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''Blackmark'' is a paperback (Bantam S5871), published by the American company Bantam Books in January 1971. It is one of the first American graphic novels, predating works such as Richard Corben's ''Bloodstar'' (1976), Jim Steranko's ''Chandler: Red Tide'' (1976), Don McGregor & Paul Gulacy's ''Sabre'' (Sept. 1978), and Will Eisner's ''A Contract with God'' (Oct. 1978). It was conceived and drawn by comic book artist Gil Kane, and scripted by Archie Goodwin from an outline by Kane. The term "graphic novel", while seen in print as early as 1964 in an obscure fan publication, was not in mainstream use in 1971 when ''Blackmark'', a science fiction/sword-and-sorcery adventure, was first published; the back-cover blurb of the February 2002 30th-anniversary edition calls the book, retroactively, "the very first American graphic novel." ''Blackmark'' is a 119-page story of comic-book art, with captions and word balloons, published in a traditional book format. It is also the first with an original heroic-adventure character conceived expressly for this form. It originally sold for 75 cents, comparable to other paperbacks at the time. The 30th-anniversary edition (ISBN 1-56097-456-7) also includes the planned second book, the 117-page ''The Mind Demons''; an eight-page historical afterword; and the paperback's double-page frontispiece. It does not include the original final page: A full-body shot of Blackmark with sword, and a Kane floating-head self-portrait and one-paragraph biography / afterword. ==Publication history== Gil Kane — an established comics artist who helped usher in the Silver Age of comic books with his part in revamping the DC Comics characters Green Lantern and the Atom, and who drew ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' during a historically notable 1970s run — had experimented with the graphic novel form with his 1968 black-and-white comics magazine ''His Name is... Savage'', a 40-page espionage thriller also scripted by Goodwin from an outline by Kane. According to Kane in a 1996 interview, Bantam Books CEO Oscar Dystel had personally taken Kane's pitch after Kane's attorney had secured him an appointment through a mutual friend of the attorney's and Dystel's. Kane went on to say Bantam contracted for four books, and increased the order to eight after Dystel saw and liked the completed pages of the first. Kane said Bantam paid him $3,500 for 120 pages (including the cover) all written, drawn and lettered in "camera-ready" form, i.e., in completed form suitable to go immediately to the printing press. Kane recalled having to draw "30 pages in one week. Then I'd have to knock off for a week or two to make some additional money" drawing comic-book stories and, mainly, covers. Goodwin came in, the scripter recalled, at "the 11th hour": The 2002 reissue, in its afterword, credits cartoonist and ''Mad'' magazine founder Harvey Kurtzman as laying out a small number of pages, and another major comics artist, Neal Adams, as inking some of Kane's pencil work, both doing so as a favor to help Kane meet his deadlines. Adams' own website, however, states that Adams did not ink but rather "penciled pages 80/81/82/92/98-107 / (total of 14pgs.)"〔("Book Covers and Illustration" ), NealAdams.com. (WebCitation archive ).〕 and "Neal penciled 14 pages with Gil Kane inks (pages 80,81,82,92,98-107)".〔("Magazines and Fanzines" ), NealAdams.com. ( WebCitation archive ).〕 Though Bantam had envisioned a series of eight books, the publisher halted plans after the first sold less well than expected. Kane maintained that, Kane also partly blamed ''Tarzan'' comic strip writer-artist Burne Hogarth, an influential figure in the field, for the series' demise: By this time Kane had already completed ''The Mind Demons'', which eventually premiered — with its contents intact but its panel-layout reconfigured — as the 62-page Marvel Comics magazine ''Marvel Preview'' #17 (Winter 1979). In an early use of the term, it was called a graphic novel on the cover. The first ''Blackmark'' book had already been reprinted by then — similarly with its contents intact but its panel-layout reconfigured — in Marvel's black-and-white comics-magazine omnibus ''The Savage Sword of Conan'' #1-4 (Aug. 1974 - Feb. 1975), as the 15-page "Blackmark" and the 14-page "Blackmark (Chapter 2)", "The Testing Of Blackmark", and "Blackmark Triumphant!" The 2002 reissue did not include the original's one-paragraph biography of Kane. ''Blackmark'' is unrelated to the music company Black Mark at blackmark.net, or to the fictional insurgent group Blackmark in the TV series ''Babylon 5''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Blackmark」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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