Flo Steinberg
Encyclopedia
Florence "Flo" Steinberg is an American
publisher of one of the first independent comic books, the underground/alternative comics
hybrid Big Apple Comix
, in 1975. Additionally, as the secretary for Marvel Comics
editor
Stan Lee
and the fledgling company's receptionist and fan liaison during the 1960s Silver Age of Comic Books
, she was a key participant of and witness to Marvel's expansion from a two-person staff to a pop culture conglomerate
.
As of 2007, Steinberg, who has appeared in fictionalized form in Marvel Comics, speaks at comic book conventions and has been the subject of a magazine
profile.
-driver father and a public-stenographer mother, Flo Steinberg was raised in the Dorchester
and Mattapan neighborhoods of Boston
, Massachusetts
, United States
. There she attended Roxbury Memorial High School for Girls, serving a term as president of the student council
. Steinberg graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst
with a liberal arts
degree in 1960, having majored in History
and rushing Sigma Delta Tau
sorority. Afterward, while working as a service representative for the New England Telephone Company in Boston, she was a volunteer on Ted Kennedy
's first U.S. Senatorial
campaign. After moving to New York City
in 1963, Steinberg additionally worked "in a minor way" for Robert F. Kennedy
's Senate bid.
and job-hunting through employment agencies. "After a couple of interviews, I was sent to this publishing company called Magazine Management
. There I met a fellow by the name of Stan Lee
, who was looking for what they called then a 'gal Friday'.... Stan had a one-man office on a huge floor of other offices, which housed the many parts of the magazine
division.... Magazine Management published Marvel Comics
as well as a lot of men's magazines, movie magazines, crossword puzzle
books, romance magazines, confession magazines, detective
magazines.... Each department took turns, one day a week, covering the switchboard...when the regular operator took her lunch break".
Marvel's only staffers at that time were Lee and Steinberg herself, the rest of the work handled freelance. De facto production manager Sol Brodsky
"would come in and set up an extra little drawing board where he would do the paste-ups and mechanicals for the ads". She recalled that the "first real Bullpen" — the roomful of artists at drawing boards making corrections, preparing art for printing
, and, as envisioned later within Marvel's letter pages and "Bullpen Bulletins", a mythologized clubhouse in which the likes of Lee, Jack Kirby
, Steve Ditko
, Don Heck
and others would be found kibitzing — was created when Marvel moved downtown a few buildings from 655 Madison Avenue to 635 Madison Avenue (with Magazine Management at 625, the formal address found in the comics' indicia
). "Stan finally had his own office. There was a big space with windows where I was, and Sol Brodsky, now on staff, had his own desk". Among the first Bullpen staffers, Steinberg recalled, were Marie Severin
and Morrie Kuramoto, followed by John Verpoorten
and Herb Trimpe
.
Artist Jim Mooney
once recalled,
The all-purpose Steinberg — given the sobriquet "Fabulous Flo", in the manner of many other Marvel Comics endearments — said that she,
Steinberg became exposed to the underground comix scene after meeting and becoming friends with Trina Robbins
, who had come to the Marvel offices to interview Lee for the Los Angeles Free Press
alternative newspaper. Through her, Steinberg became acquainted with contributors to the New York City alternative paper the East Village Other
, and met such underground cartoonists as Kim Deitch
, Art Spiegelman
, and Spain Rodriguez
.
Journalist Robin Green, who succeeded Steinberg at Marvel in 1968, wrote in Rolling Stone
:
Steinberg left Marvel in 1968. "I was just tired. The last years were so long because the fan mail was overwhelming. Bags of it would come in, and all the letters had to be acknowledged". The position itself, even after five years, was not particularly well-paid, and Steinberg quit after not receiving a $5 raise. Marie Severin, recalling the day of Steinberg's going-away party, observed in 2002: "I think the stupidest thing Marvel ever did was not give her a raise when she asked for it because she would have been such an asset to have around later because she's so honest and decisive. ... I was thinking, 'What the hell is the problem with these people? She's a personality. She knows what she's doing. She handles the fans right. She's loyal to the company. Why the hell won't they give her a decent raise? Dummies.'"
Steinberg went to work for the American Petroleum Industry, leaving when that trade group relocated to Washington, D.C.
. A "Marvel Bullpen Bulletins" page in Marvel comics cover-dated February 1969 and necessarily written two to three months earlier noted that she "has a great new job at Rockefeller Center
". She moved to San Francisco, California
, in the early 1970s, and later to Oregon
before returning to New York City to help run Captain Company, the mail-order division of the horror
-comics magazine firm, Warren Publishing
.
She spoke at a 1974 New York
Comic Art Convention
panel on the role of women in comics, alongside Marie Severin
, Jean Thomas (sometime-collaborator of then-husband Roy Thomas
) and fan representative Irene Vartanoff.
In 1975, Steinberg published Big Apple Comix
, a seminal link between underground comix
and modern-day independent comics, with contributors including such mainstream talents as Neal Adams
, Archie Goodwin
, Denny O'Neil, Al Williamson
, and Wally Wood
. Critic Ken Jones, in a 1986 retrospective review, suggested that Big Apple Comix and [Mark Evanier's] High Adventure may have been "the first true alternative comics".
In the 1990s, Steinberg returned to work for Marvel as a proofreader, succeeding Jack Abel
.
, Jack Kirby
, and Sol Brodsky
— all transformed into a Marvel Bullpen version of the Fantastic Four
— in the alternate-reality
comic What If
#11 (Oct. 1978). Written and drawn by Kirby, the odd tale featured Steinberg as the character then called the Invisible Girl.
In alternate universe
series Ultimate Fantastic Four
#28 (May 2006), writer Mark Millar
added a brief tribute to Steinberg. She serves as the secretary to President Thor
on an Earth populated almost entirely by superheroes. She warns the Human Torch
not to burn the rug, to which he replies, "I know, I know. No need to be such a nag, Miss Steinberg".
People of the United States
The people of the United States, also known as simply Americans or American people, are the inhabitants or citizens of the United States. The United States is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
publisher of one of the first independent comic books, the underground/alternative comics
Alternative comics
Alternative comics defines a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to "mainstream" superhero comics which in the past have dominated the US comic book industry...
hybrid Big Apple Comix
Big Apple Comix
Big Apple Comix is an early independent comic book published by Flo Steinberg in 1975. An historically important link between underground comix and what would later be called alternative comics, this 36-page, 6 3/4" x 9 3/4" hybrid with glossy color covers and black-and-white interiors contains 11...
, in 1975. Additionally, as the secretary for Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
Stan Lee
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
and the fledgling company's receptionist and fan liaison during the 1960s Silver Age of Comic Books
Silver Age of Comic Books
The Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those in the superhero genre. Following the Golden Age of Comic Books and an interregnum in the early to mid-1950s, the Silver Age is considered to cover the...
, she was a key participant of and witness to Marvel's expansion from a two-person staff to a pop culture conglomerate
Conglomerate (company)
A conglomerate is a combination of two or more corporations engaged in entirely different businesses that fall under one corporate structure , usually involving a parent company and several subsidiaries. Often, a conglomerate is a multi-industry company...
.
As of 2007, Steinberg, who has appeared in fictionalized form in Marvel Comics, speaks at comic book conventions and has been the subject of a magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
profile.
Early life
The daughter of a taxiTaxicab
A taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice...
-driver father and a public-stenographer mother, Flo Steinberg was raised in the Dorchester
Dorchester, Massachusetts
Dorchester is a dissolved municipality and current neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is named after the town of Dorchester in the English county of Dorset, from which Puritans emigrated and is today endearingly nicknamed "Dot" by its residents. Dorchester, including a large...
and Mattapan neighborhoods of Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. There she attended Roxbury Memorial High School for Girls, serving a term as president of the student council
Student council
Student council is a curricular or extra-curricular activity for students within elementary and secondary schools around the world. Present in most public and private K-12 school systems across the United States, Canada and Australia these bodies are alternatively entitled student council, student...
. Steinberg graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States and the flagship of the University of Massachusetts system...
with a liberal arts
Liberal arts
The term liberal arts refers to those subjects which in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free citizen to study. Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic were the core liberal arts. In medieval times these subjects were extended to include mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy...
degree in 1960, having majored in History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
and rushing Sigma Delta Tau
Sigma Delta Tau
Sigma Delta Tau is a national sorority and member of the National Panhellenic Conference, was founded March 25, 1917 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. The original name, Sigma Delta Phi, was changed after the women discovered a sorority with the same name already existed...
sorority. Afterward, while working as a service representative for the New England Telephone Company in Boston, she was a volunteer on Ted Kennedy
Ted Kennedy
Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...
's first U.S. Senatorial
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
campaign. After moving to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1963, Steinberg additionally worked "in a minor way" for Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
's Senate bid.
Marvel Comics in the Silver Age
In the career-girl fashion of that era, Steinberg spent some months living at a YWCAYWCA
The YWCA USA is the United States branch of a women's membership movement that strives to create opportunities for women's growth, leadership and power in order to attain a common vision—to eliminate racism and empower women. The YWCA is a non-profit organization, the first of which was founded in...
and job-hunting through employment agencies. "After a couple of interviews, I was sent to this publishing company called Magazine Management
Magazine Management Co., Inc.
Magazine Management Co., Inc., latter know as Marvel Comics Group, as the company was listed in its publications' copyright indicia, was an American publishing company that in the 1960s and 1970s was the parent company of Marvel Comics, as well as a publisher of traditional magazines...
. There I met a fellow by the name of Stan Lee
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
, who was looking for what they called then a 'gal Friday'.... Stan had a one-man office on a huge floor of other offices, which housed the many parts of the magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
division.... Magazine Management published Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
as well as a lot of men's magazines, movie magazines, crossword puzzle
Crossword Puzzle
For the common puzzle, see CrosswordCrossword Puzzle was the second to last album made by The Partridge Family and was not one of the most popular albums. It was released in 1973 and did not produce a U.S. single. This album was finally released on CD in 2003 on Arista's BMG Heritage label...
books, romance magazines, confession magazines, detective
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
magazines.... Each department took turns, one day a week, covering the switchboard...when the regular operator took her lunch break".
Sol Brodsky
Sol Brodsky was an American comic book artist who, as Marvel Comics' Silver Age production manager, was one of the key architects of the small company's expansion to a major pop culture conglomerate. He later rose to vice president, operations and vice president, special projects...
"would come in and set up an extra little drawing board where he would do the paste-ups and mechanicals for the ads". She recalled that the "first real Bullpen" — the roomful of artists at drawing boards making corrections, preparing art for printing
Printing
Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
, and, as envisioned later within Marvel's letter pages and "Bullpen Bulletins", a mythologized clubhouse in which the likes of Lee, Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby , born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic book medium....
, Steve Ditko
Steve Ditko
Stephen J. "Steve" Ditko is an American comic book artist and writer best known as the artist co-creator, with Stan Lee, of the Marvel Comics heroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange....
, Don Heck
Don Heck
Don Heck was an American comic book artist best known for co-creating the Marvel Comics character Iron Man, and for his long run penciling the Marvel superhero-team series The Avengers during the 1960s Silver Age of comic books.-Early life and career:Born in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, New...
and others would be found kibitzing — was created when Marvel moved downtown a few buildings from 655 Madison Avenue to 635 Madison Avenue (with Magazine Management at 625, the formal address found in the comics' indicia
Indicia (publishing)
Indicia is the plural of the Latin word indicium, meaning distinguishing marks.In magazine publishing, indicia refers to a piece of text traditionally appearing on the first recto page after the cover, which usually contains the official name of the publication, its publication date, information...
). "Stan finally had his own office. There was a big space with windows where I was, and Sol Brodsky, now on staff, had his own desk". Among the first Bullpen staffers, Steinberg recalled, were Marie Severin
Marie Severin
Marie Severin is an American comic book artist and colorist best known for her work for Marvel Comics and the 1950s' EC Comics....
and Morrie Kuramoto, followed by John Verpoorten
John Verpoorten
John Verpoorten was a comic book artist and editorial worker best known as Marvel Comics' production manager during the latter part of the Silver Age of Comic Books and afterward, during a seminal period of Marvel's expansion from a small publishing concern to a multinational popular culture...
and Herb Trimpe
Herb Trimpe
Herbert W. "Herb" Trimpe Herbert W. "Herb" Trimpe Herbert W. "Herb" Trimpe (b. May 26, 1939, is an American comic book artist and occasional writer, best known for his work on The Incredible Hulk and as the first artist to draw for publication the character Wolverine, who later became a breakout...
.
Artist Jim Mooney
Jim Mooney
James Noel "Jim" Mooney was an American comic book artist best known as a Marvel Comics inker and Spider-Man artist, and as the signature artist of DC Comics' Supergirl, both during what comics historians and fans call the Silver Age of comic books...
once recalled,
The all-purpose Steinberg — given the sobriquet "Fabulous Flo", in the manner of many other Marvel Comics endearments — said that she,
Steinberg became exposed to the underground comix scene after meeting and becoming friends with Trina Robbins
Trina Robbins
Trina Robbins is an American comics artist and writer. She was an early and influential participant in the underground comix movement, and one of the few female artists in underground comix when she started. Both as a cartoonist and historian, Robbins has long been involved in creating outlets for...
, who had come to the Marvel offices to interview Lee for the Los Angeles Free Press
Los Angeles Free Press
The Los Angeles Free Press , also called “the Freep”, was among the most widely distributed underground newspapers of the 1960s. It is often cited as the first such newspaper...
alternative newspaper. Through her, Steinberg became acquainted with contributors to the New York City alternative paper the East Village Other
East Village Other
The East Village Other , was an American underground newspaper in New York City, New York, published biweekly during the 1960s. EVO was among the first countercultural newspapers to emerge, following the Los Angeles Free Press, which had begun publishing a few months earlier...
, and met such underground cartoonists as Kim Deitch
Kim Deitch
-Sources:* at Lambiek's Comiclopedia-External links:* Ford, Jeffrey. *Heller, Steven. **...
, Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman is an American comics artist, editor, and advocate for the medium of comics, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning comic book memoir, Maus. His works are published with his name in lowercase: art spiegelman.-Biography:Spiegelman was born in Stockholm, Sweden, to Polish Jews...
, and Spain Rodriguez
Spain Rodriguez
Manuel Rodriguez , better known as Spain or Spain Rodriguez, is an American underground cartoonist who created the character Trashman. His experiences on the road with the biker gang, the Road Vultures, provided inspiration for his work, as did his left-wing politics.-Biography:Born in Buffalo, New...
.
Journalist Robin Green, who succeeded Steinberg at Marvel in 1968, wrote in Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
:
Later career
Steinberg went to work for the American Petroleum Industry, leaving when that trade group relocated to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. A "Marvel Bullpen Bulletins" page in Marvel comics cover-dated February 1969 and necessarily written two to three months earlier noted that she "has a great new job at Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th and 51st streets in New York City, United States. Built by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan, spanning the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. It was declared a National...
". She moved to San Francisco, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, in the early 1970s, and later to Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
before returning to New York City to help run Captain Company, the mail-order division of the horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
-comics magazine firm, Warren Publishing
Warren Publishing
Warren Publishing was an American magazine company founded by James Warren, who published his first magazines in 1957 and continued in the business for decades...
.
She spoke at a 1974 New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
Comic Art Convention
Comic Art Convention
The Comic Art Convention was an American comic-book fan convention held annually New York City, New York, over Independence Day weekend from 1968 through 1983, except for 1977, when it was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and 1978 to 1979, when it was held concurrently in New York and Philadelphia...
panel on the role of women in comics, alongside Marie Severin
Marie Severin
Marie Severin is an American comic book artist and colorist best known for her work for Marvel Comics and the 1950s' EC Comics....
, Jean Thomas (sometime-collaborator of then-husband Roy Thomas
Roy Thomas
Roy William Thomas, Jr. is an American comic book writer and editor, and Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. He is possibly best known for introducing the pulp magazine hero Conan the Barbarian to American comics, with a series that added to the storyline of Robert E...
) and fan representative Irene Vartanoff.
In 1975, Steinberg published Big Apple Comix
Big Apple Comix
Big Apple Comix is an early independent comic book published by Flo Steinberg in 1975. An historically important link between underground comix and what would later be called alternative comics, this 36-page, 6 3/4" x 9 3/4" hybrid with glossy color covers and black-and-white interiors contains 11...
, a seminal link between underground comix
Underground comix
Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books which are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, including explicit drug use, sexuality and violence...
and modern-day independent comics, with contributors including such mainstream talents as Neal Adams
Neal Adams
Neal Adams is an American comic book and commercial artist known for helping to create some of the definitive modern imagery of the DC Comics characters Superman, Batman, and Green Arrow; as the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates; and as a creators-rights advocate who...
, Archie Goodwin
Archie Goodwin (comics)
Archie Goodwin was an American comic book writer, editor, and artist. He worked on a number of comic strips in addition to comic books, and is best known for his Warren and Marvel Comics work...
, Denny O'Neil, Al Williamson
Al Williamson
Alfonso "Al" Williamson was an American cartoonist, comic book artist and illustrator specializing in adventure, Western and science-fiction/fantasy...
, and Wally Wood
Wally Wood
Wallace Allan Wood was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, best known for his work in EC Comics and Mad. He was one of Mads founding cartoonists in 1952. Although much of his early professional artwork is signed Wallace Wood, he became known as Wally Wood, a name he...
. Critic Ken Jones, in a 1986 retrospective review, suggested that Big Apple Comix and [Mark Evanier's] High Adventure may have been "the first true alternative comics".
In the 1990s, Steinberg returned to work for Marvel as a proofreader, succeeding Jack Abel
Jack Abel
Jack Abel a.k.a. Gary Michaels was an American comic book artist best known as an inker for leading publishers DC Comics and Marvel Comics. He was DC's primary inker on the Superman titles in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and inked penciler Herb Trimpe's introduction of the popular superhero...
.
Homages
A fictionalized Steinberg starred alongside Stan LeeStan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
, Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby , born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic book medium....
, and Sol Brodsky
Sol Brodsky
Sol Brodsky was an American comic book artist who, as Marvel Comics' Silver Age production manager, was one of the key architects of the small company's expansion to a major pop culture conglomerate. He later rose to vice president, operations and vice president, special projects...
— all transformed into a Marvel Bullpen version of the Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four is a fictional superhero team appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The group debuted in The Fantastic Four #1 , which helped to usher in a new level of realism in the medium...
— in the alternate-reality
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
comic What If
What If (comics)
What If, sometimes rendered as What If...?, is the title of several comic book series published by Marvel Comics, exploring "the road not traveled" by its various characters...
#11 (Oct. 1978). Written and drawn by Kirby, the odd tale featured Steinberg as the character then called the Invisible Girl.
In alternate universe
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
series Ultimate Fantastic Four
Ultimate Fantastic Four
Ultimate Fantastic Four is a superhero comic book series published by Marvel Comics. The series is a modernized re-imagining of Marvel's long-running Fantastic Four comic book franchise as part of its Ultimate Marvel imprint...
#28 (May 2006), writer Mark Millar
Mark Millar
Mark Millar is a Scottish comic book writer, known for his work on books such as The Authority, The Ultimates, Marvel Knights Spider-Man, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Civil War, Wanted, and Kick-Ass, the latter two of which have been adapted into feature films...
added a brief tribute to Steinberg. She serves as the secretary to President Thor
Ultimate Thor
Ultimate Thor is a superhero in the Ultimate Marvel Universe based on the Marvel Universe version of Thor who is in turn based on the god of the same name of Norse mythology....
on an Earth populated almost entirely by superheroes. She warns the Human Torch
Human Torch
The Human Torch is a fictional character and superhero appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, he is a member of the superhero team the Fantastic Four, debuting in The Fantastic Four #1...
not to burn the rug, to which he replies, "I know, I know. No need to be such a nag, Miss Steinberg".
Audio/video
- Pratt, Doug. "The MMMS Records Remastered", DogRat.com, September 23, 2007. The Voices of Marvel, includes voice of Flo Steinberg, and Scream Along with Marvel. Archive.org archive, WebCitation archive.
External links
- "Interview with the Invisible Woman, Flo Steinberg", Jack Kirby Collector, #18 (Jan. 1998), p. 45-46
- Pratt, Doug. "Face Front! You're on the Winning Team!", DogRat.com (WebCitation archive). Includes photos of Steinberg (WebCitation archive).
Further reading
- "Special Fabulous Flo Steinberg Celebration", Comic Book ArtistComic Book ArtistComic Book Artist was an American magazine founded by Jon B. Cooke devoted to anecdotal histories of American comic books, with emphasis on comics published since the 1960s...
#18, April 2002 - Interview with Flo Steinberg, Comics Interview #17 (Nov. 1984)
- The Great Women Superheroes, by Trina RobbinsTrina RobbinsTrina Robbins is an American comics artist and writer. She was an early and influential participant in the underground comix movement, and one of the few female artists in underground comix when she started. Both as a cartoonist and historian, Robbins has long been involved in creating outlets for...
(Kitchen Sink PressKitchen Sink PressKitchen Sink Press was a comic book publishing company founded by Denis Kitchen in 1970. Kitchen owned and operated Kitchen Sink Press until 1999. Kitchen Sink Press was a pioneering publisher of underground comics, and was also responsible for numerous republications of classic comic strips in...
, 1996); index entries, pp. 129, 133. - Women and the Comics, by Trina Robbins and Catherine YronwodeCatherine yronwodeCatherine "Cat" Yronwode is an American writer, editor, graphic designer, typesetter, publisher, and practitioner of folk magic with an extensive career in the comic book industry....
(Eclipse Books, 1985); index entry, p. 104 - Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics, by Les Daniels (Harry Abrams, 1991); index entries, pp. 103–105, 107, 128.
- "Jack Kirby Tribute", The Comics JournalThe Comics JournalThe Comics Journal, often abbreviated TCJ, is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels...
#167 (April 1994), p. 1-19. Brief tributes by many comics professionals, including Steinberg - Letter-to-the-editor, Inside Comics #2 (Summer 1974)