Over the Hump

Your daily bread:

*On the site today: Hayley Campbell on Winschluss's Pinocchio.

(Chain) Links:

*I just hope somehow Jim Shooter gets blamed even more for this. Just because that would increase his record.

*Everyone should be tuning in to The Comics Reporter to follow the L'Assocation news, since we've yet to get it together to cover the story. It's a big one, and Tom is hosting the best English-language coverage.

*There's another new Steve Ditko book coming out: Act 8 Making Lucky 13, Thirteen, Ditko's 32s. What a streak.

*Absolutely one of the best Mort Meskin stories I've ever seen.

And, the wind-up:

Every so often we'll present an oddity that comes across our desk; this email was passed on to us by one Gary Groth, an idealistic young "comics scholar" based in a ramshackle house in Seattle.

Dear Comics Scholar:

Matt and I would like to invite your contribution to a new anthology we are editing for ABC-CLIO called Icons of the American Comic Book. The project will include 100 entries spanning the breadth of comics culture, including the characters, creators, titles, and other facets that have achieved iconic status with the American consciousness. For your contribution, we can offer you an honorarium:

* $90 for each of the entries designated to run approximately 5,000 words
* $50 for each of the entries designated to run approximately 2,750 words
We are looking at an initial deadline of *August 1, 2011*.

Our aim with Icons of the American Comic Book will be to provide fresh insights into the significance of some of the most widely known and fascinating popular culture icons of the 20th and 21st centuries. Each entry will discuss the iconic significance of its subject and should be both more detailed and more entertaining than the conventional encyclopedia entry. More than simply character or creator biographies, the entries will provide in-depth explorations of the icons as products of and an influence upon American culture, informed by scholarly research.

Below is our list of entries (a strikethrough indicates an entry that is already assigned). If you are interested in contributing, please let us know what your primary as well as any secondary preferences would be, but do keep in mind that we will need your initial draft(s) by Aug. 1.  Along with each entry you request include *a brief statement of your qualifications* to write on the subject.

Please respond off-List to [EMAIL REDACTED]

Our publishers have stipulated that we should consider our primary audience to be students doing research. To that end, each entry must include a bibliography and one (or more) sidebars of 50-300 words each. (These considerations must be included within the word counts.)

We’re also planning to invite some guest contributors to 1) read and comment on the draft entries, 2) contribute a sidebar, or 3) even collaborate on the entry itself on several key entries. For example, comic book writer and editor Mark Waid (/Superman: Birthright/) might be enticed to act as a consultant on the Superman entry. Each guest’s role will depend on your comfort and willingness to work in such an arrangement.

Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you soon,

Randy and Matt

Entries of approximately 5,000 words

Archie Andrews

Barks, Carl

Batman

Captain America

Crumb, Robert

DC Comics

Dell Comics

EC Comics

Eisner, Will

Gaiman, Neil

Joker, The

Kane, Bob (and collaborators)

Kirby, Jack

Lee, Stan

Marvel Comics

Moore, Alan

Siegel, Jerry & Shuster, Joe

Spider-Man

Spiegelman, Art

Superman

Wonder Woman

Entries of approximately 2,750 words

Adams, Neal
American Splendor
Arkham Asylum
Aquaman
Black Panther
Blade
Bone
Captain Marvel
Classics Illustrated
Clowes, Daniel
Comic-Con International
Contract with God, A
Crime Does Not Pay
Dark Horse
Ditko, Steve
Doctor Doom
Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers
Fanboy
Fantagraphics
Fantastic Four
Flash
From Hell
Green Lantern
Green Lantern & Green Arrow
Gonick, Larry

good girls
Heavy Metal
Hellboy
Hulk
Image Comics
Iron Man
Jack Kirby’s Fourth World
Katy Keene
Killing Joke, The
Kubert, Joe
Kurtzman, Harvey
Lex Luthor
Little Lulu
Mad
Magneto
Maus
McCloud, Scott
McFarlane, Todd
Milestone Comics
Miller, Frank
MLJ/Archie Publications
Morrison, Grant
Mr. Natural
Palestine
Plastic Man
Pogo
Punisher, The
RAW
Richie Rich
Robin
Romance comics

Rorschach
Ross, Alex
Sacco, Joe
Sandman
Scott Pilgrim
Sheena
Sin City
Sgt. Rock
Spawn
Steranko, James
Supergirl
Swamp Thing
Tales from the Crypt
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The Thing
Uncle Scrooge
Warren, Jim

Watchmen
Wertham, Fredric
Wizard
Wolverine
X-Men

Zap

The jokes just write themselves here. Nothing I can write would be sillier than the list itself. Fave entry: "Bob Kane (and collaborators)". Every so often I think, "gee, books on comics could never be as bad as they used to be", and then I'm reminded that in some ways it's worse because so few people have actually learned anything. It's like parallel universes exist. The future: We are fucked. Wizard,  X-Men, (whiiinne: "no Yellow Kid?")  Zap. Ka-Boom.