Did you know that Superman debuted in 1938 and is considered to have fueled the birth of the superhero craze? Or that Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira was instrumental in introducing manga to the world outside of Japan? Comic books are now fully part of mainstream pop culture, and this engaging read introduces kids ages 8-12 to the pivotal creators of the world's most beloved comics, as well as the unknown names that have guided the industry to where it is today. From classic superhero tales like Spider-Man to epic fantasy adventures like Elfquest , comic books have inspired legions of devoted fans and accrue sales of over $1 billion annually. Awesome Minds: Comic Book Creators will walk kids through the important milestones in comic book history and the visionaries who helped develop some of the most iconic fictional characters today. Also available: Awesome Minds: The Inventors of LEGO(R) Toys Awesome Minds: Vido Game Creators Awesome Minds: The Creators of the iPhone Alejandro Arbona began his publishing career nearly fifteen years ago as an editor and writer at Wizard: The Magazine of Comics, Entertainment, and Pop Culture , and his comic book writing has appeared in the Eisner Award-winning anthology Love is Love (DC Comics/IDW Publishing) and the independent sci-fi anthology Fearless Future . Alejandro was an editor at Marvel Comics and Valiant Entertainment; he currently edits Black Magick and The Old Guard for Image Comics, and Ghost in the Shell: Global Neural Network for Penguin Random House and Kodansha. Alejandro is the author of Awesome Minds: Video Game Creators . He lives in New York City. Chelsea O'Mara Holeman  is a freelance illustrator located in the Shoals area of Alabama. She has done editorial illustrations for magazines like No’Ala , SET , and What’s Up? Annapolis , as well as numerous children’s and adult books and interactive e-books from companies like Krullstone Publishing, Linxter, and Story Bayou. Chelsea works in a variety of different settings and mediums, expanding her work to include window murals, gaming apps, graphic novels, T-shirt and poster designs, podcast artwork, illustrated maps, and abstract paintings. In her downtime she loves watching horror movies with her cats and drawing small illustrations that she hides around town for people to find. CHAPTER 6: FLORENCE STEINBERG   Marvel’s original “gal Friday” was more than a secretary; “Fabulous Flo” Steinberg helped Stan Lee run the publisher when it was just the two of them, became a founding member of the famed Marvel Bullpen, and oversaw a ground-breaking comic book of her own.   “Oh, Stan, do you have a few minutes?” “For our fabulous gal Friday? Sure. Say hello to the fans, Flo Steinberg!” “Hello, fans, it’s very nice to meet you. As Marvel’s corresponding secretary, I feel as though I know most of you from your letters.”   These words marked Florence Steinberg’s entrance on  Voices of Marvel , a record the comic book publisher mailed to members of its brand-new fan club, the Merry Marvel Marching Society, in 1965. The Massachusetts native moved to New York City in 1963, a few years after finishing college, and got help from an employment agency to look for a job; the agency sent her to a magazine publisher. Despite the parent company’s innocuous name, Magazine Management, Steinberg landed at Marvel Comics.   At the time, Marvel was a one-person operation, where publisher and editor Stan Lee managed a corps of freelance artists (and did most of the writing personally). Referring to her as his “gal Friday” (after the man who aided in the title character Robinson Crusoe’s survival, in the 1719 novel by Daniel Defoe), Lee depended on Steinberg to…well, basically run everything: manage the phones, send and read mail, track assignments, pressure artists to deliver their pages on time, and get freelancers paid. Steinberg also read fan letters, answered the phone when readers called with questions and unsolicited remarks about recent stories, and greeted all the visitors, wide-eyed kids, and aspiring freelancers who turned up at the door. “Fabulous Flo,” as Lee called her (in the merry Marvel tradition of giving alliterative nicknames to staff) did all this with a sunny disposition and daffy demeanor that quickly endeared her to Marvel staff, fans, and fellow comic book creative types.   Marvel would eventually staff up and add more people in-house, but even when they did, the notion of the legendary “Marvel Bullpen”—a chummy atmosphere of comic book artists, writers, colorists, letterers, and production staff all working elbow-to-elbow at neighboring desks in the heart of Midtown Manhattan—was a fantasy that Stan Lee made up in his editorial pages, the “Bullpen Bulletins” at the back of every Marvel comic book. Nevertheless, the allure of the imaginary Marvel Bullpen was more real than reality; even though the bullpen clubhouse didn’t quite exist—Jack Kirby was at home, probably shirtless,