In “Comic Strips,” Stan Mack talks about how he produced his strip, doing all the actual drawing at the last minute. Mark Alan Stamaty talks about how he reluctantly got into political cartooning, and Bill Griffith talks about, of course, Zippy. Then Nicole Hollander talks about Sylvia, and how she gets inspiration from detective novels and film noir.

“Kids’ and Teens’ Comics” has an article on Katie Keene by Teal Triggs describing one of the first comics to encourage ideas from fans. Jessica Abel says read and analyze Archie, and Barbara McClintock says she spent hours drawing her own comics based on Top Cat.

In “Action/Adventure Comic,” Arlen Schumer traces the best artists back to Kirby and Adams, and Jim Steranko laments about how rigid the comics had become, so he decided the first rule of comics is that there are no rules. Barron Storey discusses his philosophy behind his comics. Bill Sienkiewicz says about the work of other artists, “It’s a Zen thing… Study it. Copy it. Learn from it… Then: Let it go.” Dave McKean uses photos to expand the scope of his comics. David Mack says he starts his comic making experience as a writer, and that Kabuki is very autobiographical.

Quirky, Subversive
Monte Beauchamp says in the section “Alternative Comics,” that the encouragement of a friend helped him go on when he had given up the idea of art. Gary Panter uses his character Jimbo to observe the places he is put in, and says don’t expect to make a living from comics. To David Sandlin, who grew up in Belfast, comics “were the real America — action, optimism, shtick... It was quirky, subversive, and smart-ass — not afraid to get down and dirty with popular culture.” Peter Blegvad talks about the birth of Leviathan, and Mark Newgarden talks about the conventions used in comics.

Then in “Graphic Novels,” Chip Kidd describes his career as a designer, and Chris Ware gets into his education and inspirations. Art Spiegelman’s section is a moving account of how he feels about his strip In the Shadow of No Towers. Marjane Satrapi studied art in her native Iran, and draws on her experiences there for Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. Kim Deitch writes about how Boulevard of Broken Dreams came about and says: “if no one will publish you, publish yourself.” Rick Geary applies his detailed style to classic literature. Ho Che Anderson’s opinion is that comics are for control freaks, where you can play God.

There is the section called “Miscellany,” where Leonard Rifas recommends doing educational comics, and Tom Spurgeon talks about mini-comics. Dan Nadel talks about the liberating atmosphere of Fort Thunder (that’s a place, not a title) where many artists started. Bart Beaty observes that Europe takes comics more seriously than the U.S., and Bill Randall’s essay is on manga.

A Drawn Interview
In “Comics in Art and Illustration,” Elwood Smith drew his interview, a delightful idea that more of the artists might have done. Robert Williams says his three biggest influences are probably Salvador Dali, Wallace Wood and Von Dutch (remember those great hot rods?). “Education Illustrated” has panels drawn by Dan James, Nicholas Blechman, David Heatley and Rick Meyerowitz — four wildly different styles of art.

Then we go to “The Business of Comics” where Heidi MacDonald advises on how to use the Cons to advance your career. M. Todd Hignite feels that comics are now moving into being a pure art form and Eric Reynolds thinks that there is a definite shift away from comicbooks and towards graphic novels.

In “The Creation of Comics,” Craig Yoe illustrates his essay with drawings of a few of his favorite artists and says to study the work of the great cartooning draftsmen. Colin Berry talks about graffiti artists. Dennis O’Neil says, “Remember the mantra: There is seldom one absolute, inarguable, unimpeachably right way to do anything.” Tim Kreider says that drawing in comics doesn’t necessarily mean naturalistic rendering, and Robert Fiore’s essay is on how to get away with being controversial. Ward Sutton makes some good points about getting contradictions into your character and Trina Robbins addresses the changes that females have undergone in comics. They are no longer good little girls.

Some Education Advice
In the section “Teaching Comics,” Scott McCloud gives arguments for both a broad liberal arts education and specialized art schools, and Joe Kubert tells what he looks for in accepting students to his school. Roger Sabin talks about the art school experiences of several students while Will Eisner talks about how he teaches, and drew a panel that shows pretty much what can happen to an artist on deadline.

In “Lesson Plans,” Ted Stearn gives six basics that should be stressed and James Sturm says “… the simplicity of a cartoon image too often belies the labor of its construction,” Matt Madden illustrates experimental comics with a panel that can be read right side up or upside down. Rich Kreiner wraps up the essays with a historical perspective on the comics art form.

Biographies
A section called resources lists comics related websites you can reference. Short biographies of all the contributors are at the end of the book and it would have been nice to have websites attached to those, too, but that’s a minor caveat. Some of the essays are funny, some are a bit dry, but all of them will give you some piece of information or philosophy that you can use in your life and career. The drawings are a joy to look at. This is a must have book for your library (especially if you are just starting out), whether you are a comics artist, fan, animator, illustrator or all those other art labels that get arbitrarily hung on people who draw.

Artists web sites can be read at allworth.com/What’s New/Allworth/Illustration/Education of a Comics Aritst/catalog page/URL resource PDF.

The Education of a Comics Artist edited by Michael Dooley and Steven Heller. New York, N.Y.: Allworth Press, 2005. 256 pages. paperback, ISBN 1-58115-408-9 ($19.95).

Libby Reed started out at Walt Disney Studios in the ‘50s on Sleeping Beauty as a painter. She has worked at numerous commercial studios, spent 16 years as a fashion illustrator and wound up at Film Roman as a color designer under Phyllis Craig. Libby has two children, (one is Alex Reed, animation producer at Electronic Arts) and four grandchildren.