{"product_id":"the-secret-history-of-marvel-comics-hardcover-by-blake-bell","title":"The Secret History of Marvel Comics Hardcover by Blake Bell","description":"\u003cbody\u003e\n                \n                    \n                        \u003ch2\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h2\u003e\n                        \u003cul\u003e\n                            \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cb\u003eFantagraphics\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e(2013-11-16)\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                            \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eLanguage\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003eEnglish\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                            \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePaperback\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003e304\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cb\u003epages\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                            \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eISBN-13\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003e9781606995525\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                            \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eItem Weight\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003e567.0\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cb\u003egrams\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                            \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003e0.0 x 0.0 x 0.0\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cb\u003ecm\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                        \u003c\/ul\u003e\n                        \u003cbr\u003e\n                        \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe untold story of the House of Ideas.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMarvel Comics is home to such legendary super-heroes as Spider-Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man, all of whom have spun box office gold in the 21st century. But Marvel Comics has a secret history hidden in the shadows of these well-known franchises.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Secret History of Marvel Comics\u003c\/i\u003e digs back to the 1930s when Marvel Comics wasn't just a comic-book producing company. Marvel Comics owner Martin Goodman had tentacles into a publishing world that might have made that era’s conservative American parents lynch him on his front porch. Marvel was but a small part of Goodman’s publishing empire, which had begun years before he published his first comic book. Goodman mostly published lurid and sensationalistic story books (known as “pulps”) and magazines, featuring sexually-charged detective and romance short fiction, and celebrity gossip scandal sheets. And artists like Jack Kirby, who was producing Captain America for eight-year-olds, were simultaneously dipping their toes in both ponds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Secret History of Marvel Comics\u003c\/i\u003e tells this parallel story of 1930s\/40s Marvel Comics sharing offices with those Goodman publications not quite fit for children. The book also features a comprehensive display of the artwork produced for Goodman’s other enterprises by Marvel Comics artists such as Jack Kirby and Joe Simon, Alex Schomburg, Bill Everett, Al Jaffee, and Dan DeCarlo, plus the very best pulp artists in the field, including Norman Saunders, John Walter Scott, Hans Wesso, L.F. Bjorklund, and \u003ci\u003eMarvel Comics\u003c\/i\u003e #1 cover artist Frank R. Paul. Goodman’s magazines also featured cover stories on celebrities such as Jackie Gleason, Elizabeth Taylor, Liberace, and Sophia Loren, as well as contributions from famous literary and social figures such as Isaac Asimov, Theodore Sturgeon, and L. Ron Hubbard.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese rare pieces of comic art, pulp and magazine history will open the door to Marvel Comics’ unseen history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n                        \u003ch3\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n                        \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eBlake Bell\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of \u003ci\u003eStrange \u0026amp; Stranger\u003c\/i\u003e (a retrospective of \u003ci\u003eSpider-Man\u003c\/i\u003e co-creator Steve Ditko); \u003ci\u003eThe Secret History of Marvel Comics\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eFire \u0026amp; Water: Bill Everett, The Sub-Mariner, and the Birth of Marvel Comics\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eAmazing Mysteries: The Bill Everett Archives;\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eStrange Suspense\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eUnexplored Worlds\u003c\/i\u003e (two volumes in \u003ci\u003eThe Steve Ditko Archives\u003c\/i\u003e). He lives in Toronto, Ontario, with his son.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDr. Michael J. Vassallo\u003c\/b\u003e is a noted historian on Marvel's early pulp, Timely and Atlas periods. A Manhattan dentist, he spends his free time attempting to bring recognition to artistic creators of the 1940's and 1950's. He has also written introductions to 20 Timely and Atlas Masterworks volumes, dissecting the credits for posterity and providing historical context, as well as writing the detailed captions to the first 210 pages of Taschen's \u003ci\u003e75 Years of Marvel\u003c\/i\u003e coffee table book. He lives in Westchester County, New York.\u003c\/p\u003e\n                    \n                \n            \u003c\/body\u003e","brand":"Best Bookstore","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":46556048261281,"sku":"BBSNIJ9781606995525","price":48.59,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/2084\/5473\/files\/9781606995525.jpg?v=1781804153","url":"https:\/\/www.bestbookstore.ca\/products\/the-secret-history-of-marvel-comics-hardcover-by-blake-bell","provider":"Best Book Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}