Marvel's Mastering the Art of Comics: An Insider's Guide to Creating Characters, Stories, and Comics That Leap Off the Page (Hardcover)

SKU 9781984860187

$47.42

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Create your own Marvel-style comic book with this practical guide featuring expert insights from Marvel's top writers, artists, and editors.

What is it that makes a Marvel comic book so special? How can you recreate that Marvel magic to hook—and hold—a reader from the very first page? Marvel's Mastering the Art of Comics guides you through every step in the process of creating a Marvel-quality comic book:

  • Crafting the perfect pitch

  • Creating compelling characters and origin stories

  • Maximizing a scene visually

  • Designing a Marvel-style cover that screams "pick me up to find out what happens!"

  • Telling a story across panels, pages, and issues

  • And so much more, including all the technical nuts and bolts of working with a team to execute your vision


With captivating scenes from X-Men, Daredevil, The Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and more, alongside rich insights, quotes, and Q&As from nearly twenty of the most storied Marvel creators, this step-by-step guide analyzes character, story, cover, and panel samples to explore the anatomy of a Marvel comic book, teaching you everything you need to know to create one of your own.

This guide is a Marvel-comics-making master class for the creator who is ready to move beyond basic theory to learn how to bring the page—and their career—to life.

About the Author

Alex Segura is the bestselling and award-winning author of Secret Identity, which The New York Times called “wittily original” and named an Editor’s Choice. NPR described the novel as “masterful” and The L.A. Times called it “a magnetic read.”

Secret Identity received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and Booklist, was listed as one of the Best Mysteries of the Year by NPR, Kirkus, Booklist, LitReactor, Gizmodo, BOLO Books, and the South Florida Sun Sentinel, was nominated for the Lefty and Barry Awards, and won the LA Times Book Prize in the Mystery/Thriller category.

His upcoming work includes the YA superhero adventure Araña/Spider-Man 2099: Dark Tomorrow, the follow-up to Secret Identity, Alter Ego, and the sci-fi/espionage thriller, Dark Space (with Rob Hart). Alex is also the author of Star Wars Poe Dameron: Free Fall, the Anthony Award-nominated Pete Fernandez Miami Mystery series, and a number of comic books – including The Mysterious Micro-Face (in partnership with NPR), The Black Ghost, The Archies, The Dusk, The Awakened, Mara Llave – Keeper of Time, Blood Oath, stories featuring Marvel heroes the Avengers, Sunspot, White Tiger, Spider-Man and DC’s Superman, Sinestro, and The Question, to name a few.

His short story, “90 Miles” was included in The Best American Mystery and Suspense Stories for 2021 and won the Anthony Award for Best Short Story. Another short story,“Red Zone,” won the 2020 Anthony Award for Best Short Story.

Alex is also the co-creator of the Lethal Lit podcast, named one of the best fiction podcasts of 2018 by The New York Times.

A Miami native, he lives in New York with his wife and children.