Friday Fun GET LOST! "How It All Began..." & "How to Make Your Own Comic Book!!"

In the mid-1950s, the young, multi-talented, creative team of Ross Andru and Mike Esposito...

...took a big risk and started their own comics company, MikeRoss Publishing!
They told a fascinating tale of how it came about...

...which didn't have a bit of truth to it!

Then, they decided to "teach" others the "secrets" of how to emulate their success...

As you can see, Ross and Mike were having fun and producing some great material.

Ironically, and through no fault of their own, it would all come crashing down a few months later!

And though their product consisted of a only two non-horror series (humor and romance) and a couple of 3-D one-shots, they were caught in the paranoid backlash against four-color fun that less than a fifth of existing comics publishers survived!

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Andru and Esposito
Partners for Life

Joe Kubert's "So You Want to be a Cartoonist?"

Joe Kubert was one of the greatest multi-talented creatives in comics history...

...editor/writer/artist/letterer, and, most importantly, teacher.

This piece appeared in numerous DC Comics from 1969-1971, probably as the first of a series.

Most likely, due to his enormous workload, no other pages like this ever appeared.

But, the idea of instructing future creatives appealed to Kubert, and he eventually founded The Kubert School, which has superseded The School of Visual Arts (originally Cartoonists and Illustrators School) as the most prolific source of comics/graphic novel talent in America!

Trivia: The founders of both The Kubert School (Joe Kubert) and Cartoonists and Illustrators School (Burne Hogarth) were famed for their work on Tarzan!

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Joe Kubert's Comic Book Studio

Everything You Need to Make Your Own Comic Book

Reading Room: SECRETS BEHIND THE COMICS by STAN LEE...Secrets 7-10!

Join us, as we continue to explore the sacred writings of Stan (the Man) Lee...

 ...as he shows us how a comic story is created!

Note: the "Marvel Method" of a writer giving just a basic plot outline or even a page-by-page synopsis to a penciler who would have greater input into the story direction didn't come about until the early 1960s, when the sheer volume of material Stan Lee was editing/art directing/writing by himself became too much to handle.

We'll return to Secrets Behind the Comics in the near future.

Reading Room: SECRETS BEHIND THE COMICS by STAN LEE...Secrets 4-6!

Let's rejoin comics legend Stan (the Man) Lee as he reveals...

...in this incredibly HTF book from 1948!

All this has been mere prologue.

Tomorrow we get to the stuff you're dying to see...so don't miss it, true believers!

BTW, you probably don't recognize most of the characters Lee mentions.

Timely/Atlas/Marvel hasn't published most of them in decades.

Note: the blonde model/actress Hedy Devine, (aka "Hedy de Vine"), is not the Hedy who became part of the team of Patsy & Hedy, who had their own book through the mid-60s.

That was brunette Hedy Wolfe, who was a teenager, like her "frenemy" Patsy Walker.
Both of them eventually became part of the Marvel multiverse.

Reading Room: SECRETS BEHIND THE COMICS by STAN LEE...Secrets 1-3!

For those, like myself, who aren't (sob) going to San Diego this weekend...

...here's a "how-to" manual from The Man himself...Stan Lee!

(As if you couldn't tell from the "soft-sell" text!)

Tomorrow...

MORE SECRETS!

Comix Class: MOVIEMAKING ILLUSTRATED

Our "brother blog", Secret Sanctum of Captain Video presents a long out-of-print handbook which utilizes Silver and Bronze Age Marvel Comics artwork to demonstrate cinematography in storyboard fashion.
In fact, noted comic and animation artist Scott Shaw! used it in his storyboarding class...

I used to teach a class in storyboarding for the animation union here in Los Angeles. At the time, there was a tremendous influx of comic book talent from the Philippines come to work in animation. Many of these artists had no previous experience working in this field, plus there was a certain learning gap due to language and culture. Although this book really isn't particularly well-done (comics and film AREN'T as similar as some folks think), I frequently used pages from it when trying to help my Filipino students. Once they figured things out, many of 'em went on to do LOTS of professional storyboard work in the animation biz.

Considering how many current artists have problems grasping the essentials of storytelling (not illustrating, storytelling), perhaps an updated version of this should be standard reading.
Until then, this will have to do.
Class is already in session.
Don't be late and bring an Apple (iTouch or iPad will do) for the teacher. ;-)