Amazing Heroes Issue #177- Table of Contents: pg.4-5

Amazing Heroes Issue #177- Table of Contents: pg.4-5

Periodical
Comic Strips
Index

The index of Amazing Heroes, Issue 177 is on page five of the periodical. The page is separated into two columns, the first is the actual index, the second is the staff team, “Contributor’s Info,” “Index to Advertisers,” “Ad Rates,” “Distributors,” and copyright information on the bottom. The index is formatted with the page numbers to the left, the title in all caps, and the author’s name. Below the five stories is a brief description of the comic and a small comic panel corresponding with the story. The index starts with “Perspective” by Rudy Minger and goes to “Newsline,” “Coming Distractions,” “Backstage” by Andy Mengels, “Infernal Gall” by Adam-Troy Casto, “Cartoon Corner” by Korkid & Cawley, “Small Press World” by Hal Hargit, “Cover Gallery” by Don Rosa, “Comics In Review,” “Amazing Readers,” “The Cartoonist,” by Teri S. Wood, “Strom’s Index” by David Strom, and finally “Cover” by Gil Kane. “Perspective,” “Backstage,” “Infernal Gall,” “Cartoon Corner,” and “Small Press World” are the five stories that each have the description below the title with pictures. The date, March, 1990, is on the bottom left corner. This page is the right page in the spread.
In the 1990s, when this comic issue was published, a resurge in sales happened in the industry. Comics became, once more, a profitable and respectable source of entertainment.

Much of this had to to do with the movement of comic books to be sold on malls, making comics available for those outside of intentional comic book store goers. Companies in the industry even got listings on the New York Stock Exchange. During the mid-1980s, the only way to really access comic books was through comic stores with the main audience being twenty-year-old men. This table of contents is a witness to the transition between a niche audience and a resurgence of comic books. There is darker, more explicit material on this page, clearly appealing to young, heterosexual men like the sex scene and the “Infernal Gall” picture. This verge between respect and popularity also appears in the “Perspective” section asks the fans to “grow up and demand quality.” This table of contents is appealing to both its main, secure audience by the raunchy content, and its incoming audience of everyday mall shoppers who may just want to see what comics are all about.

The content featured in this issue is all lead by Executive Editor Kim Thompson, a popular member of the comic community. He is described as having “tastes and interests beyond the worlds he worked in” by his co-worker Steve Brodner. His personality and imagination shaped Fantagraphics, Amazing Heroes’ publishing company, which is why there is a variety in the content of the comic, like a section about the creation of the hero Captain America right next to questions of what even makes a hero, moving to comic parody and erotica all in one issue. Moreover, the tactic not only including erotica, but erotica as an advertisement is used to boost sales for both the publisher and the outside comic book creators alike.

Executive Editor: Kim Thompson
Managing Editor: Thomas Harrington
Art Director: Mark Thompson
Assistant Editor: Jason Sacks
News Correspondent: George Kaplan
Production Assistance: Roberta Gregory
Typesetting.Proofreading: Graig Maynard & Jasons Sacks
Circulation: Michelle Byrd & Sharon Kingsford
Publisher: Fantagraphics Books, Inc.
Printed at: Port Publications, WI

MSU Special Collection Comic Art, PN6725.47

Fantagraphic Books, Inc.

March 1990

Tiffany McIntyre

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6-5/8 & 10-1/4

English

Periodical

1982-1991