Masterful Marks

Book excerpt: "In a first-of-its-kind collection, award-winning illustrators celebrate the lives of the visionary artists who created the world of comic art and altered pop culture forever. No one has told the story of comic art in its own medium, until now. In Masterful Marks, top illustrators--including Drew Friedman, Nora Krug, Denis Kitchen, and Peter Kuper--reveal how sixteen visionary cartoonists overcame massive financial, political, and personal challenges to create a new form of art that now defines our world. Superhero comics didn't exist until two teenagers from Cleveland created the first superhero of all time: Superman. Advertising artist Theodor Geisel released his first book in 1937 as Dr. Seuss--and children's literature was never the same. Charles M. Schulz's perseverance and passion gave the world Peanuts, the world's most famous comic strip. Featuring these tales, and profiling such giants as Walt Disney, Robert Crumb, and the creators of MAD, Tintin, and manga, Masterful Marks illustrates how graphic storytelling became such a rich and popular medium. Masterful Marks is a stunning portrait of the comic art's aesthetic heritage and a powerful story of how creative vision can change the world"--