''The Official Marvel Comics Try-Out Book'' is an oversize book originally published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

in 1983. Conceived by then-Editor-in-Chief

Jim Shooter James Shooter (born September 27, 1951) is an American writer, editor and publisher for various comic books. He started professionally in the medium at the age of 14, and he is most notable for his successful and controversial run as Marvel Comic ...

, the book was in the form of a contest encouraging up-and-coming comics creators to try their hand at getting a job with the company. The winner would be awarded a professional assignment with Marvel. The book described the respective jobs and accompanying tools of a

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

penciller A penciller (or penciler) is an artist who works on the creation of comic books, graphic novels, and similar visual art forms, with a focus on the initial pencil illustrations, usually in collaboration with other artists, who provide inks, colors ...

, inker,

letterer A letterer is a member of a team of comic book creators responsible for drawing the comic book's text. The letterer's use of typefaces, calligraphy, letter size, and layout all contribute to the impact of the comic. The letterer crafts the comi ...

, and

colorist In comics, a colorist is responsible for adding color to black-and-white line art. For most of the 20th century this was done using brushes and dyes which were then used as guides to produce the printing plates. Since the late 20th century it is ...

, and then provided pages ready for the hopeful cartoonist to work on. An unfinished Spider-Man story (titled "Personals") was the springboard for the try-out portion, which among other features contained blank, pre-ruled pages for pencilers, pre-penciled "

non-photo blue Non-photo blue (or non-repro blue) is a common tool in the graphic design and print industry, being a particular shade of blue that cannot be detected by graphic arts camera film. This allows layout editors to write notes to the printer on the ...

" pages (by artist John Romita, Jr.) to be inked and lettered, and completed black-and-white pages to be colored. The entire book was printed on two-ply 11" × 17" paper, replicating the size that typical original comic book art was drawn at before it was photographically reduced to print size.

Publication history

Though the book was published in 1983, the contest winners were not announced until 1986.Shooter, Jim
"Bullpen Bulletins," Marvel Comics cover-dated Feb. 1986.
The initial winners were: * Plotter and scripter: Chuck Duffie * Penciller:

Mark Bagley Mark Bagley (; born August 7, 1957) is an American comics artist. He has worked for Marvel Comics on such titles as ''The Amazing Spider-Man'', ''Thunderbolts'', ''New Warriors'', ''Venom'' and '' Ultimate Spider-Man'' and for DC Comics on ''Justic ...

* Inker:

Doug Hazlewood Doug Hazlewood (born September 20, 1954) is an American comic book artist, known primarily for inking. Hazlewood has primarily worked for DC Comics during his career, often partnering with pencilers Tom Grummett and Nicola Scott, and he occupies a ...

* Colorist: P. Jeanine Pasda * Letterer: Robin Riggs For their outstanding entries, the winners received a commemorative certificate. They were also promised "their first regular professional assignment, which will be finishing the Spider-Man story 'Personals' which was begun in the ''Try-Out Book''. The result of their labors will be published next spring in a special giant-sized issue of ''

The Amazing Spider-Man ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' is an ongoing American comic book series featuring the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man as its main protagonist. Being in the mainstream continuity of the franchise, it began publication in 1963 as a bimonthly per ...

''." That promised issue never was published. However, artist Bagley is now a well-known penciller who would go on to have an extended run on ''Amazing Spider-Man'' in the 1990s and then ''

Ultimate Spider-Man ''Ultimate Spider-Man'' is a superhero comic book series that was published by Marvel Comics from 2000 to 2011. The series is a modernized re-imagining of Marvel's long-running Spider-Man comic book franchise as part of the company's Ultimate ...

'' with Brian Michael Bendis in the 2000s. Inker Hazlewood has had a steady career, mostly for

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

, since the late 1980s. Duffie and Pasda have yet to see their work in print.

1996 edition

In 1996 a new edition of ''The Marvel Try-Out Book'' was released, edited by Marvel Submissions Editor John Lewandowski and featuring an introduction by Bagley. ''The New Official Marvel Try-Out Book'' #2 maintains the same overall format as the original, but features an

X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, first appearing in ''The X-Men'' #1 by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963. Although initially cancelled in 1970 due to lo ...

story drawn by

Andy Kubert Andrew Kubert (; born February 27, 1962) is an American comics artist, letterer and writer. He is the son of Joe Kubert and brother of Adam Kubert, both of whom are also artists, and the uncle of comics editor Katie Kubert. He is a graduate of ...

. In addition, the new version takes into account advances in computer technology in the production of comics. Other changes include fewer pencilled pages to ink over than in the original book, which are printed in black ink rather than "non-photo blue." (This means inkers must use tracing paper rather than being able to ink directly on the art.)

References

Marvel Comics titles Comics terminology {{Marvel-title-stub

Publication history

1996 edition

See also

References