Amazing Heroes Issue # 118 Pg. 14

Amazing Heroes Issue # 118 Pg. 14

Periodical
Comics Strips

On the 14th page of Amazing Heroes issue # 118 is a series of articles organized in interesting patterns and all accompanied by an image. The text is organized into three columns, each of which is enclosed by a long rectangle. The heading for this section simply reads, “News,” in bold, capitalized text. The first article, spread between two columns that extend about ¾ down the page, is entitled “Japanimation at NOW: Astro Boy, Speed Racer comics on schedule,” and it explains that the rights to the phenomenally successful Japanese properties Astro Boy and Speed Racer have been acquired by the studio NOW Comics, who plan to adapt the series with modern, American-appropriate content. Every property title in the article is written in boldface and italics, while the names are written in all caps. In the lower left of the text is an image of a proud-looking Speed Racer with clenched fists and his helmet tucked into his elbow, while another image, captioned below as “A sample of NOW’s Astro Boy,” depicts the underwear-clad automaton boy escaping the clutches of a massive horned humanoid robot shouting “R!”. This picture is placed directly in the middle of the second column’s text.

On the right side of the page, nestled in the third column is the article, “Two comics to benefit literacy,” which concerns the release of Word Warriors and Quest For dream Lost, short black-and-white comics distributed by the Literacy Volunteers of Chicago and penned by a variety of artists and writers. Above the article’s title is a rectangular image just as wide as the column and of similar dimensions to the Astro Boy image earlier. It features medium shots of three grim-looking and realistically rendered people, a sharp-faced man with a popped collar and a wide-brimmed hat on the left, a woman with slick black hair and lipstick in the top-middle, and a gritty but generic-looking man in a button-down shirt on the right, all three of whom encircling an image of an incapacitated man lying face-down on some implied surface. This image is also extended past the bounds of the news rectangle, nearly overlapping the word “News” atop the stories. Educational comics are nothing new, however, since ambitious publishers have released series like Classics Illustrated as far back as the 1940s to use comics as a tool for imparting cherished literature. Still, using comics as a tool specifically for literacy is remarkable progressive, as its benefits continue to be studied and debated well into the 21st century.

The final article, a mere three sentences, is shown in the bottom right: “Elvis Presley Goes undercover at Mad Dog,” which discusses “Elvis: Undercover…a satirical one-shot by TOM (Splat!) MASON and DON (Captain Obese) LOMAX.” Accompanied by this brief explanation is an excerpted image, a detailed and stylized black and white portrait of a young Elvis, not even constrained by a rectangular border, but instead simply rising from the bottom of the page, his cutoff point just below his exposed collarbone.

Editor: Kim Thompson
Art Director: Dale Crain, Doug Erb
With Some Help From: Michael Adams
News Correspondent: J. Collier
Production Assistant: Teresa Moore
Typesetting: L. M. Gorell & Ariene Easter
Circulation: Rachel Enger

MSU Special Collection Comic Art, PN6725.A47

Fantagraphics Books, Inc.

1987-06

Colin Corcoran

Rights Restrictions Apply

6 5/8 x 10 1/4 in.

English

Periodical

1981-1992

Comic Book

6 5/8 x 10 1/4 in.