Today, the vast majority of comics sold in the United States are sold through bookstores, but this wasn’t always the case. In fact, until the early seventies, you couldn’t find comics in bookstores at all. They were not published at all in spine-bound collections until a young publisher, Linda Sunshinehad an idea.
Early in her career, while working at Crown Publishing, Sunshine produced a superhero poster book that sold well. This gave her the idea of collecting comics—which had been sold in bound issues for decades, mostly at newsstands, convenience stores, and main stores—and collecting them, giving them hardcovers, and putting them in bookstores .
The idea came about Superman: From the 1930s and 1970s, which is what it does. This is a collection of reprinted material from the character’s entire history, complete with introduction and bibliography. The book was a success, sparking a series of similar books – focusing on the origins of characters from Batman to Marvel Comics – and ultimately paving the way for the medium to become a fixture in bookstores today.
Although Linda Sunshine’s contributions were immense, they went largely unrecognized for years, but that changed at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, where Sunshine was a special guest , appears in by Rob Salkowitz – who helped identify Sunshine as a key figure – and Chris Riel, Author of Syzygy Publishing, an imprint of Image Comics.
Solkovitz and Riel, both influential comics figures in their own right, tell the story of growing up at a time when comics weren’t available in bookstores and, therefore, weren’t taken seriously as reading material by parents. When Sunshine’s books began showing up in bookstores alongside prose material, the pair said it bolstered legitimacy.
Sunshine recalled that in order to get the book published, she had to get permission from the man who controlled the rights to Superman, a legendary DC Comics editor in the early 1970s. Carmine Infantino. Sunshine’s boss gave her $30 so she could take Infantino out to dinner and discuss the deal.
Sunshine said Infantino chose an Italian restaurant in New York, sat down, and started ordering salads, steaks, and finally a bottle of wine. At this point Sunshine protested, worried she wouldn’t be able to pay the bill – and Infantino burst into laughter.
“He thought it was the funniest thing he’d ever seen,” Sunshine said. “That’s when I knew he was going to give me the rights.”
Over the next few years, Sunshine worked on the foundations of the original comic collection, perhaps most notably The Origins of Stan Lee’s Marvel Comics, which will be reprinted this fall in two new editions, edited by Ryall. Linda Sunshine has worked with Stan Lee Directly, who did not choose the exact comics collected there, but had the final say. He also wrote an introduction.
Eventually, Sunshine’s long career moved into other fields. She writes nonfiction books and novels. She works on bestsellers Jane Fonda’s fitness book. She has created a series of over 30 film-related art books, with images ranging from ET arrive how to train your dragon, from Stuart Little arrive Hulk, one of the directors Li family.
Linda Sunshine’s career and spotlight panel are fascinating and full of interesting publishing anecdotes. Ultimately, her story is an interesting study of how seemingly unorthodox ideas (or at least unproven ideas) can influence major cultural developments.
Ryall and Salkowitz share their own personal stories about how the idea of collecting comics at Sunshine changed their childhoods by bringing this medium into bookstores, like my own, which was built around finding comics in libraries , in the summer when my parents put me at ease and told me I could take home whatever I liked.
As Salkovitz noted at the beginning of the panel, “Over the past few years, the market for comics in book form—graphic novels and trade books—has succeeded, surpassing and doubling revenue from comics sales in the direct market.”
Maybe it was inevitable, but it’s also a testament to Linda Sunshine being the first to bring comics into bookstores and libraries, back in 1973. How many important comics wouldn’t people have been exposed to the media as a kid without a job?
“I think you should always do things you’ve never done before,” Sunshine said, “because they scare you, and that’s how you do your best work.”