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

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

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

Jim Shooter James Shooter (born September 27, 1951) is an American writer, editor, and publisher in the comics industry. Beginning his career writing for DC Comics at the age of 14, he had a successful but controversial run as editor-in-chief at 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, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

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. In the American comic book industry, the penciller is the first step ...

inker The inker (sometimes credited as the finisher or embellisher) is one of the two line artists in traditional comic book production. After the penciller creates a drawing with pencil, the inker interprets this drawing by outlining and embellishing ...

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-book-reading experience. The l ...

, 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 Spider-Man is a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appearance, first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in ...

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 (comic book), Thunderbolts'', ''New Warriors'', ''Venom (comic book), Venom'' and ''Ulti ...

* 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 ...

* Colorist: P. Jeanine Pasda * Letterer:

Robin Riggs Robin Riggs is a British-born comic book artist. The majority of his published work has involved working as an inker for Marvel Comics and DC Comics. Career Riggs' first professional comics work was as a result of winning the " Marvel Try-out Bo ...

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 superhero American comic book, comic book series featuring the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man as its title character and main protagonist. Being in the Earth 616, mainstream continuity of t ...

''". That promised issue was never published, but 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 Ma ...

'' with

Brian Michael Bendis Brian Michael Bendis (; born August 18, 1967) is an Americans, American comic book writer and artist. Starting with crime fiction, crime and hardboiled, noir comics, Bendis eventually moved to mainstream superhero fiction, superhero work. While a ...

in the 2000s. Inker Hazlewood has had a steady career, mostly for

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

, 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 in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer/editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby, the team first appeared in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 (September 1963). Although initial ...

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. Kubert is a graduat ...

. 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.

Charles Burns derivative

In 1991, Charles Burns's reworking of the pages in the ''Try-Out Book'', titled "Naked Snack", was published in issues #2 and 3 of the Kitchen Sink anthology ''Buzz''. The story featured dinosaurs and cannibalism.

References

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

Publication history

1996 edition

Charles Burns derivative

See also

References