It has been suggested I provide an instructional guide to using this book. Now, me, I figure if you're smart enough to buy this book, you're smart enough to use it. However, in case someone smarter than you has given you this book, here are some simple rules for deriving maximum benefit from this book.
Buy this book.
Read this book.
Enjoy this book.
Tell all your friends and relatives to buy this book so they, too, can read and enjoy it.
Repeat as necessary. Warning: High sales on this book could lead to a sequel.
There is a chance these instructions are not what my publishers were thinking when they made their request. With your indulgence, I'll add this handy guide to the entries …
We start with a picture of a comic-book cover. That is followed by the title of the comic book. That is followed by writer and artist credits when we know them. When we don't know them, we list them as “uncredited.”
We include the name of the publisher of each comic book as well as the indicia date of publication. The indicia is that block of copy found at the bottom of a comic book's inside front cover or opening page. The copy you never read. When available, we then give you the actual copyright information as it appeared in the original comic books. When possible, we also credit the source of the cover images we scanned. Whew!
Finally, you get a few scintillating lines of erudite commentary on each of the one thousand comic books discussed in this book. They will give you hours of reading pleasure, all because you were smart enough to buy this book.
Identification of the comic-book covers shown in this volume is taken, wherever possible, from the copyright information that appeared on the material as it originally appeared. When it is not possible, copyright information has been culled from reference materials and is indicated by the identification “©*” in the appropriate passage. In many cases, ownership has changed or copyright renewed; in no case does F+W Media claim ownership of the copyright to the material shown.