Cornell University Press Marvel Comics in the 1970s: The World Inside Your Head

"With the rise of new creators who emphasized their own individual voices while also focusing on their characters' inner lives, Marvel Comics in the 1970s laid the groundwork for the next decade's breakthroughs, expanding our sense of what the comics medium can do and what the superhero genre makes possible"-- Marvel Comics in the 1970s explores a forgotten chapter in the story of the rise of comics as an artform. Bridging Marvel's dizzying innovations and the birth of the underground comix scene in the 1960s and the rise of the prestige graphic novel and postmodern superheroics in the 1980s, Eliot Borenstein reveals a generation of comic book writers whose work at Marvel in the 1970s established their own authorial voice within the strictures of corporate comics.Through a diverse cast of heroes (and the occasional antihero)—Black Panther, Shang-Chi, Deathlok, Dracula, Killraven, Man-Thing, and Howard the Duck—writers like Steve Gerber, Doug Moench, and Don McGregor made unprecedented strides in exploring their characters' inner lives. Visually, dynamic action was still essential, but the real excitement was taking place inside their heroes' heads. Told with enthusiasm, insight, and affection, Marvel Comics in the 1970s highlights the brilliant and sometimes gloriously imperfect creations that laid the groundwork for the medium's later artistic achievements and the broader acceptance of comic books in the cultural landscape today. Autorid: Eliot Borenstein