Super Graphic

Secret
identities!

Capes!

Exclamation
points!

A VISUAL GUIDE TO THE COMIC BOOK UNIVERSE

Timleong
 Super Graphic

A VISUAL GUIDE TO THE COMIC BOOK UNIVERSE

Tim Leong
What’s in This Book?
Area Bar
Venn Chart Chart
Diagram

Bubble
Timeline Chart

Data
Table Art

Scatter Gauge
Plot Chart

Types of
charts:
Radial Line
Chart Graph

Radar Map

Polar
Area Matrix
Chart

Pie
Chart Other Network
Diagram

What the charts are about:

SUPERHEROES NON-SUPERHEROES

002
 Reasons
for the
charts:

TO INFORM TO ENTER TAIN

Charts Charts that are not as

that are funny as I think they are
funny (including this one)
FULL DISCLOSURE

My Bookshelf

Ad House Books Archaia Entertainment BOOM! Studios Drawn & Quarterly Dark Horse Comics DC Comics
Dynamite Entertainment Fantagraphics Books First Second Icon IDW Publishing Image Comics

Books I haven’t read. Books I borrowed years Books I feel guilty about Books I pretend
ago and totally plan on buying from Amazon.com. I don’t own.
returning. You know, (Support your local retailer,
eventually. folks).

004
Marvel Comics MAX Oni Press Other Pantheon Books Scholastic SLG Publishing Tokyopop
Top Shelf Productions Vertical, Inc. Vertigo Viz Media Wildstorm

Books I’ve read more Books I bought only Books I’ve bought Incomplete series
than once. because I like the writer. multiple copies of I plan on compulsively
because I forgot that completing.
I owned them.
True Colors
Crimson Crimson Scarlet Red Red Pink Green
Cavalier Daffodil Scarab Ronin Hulk Pearl Torpedo

Crimson Scarlet Red Omega Pink Yellow Fiddler’s

Dynamo Witch Nine Red Lady Claw Green

Scarlet Red Percy Yellow Hershel Green

Spider Tornado Redwing Pinkerton Kid Greene Turtle

Red Red Red Pinky Green Green

Skull Sonja Hood Pinkerton Yellowjacket Lama Hornet

Red Red Lonesome Booster Green Green Blue

Robin Ghost Pinky Gold Arrow Lantern Streak

Rose Yellow Jade Jade Blue Blue

Red Pinky Wasp Dragon Emperor Diamond Falcon

Yellow Abe Blue Rafaella Ultra

Rose Peri Brown Jade Devil Blue Violet

Agent Charlie Blue Cobalt Indigo Black

Orange Brown Sage Beetle Blue Eshun Bolt

Stephanie Yorick Blue Deep Odysseus Black Black

Brown Brown Bolt Blue Indigo Adam Panther
Green Bomo Green Blue Blue Purple Black
Skull Greenbark Thumb Marvel Eagle Zombie Widow

Green Green Blue Norwegian Purple Black

Sorceress Ghoul Shield Blue Claw Canary Blackheart

Green Crazy Blue Purple Black Black Black

Goblin Rocket Bluebird Phantom Knight Cloak Goliath

Blue Purple Camilla Black Silver Silver

Blade Boy Blue Mask Black Talon Surfer Squire

Code Purple Black Black Silver Silver White

Blue Marauder Mamba Lightning Fox Sable Queen

Violet Black Black Silver Silver Ebony Aelfyre

Grey Jack Spectre Samurai Racer White Whitemane

Black
Tom Black Silver Jean White White
Cassidy Mantis Scorpion Silverclaw Grey Dragon Ghost

Black Silver White White

Cat Dagger Silver Graymalkin Whiteout Rabbit Noise

Silver Nate Perry White White

Silvermane Sentry Grey White Whiteface Wolf Tiger
 GOOD MEASURES

Superheroes and Primary Colors

Captain Doctor
Spider-Man Wolverine America Flash Strange

Superman Iron Man Thor Beast

Costume Color Ratio

8
Historically, superhero costumes have been designed in reds, yellows,
and blues. The decisions are about more than just what looks good;
spandex in primary colors is a visual cue to the character’s heroic nature.

Wonder
Firestorm Woman Cyclops Blue Beetle
Doctor Captain Booster
Fate Big Barda Marvel Gold Ant Man
 COLOR ME BAD

Supervillains and Secondary Colors

Green
Goblin Brainiac Mysterio Joker Kraven
Mirror Doctor Poison
Master Cheetah Octopus Ivy
Costume Color Ratio

10
Like superheroes, supervillains developed a set of costume conventions early
on, too. Orange, green, and purple are a signal of a character’s evil intentions.

Kang Lex Luthor Lizard Riddler

Living Mr. Super-
Laser Sabretooth Mxyzptlk Copperhead Skrull
 Metamorpho

Hawkman
Wonder
Woman
Steppenwolf

Colossus

Darkseid Deathstroke

Underwear
Blue
Beetle
on the Spider-Man

Outside
Emma
Frost
Magneto
Orion

Superman
Aquaman
Guardian

Spectre
Thor
Doctor
Captain Fate
Zatanna
Carrot
Sentry

Vision
Etrigan the
Demon
Steel

COMMON PEOPLE
Nite

AVenn Mister
Miracle
Owl
Raven

Diagram of
Superhero Shredder
Doctor
Strange Spawn

Comic Tropes
You know that one superhero, right? The one that dons a cape
Underdog Die Fledermaus

and tights following their parents’ untimely death. Turns out

that the description matches more than just a few characters. Red Tornado
Here’s what most have in common. Quasar

012
12
 Wasp
Nightwing

Black Widow

Amulet’s Speedy
Emily
Falcon
Green
Lantern

Tragically
Hulk
Dead Deadpool

Wolverine Parents
Martian Daredevil
Manhunter Iron Man
Captain
America
Batman

Storm
Robin Blade

Black
Captain Panther
Marvel

Supergirl

Scarlet
Witch

Batgirl

Cape
Omni-Man Doctor
Light
Big
Barda
Mysterio
How to Read a Comic Book
ENGLISH

2 3 4

6 7 8
The 22 pages that are standard in American comics are read pretty much like any other book you pick up: from left to
right and top to bottom. Japanese comics though, called manga, are bound on the other side and are read from right to left.
Manga is printed on smaller-sized paper than its American counterpart and has six times the number of pages.

JAPANESE

4 3 2

8 7 6
What Is Manga?
Manga is the Japanese word for comics. In Japan, it’s a massive industry, making up nearly a quarter of all printed material.
Typically, manga is first published in 850-page anthology magazines that serialize chapters from several different comics.
Successful stories are then collected individually and sold afterward as books known as tankobon. Manga created in the
United States is called OEL manga, or Original English-Language manga.

History
Though manga has ties to Japanese art and culture dating back to the 1800s, modern manga originated after WWII.

Around 1920, With Japan’s After Japan’s Sazae-san (1946), Another success
Japan started print- entry into WWII, defeat and the the story of a resil- was Osamu Tezuka’s
ing magazines with manga was lim- nuclear bombing ient housewife. The manga and eventual
illustrated stories ited to all-ages of Hiroshima and creator, Machiko TV show, Astro Boy
focusing on fun. In content, and in Nagasaki, the Hasegawa, was (1951), about a
the 1930s, however, some cases, country found one of the few super-powered robot
the tone shifted to propaganda solace in lighter women working in boy. Tezuka went on
military heroism and against the Allied fare including: the industry at the to become the ani-
soldiers preparing forces. time. mation equivalent of
for battle. Walt Disney in Japan.

Longest-running manga

Golgo 13 (1969 – ongoing), 160 vol. Dokaben (1972 – ongoing), 165 vol. Kochikame (1976 – ongoing), 176 vol.

Bestselling manga in Japan vs. worldwide bestsellers

as of 2012

MANGA NON-MANGA

172 130 152 100 135 120 113 260 120 116
million million million million million million million million million million
units

The Chicken Dragon James Kochi- The Naruto One Slam Twilight
Baby- Soup for Ball Bond kame Chronicles (1999 – Piece Dunk (2005 –
sitters the Soul (1984 – (1953 – (1976 – of Narnia ongoing) (1997 – (1990 – 2011)
Club (1997 – 1995) 1966) ongoing) (1949 – ongoing) 1996)
(1986 – ongoing) 1954)
ongoing)

016
 If this were a manga, the headline
Types of manga would be over here. And in Japanese.

SHONEN SHOUJO SEINEN JOSEI KODOMO GEKIGA ECCHI YAOI YURI

Written for Written for Written for Written for Written for Mature, Soft-core Love Love
boys 18 girls 18 and men women children serious and sexy, stories be- stories
and under under manga but not tween men, between
porn written by women, for
and for women
women

Manga content
While superheroes dominate American comics, Japanese manga is much more diverse
and without a single genre overshadowing the market.
Japan America
a c t io n a d v e n t ur e business

co m e d y fa n ta s y f o o d
DOMINATED BY SUPERHEROES
h o r r o r m y s t e ry r o ma n c e

science fiction sex sp o r t s

Big in Japan Physical attributes

Some characters tend to be drawn with exaggerated eyes,
a small nose, and a very expressive mouth.

Manga eyes

22% of all printed material

in Japan is manga Normal eyes
 From insect-sized to giant, this crowd is full of standouts in stature.
Character Lineup
1'

2'

3'

4'

5'

6'

7'
Kandorian
Lockheed
Howard the Duck
Puck
Ganthet
Franklin Richards
Wolfsbane
Wolverine
Billy Batson Captain Marvel
Cassandra Nova
Black Canary

SHAZAM!
Dagger
Jean Grey
Kitty Pride
Invisible Woman
Lois Lane
X-23
Black Widow
Catwoman
Scarlet Witch
Harley Quinn
Iceman
Cheetah
Renée Montoya
Kamandi
Supergirl
Bouncing Boy
Hawkgirl
Nightcrawler
Doctor Octopus
Vandal Savage
Perry White
Peter Parker
Emma Frost
Nightwing
Ambush Bug
Jonah Hex
J. Jonah Jameson
Wonder Woman
Green Arrow
Storm
Bullseye
 Wally West
Doctor Fate
Thing
Daredevil
Two-Face
Riddler
Bizarro
Nick Fury
Hawkman
Aquaman
Elongated Man
Black Manta
Tomar-Re
Azrael
Blade
Doctor Strange
Batman
Lex Luthor
Joker
Superman
Cyclops
Silver Surfer
Deathstroke
Captain Atom
Booster Gold
Thor
Bishop
Luke Cage
Kingpin
Beta Ray Bill
Martian Manhunter
Cable
Bane
Mojo
Juggernaut
Omega Red
Big Barda
Strong Guy
Killer Croc
Doomsday
Red Hulk
Galactus
1'

2'

3'

4'

5'

6'

7'
Character Weigh-In

Juggernaut Deathlok M.O.D.O.K.

1,900 825 750

Cyclops Black Manta Batman Captain Silver Lobo

195 205 210 America Surfer 250
220 225

Sentry Joker Black Lightning Big Barda Spider-Man Alfred

194 192 182 175 167 Pennyworth
160

020
Sometimes weight means power. You wouldn’t think so by looking at him, but Kingpin is
all muscle mass. The same can’t be said for Chunk, who is aptly named. Here’s
how superheroes and villains in Marvel and DC titles compare on the scales, in pounds.

She-Hulk Darkseid Chunk Kingpin

650 515 515 450

Namor Wolverine Bane Beast Luke Cage

278 300 350 402 425

Renée Catwoman Barbara Black Aunt May Longshot Bat-Mite Doll

Montoya 133 Gordon Canary 110 80 47 Man
144 121 120 7.5
Map Quest
Locating the fictional world’s most important super cities and countries.

Character lives/is from here Location referenced in character’s series

Keystone City
(Wally West/
Flash)
Vancouver
(Alpha Flight)
Duckburg
(Scrooge
McDuck)
Atlantis
Star City (Aquaman)
(Green Arrow)
Midway City
Platinum Flats (Doom Patrol)
(Birds of Prey)
Secret
Coast City Sanctuary
(Hal Jordan/ (Justice League)
Green
Lantern) Fabletown
(Fables)
Gateway City
(Wonder Girl II) Gotham City
(Batman)
Gamma Base
(Hulk) Metropolis
(Superman)
Smallville
(Clark Kent) Hub City
(The Question)
Asgard
(Thor) Themyscira
(Wonder Woman)
Central City
(Barry Allen/ Santa Prisca
Flash) (Bane)
Houma
(Swamp Thing)
Temple of
the Sun
(Tintin)
Lair of the
Faceless
Ones
(Sub-Mariner)
Savage Land
(Ka-Zar)
City of Toads
(Sub-Mariner)

Antarctica
The Arctic

Fortress of
Solitude
(Superman)
Territory of
Polar Parasites
(Kamandi)
Monster Island
(Mole Man)
Neo-Tokyo
(Akira)
Nanda Parbat
(Deadman)
Providence
Slorenia (Cable)
(Bloodwraith)
Gaipajama
Rumekistan (Tintin)
(Cable)
Kanga Rat
Latveria Murder Society
(Dr. Doom) (Kamandi)
Genosha
(Magneto)
Wakanda
(Black
Panther)
Transia
(New Men)
Olympia
(The Eternals)
Gorilla City
(Gorilla Grodd)
Symkaria
(Silver Sable)
Markovia
(Terra/
Teen Titans)
Braddock
Lighthouse
(Excalibur)
Muir Island
(X-Men)
WELCOME TO THE MULTIVERSE

Wait, There’s EARTH

More Than One 44

EARTH
12

Earth?
There’s no easy way to say this . . . this Earth is not
EARTH
6
EARTH
22

the only Earth. Still with me? Okay. So, the DC

Comics world you’re most familiar with—the one
where Superman grows up in Smallville and Bruce
Wayne decides to avenge his parents by becoming
Batman—(a.k.a. New Earth) is actually a part of a
larger “multiverse” where there are an endless number EARTH
of possible Earths. But that changed in 1985 when 33
DC used its fiftieth anniversary to launch one of the
most famous stories of all time, Crisis on Infinite
Earths. During the 12-issue series, most of the
alternate Earths are destroyed. The few that remain
are pulled together to form one single Earth,
destroying the multiverse in the process. This Hal Jordan doesn’t EARTH
single-Earth setup lasts twenty years until the sequel, become Green 1
Infinite Crisis, relaunches the multiverse. This time Lantern, Bruce
around the possibilities aren’t endless, as the Wayne does.
multiverse hosts a finite number (52 at the moment) of
possible Earths.
EARTH
New
Similar to
New Earth
32
Earth
EARTH
34
Different from New Earth

Every day is opposite EARTH

day. Here, Abraham 2
Lincoln assassinates
President John
EARTH Wilkes Booth, and
3 Ultraman (Superman),
Owlman (Batman),
and Johnny Quick EARTH EARTH
(Flash) are members 15 16
of the Crime Society
of America. The EARTH
Jokester (Joker) is the Home of 37
hero, naturally. the Cartoon
Network show
Young Justice.
EARTH
EARTH 19
8
EARTH
11
Genders are flipped on
Earth 11. Here you’ll find
Superwoman, Batwoman,
and Wonder Man.
 EARTH
13
Home to some
EARTH of the events
20 depicted in the EARTH
Vertigo Comics. 26

Earth is occupied
by anthropomor-
This Earth phic animals. Their
EARTH hero is Captain
is still in the
Wild West.
4 Carrot, the leader
EARTH of the Zoo Crew.
39 Pig-Iron, Yankee
Poodle, and Alley-
EARTH Kat-Abra are also
18 members.
EARTH
43

Here, Batman
is a vampire.
EARTH
9

EARTH
40 Nearly identical to our
Earth until the altered
outcome of the Cuban
Missile Crisis (Florida
and Cuba were annihi-
All the EARTH
lated). This leads to a
main story 5
strange set of superhe-
lines roes, including Harvey
happen Dent as Superman.
here. EARTH
31

EARTH
Host to one 48
EARTH of DC’s most
21 famous story
lines, Batman: EARTH EARTH
The Dark Knight 50 51
Returns.

EARTH
10

EARTH
30
Here, the Axis
EARTH powers won WWII.
38 Superman is called
EARTH Home of the Superman: Red Overman, and he
23 Son storyline. Here, Superman’s dons a Nazified
spaceship crashes in the Soviet costume. Oh, and
Union instead of in Smallville, English is a dead
Kansas. Superman grows up to EARTH language.
become “the champion of the 7
common worker who fights a
never-ending battle for Stalin,
socialism, and the international
expansion of the Warsaw Pact.”
A History of Heroic Proportions
1930 1940 1950 1960

G OL DEN AGE SILVER AG E

All-American
Publications

1929 Dell publishes The Archie Comic

Funnies, a precursor to Publications
the comic book akin to a
Sunday comics section
insert. Five years later, Dell 1946 Detective Comics Charlton Comics
collaborates with Eastern buys All-American,
Color Printing to publish whose roster includes 1953 Charlton
what is recognized as the The Atom, Green Comics buys
first comic book, Famous Lantern, Hawkman, several horror
Funnies: A Carnival of Mr. Terrific, and titles from Fawcett
Comics. Wonder Woman. Comics.

Dell Comics

Detective Comics, Inc

1961
1937 Detective DC Comics
Comics, Inc launches acquires
Detective Comics. Mad
Batman makes his first EC Comics magazine.
appearance two years
later in issue 27.

Fawcett Comics

Harvey Comics

1935 National Allied Publications releases

New Fun, the first recognized comic book of
original material—the previous Dell series had
been collected comic strip reprints. National
launches Action Comics in 1938, marking the
first appearance of Superman.
1956 DC Comics
acquires the rights to
National several big names from
Allied Pub. Quality Comics,
including Plastic Man
and the Freedom
Quality Comics Fighters.

Timely Comics 1961, renamed Marvel Comics

1962 Western stops publishing their comics through
Dell Comics and launch their Gold Key Comics imprint.

Western Publishing

1930 1940 1950 1960

 The story behind the companies that publish your favorite comics is one of intense competition, censorship,
and idea theft. Artists defected, characters were traded, and new companies were born.

1980 1990 2000 2010

BRO NZ E AGE MO DERN AGE

1983 DC Comics buys various CrossGen

Charlton Comics superheroes, Comics, Inc
including the Blue Beetle,
Captain Atom, The Question,
and Nightshade. Three years Dark Horse Comics
later DC publishes Watchmen,
whose cast is based on these 1991 Years after suing Fawcett for copyright infringement (Captain Marvel being
characters. strikingly similar to Superman), DC buys the rights to Captain Marvel.

1977, officially changes name to DC Comics

Drawn & Quarterly

Fantagraphics Books

1992 Seven of Marvel’s top

artists quit to form Image
Comics, which allows creators
to own the rights to their work.

Image Comics

Kitchen Sink Press

1970 Kitchen Sink is

founded, and becomes Malibu Comics
a leading publisher of
underground comix,
featuring content Mirage Studios
specifically banned by
the Comics Code
Authority.

2009 Four years after

Valiant Comics buying the comics
publisher CrossGen, Walt
Disney Company acquires
Marvel Comics.

1980 1990 2000 2010

Power Publishers

COMPANY, MARKET SHARE: Dark Horse Comics, 3.35% THE REST, HAVING
Marvel Comics, 40.93% Dynamite Entertainment, 2.85% LESS THAN 1% EACH:
DC Comics, 36.77% Publishers not in the top 25, 1.79% Archie Comics, 0.74%
Image Comics, 4.71% BOOM! Studios, 1.43% Zenescope Entertainment, 0.64%
IDW Publishing, 3.78% Avatar Press, 0.54%

028
Although there are dozens of independent presses and thousands of indie artists stapling together passion
projects, most of what sold in comic stores in 2011 came from just a few influential paper-pushers.

Viz Media, 0.47% Oni Press, 0.15% Archaia, 0.09%

Aspen MLT, 0.35% Hachette Book Group USA, 0.12% Tokyopop, 0.09%
Bongo Comics, 0.34% Fantagraphics Books, 0.11% Top Shelf Productions, 0.08%
Eaglemoss Publications Ltd., 0.23% Titan, 0.10% Drawn & Quarterly, 0.05%
Random House, 0.17% Abstract Studios, 0.10% Humanoids, 0.02%
TAKE SHAPE

Evolution of Superman’s Logo

1938 1939 1939 1941 1946 1948

Akin to a police The original design The first two are When Max Fleis- By the time The first live-
badge, the first doesn’t last, how- blended. The cher creates his Wayne Boring action Superman
emblem to grace ever, and by the bottom becomes art deco Super- becomes the hits screens as a
Superman’s chest time Superman #1 more rounded man cartoons, the comic’s regular 15-part serial
is on the cover debuts that next and the shape shield becomes artist, the top starring Kirk Alyn.
of Action Comics year it has already expands. much wider and becomes flatter The logo shrinks.
#1, his first become more gets notched and the bottom
appearance. triangular. corners. wider.

1940 1950 1960 1970

030
The Man of Steel was a pioneer in more ways than you probably realize. Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Superman
is one of the first (and most successful) superheroes ever. He was also one of the first to wear a logo on his chest, which later
became standard superhero fare. What was not standard, though, was what exactly appeared there. The Superman logo
shape, like the stories themselves, morphed over time.

1951 1958 1978 1986 2006 2011

George Reeves Curt Swan’s take In the movie Artist John The movie DC’s character
takes over as on the logo—a Superman, Byrne’s bigger, Superman relaunch features
Superman in the more angular Christopher Reeve diamond-shaped Returns features a larger Superman
B-movie Super- design—was wears an emblem emblem becomes a smaller shield logo with sharper
man and the Mole incredibly popular, with pointier the model for all and shrinking angles.
Men, and later in and lasted in the corners. future versions. popularity.
the first TV series. comic throughout
The logo gets the ’60s.
bigger.

1980 1990 2000 2010

SHELL POWER
The Pizzas of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Tuna fish, Peanut butter, Peanut butter, Marshmallow,

peanut butter, clams avocado, pepperoni
grape jelly extra pickles

Chocolate sprinkles, Chocolate-chip Granola, Chocolate fudge,

clam sauce licorice sardine,
chili pepper,
whipped cream

Salami, Strawberry, Shredded coconut, Hot oatmeal

double yogurt anchovy sauce sweet pickles

32
In the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoons that aired for ten years in the ’80s and ’90s, the Turtles were passion-
ate about three things: defeating the Foot Clan, saying “Cowabunga!,” and eating strange, strange pizza.

Marshmallow, Pepperoni, Butterscotch, Tea, toast

asparagus hot fudge onions,
anchovies

Anchovies, Guacamole, Pepperoni, Jelly bean,

hot fudge marshmallow pickles sausage

Pizzas ordered
in the first 10
issues of the original
comic series:

Popcorn Anchovies, Goulash None

bananas
The Batman Theme Quantified
Only two words make up the popular ’60s theme song.

“Batman!” “Da”

34
 The Joker’s Favorite
Questions for Batman

Where does he get

Why so serious? those wonderful toys?

035
$50
THE COLORS
Forbes OF MONEY
Fictional 15
Following Fictional Fortunes
Every year (except 2009) Forbes ranks the net worth of fictional characters. Criteria for inclusion
mandate that characters be authored fictional creations, star in a body of work, and are known for being
rich. Net worth is based on real-world economies pitted against each character’s source material.

$40

$30
in billions

Sharp decline due to poor

investments in Web 2.0
start-ups.
$20

$10

$0
2005 2006 2007 2008

Scrooge
Richie Rich Lex Luthor McDuck Bruce Wayne
c o m i c: Richie Rich c o m i c: Superman c o m i c:
Uncle $crooge c o m i c: Batman
s o u r c e : Inheritance, s o u r c e : Defense, s o u r c e : Mining, s o u r c e : Inheritance,
conglomerates software, real estate treasure hunting defense

036
 $50
Highest
grossing
companies
In 2007, Forbes also rated the net
worth of fictional corporations.

Rich Industries
Richie Rich
$40 $163.4 billion
Scrooge McDuck and
his archrival, Flintheart
Glomgold, bet their entire
fortunes on a race around
the world. Glomgold wins,
but Scrooge swears he
cheated. Lesson: never
bet against someone
named Flintheart (who
names their kid that?).
$30

Richie Rich gifts

Occupy Richville
protestors with
cashmere-lined
sleeping bags.
$20

Warbucks
Industries
Little Orphan Annie
$61.5 billion
$10

Wayne
Enterprises
Batman
$31.3 billion
$0 Stark
Industries
2010 2011 2012 Iron Man
$20.3 billion

Oscorp
Spider-Man
Flintheart $3.1 billion
Tony Stark Adrian Veidt Glomgold
c o m i c: Iron Man c o mi c: Watchmen c o m i c: Uncle $crooge
s o u r c e: Defense s o u r c e : Marketing s o u r c e: Mining, theft
Team Colors
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Leonardo Raphael Donatello Michelangelo

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

Zack Taylor Kimberly Ann Hart Jason Lee Scott Tommy Oliver Trini Kwan Billy Cranston

Lantern Power Rings

Rage Avarice Fear Willpower Hope Compassion Love

Voltron

Keith Lance Pidge Hunk Sven/Princess Allura

038
The Metal Men

Copper Gold Lead Iron Platinum Mercury Tin

The Beagle Boys

Baggy Babyface Bankjob Bigtime Bouncer Bugle Burger

The Fantastic Four

Mister Fantastic Invisible Woman The Thing Human Torch

The Avengers

Black Widow Captain America Hawkeye Hulk Iron Man Thor

Richie Rich vs. Royal Roy
Harvey Comics first published Richie Rich, a comic about an extremely wealthy and kind boy, in 1953. Marvel Comics
decided to enter the rich-and-nice-boy market in 1985. As you can see, Royal Roy was a totally original take on the theme.

Richie Rich: The Poor Little Rich Boy

Royal Roy: A Prince of a Boy

Has a A snooty Publisher

commoner girl with an was
Young Alliterative girlfriend alliterative Co- sued for
boy with name with an name vies created copyright Lasted
extreme starting Moneyed Wears a alliterative for his by Warren infringe- more than
wealth with R hometown bowtie name affection Kremer ment six issues

(Gloria (Mayda
($$$) (Richie Rich) (Richville) (Red) (1953) (600+)
Glad) Munny)

(Crystal (Lorna
($$$) (Royal Roy) (Cashelot) (White) (1985) (1985)
Cleer) Loot)

040
 The Definitive
R. Crumb
Butt Matrix
R. Crumb was responsible for sparking the underground comix
(with an x) revolution of the ’60s and ’70s that brought satirical and
adult-themed titles into the mainstream. He was one of the most
important figures in comic history. Also: he really liked big butts.

Big

Sally
Blubberbutt
Vulture
Demoness

Yetti Forky
O’Donnell
Devil
Girl
Patricia
Pig
Dale
Steinberger Pete the
Ruth Pumber
Schwartz
Ruff Tuff
Angelfood Creampuff
McSpade Whiteman
Tight Cheesis
Jiggly
Shuman the K. Reist
Human Eggs
Ackley
Dirty Dog

Mr. Natural

Fritz the Cat

Onion Head
Squirrely the
Squirrel

The Old
Pooperoo

Small
SECOND CITY

The Real
Metropolis
THE ILLINOIS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
DECLARED METROPOLIS, ILLINOIS, THE OFFICIAL
HOMETOWN OF SUPERMAN ON JUNE 9, 1972.
The Amazing World of Superman, a theme park
planned in Metropolis, Illinois, should have opened
in 1973. A simulated rocket ride to Krypton, an
interplanetary zoo, and a Bizarro playground were
to be attractions. A 200-foot Superman statue and
a giant key to the Fortress of Solitude were
supposed to stand beside boating and skating
rinks, a movie theatre, and a supermarket on the
grounds. But the oil crisis, compounded by an
interstate construction delay, effectively shuttered
the park to be. The town had already made a
significant investment when the project collapsed,
and it took years to recover. A Superman museum
did open in 1973, but it only lasted a year. In 1993,
across the street from the city’s (substantially
smaller than planned) 15-foot Superman statue, the
town gave the Man of Steel museum idea another
shot. Today the Super Museum is home to more
than 20,000 Superman-related items, including
kryptonite from the Christopher Reeve films and the
device that allowed actor George Reeves to “fly” in
the 1950s television show. The museum currently
attracts around 200 visitors a day.

Population Geographical size in square miles

Factual Fictional 6,537 6,942,857 5.87 125

42
 In the TV show
Smallville,
Metropolis
was located in
Kansas, just
a few hours
away from the
Metropolis
real thing. FACTUAL

Metropolis
FICTIONAL
The exact location of Metropolis has
varied over the years in the comics,
but has always doubled as the unof-
ficial DC Comics version of New York.

Fast facts: Metropolis, IL

GENDER BREAKDOW N RACE BREAKDOW N AGE BREAKDOW N

Female Male White Black Other <18 18–65 >65

 150

NUFF SAID

Stan Lee
Has Issues
Stan Lee was Marvel Comics’ top editor for nearly 30 years (ending in 1972). During that
time he co-created some of the most iconic characters of all time, including Spider-Man, the
125

Fantastic Four, and the Hulk. But, as it turns out, his longest-running author credits occurred
on comics you’ve probably never heard of. (He had quite a fling with Millie the Model!) Here’s
a look at the man and (most of) his issues.

44
 0 issues

Millie the Model 1945

Patsy Walker 1945
Kid Colt Outlaw 1949
Love Romances 1949
Journey Into Mystery 1952
Two-Gun Kid 1953 25
Homer, The Happy Ghost 1955
Wyatt Earp 1955
Tales of Suspense 1959
Tales to Astonish 1959
The Rawhide Kid 1960
Amazing Adult Fantasy 1961
Fantastic Four 1961
The Incredible Hulk 1962
The Amazing Spider-Man 1963
The Avengers 1963
Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos 1963
X-Men 1963
Daredevil 1964
Thor 1966
The Silver Surfer 1968
Captain America 1970
Where Monsters Dwell 1970
Strange Tales 1973
Ravage 2099 1992

50

Thor graced the

cover of Journey
Into Mystery for
43 issues before
75 he got his own
series in 1966.

Tales of Suspense actually starred

Iron Man for 61 issues and Captain
America for 42 (they shared the
100
cover most of the time).
A Fantastic Four Primer

is best friends with Mister

The
Thing Fantastic

doesn’t
have is
much in married
common to
with

Human Invisible
Torch is a sibling of
Woman

Official Marvel Rankings

DUR ABILITY ENERGY PROJECTION FIGHTING SKILLS

Mister Invisible Human The Mister Invisible Human The Mister Invisible Human The
Fantastic Woman Torch Thing Fantastic Woman Torch Thing Fantastic Woman Torch Thing

46
 WEIGHT
300
250 350

Mister Fantastic 200 400

Human Torch
Franklin 150 450
Richards Invisible The
Woman Thing
100 500

50 lbs. 550

HEIGHT
are parents of
6'2"
Mister Fantastic
The Thing
6'0"

Human Torch
5'10"

Valeria
5'8"
Richards
Invisible Woman
5'6"

5'4"

INTELLIGENCE STRENG TH SPEED

Mister Invisible Human The Mister Invisible Human The Mister Invisible Human The
Fantastic Woman Torch Thing Fantastic Woman Torch Thing Fantastic Woman Torch Thing

048
 Super-Rollercoasters
Because Six Flags and DC Comics were once owned by the same company (with licensing agreements afterwards), it kicked off a number

Superman: Escape
225 ft.

Mr. Freeze from Krypton

70 mph 100 mph

Superman:
Krypton Coaster
Two-Face: 70 mph
The Flip Side
50 mph

Bizarro
61 mph

Green Lantern:
First Flight Superman:
Ultimate Flight The Incredible
35 mph Hulk
51 mph
67 mph
(Universal Studios)

Batman:
The Ride
50 mph
Batman:
The Dark Knight
Joker's 55 mph
Jinx
60 mph

Catwoman's Whip Batman:

(formerly Poison Ivy's The Escape
Tangled Train) 55 mph
22.4 mph
Height

Length
of superhero- and supervillain-themed rides around the country. Here’s how their power measures up.

DURATION:

0–1 MINUTE

1–2 MINUTES
Superman:
Ride of Steel 2 + MINUTES
73 mph

Riddler's
Revenge
65 mph

5,500 ft.

048
 The Politics of Good vs. Evil
When your business is either saving the world or destroying it, it’s only natural that characters
would ideologically identify themselves.

A U TH O R I TARI AN

Apo calypse Dar kseid

Dr. Doom Lex Sinestro

Luthor
Magneto Iron
M an

Jenny Wonder Batman Hawkman

Sparks Fla sh Woman
( Wally West)

Cyc ops

C O N S E R VATIVE
l
Spider-Man
LIBERAL

Supe rman Thor

Dare devil

Professor Wolverine
Xavier
Catwoman Cap tain
America

Cap tain
Cold
Green Arrow

Spawn

Joker Hulk

LIBERTARIAN
 PISSED OFF
A Calvin and
HobbesTrajectory

Urine trajectory on “Calvin peeing” decals My faith in humanity every time I see one of those decals

048 051
Fast-Ball Special
THE MAR VEL COMICS EDITORIAL BASEBALL TEAM
For years, Marvel Comics has had a company softball team. Here’s how Marvel’s Bullpen Bombers fared against
the Warren Warriors on August 3, 1982.

CF
Ken Fedunewicz
Special Projects Production

LF / MANAGER RF
Robbie Carosella Archie Goodwin
Photostat Operator Editorial Director of Epic

SS 2B
Harry Eisenstein Lance Tooks
Mail Clerk Assistant Editor

3B 1B
Nelson Yomtov P Jim Shooter
Merchandising John Morelli Editor-in-Chief
Development Letterer Correctionist

C
Ken Lopez
Production Assistant

BATTING ORDER

4 for 6 5 for 6 0 for 5 2 for 5 2 for 5 4 for 5 4 for 5 4 for 5 2 for 5

Goodwin Carosella Eisenstein Shooter Fedunewicz Yomtov Morelli Tooks Lopez

FINAL SCORE
Bullpen Bombers 20
Warren Warriors 1
CHARLIE BROW N’S BASEBALL TEAM
Save for Snoopy, Charlie Brown’s team was notoriously terrible. Good grief.

CF
Frieda

LF RF
Patty Lucy van Pelt

SS 2B
Snoopy Linus Van Pelt

3B 1B
Pig-Pen P / MANAGER Shermy
Charlie Brown

Brown won both of these

C games with walk-off home
Schroeder runs against rival pitcher
Royanne Hobbs.

TOTAL GAMES WON BY PEANUTS TEAM Games won when Charlie Brown was not playing

1959 SEASON RESULTS Peanuts Opponents

Hits
Runs
Errors
WARDROBE UPGRADE

Changes in Costume Color

Original color
New color

CATWOMAN

MR. FREEZE Originally called

Mr. Zero. He changed costumes
when he changed names.

BLUE BEETLE DONATELLO In fact, all the Teenage Mutant

Ninja Turtles started off with red masks—they were
only identifiable by their weapons. Raphael was the
only one who kept the red mask.

54
Costumes are important elements in comics. They help identify not only who the character is, but what they’re about as well.
That’s why costume redesigns are so significant. Everyone’s style changes a bit over time—especially when characters have
been around for 70 years; the makeovers below mark some of the most drastic and longest-lasting in comics.

ANGEL IRON MAN His original suit

was true to his name.

IRON FIST STORM

DAREDEVIL HULK The character known for

being green actually started out as gray.

SPIDER-M AN In the late ’80s Spidey got a black costume that was actually an alien parasite.
When he eventually ditched it, the costume merged with a new host, creating the villain Venom.

HAVOK
Cerebus: Judging a Comic By Its Covers
Over the course of 27 years starting in 1977, the writer and artist Dave Sim (with additional art by Gerhard) produced 300
issues—a whopping 6,000 pages—of his independent comic Cerebus the Aardvark. Below is a representation of the domi-
nant colors in each issue's cover. Although the interior panels were printed in black and white, the comic’s covers were a kind
of color compass for what was to come.

= Never collected into a larger volume

STORYLINE: Cerebus, 1977–1981

Mothers & Daughters, 1991–1995

Rick’s Story, 1997–1998

56
 High Society, 1981–1983

Church and State, 1983–1988

Jaka’s Story, 1988–1990

Melmoth, 1990–1991

Guys, 1995–1997

Going Home, 1998–2001

Latter Days, 2001–2004

Archer Appeal
GREEN ARROW: The DC Comics archer has a vast array of arrows that’s always changing. Here are a few classics.

First used in 1947, the boxing glove When chasing a criminal in a car,
arrowhead was originally the size of a Explosive Trident Green Arrow fires this arrow. It
baseball. Later in his career it increases arrow arrow attaches to the bumper, inking the
in size (and hilarity) to a full-scale glove. path to the criminal hideout with a
pen that drags on the ground.
Boxing
glove Fountain
arrow pen arrow

Grappler
head Net
arrow arrow

Greek
fire-
arrow Glue
arrow

Bola
arrow Tear-gas
arrow

Buzzsaw Flash
arrow grenade
arrow

In 2001, Green Arrow (Oliver

Bleach Suction- Queen) is back from the dead
bottle cup arrow and also . . . homeless? He fends
arrow off a group of muggers with a
makeshift bow and a bleach
Bow String tension bottle arrow.
Length:
3'10"
0 lbs 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130

58
HAWKEYE: The Marvel Comics archer also has an evolving quiver.

For all those times you want to, you Boomerang EMP When facing
know, shoot an arrow and have it arrow arrow off against Iron
come right back at your head. Man, Hawkeye
fires this arrow,
causing an
Rocket Explosive-tip electromagnetic
arrow arrow pulse, which
shorts out all
electrical inter-
faces . . . Iron
Man included.

Sonic Smoke
arrow bomb
arrow

Flare
arrow
Putty
arrow

Vibranium
arrow Pym particles
arrow

Magnetic Acid
arrow arrow
Using particles
created by the
original Ant-
Cable USB Man, his arrow
arrow arrow increases or
decreases with
the size of its
Bow String tension target.
Length:
6'2"
0 lbs 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130
The Flash
Ranking the Scarlet Speedsters by likability.

Barry Allen
Wally West
Jay Garrick
Bart Allen
(not shown,
hint hint)

060
60
Superman’s
Movies
Ranking the Man of Steel’s films by enjoyment.

Superman

Superman II

Superman III

Superman IV

Superman Returns

061
Who Is the Fastest Man Alive?
Clocking the races between Flash and Superman.

The United Nations organizes a race between the two speedy superheroes for charity. Rival gangs place heavy
1967 bets and try to rig the outcome. Flash and Superman decide to tie to prevent either gang from profiting.

Flash

Superman

Frustratedwith the outcome of the first race,two gambling aliens (yup, it’sexactly what it sounds like) force
Flash and Superman to a rematch—with their home cities at stake. The race to the edge of the Milky Way and
1967 back turns out just to be a ploy to kill Flash. The two heroes outsmart the aliens and tie a second time.

Flash and Superman try to hunt down robots traveling at the speed of light—and decide to race in the
process. In pursuit, they beam to an alien planet, injure their legs, and end up scooting to the finish on their
1970 elbows. Superman admits defeat. The Flash is the fastest man alive . . . on this particular alien planet.

1978 During a time-traveling mission to stop a war between two alien nations, Flash and Superman square off.

After Barry Allen dies, Wally West takes over as The Flash and he too races Superman. The race determines if the
1990 villain Mr. Mxyzptlk will have to leave Earth. The triumph sends the evil imp abroad for 90 days.
0-0-1

Tie!

0-0-1

0-0-2

Tie!

0-0-2

1-0-2

Winner!

0-1-2

2-0-2

Winner!

0-2-2

3-0-2

Winner!

0-3-2
SMALL WONDER
How Big Is the Miniature
City of Kandor?
Kandor, the capital city of Krypton, was stolen and shrunk by
the alien android Brainiac. Superman keeps the city and its
inhabitants in his Fortress of Solitude.

= 10,000 people

(contained in a bottle roughly 18 inches in diameter)

 PUT A RING ON IT
A History of
Concentric Circles
A common graphic device, the concentric
circle comes back around over time.

1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

CaptainAmerica Starro Daredevil Banshee Havok Black Canary Bullseye Dr.Manhattan

Who’sWhoinSinCity
In Frank Miller’s dark classic, everyone knows your name—and has your number. Here’s how they’re all connected.

Carmen
Daisy

GIRLS OF
OLD TOWN Dallas Ava
Lord

Gail
Damien
Lord
Becky

Wendy

FORMER EMPLOYER Dwight

Goldie McCarthy
Miho

Agamemnon

Claire
REGULARS
AT KADIE’S
PAROLE
CLUB PECOS
PAROLE OFFICER OFFICER
Lucille

FORMER REMOVES RIGHT EYE

PARTNERS
Marv

Executioner
Eileen John
Hartigan Hartigan

Bob
Mort
Nancy
Callahan

Bundy Painted
Jack Cop
Rafferty
BASIN CITY The
POLICE Customer
DEPARTMENT
Manson Liebowitz
 Love interest
Family relation
Killed this person
Other connection

ROARK
FAMILY
U.S.
The Attorney
Priest General
Roark

Kevin MENTOR
Senator Spinelli
Cardinal Roark
Roark

Vinnie

Junior

MAGLIOZZI CRIME
Luca FAMILY
Douglas PARTNERS Burt
Klump Schlubb

Shellie
Vito
Don
Giacco
Magliozzi
FORMER EMPLOYER

Kadie

Gordo
Maxine
Manute Wallace

Irish
Mercs
Doctor
Orrin Fredric
Esther
Captain

Stukka

The
Colonel
Mariah
WALLENQUIST Jerry
ORGANIZATION
Herr
Wallenquist Delia
SECRET IDENTITIES

Stan Lee’s Nicknames

for the Marvel Bullpen
While Stan Lee was Marvel’s editor-in-chief, he wrote a
Steve
“The Angry
Man”
Ditko
column called “Stan’s Soapbox,” which ran in each of Marvel’s
titles that month. In the Soapbox, Lee opined on reader “Wholesome”
mail, talked up the fan club, and gave shout outs to Marvel Howie Chaykin
staff members—but always with a nickname. The tradition
of calling employees like Flo Steinberg “Fabulous” and
Todd McFarlane “Tumultuous” lasted for decades. Here’s
a collection of the best nicknames, categorized by type.

TEMPERAMENT

“Mellow” Mary
Steve “Baby” Ellen Beveridge
Gerber
“Merry” Marty
“Santa” Goodman
Klaus Janson “Jaunty”
“Stainless” Jim
Steve Steranko
Englehart “Affable”
“Duke” CELEBRITY Archie Goodwin
Wayne
Boring BASED “Bashful”
“Edwardian”
Ed Hannigan Barry Smith
“Red” “Surfer”
Sonja Tony Steve
Skarstedt “The Tiger” Leialoha
Isabella
“Judo” “Tremendously-
"Jazzy" Jim Starlin Talented”
Johnny Tony DeZuniga
Romita
Mark
“Hut-Hut”
“Dimply” Heike
“Shimmering” Diane Rodrigo
“Titanic” Sharon Ing
Tom
“Lanky” “Dashing” Brevoort
Frank Miller Don Heck
“Kittenish” “Lovely”
Gil Lisa
“Sugar” Karen Mantlo
“Bouncing” Trusiani
Kane
Bob
Budiansky VAGUELY
PHYSICAL “Cute”
“Big” Carla SEXUAL?
John Joseph
Buscema “Nimble”
“Gorgeous” “Sassy”
Naomi “Heavenly” Sara
George Pérez Basner Hellen Katz Tuchinsky
“Breathtaking”
Bobbie Chase
“Adorable” Jack
Artie Simek “King” “Delicious”
Kirby Doris Siegler
 “Our Pal” “Uncanny”
Sal Buscema Danny
Fingeroth

RHYMING
Marie
“The She” Stan
Severin “The Man”
Lee

“Merry”
Gerry
“Honest” Conway Vince
Irving Forbush “The Prince”
Colletta
“Whirlin’”
“Jocular” Don Perlin
John Byrne

Joe
“The Rube”
“Timorous” Rubinstein
Terry Austin
“Arachnerd”
“Nefarious” Jim Salicrup
Neal Adams
“Boisterous” WORDS I HAD
Bill Mantlo TO LOOK UP
“Bumptious”
Bob Wiacek
“Grouchy”
Gregory “Roisterous”
Wright Ralph Reese
“Macabre” “Mischievous”
Michael Mike
Fleisher Friedrich
“Rascally”
Roy
“Dubious” Thomas “Lethal”
INSULTING Danny Crespi Larry Hama

“Tumultuous” “Maniacal”
Todd Mike Ploog “Howlin’”
McFarlane Herb
“Brash” Trimpe
Bruce “Delightful”
Dave Cockrum
Patterson
“Creative”
“Ever-Ready” “Evanescent” Carmine
Ernie Colon Evan Skolnick Infantino
“Klobbering”
Keith “Daring”
Pollard Dwayne
“Madcap”
PERSONALITY McDuffie
Mark “Active”
Gruenwald “Lively” “Clever” Alex Niño
Len Wein Chris “Fancy”
Claremont Frank
“Fabulous” Springer
Flo
“Swingin’” Steinberg “Vulcanizin’”
Sammy “Memorable” Vicente Alcazar
Rosen Martha
Conway
“Mirthful”
Mick Demeo "Wandering" 069
ALLITERATIVE Wally Wood
The Periodic Table
of The Metal Men
The Metal Men are a team of robots who pull their names and abilities from—yup, you guessed it—different metals.
The members of the original team, created in 1962, were Gold, Iron, Lead, Mercury, Platinum, and Tin. But over time,
more were created—spin-off teams and enemies—all springing from the Periodic Table.

sodium aluminium
11 13

Na Al
22.990 26.982
potassium calcium iron cobalt nickel copper zinc gallium arsenic
19 20 26 27 28 29 30 31 33

K Ca Fe Co Ni Cu Zn Ga As
39.098 40.078 55.845 58.933 58.693 63.546 65.38 69.723 74.922
strontium zirconium technetium silver tin
38 40 43 47 50

Sr Zr Tc Ag Sn
87.62 91.224 [98] 107.87 118.71
barium tantalum tungsten osmium iridium platinum gold mercury lead bismuth
56 73 74 76 77 78 79 80 82 83

Ba Ta W Os Ir Pt Au Hg Pb Bi
137.33 180.95 183.84 190.23 192.22 195.08 196.97 200.59 207.2 208.98
raidum
88

Ra
[226]

thorium uranium plutonium

90 92 94

Th U Pu
232.04 238.03 [244]

70
 The Metal The Metal An evil team of The first
Men. Copper Men’s robots built by robot built by
is the only backup an evil robot Doc Magnus.
element not team. version of Doc
from the Magnus.
original team.

Through
issue 16, each Iron, Platinum,
comic includes Gold, and
a “Metal Facts Mercury were
and Fancies” transformed into
A robot shown page. These these metals.
in Silver Age are the robots They are the
Doc Magnus’s Secret Files as a that make an Death Metal
robot servant. learning tool. appearance. Men.
Who Reads DCComics?
In 2011, right after a massive relaunch of all their characters, DC Comics polled readers to
find out whom their so-called New 52 line was reaching. Here are the results.

Data collection

Customers at physical comic book stores Online respondents Readers via tablet apps

Distribution
of total
readership
by age

Age 13 18 25

Gender

93% men
7%
wome
n
72
 Income Types of readers Digital Print
readers readers
New polled who polled who
readers also read also read
print digital
comics comics

57%
50% of in-store customers
had incomes less than
16%
$60,000 Lapsed
readers Avid readers

Readers over 35

48% 35%
digital readers print readers

35 45 55

Two-thirds
made an
Purchasing Four in ten respondents said a New 52 title they wanted was out of stock at their store. impulse buy

.
PLAYING FOR THE OTHER TEAM
The Many Affiliations of the Marvel Universe
Archangel/Angel
Beast
Black Knight
Black Panther
Black Widow
Cable
Caliban
Cannonball
Captain America
Colossus
Crystal
Cyclops
Darwin
Dazzler
Doctor Strange
Feral
Gambit
Havok
Hawkeye
Hellcat
Hepzibah
Hulk
Human Torch
Iceman
Invisible Woman
Iron Man
Juggernaut
Karma
Kitty Pride
Lady Mastermind
Leech
Longshot
Luke Cage
Magneto
Marrow
Marvel Girl
Mimic
Mister Fantastic
Mystique
Namor
Nightcrawler
Nighthawk
Nocturne
Omega Sentinel
Paladin
Peter Wisdom
Pixie
Polaris
Professor Xavier
Psylocke
Quicksilver
Rictor
Rogue
Sabretooth
Scarlet Witch
Shatterstar
She-Hulk
Spider-Man
Storm
Sunfire
Sunspot
Thing
Warpath
Wolfsbane
Wolverine
If you’re a superhero or a mutant, you’re almost
required to spread your powers around.

Avengers

Brotherhood
of Mutants

Defenders

Excalibur

Fantastic Four

Horsemen Of
Apocalypse

Illuminati

Marauders

Morlocks New

Mutants

Starjammers

Thunderbolts

X-Factor

X-Force

X-Men
Batman’s UtilityBelt,1952
The Dark Knight is constantly updating the contents of his trusty belt with better gadgets;
a lot changes in crime-fighting tech over the years.

Infrared Miniature Secret Silken Gas

flashlight camera identity disc rope capsules

In Detective Comics #185, Batman faces certain death.

He wants the police to know he’s Bruce Wayne after
he dies, so he pours a special chemical over the secret
identity disc, revealing his name. He eventually escapes
but loses the belt—and the disc—in the scuffle.

A 1940 issue of Batman

advertises “The Mystery
Rope! The 100 Secrets of
Batman’s Silken Cord!”
The cover features a
museum display of
previous Batman ropes,
including a gold cord used
against the Mad Musician,
an elastic cord used
against the Joker, and a
cellophane cord used
against the Hot Car Gang.

In Batman #119, Batman awakes after a fall and

realizes he’s slept for years and has a long, gray
beard. The Rip Van Winkled Batman is eventu-
ally apprehended and tied up by criminals. But he
smashes the lens from his microscope and uses the
glass to cut the ropes. It was, of course, a dream.

Fingerprint Tiny Smoke Tiny

equipment oxyacetylene capsule microscope
torch

76
Batman’s UtilityBelt,1968

Infrared Tear gas Fingerprint Miniature Skeleton Smoke

flashlight capsules kit camera keys capsules

Batman’s first iteration was in 1939 as a glass pellet of

choking gas—which he uses on a “giant Indian.”

In the current series, Batman sports

computerized contact lenses that
give him remote access to the Bat
Cave’s computers.

Transistorized Miniature Bat-rope Laser torch Plastic- Contact lens

power source voice with explosive assortment
recorder automatic grenades
reel

77
 After being bested by Batman in Batman #73,

Joker’s UtilityBelt,1952 the Joker decides he wants his own utility belt.
It’s a short-lived conceit.

Eyepiece
Water-squirting which False cigarette Flower
police badge Itching leaves pack, with pellets that
Hand with bulb and powder viewer with jumping-jack burst into
buzzer hose attached capsules a black eye mechanism inside bloom

The Joker actually

replaces Batman’s gas
pellets for blooming
flower pellets, so when
the Caped Crusader
tries to stop him, flowers
appear instead of a
cloud of gas. Joker
responds, “Ho-Ho!
I never thought you’d
throw me bouquets,
Ha-Ha!”

Batman actually uses the Joker’s own

belt against him and unleashes the
snake pellets to stop a conveyor belt
carrying Robin to a fiery death.

The Joker leaves the noisy beans on a

fortuitously placed drum as a distraction
while he escapes.

Sneezing Snake Mexican Playing Exploding Small

powder pellets jumping cards cigarettes cork
capsules beans

78
Robin’s Utility Belt, 1994
Grappling Bo Roped
gun staff birdarang Handcuffs Communicator

Robin’s original two-w ay

communicator was
located in the belt’s
buckle. Though having
to talk into a microphone
located just below your
belly button could lead
to some awkward
encounters.

The bo staff was first introduced in 1989 when

Tim Drake became the third Robin. The staff is
col
lapsible and is his weapon of choice.

While Batman has batarangs, Robin has

birdarangs. Certainly better than Robin’s eggs.

Smoke Birdarangs Explosive Lock pick

capsule discs

79
issue

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

The
Walking
Dead
Kill
Counter
You think a zombie hoard is the ultimate worst case scenario? Think again.
Death by human Death by zombie

o v e r a l l d e at h s b y h u m a n a n d z o m b i e s

79%

80
51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

21%
Who is Left inY: The Last Man
After a plague kills off every other man on the planet, Yorick Brown has to deal with being his gender’s sole survivor. With most firefighters,

GENDER BREAKDOWN AFTER THE PLAGUE

World population

Fortune 500 CEOs

World landowners

World mechanics, electricians, and construction workers

World agricultural labor force

US commercial pilots, truck drivers, and ship captains

US violent felons

World government representatives

World Catholic priests, Muslim imams, and Orthodox Jewish rabbis

US physicians

US registered nurses

US local police

US firefighters
 Men (dead)

Women
felons, and physicians now dead, this is what’s left of the world.
Why Guys Like
Invisible Woman

Her maiden name is Storm, She makes They’re secretly hoping her
which is just cool force fields clothes will turn invisible

084
 Why Guys Relate
to Spider-Man

He’s bullied He has a crush on a Constantly shoots sticky,

in school girl out of his league white fluid from his body

085
Battle Breakdown
How Marvel characters stack up, according to the 1990 Marvel Universe Trading Cards Series. = villain

10% 20% 30% 40%

Character (battles)
Punisher (122)
Silver Surfer (7,236)
Nick Fury (843)
Invisible Woman (318)
Captain America (2,433)
Human Torch (335)
Longshot (176)
Doctor Strange (502)
Rogue (549)
Captain Britain (514)
The Thing (511)
Moon Knight (263)
Cloak (256)
Mister Fantastic (436)
Galactus (2,729)
Sub-Mariner (1,673)
Bullseye (464)
She-Hulk (445)
Wolverine (629)
Archangel (389)
Quasar (153)
Kingpin (202)
Thor (2,746)
Apocalypse (6,344)
Black Panther (413)
Phoenix (142)
Nightcrawler (281)
Loki (9,372)
Professor Xavier (441)
Hulk (684)
Nightmare (8,957)
Spider-Man (1,582)
Iron Man (493)
Shadowcat (201)
Colossus (423)
Marvel Girl (263)
Lockheed (166)
Cyclops (276)
Elektra (276)
Storm (315)
Thanos (839)
Havok (344)
Daredevil (495)
Black Cat (182)
Green Goblin (293)
The Leader (475)
Electro (188)
High Evolutionary (513)
Sandman (573)
Mandarin (337)
Lizard (284)
Ultron (211)
Mister Sinister (599)
Baron Zemo (184)
Blob (347)
Doctor Octopus (327)
 Won Tied Lost

50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

BIRD WATCHING

The Five
Faces
of Robin
It’s tough being Batman’s sidekick. You get no thanks and crummy pay.
And some crazy guy in clown makeup is always trying to blow you up. It’s
no wonder turnover for the position has been relatively high. Here’s the
rundown of the five youths who have taken the mantle of the Boy Wonder
(and the characters they became afterwards).

Robin Nightwing Batman Red Hood Red Robin Batgirl

088
 1940

Dick Grayson
He is adopted by Batman after his acrobat
parents are murdered

Jason Todd
Meets Batman when he tries to steal
the Batmobile’s wheels

Tim Drake
Named after Batman director Tim Burton

Stephanie Brown
Originally the vigilante The Spoiler—and Tim’s lover

Damian Wayne
Bruce Wayne’s son with Talia al Ghul
2012
1964

1988

1988 2006 2004 2009

Fans kill the widely disliked
Jason Todd by voting
for his death in a phone-in
campaign. He returns,
miraculously, in 2005 as the
anti-hero Red Hood.
Batman meets his previously
unknown ten-year-old son
Damian, whom The League
of Assassins grew in a lab
and trained to be a killer.
Stephanie gets the boot Dick becomes Batman for a
after refusing to follow bit when Bruce Wayne is
orders. Oh, and then she sent through time by
fakes her death after Darkseid’s Omega beams.
inadvertently starting a
Gotham gang war.
The Chris Ware
Sadness Scale
Chris Ware’s work blends succinct, emotional storytelling
with high-end illustration and graphic design.
His work is beautiful, colorful . . . and really, really sad.

The ACME
Novelty
Library #20
2010
(Desperation angst,
douchebag angst,
death angst)
The ACME
Novelty
Library
2005
(Self angst,
naked angst,
nostalgia angst)

The ACME
Novelty
Library #17
2006
(Action figure angst,
childhood angst)

Quimby the
Mouse
2003
(Rodent angst)

SAD

90
 The ACME
Novelty
Library #16
2005
(Bully angst,
daddy issue angst, Building
suicide angst) Stories
2012
(Relationship angst,
prosthetic leg angst,
loneliness angst)

The ACME
Novelty
Library #19
2008
(Loneliness angst,
action figure angst,
Mars angst, murdered
dog angst)

Jimmy
Corrigan,
the Smartest
Kid on Earth
2000
(Relationship angst, loneliness
angst, Dead Superman angst,
daddy issue angst, angst angst)

SOUL-CRUSHING DEPRESSION
 META HUMAN

Pop Culture in Scott Pilgrim

Although Bryan Lee O’Malley’s series may star a Canadian slacker, its set of cultural references are absolutely
on point, from Scott Pilgrim’s band’s name (Sex Bob-Omb) to his ex-girlfriend’s (The Clash at Demonhead).

Scott wears a
New Pornog-
raphers t-shirt
in a dream
sequence.

This volume's
title is a refer-
ence to The
Smashing
Pumpkins'
album Mellon
Collie and
the Infinite
Sadness.
A Mr. Show DVD
is on display at the
local video store.

The group that plays before

Scott's band at a gig, Crash
and the Boys, pulls its name
from the 1992 Nintendo
game Crash ’n the Boys:
Street Challenge. Bonus:
During the show the lead
singer is wearing a Kinks
T-shirt.

The title page is

an homage to the
'90s Nintendo
game Bonk’s
Adventure.

Scott Scott Scott

Pilgrim’s Pilgrim Pilgrim &
Precious vs. the the Infinite
Little Life World Sadness

92
 COMICS
MUSIC
TV
VIDEO GAMES
MOVIES

While at a friend's
house, Roxie
reads a volume
of Brandon
Graham’s comic
King City.
The sword
Scott and
Ramona
use in the
final battle
is named
The Power
of Love,
which is also
a song by
Huey Lewis
and the
News.

A copy of
Madonna’s
True Blue
appears in
Ramona's
room...

...and a Fargo
poster hangs on
her wall.

Scott Scott Scott

Pilgrim Pilgrim Pilgrim’s
Gets It vs. the Finest
Together Universe Hour
Venom’s FamilyWeb
When Spider-Man receives a new, black costume in 1984’s Secret Wars storyline, it turns out the outfit is actually alive. It’s
a Symbiote, or a member of an alien race that gives powers to the host it bonds with. Spider-Man eventually rejects the
Symbiote and the costume escapes, quickly finding a new host in the former Daily Bugle reporter Eddie Brock. Brock and
the Symbiote bond, and together they become Venom, creating one of Spider-Man’s arch rivals. The Symbiote, how-
ever, doesn’t stop at Brock. It’s history with hosts, transformations and offspring (yup, the costume has spawn) created a
tangled...er, web of hosts.

Spider-Man
Host

Passed Symbiote to

Offspring

Transformed into

Flash
Thompson
Patricia
Robertson

Ms. Mac
Marvel Gargan

Angelo
Fortunato
Carnage
Anne
Weying

Venom
(Eddie
Brock)
Anti-
Venom Toxin

Scorn

Phage Agony
Scream Lasher

Riot

Hybrid

(All Symbiote versions joined)

94
DRESSED TO KILL
Explaining Cosplay and Crossplay
Want to dress up as your favorite character? Make sure you know what terms are in fashion.

A character’s Pretending to be a character by Having fun;

outfit and wearing their costume and accessories may include
accessories for fun (not Halloween) roleplaying
or pretending
you are some-
one else

Costume Play

Cosplay

Crossplay

Crossdressing Cosplay

Pretending to
be a character
To dress as a Pretending to be a character of the by wearing their
member of the opposite sex by wearing their costume for fun
opposite sex costume for fun (not Halloween) (not Halloween)
 Guide to
Comic-Con

HISTOR Y

NERD PROM

Comic-Con
Attendance
San Diego Comic-Con International has attracted more than 100,000 people every year since
2005. It’s a beacon for comics, movies, and video games—a major pop-culture force. But it
wasn’t always the behemoth it is today; when it started more than 40 years ago as the Golden
State Comic-Con, it was just a few hundred people talking about comics. Here’s how the biggest
event in comics has grown up.

March 1970 1972 1975 1984

145 people turn up for a one-
day miniature convention
to raise money for a bigger
show that August.
The name changes to San
Diego’s West Coast Comic
Convention.
Guests include Milton Caniff,
Frank Capra, Chuck Jones,
Russ Manning, and Charles
Schulz. It’s the first year of
the costume masquerade.
The convention takes place
in June—a month earlier
than usual because of the
summer Olympics in Los
Angeles.

096
 10 (thousands)
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
130
140

19
01

1992 1996 2011 2012

The convention hosts Jack
Kirby’s 75th birthday party.
(The cake had vanilla icing).
Due to the Republican Between attendee spending, All passes sell out just 90
National Convention in hotels, and taxes, Comic- minutes after they become
San Diego, Comic-Con is Con brings in more than available online.
held a month earlier on $162 million to San Diego.
July 4th.
 Guide to
Comic-Con The Hulk
COSPLAY

Bare skin Padded costume

98
X-Men Characters I Remembered
Thanks to Cosplay
Changeling Vulcan

Hepzibah Psylocke

99
 Guide to
Comic-Con

COSPLAY
Spider-Man

High quality

Difficult
Easy

Low quality

Spider-Man
Venom
Carnage
Mary Jane Watson
Gwen Stacy
Aunt May (turned out to just be a grandma)

100
Pac-Man

Pac-Man Pinky Blinky Inky Clyde

101
 Guide to
Comic-Con

COSPLAY
Wolverine
by prevalence of defining feature

Brown leather
jacket
and cigar

Black leather
outfit

Bone
claws

102
Popular Costumes

Star Wars Underwater

High High
Black Manta

Stormtrooper

Ariel
dignity

dignity
Hipster
Ariel

Jar Jar Binks Namor

Slave Leia

Low amount of skin shown High Low amount of skin shown High

Cartoons Johnny Depp

High High
Snarf Edward Scissorhands
Doctor
Girlfriend
dignity

dignity

Fred Flintstone Barnabas Collins

Jack Sparrow

Low amount of skin shown High Low amount of skin shown High

103
 Outsmarting Death
Affiliations
Character

MANGA MURDER
Intelligence Rating
Light Yagami

Near

Teru Mikami

Mello
TASK FORCE
JAPANESE

Kiyomi Takada

Raye Penber

Naomi Misora
SPECIAL PROVISION

Watari
FOR KIRA

Roger

Reiji Namikawa

Takeshi Ooi

Masahiko Kida
WAMMY’S

Anthony Lester
HOUSE

Stephen Gevanni

Halle Lidner

Kanzo Mogi
FBI
 In the manga thriller series Death Note, whiz kid Light Yagami uses a magical notebook belonging to a Death
God to kill criminals, calling himself “Kira.” The police try figuring out who Kira is so they can stop him. The result
is an intense game of cat and mouse with allegiances betrayed just as fast as they’re made and each side trying
to outsmart the other to victory. Below are the intelligence ratings for the significant characters in this 12-volume
series, as noted by creators Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, and how they’re all connected.

Kyosuke Higuchi

Suguru Shimura
Shingo Mido

Hitoshi Demegawa
Eiichi Takahashi
Shuichi Aizawa

Hirokazu Ukita

Jacky Neylon
Matt

Soichiro Yagami
Hideki Ide

Rodd Los

Arayoshi Hatori
Tota Matsuda

Sachiko Yagami
Sayu Yagami
Misa Amane

YOTSUBA PEOPLE WHO

MAFIA MEDIA YAGAMI FAMILY
CORPORATION BECOME KIRA
Boom Boom Pow
Comics have influenced rap more than any other genre of music. Here’s a look at where the two intersect.

Match-ups in Secret Wars

Philadelphia rapper The Last Emperor released the ultimate comic book rap song in 1997, titled “Secret Wars, Part 1” (a refer-
ence to the infamous Marvel crossover series). In the song Last Emperor details an epic battle between rappers and comic
book characters. He followed it with “Secret Wars, Part 2” in 2003, which included even more cross-platform fights. Here’s who
took the title in each. = winner
Rappers Characters
Az Izz Beast
Beanie Sigel Black Panther
Bizarre Blade
Boot Camp Clik Blob
Busta Rhymes Captain America
Common Chameleon
Das EFX Cobra
DMX Colossus
Eminem Cyclops
Eve Daredevil
Fat Joe Doctor Doom
Freeway Doctor Octopus
Ghostface Doctor Strange
Golden Arms G.I. Joe
GZA Hobgoblin
Jay-Z Human Torch
Jeru the Damaja Hulk
Keith Murray Iceman
Kon Artis Iron Fist
KRS One Juggernaut
Kuniva Kingpin
Lauryn Hill Magneto
Ludacris Mister Fantastic
Masta Killa Mysterio
Method Man Power Man
Nas Professor X
No ID Puck
Notorious B.I.G. Punisher
Pace Won Red Skull
Proof Rhino Technically
not a
Rah Digga Sasquatch character,
Ras Kass Scorpion but is often a
Redman Shaman caricature of
himself.
RZA She-Hulk
Slang Ton Snowbird
Sticky Fingaz Spider-Man
Swifty Stan Lee
The Last Emperor Storm
Tupac Sub-Mariner
Xzibit Thing
Y-Not Thor
Young Memphis Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Young Zee Vindicator
Wolverine

Microphone check The quality of comic books written by rappers:

Method Man by Method Man Sentences by MF Grimm
BAD Public Enemy: The Comic by Chuck D GOOD

106
 Snoop Dogg’s
“Batman & Robin” Professor X David Banner
(feat. Lady of Rage, the Overseer The Hulk’s alter
RBX), 2002 Professor X ego in the 1978
is the founder of TV show
the X-Men The Incredible
Mista Sinista Hulk MF Doom
WORD FREQUENCY Fantastic Four foe
Mister Sinister is a
villain of the X-Men Dr. Doom

Batman X-Ecutioners
This DJ crew was DJ Clark Kent
originally called Clark Kent, a.k.a
The X-Men until Rappers who Superman
Marvel sued them take their names
15 2.18509686118416
8 1.59576912160573 from comics
7 1.49270533036046

Big Pun DJ Green

The Punisher, Lantern
Robin Green Lantern,
but much bigger
obviously

Jean Grae Johnny Blaze

Jean Grey is a Ghost Rider’s
founding member Tony Starks alter ego (as
of the X-Men Ghostface well as Method
Gotham Killah’s alter ego Man’s)
is pretty close
to Iron Man’s
Tony Stark

VILLAINS MENTIONED
Two-Face Catwoman Eminem’s comic history Audio Print Video
Riddler Clayface
1999
My Name Is “Clothes ripped like the Incredible Hulk”
Say Goodbye Hollywood “Bury my face in comic books,
2000 ’cause I don’t want to look”
Business “looks like Batman brought his own Robin”
2001
Superman The title of the 13th track on The Eminem Show
Penguin Mad 2002 Wanted The appearance of the main character in the comic
Hatter was based on Eminem. It later became a hit movie.
Mr. 2003 Without Me Wore a Robin costume in the music video
Freeze
2004 Rain Man “I killed Superman, I killed Super—man”
GATman and Robbin He is featured on this 50 Cent track
BAT-GADGETS MENTIONED 2005 Crack a Bottle “Not to mention back with a
2006 vengeance so here’s the signal, of the bat symbol”
Batmobile Bat bomb
My Mom “I fall in bed with a bottle of meds and a
Bat Bat 2007 Heath Ledger bobblehead” (The Joker)
switches cave The Punisher Marvel created an Eminem/Punisher
2008 digital comic titled Kill You
2009 Cold Wind Blows “When the Aquaman drowns
and the Human Torch starts swimming”
2010 Love the Way You Lie “I’m Superman with the
wind in his back, She’s Lois Lane”
Bat Bat gat 2011 On Fire “Flows tighter, hot headed as Ghost Rider,
phone cold hearted as Spider-Man throwin’ a spider in the snow”
Bat 2012
engine Won’t Back Down “I gave Bruce Wayne a Valium”
 A Personal History
of Saying “Good Grief”
usage

t i me
ALTER EGOS

Bobby Digital vs. Batman

In 1998, the rapper RZA, best known for being the unofficial leader of the Wu-Tang Clan, released his first solo
album under the pseudonym Bobby Digital, a futuristic superhero. RZA stuck close to the persona and after a
while, the rapper’s life began looking somewhat familiar.

RZA Bruce Wayne

Superhero alter-ego Extremely wealthy Butler on staff Bomb-proof and bulletproof custom car
Bulletproof and knife-proof super-suit
Crime-fighter Gold album Cover by artist Bill Sienkiewicz
 Married
Killed this person

a p o k o li p s

ALL IN THE FAMILY

Mapping the
Relationships
of the
New Gods
When master storyteller Jack Kirby started working
for DC Comics in the early ’70s, he introduced one of
newgenesis

comic’s most memorable creations: The Fourth

World, and its inhabitants, The New Gods. With
action that spanned four titles (Superman’s Pal Jimmy
Olsen, The Forever People, Mister Miracle, and The
New Gods), the story follows the ruling families of two
planets (New Genesis, led by Highfather, and
Apokolips, led by Darkseid) through a messy and
murderous battle.

110
As Drax is about to
claim the Omega
Effect (a special
power) Uxas kills
him and takes it,
renaming himself
Darkseid afterward.
Don’t worry,
Drax comes back.
Queen Heggra has Desaad kill
Darkseid’s wife, Suli, and then
forces Darkseid to marry Tigra,
even though he loathes her. When
Yuga Khan Queen Steppenwolf Darkseid learns of his mother’s
Heggra role in his first wife’s death,
he has Desaad kill the Queen.

Desaad Drax
(Infinity Uxas
(chief (Darkseid) Suli Tigra
torturer) Man)
Unknown
mother
assistant

Scott Free Big

Justeen Grayven Kalibak (Mister Barda
Miracle)

Highfather Avia Vayla Himon

Izaya

As part of a peace
treaty, Darkseid and
Highfather exchange Orion Bekka
their young sons,
Orion and Scott Free.
Spy vs.Spy
Soon after he started at MAD magazine in 1960, Antonio Prohías introduced one of the most recognizable cartoons,
well . . . ever.Spy vs. Spy ran for more than 25 years under his hand, starting in January of 1961, and featured two
pointy guys constantly trying to off each other. Here’s how they matched up.

115

Win distribution
8% 2%

44%
Victories

46%

0
1961
112
 Black Spy
White Spy
Gray Spy
Tie

Live free and spy hard

Prohías began his career as a political satirist in
Cuba. He expressed his distaste for the politics of
the new dictator, Fidel Castro, through his cartoons,
which led to his firing, spying accusations, and even
death threats. He fled to the United States three
days before Castro’s government took control of the
last of the Cuban free press. Prohías used Castro’s
spy accusations as inspiration for MAD’s most
popular comic.

Longest win streak 6 5 Biggest lead 3 12

The Gray Spy

Prohías introduced a third, female spy in 1962, The Gray Spy, or The Lady in Gray. She won in every appearance, as
she used her female prowess to pit the Black and White spies against each other.

Gray Spy appearance Gray Spy win

1987
JET SET
Avengers vs. X-Men
Forget long lines, in-seam patdowns, and body scanners at the airport, the Avengers and X-Men man their own jets.

X-Men vs
Avengers
Lockheed/SHIELD (RS150) Blackbird Stark International Quinjet A-1

LENGTH
88'4"
34'8"

WING SPAN
62'6"
23'9"

NORMAL TAKE-OFF WEIGHT MAX PAYLOAD MAX SERVICE

RATE OF CEILING
CLIMB
FROM 230,000 feet
SEA 220,000
LEVEL feet
20,000 lbs with
after-
burner

4,000 lbs 155,760

feet/min
130,000
145,000 lbs feet
without
after-
burner

29,000 lbs

7,900
feet/min

RANGE WITH MAXIMUM FUEL, CARRYING MAXIMUM PAYLOAD

8,200 mi
9,500 mi

RANGE WITH MAXIMUM FUEL

12,600 mi
11,000 mi

ACCOMMODATIONS

Crew Crew Crew Crew Crew

CABIN WIDTH
9'5"
10'4"
 BIRDS OF A FEATHER
Scrooge McDuck’s Family Tree
The story of the McDucks actually dates back to AD 122 when the clan was known as the MacDuichs.
They dropped the Gaelic spelling 800 years later. The modern history, however, is a different (duck) tale.

Cornelius
Coot

“Dirty”
Clinton Gertrude Molly Dingus Quagmire
Coot Gadwall Mallard McDuck McDuck

Gretchen Elvira Hump- Angus Fergus Downy

Casey erdink “Pothole” Jake
Grebe Coot “Grandma” McDuck McDuck O’Drake
Coot Duck McDuck

Cuthbert Luke Fanny Eider LuluBelle Daphne Goostave Quackmore Hortense Scrooge Matilda
Coot Goose Coot Duck Loon Duck Gander Duck Duck McDuck McDuck

Gus Abner Fethry Gladstone Donald Della Unknown

Goose Duck Duck Gander Duck Duck

Huey Dewey Louie

Duck Duck Duck
115
BAT CHANNELS

Every TV Show
Starring Batman
Super
Friends:
The The
The The All- Challenge World’s Legendary
Batman/ The New New Super of the Greatest Super
Superman Super Adventures Friends Super Super Super Powers
Batman Hour Friends of Batman Hour Friends Friends Friends Show

1970 1980

116
 The Super
Powers Batman: Batman:
Team: The The New Justice The Brave
Galactic Animated Batman Batman Justice League The and the Young
Guardians Series Adventures Beyond League Unlimited Batman Bold Justice

1990 2000 2010

 Character Kingdom
A taxonomy of characters, classified by name.

CyberFrog Frogs
Frog-Man
Frogzilla Amphibians
Froggett
Frog Princess
Black Toad
Leap-Frog Toads
King Toad

Black Vulture
Mr. Toad
Toad
Toady-Drone
Animals
Black Crow
Blackhawk Toad Men
Black Condor
Blue Jay Black Canary Penguin
Count Duckula Black Bird Black Shark
Birdy Can’t Fly
Falcon King Shark
Falcona Bird-Brain Fish Shark
American Eagle Sharkeeta
Fire Bird
Sharko
Firehawk
Birds Sharkskin
Flamebird Tiger Shark
Sharks
Golden Eagle
Black
Gunhawk Moray
Warhawk Rays Barracuda
Hawkeye Can Fly Eel
Vulture Black Manta
Hawkgirl Eelar Ray
Hawkman Thunderbird Eeleta Stingray
Hawkwoman Snowbird Electric Eel Eels
Howard the Duck Skyhawk Muray Eel Bat-Mite
Killer Shrike Black Spider
Silver Swan Arachnids
Killraven Black Tarantula
Robin
Lady Blackhawk Black Widow
Mockingbird
Raven Anthropods Brown Recluse
Nighthawk Phoenix Daddy Longlegs
Nite Owl Owl Phantom Eagle Scarlet Spider

Ambush Bug Tiger Moth Scorpion

Scarlet Beetle
Ant Man Wasp Spider Jerusalem
Scarabus
Blue Beetle Yellow Wasp Scarab Spider-Girl
Bug Yellowjacket Queen Bee Spider-Ham
Bug Baron Moth Man Spider-Man
Bug-Eyed Bandit Moth
Crustaceans Spider-Woman
Bugman Mantis
Maggott Tarantula
Bumblebee Insects Ladybug Tick
Bumbling Bee Killer Moth Barnacle Shrimp
Butterfly Killer Bee
Dragonfly Fiddler Crab Lobster Random
Iron Butterfly
Firebug Fly Man Fly Girl Gypsy Humbug Jimbo Da Mighty Lobster Lobster Johnson
Moth
 Albert Alligator Killer Croc Green Turtle Dragon
Doctor Crocodile Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Dragon Man
Mock Turtle Dragoness
Alligators Crocodiles Turtles Dragons Dragonfly
Turtle
Turtle Man Dragonmage
Chameleon Komodo Dragon
Chameleon Boy Moondragon
Iguana Richard Dragon
Reptiles Komodo Dragon Savage Dragon
Lizards
Lizard Ulysses
Dragonblood
Lizard King
Silver Dragon
Orka Reptillia
White Dragon
Whales Whale Salamander
Whaler Tuatara
Atomic Mouse
Armless Tiger Man Rodents
Dr. Ratty Rat
Black Cat
Gray Mouser
Black Panther
Mammals Ignatz Mouse
Bronze Tiger
Angel and Ape Mighty Mouse
Cat Primates
Ape God Mouse Man
Cat Grant
Felines Ape X Mouser
Cat-Man
Apeface Packrat
Catiana
Bamboo Monkey Rat
Catman Acro-Bat
Bats Detective Chimp Rat King
Catseye Bat-Mite
Gorilla Montague Ratbat
Catspaw Batgirl
Gorilla-Man Ratcatcher
Catwalk Batman
Joe the Gorilla Ratface
Catwoman Batwing
Cheetah Man-Ape Ratman
Batwoman
Billy Batson Mandrill Ratsputin
Hellcat
Foxbat Monkeyboy Ratty
Josie and the Squirrel-Girl
Pussycats Man-Bat Monkeyman
Ratbat Vermin
Kill-Cat
Krazy Kat
Lion
Lion-Mane Ace the Bat-Hound Canines Yankee Poodle
Lionheart Bad Dog Wolfsbane
Ms. Lion Bigby Wolf Wolf-Man
Pantha Black Fox Wolf Sazen
Puma Crimson Fox Wolf Cub
Sabretooth Demon Fox Wild Dog
Satanna the Dog Logan White Wolf
Tiger Girl
Dogpool Top Dog
Shadowcat Dylan Dog Timber Wolf
Tiger Flying Fox Steppenwolf
Tiger Jack Fox Silver Fox
Tigorr Foxbat Reynard T. Fox
Tigra Foxfire Rex the Wonder Dog
Tigress Foxilon Cardluck Mongrel
Man-Wolf
White Tiger Grey Fox Hot Dog Lucius Fox
Wildcat Hellhound Jackal Lone Wolf and Cub
The
Punisher’s
Kill
Count
Piling up all The Punisher’s bodies
from movies and comic books

60
The Punisher
22 97
The Punisher Punisher:
(1989) (2004) War Zone
starring starring (2008)
Dolph Thomas Jane starring
Lundgren Ray Stevenson
48,502
The Punisher
in comic books,
1974–2011
FIGHTING FORCES
Oppression and Rebellion in Persepolis
Persepolis is the true story of Marjane Satrapi, a young girl growing up during the Iranian Revolution in the 1980s.
Satrapi is a free spirit growing up in an oppressive world. Despite an environment that’s closing in on her and her
independent-minded parents, Satrapi isn’t afraid to give as good as she gets.

High Uncle Anoosh killed

Mohsen is killed by
the new regime

Election results faked

Marjane
has to wear
a veil to
school

Marjane and
Mehri attend the
demonstrations

All universities
are closed

Marjane plans to put

nails between her
fingers and beat up
a classmate whose
father works for the
secret police

Low
Time

122
 Oppression
Rebellion

A missile hits their block

Partying Marjane and Marjane hits

and her grand- her principal
drinking mother pour
the alcohol
down the Guardians
drain to of the
thwart the Marjane Revolution
police lies to her stop
mother… Marjane
Demonstration The police question Marjane …and
smokes… Marjane
resistance turns and her family lies to the
violent Guardians
of the
Revolution
Marjane
makes Marjane
fun tells off her
The religion
of the Marjane principal teacher
martyrs …and Marjane
skips class wears nail takes her
and gets a wears Nikes bracelet
polish and hangs
hamburger
up posters
of Iron
Maiden in
her room—
Marjane and her both are
class are yelled forbidden
at for their poor
decorations for the
anniversary of the
revolution
Mutant
Manhattan
A guide to New York locations in the Marvel Comics universe

124
Avengers Tower
Formerly Stark Tower, this 93-floor skyscraper
is the home of the main Avengers team.

Hell’s Kitchen
Daredevil, the man without fear,
lives and patrols this neighbor-
hood. Superspy Nick Fury is also
from the area.

Gem Theater
The office of Luke Cage
and the Heroes for Hire.
Wakandan Embassy
The consulate to Wakanda,
home of the Black Panther.
Damage Control, Inc.
This construction and engineering
firm specializes in repairing build-
ings damaged in super-battles. Central Park
Frank Castle’s wife and children
are murdered here, leading
The Sanctum Castle to become The Punisher.
Sanctorum
Home of Doctor Strange, The Hellfire Club
master of the mystic arts. This branch has the appearance
It’s magically disguised as a of a social club, but is a front for
construction site for a new clandestine terror.
Starbucks.
Empire State Avengers Mansion
University The family home of Tony Stark
Peter Parker (Spider-Man) (Iron Man), is converted to the
meets his first love, Gwen Avengers headquarters. Its design
Stacy, and Harry Osborn, is inspired by the Frick Collection,
the second Green Goblin, a historic museum in Manhattan.
while in college here.

The Baxter Building

The Fantastic Four’s first headquarters,
the Baxter Building, was destroyed after be-
ing shot into space. It was replaced by Four
Freedoms Plaza, which was also destroyed.
The current Baxter Building was built in
space, and teleported into the empty lot
previously occupied by the original building.

The Daily Bugle

The tabloid newspaper that employs Peter
Parker (Spider-Man) as a photographer.

Yancy Street
The Yancy Street Gang often serves as
antagonists to The Thing (Fantastic Four).
TO THE GRAVE AND BACK

How Long Characters Stayed Dead

’81 ’82 ’83 ’84 ’85 ’86 ’87 ’88 ’89 ’90 ’91 ’92 ’93 ’94 ’95 ’96

Anti-Monitor

Aunt May

Barry Allen

Cypher

Doctor Octopus
Dove
Elektra
Green Arrow
Guardians of the Universe

Harry Osborn
Hellcat

Jason Todd
Jean Grey
Kilowog
Kraven the Hunter

Magik

Moon Knight

Professor Zoom

Sinestro

Superman

Thunderbolt Ross

126
 Favorite character get killed off? Don’t worry. Chances are, they’ll rise again.
That heart-stopping moment will be explained away (a clone! a dream! that darn
multiverse!) and [insert character here] will return to the land of the living. = Dead

’97 ’98 ’99 ’00 ’01 ’02 ’03 ’04 ’05 ’06 ’07 ’08 ’09 ’10 ’11 ’12

Alexander Luthor, Jr.

Apocalypse

Aquaman

Bart Allen
Batwoman
Betty Ross
Captain America
Carnage
Colossus

Donna Troy
The gun used to shoot him doesn’t actu-
ally kill him, it just freezes him in space
and time. Spoiler: he becomes unstuck.

The supervillain’s death

is undone as a part
Hal Jordan of a deal Spider-Man
makes with Mephisto
to save Aunt May.
Hippolyta
Human Torch

Kyle Rayner
Loki

Mister Terrific
Mogo

Ms. Marvel
Odin

Psylocke
Scott Lang

Skeets Brought back to life

by a time-traveling
JK, was Steel hug from his daugh-
actually an Superboy ter. Aww. Of course,
android body she dies not long
double! after.
The Thing
CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE
The MAD Magazine Mystery Record

And you greet And a fat

’Round quarter cousin Beth British guy
to five your with terrible who destroys
relations arrive breath your hi-fi

CHORUS:
It’s a great big, beautiful,
wonderful, incredible, A creature
super-spectacular day ’Round seven The streets are comes out with
at night you go aglow from a two heads and
And your heart is humming out for a bite large UFO a snout
with good times coming
And you got that happy feel-
ing things are going your way
All the bells are ringing and You walk out And you’re Who mistak-
a little bird’s singing while he the door of a grabbed by sur- enly think that
sits on your windowsill dry cleaning prise by three you’re Hymie
store Mafia guys the Fink
Saying yessiree, I can surely
see, it will plainly be, most
definitely
A super-spectacular day!
A quarter past And you really Of the girls
eight you pick go ape for that you’ve
up your blind her fabulous met she’s the
date shape classiest yet

To those
Untilllllllll. . . You’re called ‘Cuz you don’t classes you
down in class have a clue skipped and
and you feel and you know your fly is
like an ass that it’s due unzipped

And you’re
covered with And your
You develop spots and feet start to
a twitch and a you’re getting swell and it’s
horrible itch the trots easy to tell

Your sister And your neigh- And you just

pours glue in bor says that left the john
her hair and you’re abusing with the water
blames you her cat turned on

And the steer-

You go out ing wheel And the gears
for a spin and shakes so you get all stuck as
your sunroof slam on the you sideswipe
caves in brakes a truck
In the summer of 1980, MAD magazine tucked an exclusive flexi-disc record within its pages. Depending on where the
needle landed on it, the record would play one of eight variations of the song, “It’s a Super-Spectacular Day.”

And your And you’re

great-uncle And your And his creepy sure there
Fred who gets third cousin friend Joe and and then as
drunk in your Dick who is six more you you’re shafted
bed mentally sick don’t know again. . .

It talks like It thinks you You’re sealed And you

a frog and are great and in a case and silently say as
throws up on wants you for go flying in the Earth fades
your dog its mate space away. . .

That your
They break And you’re name is And you let
your right arm writhing in pain Jerome and out a sigh as
and do bodily and you try to you’re on your you’re left
harm explain way home there to die. . .

And she’s ’Cuz she

pretty and And it’s really thinks you’re a And you sob in
bright and it’s a shame she’s schmuck and despair as she
love at first not feeling the she says gives you the
sight same “lots of luck” air. . .

And some
And your acne jerk spreads And you fight And there isn’t . . . that it’s
has spread to the word that in the hall and a doubt as not such
the back of you’re some punch through they’re flunking a super-
your head kind of nerd a wall you out. . . spectacular
day!

From this hid- So you call If it gets any And you man-
eous wheeze an M.D. and he worse you can age to say as
that some says, “Don’t speak to my you wither
awful disease ask me nurse” away. . .

And the house And you’d die if And your And you cry
gets all wet you knew what python gets there in fear
and your your dad’s loose and you and it’s now
mother’s upset gonna do know it’s no use very clear. . .

But the train’s And you

And you run And you’re coming have a quick
out of gas stalled on the through and flash as you
while you’re tracks and you it’s heading for brace for the
trying to pass try to relax you crash. . .
FAST COMPANY

The Four
Faces
of The Flash
Since 1940, four different people have put on the
famous red costume—and sometimes at the same
time. Blame alternate realities, a return from the
grave, and time travel. It’s confusing! Here’s a guide
to the fastest men alive.

THE FLASH KID FLASH IMPULSE

130
 1940

Jay Garrick
A founding member of the Justice Society of America

Barry Allen
Gains his powers when lightning hits a case of chemicals

Wally West
Wally’s Aunt Iris is Barry’s wife

Bart Allen
Bart is Barry’s grandson from the 30th century

2012 1964

1988

1951 1959 1961 1985 2006 2007

Jay retires after the House Wally starts Jay is revealed Barry dies Wally and his Bart dies and
Un-American Activities his career as to actually be during the family leave for returns a few
Committee investigates the JSA Barry’s side- a hero on Crisis on another dimen- years later as
for Communists and asks for kick. Earth-2, an Infinite Earths. sion and return his teenage
their identities. alternate after his twins self from the
reality. rapidly age. future.
A Watchmen Primer
Originally published by DC Comics as a limited 12-issue series in 1986, Watchmen is widely regarded as the best comic . . . ever.
The story, written by Alan Moore and drawn by Dave Gibbons, spans generations of superhero teams, as much of a critique of the
genre as an exploration of it.

Watchmen changed everything. It showed just how layered and how adult a comic book could
The Watchmen effect be—and the industry took notice. After its publication books became significantly less jokey.
Dark

Publication of
Watchmen

Light
1929 2013

Captain Metropolis
Character relationships
The Comedian
Dr. Manhattan
Dollar Bill
Hooded Justice
Mothman
THE MINUTEMEN
Nite Owl
Nite Owl II (father)
THE CRIMEBUSTERS
Ozymandias (tries to rape)

Rorschach
Silhouette (gives her
Love interest cancer)
Silk Spectre
(mother)
Kills this person Silk Spectre II

Family relation Janey Slater

1947 Silk Spectre retires and 1959 Jon Osterman is

Watchmen timeline, 1935–1985 marries her agent. Dollar Bill, disintegrated during an
1938 Hooded Justice 1940 Comedian 1946 Silhouette is a member of the Minutemen, accident. He rematerializes
stops a robbery and leaves the group outed as a lesbian dies in action. later as Dr. Manhattan.
inspires Hollis Mason after attempting and removed from the 1949 The 1950 Silk
to become Nite Owl. to rape Silk Spectre. group. She and her Minutemen Spectre 1958 Ozymandias
1939 The Minutemen lover are murdered six disband. gives birth makes his crime-
weeks later. to Laurie fighting debut.
become a team.
Juspeczyk.

1935 1945 1955

132
 Characters The smiley face
origins Watchmen’s most iconic image is the smiley face button belonging to the Comedian.
Alan Moore’s When the Comedian dies in the opening pages, his blood splatters in a dripping line on
original pitch for the smiley face. The smiley face imagery is a direct visual metaphor to the face of the
Watchmen had doomsday clock that is prominently featured in each issue. The circle and line imagery
included characters also appears in many subtle forms throughout the series, including a radar screen,
that DC Comics goggles and the sun. Here’s how many times you can spot the symbolism in each issue.
acquired from Charlton
Comics a few years ISSUE 1 ISSUE 2 ISSUE 3 ISSUE 4
prior. Realizing their
inclusion in Watchmen
would render many
unusable thereafter,
Moore’s editor, Dick
Giordano, suggested
creating original
characters. Moore did
just that, but based his
cast on the Charlton
lot. Here’s where he Appearance
pulled his inspiration. ISSUE 12 of smiley ISSUE 5
symbolism
CAPTAIN ATOM

THUNDERBOLT
THE QUESTION
PEACEMAKER
NIGHTSHADE
BLUE BEETLE

ISSUE 11 ISSUE 6

ISSUE 10 ISSUE 9 ISSUE 8 ISSUE 7

OWL
DR. MANHATTAN

OZYMANDIAS
THE COMEDIAN

SILK SPECTRE
RORSCHACH
NITE

1962 Hollis Mason 1966 Captain Metropolis 1977 America 1985 With the world on the brink of nuclear war, The
retires as Nite Owl. Dan forms the Crimebusters. outlaws non– Comedian discovers Veidt’s plan to beam an artificial alien
Dreiberg later asks to Laurie Juspeczyk joins as government- monster to New York. First Veidt offs The Comedian.
take on the superhero’s Silk Spectre II. sanctioned Then he transports the monster to New York, killing 3
name, as Nite Owl II. 1971 President costumed million people. Silk Spectre II, Nite Owl II, and Rorschach
1965 Crime-fighters Nixon sends superheroes, try to stop him, but fail. Because the truth would cause
Rorschach and Dr. Manhattan to by way of the more strife, Dr. Manhattan kills Rorschach, a teammate
Vietnam. Keene Act. threatening to expose Veidt. The world bands together
Nite Owl II team up.
and finds peace, united against a threat that never was.

1965 1975 1985

 AMAZONIAN PRIME

70 Years of
Wonder
Woman’s
More revealing
than a bikini
bottom.
Gloria Steinem
(among others)
objects to Diana

Legs losing her abilities

and launches a
campaign to have
them restored.
Her powers—and
shorts—return in
1973.

. . . and starts
. . . but when showing more
her own series leg . . .
launches the
following year
she transitions
to star-spangled
culottes.

Wonder Woman
debuts in All-Star
Comics wearing a
skirt . . .
Amount of leg shown

Wonder Woman
surrenders her
powers, trades in
her hot pants
for a mod jump-
suit, opens a
boutique, and
becomes a
martial-arts
crime-fighter
named just
“Diana.”

1941 1942 1948 1968 1973 1993

 Underwear levels
Establishes a return when DC
baseline for how relaunches of all its
much skin to show. It doesn’t last. characters.

Wonder Woman
comes back as
just “Diana”—but
this time in black
biker shorts.

DC Comics
Wonder Woman introduces
introduces a Wonder Woman’s
short-lived most signifi-
alternative to her cant costume
costume—a full redesign—pants!
bodysuit—and The wardrobe
goes by “Agent change is one of
Diana Prince.” the shortest lived.

1995 1996 2006 2007 2010 2011

 RECURRING CHARACTER

Chris Evans
The actor has the notable distinction of having appeared in more comic
book movies than any actor before him. While we’re going to ignore
the questions of quality (what’s up, not-so-Fantastic Four?), some of his
performances have fared better at the box office than others.

Fantastic Four TMNT Fantastic Four: The Losers Scott Captain The Avengers
$330,579,719 $95,608,995 Rise of the 29,379,723 Pilgrim vs. America: The a ton of money
(2005) (2007) Silver Surfer (2010) the World First Avenger (2012)
as Johnny as the voice $289,047,763 as Jensen $47,664,559 $368,608,363 as Captain
of Casey
Storm Jones (2007) (2010) (2011) America
as Johnny Storm as Lucas Lee as Captain
America

136
 How to Spot a Vigilante
This class of superheroes has more in common
than just their ability to kick major ass.

Casey Moon Night

Batman Jones Daredevil Knight Thrasher Punisher Quantum Robin Vigilante Wolverine

Wealthy

Cape

Ridiculous
gadgetry

Martial
arts

Kinda
nutty

Impressive
intelligence

Amoral

Goofy
period

Named
“Vigilante”

Dead
parents/
family

Incredibly
fit

137
 Series: Secret
Wars Crisis on Infinite Fall of the X-Tinction
(Marvel Comics, Earths Legends Mutants (Marvel Millennium Agenda (Marvel,
1984) (DC Comics, 1985) (DC Comics, 1986) Comics, 1988) (DC Comics, 1988) 1990)
Tie-in issues:12 51 28 15 45 9

NOT STANDARD ISSUE

An Explanation
of Crossover
Issues and
Their Tie-Ins
Big events that span multiple series are a boon to
sales, but the stories tend to be so expansive that
they require additional issues just to explain what
the heck is going on. These extras are called tie-ins.
Here’s how many tie-ins were needed to explain
each series crossover.

Flashpoint Siege Blackest Night Final Crisis Secret Invasion Sinestro Corps
(DC Comics, 2011) (Marvel Comics, (DC Comics, 2008) (DC Comics, 2008) (Marvel Comics, War
71 2009) 76 30 2008) (DC Comics, 2007)
38 102 18

138
 X-Cutioner's The Death and
Song Return of Underworld
(Marvel Comics, Superman Knightfall Zero Hour Unleashed DC One Million
1992) (DC Comics, 1992) (DC Comics, 1993) (DC Comics, 1994) (DC Comics, 1995) (DC Comics, 1998)
15 42 96 73 47 39

Civil War Infinite Crisis House of M Identity Crisis Avengers No Man’s Land
(Marvel Comics, (DC Comics, 2005) (Marvel Comics, (DC Comics, 2004) Disassembled (DC Comics, 1999)
2006) 101 2005) 13 (Marvel Comics, 86
104 51 2004)
35
Tintin’s Travels
Hergé’s The Adventures of Tintin stars the titular Tintin, a young investigative reporter
who travels all over the world—and sometimes out of it—in search of a story.

Redskin
City
BOOK:
Tintin in the Land of the Soviets 1930
Tintin in the Congo 1931
Tintin in America 1932 Chicago
Cigars of the Pharaoh 1934 New York

The Blue Lotus 1936

The Broken Ear 1937
The Black Island 1938 20°37 42"N 68°32'1"W
Mayan
King Ottokar’s Sceptre 1939 Temple
Island
Los Dopicos
The Crab with the Golden Claws 1941
The Shooting Star 1942 Sanfacion
The Secret of the Unicorn 1943
Red Rackham’s Treasure 1944
The Seven Crystal Balls 1948
Prisoners of the Sun 1949
Land of Black Gold 1950 Jauja

Destination Moon 1953 Callao

Temple of
the Sun
Explorers on the Moon 1953
The Calculus Affair 1956
The Red Sea Sharks 1958
Tintin in Tibet 1960
The Castafiore Emerald 1963
Flight 714 1968
Tintin and the Picaros 1976

140
 Adonis Asteroid Moon

Meteorite

Akureyi

Black Island
Moscow
Marlinspike Berlin Stolbtzy
Antwerp Klow Sprodj
Southhampton Prague
Le HavreBrussels Douma Bakhine
Nyon Szohod
Geneva Rolle
Vargese
Marseilles
Lisbon
Nanjing
Santa Afghar Port Said New Dehli Shanghai
Cruz Hukow
Bagghar Cairo
Katmandu
Jidda
Gaipajama
Saudi Arabia
Dahlak Kebir
Khemed
Khemikhal

Pulau-
Pulau
Matadi Bompa
Djakarta
Mataram Sumbawa
Tintin Publication History
Hergé collects his black Hergé prints The Black Island, the only book in which
and white Tintin in America Tintin physically disciplines his trusty dog Snowy. Prisoners of the
strips and publishes them Sun picks up where
in book form. The Seven Crystal
The Crab with the Golden Claws Balls leaves off.
marks the first appearance of Tintin’s
companion Captain Haddock. The
story is written after Hergé is forced
After befriending a to abandon Land of Black Gold when
Tintin in Chinese sculpture the Nazis take over Belgium. The Bernard
the Land student who teaches newspaper that had previously pub- Heuvelmans,
of the him Chinese his- lished the Tintin comic strip adven- the father of
Soviets is tory, culture, and tures is shut down. The switch to a cryptozoology,
published art, Hergé begins Nazi-cooperating newspaper means writes the
in book researching Tintin’s Hergé must print 3 or 4 panels every original script
form, destinations more day, instead of 2 pages every week. for Destination
written by thoroughly. In his Moon.
Georges book The Blue
Remi Lotus, a sequel to
under the Cigars of the Pha-
pen name raoh, Hergé bases Picking up from the
Hergé. the character Chang last installment, Tintin’s
Chong-Chen on the story continues in Red
student. Rackham’s Treasure.

1930 1940 1950

Tintin in the The Broken Though the Publication Picking

Congo Ear collects strip was of The Seven up where
appears in the previous black and Crystal Balls Destination
book form two years white, The is post- Moon
in black and of strips, Shooting poned when leaves off,
white. Its featuring Star is the Belgium is Explorers of
stereotypical adventures first Tintin liberated from the Moon
depiction in South book to Nazi control in features
of the America. be printed 1944. Hergé is Tintin and
Congolese in color. investigated for company in
is still working at a outer space.
controversial collaboration-
today. The eighth Hergé ist newspaper
Hergé publishes and eventually
Land of Black Gold
Cigars of volume, King publishes is originally from
Ottokar’s The Secret arrested. He 1939–1940, but it
the Pharaoh. moves the
Sceptre, is the of the ends abruptly mid-
first Tintin Unicorn, strip to a new story. It is redrawn
collection to the first of magazine and and colored for
actually a two-part publishes The publication in Tintin
story. Seven Crystal
name the Balls in 1948. magazine.
detectives
Thomson and
Thompson.

142
 First serialized several Flight 714 is noted for its heavy
years earlier, The Calculus supernatural content, including
Affair debuts in book form. telepathy and flying saucers.

The Castafiore
Emerald is one
of two books in
which Tintin does After several years of illness
not visit another Hergé dies at age 75. His 24th
part of the world. volume, Tintin and Alph-Art,
It also is void of goes unfinished. It’s released
guns, villains, in 1986 as a series of
and danger. sketches and notes.

1960 1970 1980

The twentieth volume in the series, Tintin in Tibet, Hergé’s

personal favorite, is praised by the Dalai Lama. During its
creation, Hergé falls out of love with his wife and is plagued
with nightmares of overwhelming whiteness. A psychoana-
lyst student of Carl Jung recommended quitting Tintin. Hergé
instead finishes Tibet, separates from his wife (whom he
divorces 17 years later) and begins a relationship with a
young artist in his studio (whom he marries 17 years later).
Tintin and the Picaros
depicts Tintin older and
changed; he practices
yoga and wears bell
bottoms. In the course
of the work, Hergé
realizes he has created
The Red Sea 63 pages instead of
Sharks reunites the required 62, so he
many former Tintin removes an entire page
characters from that does not affect
previous volumes. the story.
REVISIONIST HISTORY
30 Years of Changing Tintin
1943 1946 1955 1961
Hergé re-edits and Hergé redraws and Hergé re-draws and The original strips that make up this volume
colors The Crab with colors Tintin in the colors Cigars of the ran during Germany’s occupation of Belgium.
the Golden Claws. He Congo in his new ligne Pharaoh. He cuts full Amidst accusations that Hergé is anti-Semitic,
also adds four arbitrary claire style. He also pages including the he removes several offensive Jewish characters
full-page panels since scraps nearly half the scenes where Tintin and all references to God in The Shooting Star.
the original strips pages, adds cameos dons makeup to pass
didn’t have enough by Thomson and as a Muslim and
material to fill the 62- Thompson, and where Snowy plays a
page quota set by the removes several gramophone to warn
publisher. references to Belgian his owner of an
rule in Africa. approaching cobra.

1930 1940 1950

Tintin in Tintin in Cigars The King The Red Rackham’s Prisoners

the Land America of the Broken Ottokar’s Shooting Treasure of the
of the Pharaoh Ear Sceptre Star Sun
Soviets The The The The Secret of The Seven Land of
Blue Black Crab with the Unicorn Crystal Balls Black Gold
Tintin in the Lotus Island the Golden
Congo Claws Destination Moon
Millions of people have read Tintin, but the stories they picked up may not have been the same ones originally published. The
reason: Tintin creator Hergé often went back to rewrite, re-draw, and re-edit his famous series. Sometimes he did it for space,
sometimes to add color, and sometimes to subdue controversy.

1962 1966 1971 1972 1975

After complaints, Hergé The Black Island is up- Hergé again updates Land of Black Gold Hergé again re-draws a
removes the Air India dated to portray Great Cigars of the Pharaoh changes locations. page from Tintin in
logo from plane crash Britain more accurately, when it is translated Palestine turns into the Congo for Scan-
debris that appears in including names, police into English. Hergé the fictional Arab dinavian publishers.
Tintin in Tibet. uniforms, locations, redraws a scene where state of Khemed He changes a scene
and modern vehicles. a Sheik shows Tintin and actual Arabic where Tintin kills a
that he’s reading is inserted into rhinoceros by drilling a
Destination Moon, a the dialogue in place hole in its back, filling
Tintin volume pub- of nonsensical it with gunpowder, and
lished 19 years after imagined script. lighting it on fire. In the
Cigars’ original release. updated version, the
rhino runs away scared
after accidentally firing
Tintin’s gun.

1960 1970

The The Red Tintin in The Flight Tintin

Calculus Sea Tibet Castafiore 714 and the
Affair Sharks Emerald Picaros
Explorers
on the
Moon
BOOK REPORT How thoroughly
the library collects
The Library different subjects
Basic
Materials introducing

of Congress the subject

Intermediary
Enough to support

Comic Collection
undergrad instruction
Advanced
All important reference
works
The Library of Congress’s mission, according to official policy, is to create a
“comprehensive record of the Platinum, Golden, and Silver Ages of US comic book Comprehensive
publishing (representing the formative years of comic book development as well All significant works
as current trends).” They collect a lot; but they also miss a lot. Here’s how they go
about beefing up their collection.

Graphic
novels Published Published
Comic Syndicate Comic and collec- collec- Secondary Secondary
books Comic proof Web books collected tions, tions, Original sources, sources,
(foreign) strips sheets comics (U.S.) works Manga comics cartoons comic art comics cartoons

Are not
presently
acquired

The bulk
of the
acquisi-
tions are
via the
copyright
registration
process
(the library
is also
home to
the U.S.
Copyright
Office).

Copyright Purchase Donation Digital deposit

(in the future)

h o w t h e y’ r e a c q u i r e d
ART, WORK

The Schedule In Japan, giant magazines hundreds of

pages thick are printed every week. To

of a Manga Artist meet the page count, comic book artists

work some pretty crazy hours. Here’s a
week in the life of one artist.

m o n d ay t u e s d ay w e d n e s d ay t h u r s d ay f r i d ay s at u r d ay s u n d ay

AM12

10

11

PM12

10

11

Work on Assistants help Meet with Work on Sleeping Meal break Free time
rough pages production the editor cover or
color pages

147
$4

and DC’s
COVER TO COVER

$3.50
Marvel
Price His
t ory
Marvel Comics DC Comics
$3

$2.50

$2

$1.50
In the late ’70s Marvel begins producing more titles and
more original stories, which led them to become the
unmistakable industry leader. Trying to regain a foothold,
DC counters with “The DC Explosion,” launching more than
50 new titles, adding eight pages to each issue, and raising
prices from 35¢ to 50¢. Weak sales, however, forced DC to
cancel more than two dozen titles, reduce the number of
$1 pages in each issue, and lower issue prices to 40¢. The
whole ordeal padded Marvel’s lead and is now known as
“The DC Implosion.”

$.50

$0

1970 1980
The industry hits record highs in sales as
limited editions and new series launch.
The price spike coincides with a speculation
boom; it was believed that a comic’s value
would go up over time. Boom turns to bust,
however, as the titles fail to live up to the hype.
The resulting crash hits the industry hard, and
Marvel is forced to declare bankruptcy in 1996.

TIER ONE

TIER TWO

Both Marvel and DC introduce tiered

pricing levels for all their titles in the
’90s—a practice previously only in
place for special issues. Here’s each
publisher’s high and low end.

1990 2000 2010

149
Size Matters
Here’s how Marvel and DC’s
super cities (and a few small
countries) stack up against
real-world urban development.

Atlantis 9,000 Kingdom of Latveria 500,000 Coast City 781,071 Star City 1,735,714
Paris 2,211,297 Chicago 2,833,321 Gotham City 5,554,285 Kingdom of Wakanda 6,000,000
Metropolis 6,942,857 London 7,830,000 New York 8,175,133

150
 Best friends

Assorted Peanuts Love interest

Family
Best friends, brothers, and budding love in Charles Schulz’s long-running strip.

l is t e d ino r d e r of a ppe a r a n c e

Woodstock
4/4/1967

151
Marvel Universe Trading Cards

Superheroes Supervillains Rookies Famous Battles Most Valuable Team Pictures

Comics

152
Just as the comic book industry enjoyed booming sales in the ’90s, so did collectible trading cards. It started when Marvel
Comics released their first set in 1990. The 167-card set featured notable characters, famous battles, and even 12-cards
featuring Spider-Man interviewing his peers.

Superheroes
Men
Women

Supervillains
Men
Women

Cards
I Have
I Need

Spider-Man
Cards
with him
Cards
without
him

Spider-Man Stan Lee Checklist Holograms

Presents

153
Gotham City
Police Department
Utility Bill
When the city needs to call in its big gun,
it does so at a big price.

154
Bat Signal
Electricity
Water
Sewer
Heating

155
Power Pack
Super strength is not the only asset artists have given Power Girl.

AVERAGE
WOMAN’S
BREAST SIZE
Completely
superfluous
level

POWER GIRL’S
BREAST SIZE
If You Were The Punisher,
What Would You Do?
A glimpse into the mind of Frank Castle, a man searching for someone who deserves to die.

You walk into a bar Do you Is it the

and see someone. YES know him? NO bartender? YES
Is it a man?

YES
NO NO

Is it a woman? Must be a
friend! Is NO Does he have
it Microchip? a scar? NO
The Punisher
YES NO doesn’t have
other friends. YES
YES
Only bad guys
have scars.

Are you sure? YES Buy him

a cider!
Is it your wife? Now that you
mention it...
NO
Is it an alien?
YES

Hey, The Punisher’s NO YES

wife is dead. That’s Give the unidentified
part of why he’s a NO thing a glass of water.
vengeance machine.
Who are you trying Did he die?
to fool?
YES NO Shoot him.
Friendly alien? YES
See, an alien!
Like in the movie Signs.
NO Doesn’t
Have you tried to matter.
NO
kill her before?
Ease up! The
That’s what Punisher
she wants you Is that sexist? YES is an equal
YES to think. She’s opportunity
probably a spy. killer.
NO
Finish the job.
 Wow, Did the
Order a Did you customer
even try it? NO that’s NO
cider. tip you?
tasty!

YES YES
Fine. Kill the bartender,
take his job and help
What? The Punisher the next customer.
would never order a
cider!!!

Is he an
old man?
YES
Does he have Did you spit
a cane? in the drinks?
YES NO YES

Ew. That was rude,

NO NO especially after he gave
you that nice tip.

Is he a war criminal in hiding?

Are the drinks
poisoned?
Is he
smoking?
NO YES
NO YES
NO
But he does speak
fondly of his old friend It just seems that way Then take it
YES Adolf and the because it’s easy, pal.
good ol’ days. a slow-acting poison.

Cigarettes? NO Is he a pimp? YES

Well then he
must have been
YES smoking NO Still a
something Is he crime.
illegal. surrounded by Must be a
henchmen? crime boss.
Leave him alone. YES
He’ll get cancer and
die. Kids: seriously,
smoking will kill you.
NO
Order them
Like a round of
It’s an inside comics joke. everything Well, that makes drinks.
And not even a good one. else in it easy.
this book?

I don’t get it. Yep, sorry.

Stuff her into

Kill him.
a refrigerator. Now THAT is sexist.

158
Gotham City Police Department Partner

Love Interest
The Major Crimes Unit in the DC Comics series Gotham Central
deals with the toughest cases in the Police Department—including First Shift (day)
all superhero and supervillain issues. Here’s how the squad has
paired up to fight crime . . . and each other. Second Shift (night)

Support

Captain
Maggie
Sawyer Sergeant
Jim Commissioner First shift
Gordon Michael Vincent
Former commander; Del Arrazio Detective
Akins formerly Crispus
Gotham City Former First shift
head of second-in- Allen
police commissioner Metropolis
commissioner. for Gateway command Killed by
Special Jim Corrigan,
Currently City; replaced Crimes Unit now
teaches Jim Gordon The Spectre
criminology Detective
Nora at Gotham Joely
Fields University Bartlett
City
Jim coroner
Corrigan
GCPD crime Detective
scene Tommy
investigator Burke
Killed by Crispus
Allen’s son
Stacy
Receptionist; Detective
only person Eric
permitted to Cohen
operate the
Bat-Signal

Detective Detective
Nate Andi
Patton Kasinsky
Killed by Joker

Detective
Josephine
Detective “Josie Mac”
Trey MacDonald
Hartley The first MCU
officer selected
after Jim
Gordon’s
retirement
Detective Detective
Charlie 2nd Grade
Fields Renee
Killed by Montoya
Mr. Freeze
Now The Question
Detective Detective
Marcus Dagmar
Driver Projnow

Lieutenant
Detective David
Nelson Cornwell
Crowe Second shift
Detective Sergeant commander
Romy Jackson
Detective Lieutenant “Sarge”
Chandler Ron Davies
Josh
Azeveda Probson Second shift
Second shift co-second-
co-second- in-command
in-command
Killed by Joker
 The Most
Quotable
Lines from
300

This is
blasphemy!

This is
madness!

This is
Sparta.
Lifespans of Characters in
The Walking Dead
HOW MANY ISSUES EACH CHARACTER LASTED

0 5 15 25 35 45 55 65

Albert
Alice
Allen
Amy
Andrew
Arnold
Axel
Ben
Billy
Billy
Bob
But strangely
Bruce does not last
nearly as long in
Carol the TV show.
Chris
Chris
Dale
David
Dexter

Doc Stevens
Donna Women live a little longer than
Eric men in the real world, but not in
the zombie apocalypse.

Survival, by gender (in issues)

18 19 17
ON AVERAGE,
HOW MANY
ISSUES A
CHARACTER MEN WOMEN
SURVIVES

162
It’s hard to stay alive for long when all your neighbors are either zombies or the people freaked out by them. Here’s a
breakdown of the first 75 issues of The Walking Dead, tracking how long characters survived after they were introduced.

0 5 15 25 35 45 55 65

Eugene
Gabe
Governor
Greg
Heath
Hershel
Jim
Judith
Julie
Lacey
Lily
Lori
Martinez
Otis
Patricia
Rachel
Shane
Susie
Theresa Black
people are
Thomas the first to
die in
Tyrese comics, too.

Survival, by race (in issues)

WHITE BLACK LATINO

19 14 20
A Peek Inside the Jean Grey
School for Higher Learning
When the X-Men first debuted, the mutants, then teenagers, all studied at Professor Charles Xavier's School for Gifted
Youngsters. As the X-Men drew more enemies, the school came under constant attack. Needing a change of scenery, the
X-Men eventually moved their headquarters from Salem, New York to San Francisco, California. But Wolverine decided to
stay put, rebuilding the old facility under a new moniker (an ode to his one-time teammate Jean Grey, RIP) and reopening it
in 2011 with a brand new faculty.

Wolverine Kitty
Pride

t e a c h e s: HEADMASTER t e a c h e s:
World History Ethics 101: Forgetting
(1880–1950): An Everything You Ever
Eyewitness Account Learned From Emma Frost

Beast

t e a c h e s: t e a c h e s:
Outer Space Survival Diction and
Skills: My Time as a VICE-PRINCIPAL Linguistics
Starjammer
t e a c h e s:
Mutant Philosophy:
The Teachings
Gambit Rachel of Xavier, Rogue Iceman
Grey the Lessons of
Magneto

t e a c h e s: t e a c h e s:
How to SENIOR STAFF Zen and the Art of
Weaponize Ice Sculpture
Household
Cannon- Products
Chamber Karma Husk
ball

t e a c h e s: t e a c h e s:
Flying Into Things The History of Mutant Art: From Jumbo
Headfirst JUNIOR STAFF Carnation to Kenji Uedo

Frenzy Doop

Leads the “Let’s All Clean Up ADJUNCT STAFF Leads the choir
After Ourselves” club club

Toad

CUSTODIAL STAFF
 CALLING THE SHOTS

How FansVoted
to Kill Robin
In late 1988 the DC Comics brass became aware of the
public’s unfavorable opinion of the current Robin, Jason Todd.
So that September, DC set up a phone line to determine the
fate of Batman’s sidekick and instructed fans to call
1-900-720-2660 to save Robin, or 1-900-720-2666 to kill him.
With the phone lines open for two days and each call costing
50¢, more than 10,000 people voted.

k i ll ro b i n s av e r o b i n
51 % 49 %

Margin
of only
72 votes!

According to then Batman editor Denny O’Neil, one man programmed his phone to dial the “kill” number every 90 seconds
for 8 hours, which could have generated enough votes to sway the outcome (and cost the caller $160).
Archie’s
Ample,
Awesome,
and Awful
Alliteration
Riverdale’s Archie Andrews is best known
for being in the middle of a love triangle between
Betty, the girl next door, and Veronica, the
one-percenter. But his acquaintances are vast,
and have similar sounding names.

166
 f ir s t name

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Archie Andrews
A

Bernice Beazly
B

Betty Cooper
C

Dilton Doiley
D
E

Fangs Fogarty
F

Geraldine Grundy
G

Herkimer Hassle
H
I
J

Jughead Jones
K

Kevin Keller Midge Klump

L

Ginger Lopez Veronica Lodge

last name

Ethel Muggs Moose Mason Reggie Mantle

N
O

Raj Patel
P

Patti Pacer
Q
R

Sandy Sanchez
S

Terry “Pop” Tate

T
U
V
W

Nancy Woods Waldo

Weatherbee
X
Y
Z
 What Makes
Nick Fury
So Intimidating

Head of the nation’s most Eyepatch

powerful security force

168
 Reasons to
Like Cyclops

Team leader Cool sunglasses Dude gets the hottest X-women

even though he’s kind of a stiff

169
How DC Characters Rank in HeroClix

Speed Attack

BARRY ALLEN STARRO

GANTHET DEADSHOT
KYLE RAYNER SINESTRO
GUY GARDNER BARRY ALLEN
SINESTRO BATMAN
HAL JORDAN GANTHET
JOHN STEWART GUY GARDNER
DR. POLARIS JOHN STEWART
MONGUL HAL JORDAN
SUPERMAN MONGUL
SUPERBOY BEAST BOY
WONDER WOMAN BLUE BEETLE
THE ATOM CAPTAIN BOOMERANG
BEAST BOY CAROL FERRIS
CAROL FERRIS THE COMEDIAN
CHRONOS DONNA TROY
DONNA TROY DR. POLARIS
LEX LUTHOR GREEN ARROW
METALLO KYLE RAYNER
OCEAN MASTER LEX LUTHOR
PLASTIC MAN METALLO
BATMAN MR. TERRIFIC
BLUE BEETLE OCEAN MASTER
CAPTAIN BOOMERANG RORSCHACH
THE COMEDIAN SGT. ROCK
DEADSHOT SUPERBOY
GREEN ARROW SUPERMAN
NITE OWL WONDER WOMAN
RORSCHACH THE ATOM
MR. TERRIFIC CHRONOS
PROFESSOR IVO NITE OWL
SGT. ROCK PLASTIC MAN
TALIA AL GHUL PROFESSOR IVO
STARRO TALIA AL GHUL

170
Launched in 2002, HeroClix is a game where players battle each other with miniature comic character figurines.
Each figure has ratings for Speed, Attack, Defense and Damage dealt, which are updated during gameplay. They're
interesting because the ratings don't exactly align to the comics—in fact, they can't, because DC Comics doesn't
use official power ratings the same way that Marvel Comics does (see page 184).

Defense Damage

BARRY ALLEN STARRO

DONNA TROY METALLO
GANTHET GANTHET
HAL JORDAN GUY GARDNER
KYLE RAYNER HAL JORDAN
METALLO MONGUL
MONGUL SINESTRO
SINESTRO SUPERBOY
STARRO SUPERMAN
SUPERBOY WONDER WOMAN
THE ATOM THE ATOM
BATMAN BARRY ALLEN
BEAST BOY BATMAN
CAROL FERRIS DONNA TROY
THE COMEDIAN DR. POLARIS
DR. POLARIS JOHN STEWART
GUY GARDNER KYLE RAYNER
JOHN STEWART LEX LUTHOR
MR. TERRIFIC OCEAN MASTER
NITE OWL BEAST BOY
OCEAN MASTER BLUE BEETLE
SGT. ROCK CAPTAIN BOOMERANG
SUPERMAN CAROL FERRIS
WONDER WOMAN CHRONOS
BLUE BEETLE THE COMEDIAN
CAPTAIN BOOMERANG GREEN ARROW
CHRONOS DEADSHOT
DEADSHOT MR. TERRIFIC
GREEN ARROW NITE OWL
LEX LUTHOR PLASTIC MAN
PLASTIC MAN PROFESSOR IVO
PROFESSOR IVO SGT. ROCK
RORSCHACH TALIA AL GHUL
TALIA AL GHUL RORSCHACH
Shell Boy
The other Turtles constantly make fun of Donatello. Here’s why:

He spends his time He spends his time

studying science playing with his staff
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BAT-RELATIONSHIPS MOTHER Love interest

The World of the Caped Crusader

Family relation
Killed this person

Nyssa
al Ghul The
Commissioner Talia Edward
Jean-Paul Azrael Michael Riddler Nygma
Lane Loeb al Ghul
Valley, Jr. Harvey Maggie Dusan
Bullock Sawyer al Ghul
Batman Brion The

FATHER

FATHER
FATHER
Spectre
FATHER
Markov Emily Scarecrow Dr. Jonathan
Briggs
Looker Joe Gotham Crispus Pamela
Crane

Thomas Martha Halo Violet

Harper
Chill Police Allen Isley
Ra’s al
Wayne Geo-Force Helena Ghul Mad
Wayne Poison Jervis
Ivy Hatter
Kathy Batwoman
Kate The Black
FATHER
Slam Jim
Tetch
Bruce FATHER
MOTHER Webb-Kane Rebecca
Outsiders Lightning Bradley, Jr. Corrigan

MOTHER
Wayne Kane Meta- Vic
Nightwing Jim
Sage
Rex morpho Gordon Jeremiah Mr.
Julia FATHER Mason Jefferson Pierce The Arkham Carmine
Falcone Freeze
Remarque Question Renee Sarah
Alfred Selina
Dick Kyle Montoya Essen-Gordon Alberto Dr. Victor
Pennyworth Damian Dinah Falcone FATHER Fries
Wayne Grayson Lance
ADOPTED
FATHER

Mr.
Black Zero
Jason Catwoman

FATHER
Robin Canary Kitrina Roman Black
Todd Catgirl
Lucius Bat- Falcone Sionis Mask Holiday
Killer
Fox
Family Birds
Dinah Holly The

Ace the
Stephanie
Brown
Tim
Drake
Red Drake of Robinson Penguin
Oswald
Cobblepot
Robin
Bat- Prey David Hugo
Hound Cain The Strange
Jok er
Killer
Villains Croc
Waylon
Spoiler Jones
Lady
Maxie
Black Shiva
Bat Cassandra Batgirl Barbra
Willis
Zeus
Gordon
Cain Todd Sandra Mr. Victor
Nocturna Zsasz Zsasz
Woosan
Harley Hush
Helena Quinn
Bertinelli
Bette/Betty
Batwing Kane Oracle Bane
Red Dr. Harleen Quake
Natalia
Hood Quinzel Master
Knight
David Clayface MOTHER
(mother)
Zavimbe Flamebird Julie Peyton
Huntress Madison Riley Thomas
Vicki Harvey The Elliot
Vale Dent Ventriloquist
Lovers Cluemaster
FATHER (father)
Arnold
Two- Wesker
Face
Rachel Jezebel Silver Linda Vesper Arthur Gilda MOTHER

Caspian Jet St. Cloud Page Fairchild Brown Dent Basil Matt Preston Sondra Cassius Dr. Peter Todd Johnny
Karlo Hagen Payne Fuller “Clay” Payne “Claything” Russell Williams
Malley
FATHER
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178
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VVVVV VVVVVV VVVVVV VVV VVVVVV VVVVVV
VVVVVV VVV VVVVVV VVVVVV VVVVVV VVVVVV VVVVVV VVVVVV
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

V
VVVVVV
VVVVVV
VVVVVV VV
VVVVVV VVVVVV VVVVVV VVVVVV
V VVVVVV VVVVVV VVVVVV VVVVVV
VVVVVV VVVVVV VVVVVV VVVVVV VVVVVV
VVVVVV VVVVVV VVVVVV VVVVVV VVVVVV
7 8 9 10 11
FIGHTING WORDS

The Evolution of
the Green Lantern Oath
The very first Green Lantern was introduced in 1940. He neither received
his powers from a dying alien, nor was he a member of the intergalactic
peace-keeping force, the Green Lantern Corps. The earliest Green Lantern
was railroad engineer Alan Scott, who, like the modern Green Lantern,
sports a ring that transforms his thoughts into real world manifestations.
Over time, though, the ring loses power. Recharging requires a power
battery and a recited oath. While battery tech has stayed the same, the
Green Lantern's oath has evolved over time.

1940

FALL 1942
Let the light of the
lantern penetrate
the dark places
of ignorance and
wrong, setting all
minds rightand
overthrowing all
JULY 1940 servants of evil! WINTER 1942
And I shall shed SUMMER I shed my light The light of the
my light over dark 1942 upon the dark- Green Lantern
evil, for the dark I shall shed my ness! Evil has DEC. 1942 WINTER 1942 pierces darkness
things cannot light upon dark no place to hide My rays strike "Let all power and and mystery,
stand the light, evil,For evil cannot itself! Green Lan- the darkest corner, triumph be mine and its radiance
the light of the stand the light of tern goes forth to banishing in whatever right will strike at the
Green Lantern! Green Lantern!" conquer!" all wickedness! I do!" heart of evil!"

180
 2013

FALL 1943
In brightest day, in 1959
FEB. 1943 blackest night, no A new series
As the green rays evil shall escape my debuts starring
strike forth into sight! Let those 1949 Hal Jordan (the
darkness, so may who worship evil’s The original Green current Green
all black evil be ex- might beware my Lantern series Lantern), who
posed and driven power—Green starring Alan Scott uses the last oath
away! Lantern’s light! is cancelled. from 1943.
Overlapping Interests
SOME OF MARVEL’S MOST PROLIFIC WRITERS: 2000–2010

Spider-Man
Fantastic Four

Avengers
JONATHAN HICKMAN

JEPH LOEB

J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

MARK WAID
Iron DAN SLOTT
Man

BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS

MARK MILLAR

Hulk
CHRIS CLAREMONT PETER DAVID

CHRISTOS GAGE
WARREN ELLIS
GREG PAK
ED BRUBAKER JOSS WHEDON

MATT FRACTION

X-Men
Iron Fist GARTH ENNIS GRANT MORRISON

RICK REMENDER

Punisher

182
 SOME OF DC’S MOST PROLIFIC WRITERS: 2000–2010

Wonder Woman

Hawkgirl

WALT SIMONSON

ALLAN HEINBERG
The Atom

RICK REMENDER

Nightwing

GAIL SIMONE
MARV Superman
WOLFMAN BRIAN K. VAUGHAN JOE KELLY
CHUCK DIXON
GREG RUCKA
DEVIN GRAYSON J.M. DEM ATTEIS

GEOFF JOHNS
MARK WAID

JUDD WINICK Flash

JAMES ROBINSON
PETER MILLIGAN
CHUCK AUSTEN

BRIAN AZZARELLO

JEPH LOEB DAN JURGENS

KURT BUSIEK
ED BRUBAKER

Green Lantern
MATTEO CASALI TAD WILLIAMS

Aquaman
Batman Catwoman
SUPER ANALYTICS

Rating the
Characters
in the Marvel
Comics
Universe
To keep track of the thousands of characters in their library, Marvel
Comics catalogues each one and rates them according to their
attributes. Heroes, villains, and even civilians are given a score in
the following categories: fighting ability, intelligence, strength,
speed, durability, and energy projection. Use the key to the right to
see how the characters on the next couple of pages measure up.

184
 Use this key with the next few pages to compare character ratings.

Fighting ability Intelligence

PROFICIENCY IN HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT ABILITY TO THINK AND PROCESS INFORMATION
Poor 1 1 Slow/impaired
Normal 2 2 Normal
Some training 3 3 Learned
Experienced fighter 4 4 Gifted
Master of a single form of combat 5 5 Genius
Master of several forms of combat 6 6 Super-genius
Master of all forms of combat 7 7 Omniscient

Energy 6 Strength
projection 5
ABILITY TO
LIFT WEIGHT
ABILITY TO
DISCHARGE 1 Weak: cannot
ENERGY lift own body
4 weight
None 1 2 Normal: able
Ability to 2 to lift own body
3 weight
discharge
energy on 3 Peak human:
contact 2 able to lift twice
Short range, 3 own body weight
short duration, 4 Superhuman:
single energy 1 800 lbs–25 ton
type range
Medium 4 5 Superhuman:
range, dura- 25–75 ton range
tion, single
energy type 6 Superhuman:
75–100 ton
Long range, 5 range
long duration,
single energy 7 Incalculable: in
type excess of
100 tons
Able to 6
discharge
multiple forms
of energy
Almost unlim- 7
ited command
of all forms of
energy

Durability Speed
ABILITY TO RESIST OR ABILITY TO MOVE OVER LAND
RECOVER FROM BODILY INJURY BY RUNNING OR FLIGHT
Weak 1 1 Below normal
Normal 2 2 Normal
Enhanced 3 3 Superhuman: peak range: 700 mph
Regenerative 4 4 Speed of sound: Mach 1
Bulletproof 5 5 Supersonic: Mach 2 through orbital velocity
Superhuman 6 6 Speed of light: 186,000 miles per second
Virtually indestructible 7 7 Warp speed: transcending light speed
Intelligence Strength Speed Durability Energy projection Fighting ability
Hero Villain Civilian

Adam Warlock Archangel Apocalypse Aunt May Parker Banshee

Black Panther Blade Blob Cable Callisto

Cyclops Daredevil Darkhawk Dazzler Deadpool

 Beast Ben Urich Beta Ray Bill Black Bolt Black Cat

Cannonball Captain Captain Britain Carnage Colossus

America

Doc Doctor Doom Doctor Octopus Doctor Strange Electro

Samson

Forge
Elektra Franklin
Emma Frost Galactus
Falcon Gambit
Fantomex Ghost
Fin FangRider
Foom
Richards
Intelligence Strength Speed Durability Energy projection Fighting ability
Hero Villain Civilian

Green Goblin Gwen Stacy Hank Pym Havok Hawkeye

Iceman Invisible Iron Fist Iron Man J. Jonah

Woman Jameson

Kitty Pride Kraven the Hunter Lady Lizard Luke Cage

Deathstrike
 Hellcat Howard the Duck Hulk Human Humbug
Torch

Jean Grey Jubilee Juggernaut Ka-Zar Kingpin

M.O.D.O.K. Magneto Mandarin Microchip Mister

Fantastic

Namor Nick Fury Nightcrawler Northstar Nova

Mister Sinister Mojo Moon Knight Multiple Man Mystique
Intelligence Strength Speed Durability Energy projection Fighting ability
Hero Villain Civilian

Odin Omega Red Onslaught Patriot Phoenix

Punisher Quasar Quicksilver Rawhide Kid Rhino

Shatterstar She-Hulk Silver Samurai Silver Surfer Spider-Man

 Polaris Professor Xavier Proudstar Psylocke Puck

Rogue Sabretooth Scarlet Witch Shadowcat Shanna the She-Devil

Spider-Woman Storm Strong Guy Stryfe The Thing

Warpath
Thor Wasp
Thunderbird Wolverine
Toad Wonder Man
Ultron X-23
Vulcan
Index
A price history of, 148–49
Adrian Veidt, 36–37, 133
Angel, 54–55, 74
Aquaman, 19, 22, 107, 127, 183
archers, 58–59
Archie Andrews, 166–67
Atom, 26, 170–71, 183
Avengers, 39, 45, 74–75, 114, 125, 182
B Crumb, R., 41
Banshee, 65, 186
Barry Allen, 22, 60, 62, 126–27, 131,
170–71
Bart Allen, 60, 127, 131
Batman
Gotham City and, 22, 154–55
height of, 19
Joker's questions for, 35
political ideology of, 50
rap and, 107, 109
rating of, 170–71
relationships of, 174–75
roller coasters and, 48
on television, 116–17
theme song for, 34
utility belt of, 76–77
as vigilante, 137
weight of, 20
writers for, 183
Beagle Boys, 39
Black Canary, 18, 21, 65, 174
Black Widow, 18, 39, 74
Blue Beetle, 9, 27, 54, 133, 170–71
books, 4–5
Bruce Wayne, 24, 36–37, 76, 89, 107,
109, 174
Bullseye, 18, 65, 86
C F
Calvin and Hobbes, 51
Captain America
affiliations of, 74
battles of, 86
Chris Evans as, 136
costume colors of, 8, 39
political ideology of, 50
rap and, 106
rating of, 187
return from death by, 127
shield of, 65, 173
Stan Lee and, 45
weight of, 20
Catwoman, 18, 21, 48, 50, 54–55, 107,
175, 183
Cerebus the Aardvark, 56–57
Charlie Brown, 53, 108, 151
circles, concentric, 65
cities, sizes of, 150
Clark Kent, 22, 107
colors
in character names, 6–7
of costumes, 8–11, 54–55
of teams, 38–39
Comedian, 132–33, 170–71
192
comic books Hulk
affiliations of, 74
publishers of, 26–29 battles of, 86
rap and, 106–7 color of, 39, 55, 98
reading, 14–15 location of, 22
Comic-Con, 96–103 political ideology of, 50
cosplay, 95, 98–103 rap and, 106, 107
costumes, 8–11, 54–55. rating of, 189
See also cosplay roller coasters and, 48–49
crossover issues, 138–39 Stan Lee and, 45
crossplay, 95 writers for, 182
Human Torch, 39, 46–47, 74, 86, 106,
Cyclops, 9, 19, 20, 50, 74, 86, 106, 127, 189
169, 186
D I
Invisible Woman, 18, 39, 46–47, 74,
Daredevil, 19, 45, 50, 55, 65, 86, 106, 84, 86, 188
125, 137, 186 Iron Fist, 55, 106, 182, 188
Darkseid, 21, 50, 89, 110, 111 Iron Man, 8, 39, 50, 55, 74, 86, 107,
DC Comics. 125, 173, 182, 188
See also individual characters
character ratings by, 170–71
history of, 26–27 J
market share of, 28–29 Jay Garrick, 60, 131
multiverse of, 24–25 Joker, 10, 19, 20, 35, 48, 50, 78, 107,
price history of, 148–49 160, 175
readers of, 72–73
roller coasters and, 48–49
writers for, 183 K
death, return from, 126–27 Kandor, 64
Death Note, 104–5 Kirby, Jack, 110
Depp, Johnny, 103
Dr. Manhattan, 65, 132, 133
L
Lantern Power Rings, 38
E The Last Emperor, 106
Earths, alternate, 24–25 Lee, Stan, 44–45, 68–69, 106
Eminem, 107 Lex Luthor, 11, 19, 36–37, 50, 170–71
Evans, Chris, 136 Library of Congress, 146
M
Fantastic Four, 39, 45, 46–47, 74–75, MAD magazine, 112–13, 128–29
107, 125, 182 manga, 15–17, 104–5, 147
Flash, 8, 50, 60, 62–63, 130–31, 183 Marvel Comics.
Flintheart Glomgold, 36–37 See also individual characters
fortunes, fictional, 36–37 battle breakdown for, 86–87
character affiliations of, 74–75
character ratings by, 184–91
G history of, 26–27
gender, breakdown by, 82–83 market share of, 28
Gibbons, Dave, 132 New York locations and, 124–25
Gotham City, 154–55, 160 nicknames at, 68–69
Green Arrow, 18, 22, 50, 58, 126–27, price history of, 148–49
170–71 softball team of, 52
Green Lantern, 22, 24, 26, 48, 107, trading cards, 152–53
180–81, 183 writers for, 182
Metal Men, 39, 70–71
Metropolis, 22, 42–43
H Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, 38
Havok, 55, 65, 74, 86, 188 Miller, Frank, 66
Hawkeye, 39, 59, 74, 188 Mister Fantastic, 39, 46–47, 74, 86,
Hawkgirl, 18, 183 106, 189
Hergé, 140, 142–45 Mr. Freeze, 48, 54–55, 107, 160, 175
HeroClix, 170–71 Moore, Alan, 132–33
Highfather, 110, 111 movies
 Chris Evans in, 136 affiliations of, 74–75
history of, 176–77 battle breakdown for, 86–87
Superman in, 61 by color, 6–7
multiverse, 24–25 common themes of, 12–13
costume colors of, 8–11, 54–55
height of, 18–19
N locations of, 22–23
New Gods, 110–11 political ideologies of, 50
New York City, 124–25 ratings of, 170–71, 184–91
Nick Fury, 19, 86, 125, 168, 189 taxonomy of, 118–19
Nightwing, 18, 88, 174, 183 on trading cards, 152–53
weight of, 20–21
Superman
O costume colors of, 8
O'Malley, Bryan Lee, 92–93 Flash vs., 62–63
height of, 19
hometown of, 22, 42–43
P logo of, 30–31
Pac-Man, 101 in movies, 61
Peanuts, 53, 108, 151 museum for, 42
Persepolis, 122–23 political ideology of, 50
Power Girl, 156–57 rap and, 107
Prohías, Antonio, 112–13 rating of, 170–71
Punisher, 86, 106, 120–21, 125, 137, return from death by, 126
158–59, 182, 190 roller coasters and, 48–49
writers for, 183
R T
rap, 106–7, 109
Richie Rich, 36–37, 40 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, 32–33,
Robin, 79, 88–89, 107, 137, 165, 38, 106, 172
174 Thing, 19, 39, 46–47, 74, 86, 106, 125,
roller coasters, 48–49 127, 191
Royal Roy, 40 Thor, 8, 19, 22, 39, 45, 50, 86, 106,
RZA, 109 173, 190
300, 161
tie-ins, 138–39 Most popular letter section
S Tintin, 22, 23, 140–45 by sub-category
Satrapi, Marjane, 122–23 Tony Stark, 36–37, 107, 125
Scott Pilgrim, 92–93 trading cards, 152–53
Scrooge McDuck, 22, 36–37, 115
Silver Surfer, 19, 20, 45, 86, 136, 173,
190 V
Sim, Dave, 56 Venom, 55, 94, 100
Sin City, 66–67 V for Vendetta, 178–79
Snoop Dogg, 107 vigilantes, 137
Spider-Man Voltron, 38
affiliations of, 74
battles of, 86
costume of, 8, 55, 100 W
in New York City, 125 The Walking Dead, 80–81, 162–63
political ideology of, 50 Wally West, 19, 22, 50, 60, 62, 131
popularity of, with men, 85 Ware, Chris, 90–91
rap and, 106 Watchmen, 132–33
rating of, 190 Wolverine, 8, 18, 21, 50, 74, 86, 102,
Stan Lee and, 45 106, 137, 164, 191
on trading cards, 152–53 Wonder Woman, 9, 18, 22, 50, 134–35,
Venom and, 55, 94, 100 170–71, 183
weight of, 20
writers for, 182
Spy vs. Spy, 112–13 X
Starro, 65, 170–71 X-Men, 23, 45, 74–75, 99, 107, 114,
Star Wars, 103 164, 182
Storm, 18, 55, 74, 86, 106,
191
superheroes and supervillians. Y
See also individual characters Y: The Last Man, 82–83 ABC DEFGH I J K L MNOPQRST UVWXYZ
Acknowledgments
HUMANS

Chris Anderson
David Brothers
Alice Cho
Neil Egan
Thomas Goetz
Emily Haynes
Laura Hudson
Erica Jewell

Adan Jimenez
Brandon Kavulla
Alan Kistler
Rina Kushnir

Suzanne LaGasa
Andrew Lawrence
Nancy Leong
Rich Leong
Jason Michelitch
Wyatt Mitchell

Caitlin Roper
Peter Rubin
Chris Sims
Rachel Swaby
Jacob Young
Everyone at
WIRED Magazine

SUPERHUMANS
To Rachel, for not breaking up with me during this long process, but also for supporting me through it with incredible love,
enthusiasm, and inspiration. Thank you for pointing out when I got things wrong in the book, though I still don’t know why you
took so much pleasure in doing so. You made this book, and my life, so much better, and I love you so much for it. I could not
have done this without you, nor would I have wanted to.
 WRITING

EDITING

DESIGN

RESEARCH

GENERAL
SUPPORT

EMOTIONAL
LOVE

PHYSICAL
LOVE

Thanks to everyone at Wired
for teaching me so much about
infographics and being so over-
whelmingly supportive.
To all the former readers of
Comic Foundry. Your support still
means the world, and pushed me
to take on this project.
NON-HUMANS
To comic books and everyone that makes
them and reads them. This book is a love let-
ter to the medium, and hopefully a way to give
back to the industry that I owe so much to.
Tim Leong is the Director of Digital Design at WIRED Magazine.
He was previously the Design Director at Complex Magazine, and
before that he founded and edited the Eisner Award–nominated
magazine, Comic Foundry. He organizes his graphic novels by color
and lives in San Francisco, California.

Copyright © 2013 by Tim Leong.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

ISBN 978-1-4521-2988-4

The Library of Congress has cataloged the previous edition as follows:

Leong, Tim.
Super graphic : a visual guide to the comic book universe / Tim Leong.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-4521-1388-3
1. Comic books, strips, etc. I. Title.
NC1340.L46 2013
741.5--dc23

2012042335

Cover design by Tim Leong

Chronicle Books LLC

680 Second Street
San Francisco, California 94107
www.chroniclebooks.com
 What do Superman and Magneto have in common?
What is the Joker's favorite question for Batman? Are there more deaths
by human or by zombie in The Walking Dead? These are justa few
of the questions answered in this infographic guide to the comic book
universe. Author and designer Tim Leong has creatively visualized
everything from the historical (the contents of Batman's utility belt) to
the current (a guide to cosplay at Comic-Con, and the unexpected
(rappers who take their names from comics).

SuperGraphic might be my favorite book ever. 1 ama complete statistics nerd. 1 am

also a comic book/sci-fi nerd. Never befare have I seen anything that combines these
two separate worlds so brilliantly. 1 wouldn't describe the act of ingesting this book
as "reading" per se, more of an effortless flow of information into the readers mind.
- NEILL BLOMKAMP
Oscar ®- nominated writer and director of the critically acclaimed films District 9 and Elysium

Tim Leong's mixture of deep nerd data and gorgeous information designare the perfect
chocolate-and-peanut butter combo you didn't know your eyes needed. lt's part
beautiful, part fascinating, occasionally challenging and sometimes completely useless-
in other words, a work of art.
- MATT FRACTION
Eisner Award-winning writer of The lnvincib/e /ron Man, Fantastic Four, and Casanova

1 could leaf through this book for hours. lt's fun, it's smart, it's informative, and l'm
saying that as student of comic art, notas a fan geek. (Even though the author is horribly,
tragically, staggeringly wrong in his analysis of which Flash is the best.)
-MARKWAID
Writer of The Flash, Daredevil, and Kingdom Come and former editor-in-chief of BOOM! Studios

This is a wonderful book, both clever and informative while also being a joy to look at.
Highly recommended... !
P/\.,.,1_ POPE
Eisner Award-winning writer and illustrator of Heavy Liquid, 100%, and Batman: Year 100

REVIEWING THE REVIEWS

ILOVE 1 REALLY LOVE

THIS BOOK! THIS BOOK!