Steve Saffel

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF A POP CULTURE PHENOMENON From his modest 1962 debut in Amazing Fantasy #15, Peter Parker — better known to readers as the web-spinning Spider-Man — has evolved from underdog to international icon. Along the way he’s thrilled entire generations through the comics, cartoons, movies, and tons of spectacular toys. Spider-Man: The Icon traces that unlikely evolution. A lavishly illustrated chronicle, it charts the wall-crawler’s career from counter-culture figure to motion picture superstar, visually portraying every aspect of the web-spinning phenomenon. This deluxe celebration of the ultimate super hero includes insights from key comic book writers and artists, photos of rare, vintage collectibles, and a vast array of scintillating imagery from the comics, cartoons, television series, and movies. In doing so, it also traces the history of popular culture over the last five decades. Renowned Spider-Man expert Steve Saffel combines a wealth of arcane knowledge and incredibly rare archival material to create the essential book for every Spider-fan!

The Life and Times of a Pop Culture Phenomenon

Spider-Man the Icon

Joe Simon

Before Marvel, before Captain America, before Simon and Kirby, and before comics there was Joe Simon. Born in 1913, the son of an immigrant tailor, he's been an artist all his life. A newspaper writer, photographer, and cartoonist, and the first editor at the company that became Marvel Comics, he was the man who hired Stan Lee for his first job. Entering the fledgling industry the year after Superman appeared, Simon instantly made a name for himself as a writer, artist, and editor. He and Jack Kirby created the iconic Captain America-their first blockbuster-before America entered World War II. More hits followed, including a bestselling military adventure series, the first romance comic created for an audience of young girls, and Simon's own satire magazine that was a favourite of Lenny Bruce. His exciting chronicle covers ten decades. It includes a stint in the Coast Guard during World War II, as well as his encounters with such colorful personalities as author Damon Runyon, prizefighters Max Baer and Jack Dempsey, comedian Don Rickles, Vice-President Nelson Rockefeller, and actors Caesar Romero and Sid Caesar. This is the comprehensive autobiography of an illustrator, an innovator, an entrepreneur, and a pioneer. Profusely illustrated with photography and artwork, much of it heretofore unseen, this is the chronicle of an American original.

Joe Simon - My Life in Comics

Peter Sanderson

Mark Gruenwald

Following the success of the original OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE came the DELUXE EDITION - expanded, augmented and fully updated! Now, the ultimate guide to the mid-1980s Marvel Universe is collected in a single gigantic hardcover for the very first time! The OHOTMU DELUXE EDITION featured fact-packed character profiles illustrated by some of the era's biggest names including John Byrne, Frank Miller, Arthur Adams, Walter Simonson, Bill Sienkiewicz and many more! Immerse yourself in hundreds of in-depth profiles of Marvel's greatest heroes and villains - from Abomination to Zzzax and everyone in between! Plus an array of alien races, equipment schematics, maps, and a rundown of the dearly departed in the Book of the Dead! If you only buy one Marvel encyclopedia, make it this one! Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition (1985) 1-20

Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition

Jack Kirby

An edition authorized by Simon and the estate of Kirby introduces two of their most exciting characters--Fighting American (and his sidekick Speedboy), their cold-war take on a patriotic hero, and Captain 3-D, a dimension-hopping hero--in a book the explores the early work of Captain America's creators.

Steve Saffel

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