that have been influenced by comics, such as Star Wars ). The series started on July 8, 2003 on the website IGN, but then moved to the Kevin Smith-affiliated website Quick Stop Entertainment on June 23, 2006; according to Sanderson, the "Powers That Be" in charge of IGN's comics section began to tamper with the titles of his columns and complain about some of the topics he covered, whereby a "change of scenery" was necessary. [8] After a seventeen-month hiatus, Comics in Context returned to the newly rebranded A Site Called Fred on January 19, 2010. [9]

Outside of his online writings, Sanderson has also had a number of books published (including The Marvel Vault and The Marvel Travel Guide to New York), [10] taught the class The Graphic Novel as Literature at New York University, [11] curated an exhibition on Stan Lee for the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, [12] and reviews the latest in comics and comics-related material for Publishers Weekly .

In April 2017, Sanderson contributed a segment of a retrospective article on his late mentor Mark Gruenwald for Back Issue! magazine #103. The segment focused on the academic and scholarly nature of Sanderson and Gruenwald's working relationship. [7]

Personal life

In April 2017 Sanderson was hospitalized with hip fracture resulting from a fall. This prevented him from writing a retrospective article on his mentor, Mark Gruenwald, that he had suggested to editor Michael Eury for the April 2018 issue of Back Issue! magazine, though he did contribute a segment for that article. [7]

Bibliography

Comics

Books

Essays

Related Research Articles

<i>The Avengers</i> (comic book) Comic book series

The Avengers is the name of several comic book titles featuring the team the Avengers and published by Marvel Comics, beginning with the original The Avengers comic book series which debuted in 1963.

The New Universe is an imprint from Marvel Comics that was published in its original incarnation from 1986 to 1989. It was the first line produced by Marvel Comics utilizing a pre-conceived shared universe concept. It was created by Jim Shooter, Archie Goodwin, Eliot R. Brown, John Morelli, Mark Gruenwald, Tom DeFalco, and edited by Michael Higgins.

The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is an encyclopedic guide which details the fictional universe featured in Marvel Comics publications. The original 15-volume series was published in comic book format in 1982, followed by sporadic updates.

Terry Kevin Austin is an American comic book creator working primarily as an inker.

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

Mark Eugene Gruenwald was an American comic book writer, editor, and occasional penciler known for his long association with Marvel Comics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eternals (comics)</span> Group of comic book characters

The Eternals are a fictional extraterrestrial race of humanoids appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They were created by Jack Kirby, making their first appearance in The Eternals #1.

Amazing Adventures is the name of several anthology comic book series, all but one published by Marvel Comics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Davis</span> English artist and writer

Alan Davis is an English artist and writer of comic books, known for his work on titles such as Captain Britain, The Uncanny X-Men, ClanDestine, Detective Comics, Excalibur, JLA: The Nail and JLA: Another Nail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian K. Vaughan</span> American screenwriter, comic book creator

Brian K. Vaughan is an American comic book and television writer, best known for the comic book series Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, Runaways, Pride of Baghdad, Saga, and Paper Girls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Jenkins (writer)</span> British comic book writer

Paul Jenkins is a British comic book writer, screenwriter, novelist, and narrative director. He has had much success crossing over into the American comic book market. Primarily working for Marvel Comics, Jenkins had a big part shaping the characters of the company, helping via the Marvel Knights imprint to propel Marvel from Chapter 11 bankruptcy before choosing to focus on independent publications. He is also noted for his groundbreaking narrative work in the field of video games, and is recognized as one of the world's preeminent "cross-media" creators for his work across such multiple media as animation, video games, comic books, and film.

Steven Grant is an American comic book writer best known for his 1985–1986 Marvel Comics mini-series The Punisher with artist Mike Zeck and for his creator-owned character Whisper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fred Hembeck</span> American cartoonist

Fred Hembeck is an American cartoonist best known for his parodies of characters from major American comic book publishers. His work has frequently been published by the firms whose characters he spoofs. His characters are always drawn with curlicues at the elbows and knees. He often portrays himself as a character in his own work, in the role of "interviewer" of various comic book characters. Interviewer Daniel Best has said of his work, "If you take your comic books seriously, and think that those characters are real, then you're probably not a fan of Hembeck."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fred Van Lente</span> American writer

Fred Van Lente from Chagrin Falls, Ohio is an American writer, primarily of comic books and graphic novels.

<i>Marvel Age</i> Comic book-sized magazine

Marvel Age was a promotional comic book-sized magazine from Marvel Comics published from 1983 to 1994. Basically a comic-length edition of the Bullpen Bulletins page, Marvel Age contained previews of upcoming Marvel comics, as well as interviews with comics professionals and other features, including occasional original comic strips. It is also notable for early work by Marvel writers such as Peter David and Kurt Busiek.

A comic book letter column is a section of an American comic book where readers' letters to the publisher appear. Comic book letter columns are also commonly referred to as letter columns, letter pages, letters of comment (LOCs), or simply letters to the editor. Letter columns appeared early on in the history of comic books themselves, and their growing prevalence — particularly beginning in the 1960s — helped create and legitimatize comics fandom. As the forum developed, the volume and tenor of letters became a reliable gauge of overall reader response to developments in the comics themselves. Letter columns remained a regular feature of most comic books until the early years of the 21st century, when they began being phased out in favor of the growing prevalence of email and Internet forums. Despite this, the 2010s saw a renaissance of comic book letter columns, and many comics titles still print them.

<i>Marvel Saga</i>

The Marvel Saga: The Official History of the Marvel Universe was a comic book series which attempted to condense the first 25 years of Marvel Universe events into a sequential, narrative story.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Limbo (DC Comics)</span>

Limbo refers to a fictional location in books published by DC Comics. Limbo first appeared in Ambush Bug #3 and was created by Keith Giffen.

<i>Silver Surfer</i> (comic book) Comic book

Silver Surfer or The Silver Surfer is the name of several series of comic books published by Marvel Comics featuring the Silver Surfer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Reed (comics)</span> American cartoonist

Scott Reed is an American illustrator, comic book artist and author from Reedsville, Ohio. His earliest comic work as a writer and inker appeared in Silverwolf Comics Eradicators in 1990. In 1993, he worked on-staff as an inker for Malibu Comics until 1996, when he was hired by Dark Horse Comics to provide inks for Godzilla and G.I. Joe Extreme comic book mini-series. For the next several years, he produced creator-owned online comics under his self-publishing label Webs Best Comics. In 2007, he and artist Shane White collaborated on The Overman, an apocalyptic noir science fiction mini-series published by Image Comics. In 2010, Reed wrote two mini-series for Marvel Comics, Realm of Kings: Son of Hulk, and Incredible Hulks: Enigma Force, which re-introduced several Microverse characters into the Marvel Universe. Both series were penciled by Miguel Munera. In 2012, Reed wrote, illustrated and published Saga Of A Doomed Universe, a graphic novel distributed digitally with Comixology and included in Boing-Boing's 'Best Damn Comics of the Year' of 2012. From 2016-2018, Reed worked as a colorist on MidWalker, a comic book mini-series published by Fierce Comics. The first issue of Reed's latest comic book mini-series, Hark, was published in 2020 under his creator-owned label Beyond Forward Comics and distributed by Comixology and IndyPlanet.

The Official Handbook of the Conan Universe is an encyclopedic guide which details the fictional universe featured in Conan publications of Marvel Comics. The one-shot issue was published in comic book format in 1986, followed by reprints in 1993. The main author and researcher was comic book writer Alan Zelenetz.

References

  1. ↑ Miller, John Jackson (June 10, 2005). "Comics Industry Birthdays". Comics Buyer's Guide . Archived from the original on February 18, 2011. Retrieved December 12, 2010. In print issue #1650 (February 2009), p. 107
  2. ↑ "Vital Statistics", The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition, #4 (March 1985)
  3. ↑ Comics in Context #58: Crisis of Conscience
  4. ↑ Hembeck, Fred. "The Fred Hembeck Show: Episode 21." IGN Entertainment, August 2, 2005. Retrieved July 2, 2008.
  5. ↑ Sanderson entry, Who's Who of American Comics Books, 1928–1999. Retrieved Nov. 26, 2020.
  6. ↑ Index to Comic Art Collection Archived 2007-03-03 at the Wayback Machine
  7. 1 2 3 Schuller, Catherine (April 2018). "Gru the Influencer: Leaving an Indelible Mark", Back Issue! #103. p. 35.
  8. ↑ Comics in Context #134: Cineplex-Men Archived 2007-12-19 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ↑ A Site Called Fred
  10. ↑ The Beat’s Annual Survey 2008 Edition Part 2 Archived 2012-07-14 at archive.today
  11. ↑ NEWYORKUNIVERSITYBULLETIN
  12. ↑ MoCCA Archived 2008-08-28 at the Wayback Machine
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.