General Category > Comic Related Discussion
Books on the History of Comic Books you have read or own in your collection!
erikpsmith:
Hello,
I'm a first-time poster, but consider me a lifelong comics fan (who still has his collection neatly plastic-bagged away in his storage unit).
As someone who first got into comics in the early seventies, my knowledge was shaped by the relative handful of books that had been published up to that point. I was quite a precocious kid, perusing library card catalogs and ordering volumes via interlibrary loan. Many I eventually bought as an adult; most of these that appear on this list I actually own.
The earliest books about comic books? Well, I'm reaching back into my memory here, but here's what was published prior to 1980. All are hardback with dust jacket unless otherwise noted.
------------
The Great Comic Book Heroes -- Jules Feiffer, Dial Press, 1965 -- the granddaddy of them all, really an interpretive essay with reprints of early stories.
All in Color for a Dime and The Comic Book Book -- Don Thompson, Dick Lupoff, Arlington House, 1970 and 1973 -- I ran across the Ace paperback reprint of the first book at age 10, on a Glacier Park vacation in 1972, and I devoured it cover to cover.
The Steranko History of Comics, Volume 1 (1970) and Volume 2 (1972) -- Jim Steranko, Supergraphics -- utterly invaluable. Tabloid size, paper covers.
Comix: A History of the Comic Book in America -- Les Daniels, 1971 -- probably the first attempt at a comprehensive history in a single volume.
Horror Comics of the '50s -- Nostalgia Press, 1971 (This was the first reprint of EC comic books -- high quality color reproduction in tabloid size.)
Superman From the 30s to the 70s, Batman From the 30s to the 70s -- Crown, 1971, later reprinted by Bonanza
Wonder Woman -- Ms. Books, 1972
The Mad World of William M. Gaines -- Frank Jacobs, Lyle Stuart, 1972
Origins of Marvel Comics (1974) / Son of Origins of Marvel Comics (1975) / Bring on the Bad Guys (1976) -- Stan Lee, Fireside Books. Trade paperback.
The Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes, Volume 1, Batman -- Michael Fleischer, Collier, 1976. Trade paperback.
The Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes, Volume 2, Wonder Woman -- Michael Fleischer, Collier, 1976. Trade paperback.
The Great Superman Book (Volume 3 of series) -- Michael Fleischer, Warner, 1978. Trade paperback.
Superman: Last Son of Krypton -- Elliot S. Maggin, 1978 (originally published as a paperback movie tie-in by Warner, this was reprinted in an exclusive hardcover edition with dust jacket by the Science Fiction Book Club.)
A special note should be made of Russ Cochran's slipcased black-and-white EC reprint series, which apparently started in the '70s -- I certainly never ran across it in bookstores, and I wasn't aware of it until the early eighties.
There were only a handful of titles published earlier than these. Ballantine reprinted the run of Mad comics in paperback form, Signet (later Warner) reprinted Mad magazine in paperback, and all titles remained in print for years. Signet also published a series of Batman reprints in paperback during the 1966 Batman boom. Superman From the '30s to the '70s mentioned George Lowther's 1943 novelization of Superman, apparently printed on unobtanium, available from no library via interlibrary loan, and inaccessible until it was reprinted circa 2000. In the '70s, the Spokane Public Library still had a well-thumbed copy of the immortal Seduction of the Innocent, by Frederic Wertham. And by searching through the library government-depository archive, I was able to find an original printed copy of the transcript of the 1954 hearing of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, featuring William Gaines' defense of good taste in horror comics.
There were also a number of books devoted to comic strips, including Dick Tracy, Little Orphan Annie, Buck Rogers, Krazy Kat and Little Nemo.
This was literally everything there was, back in the days before comic book stores, when you could still buy a new comic for a quarter at the 7-Eleven.
Quite a contrast to today -- my local comics shop has thousands of hardcover and softcover books on the shelves, both graphic novels and prose works. And here's a funny thing -- I was having a cup of coffee with one of my co-workers at the state Capitol in Olympia, and he mentioned, "You know, when I was a kid, there was a book that had quite an impact on me, called 'Batman From the '30s to the '70s'..." I nodded. I understood.
Erik Smith
Olympia, WA
Rocket Riley:
As a collector who discovered comics fandom in 1964, here are a few of the histories that fired up my 11 year old fanboy brain.
The Guidebook To Comics Fandom 1964: It contained a list of all superhero comics that started before 1945 and a short history of the comic book.
The Great Comic Book Heroes: I ordered this the minute I heard it was coming out. Then I suffered in agony for over a month waiting for delivery. I still have that copy.
Rockets Blast Special # 5 The Stars of Star Spangled Comics from 1965. I still have this one in all it's mime-graphed glory.
Rockets Blast Special # 6 1966 The History of Quality Comics Nuff Said!
Raymond Miller's 3 volumes of illustrated biographical sketches of Golden Age Heroes 1966-67
Everything Jerry Bails published in the 1960's
There's lots more, but those are some of the histories that got me started
Yoc:
The latest book I've just finished reading last month was The Secret History of Wonder Woman, by Jill Lepore - which came out in 2014 but I only just found. I already knew some of the basics about the unusual real life story behind WW's creator Dr William Moulton Marston but this book really digs into the late Victorian era of his birth tying into the influences of the Suffragette movement, the fight for birth control and Marston's own belief that women would one day rule the world. Before Marston created WW he had a very checked career. After he graduated from Harvard (where he helped develop the systolic blood pressure test used for lie detection) he pursed the goal of being a court recognized expert on lying (with very bad results for his first appearance in court). A bit of a grifter (depending on the financial support of the two 'wives' he lived with) he bounced around from job to job always trying to drum up good publicity often calling his own news conferences and handing out photos for news agencies. All the publicity helped him eventually land the job with All-American (DC) where he finally debuted his Wonder Woman stories. But the trip to getting there is just as interesting as the stories themselves. And all those bondage scenes on almost every page of each story? Of course there was complaints but the man truly believed his own b.s. on the subject and managed to keep them in despite all the uproar.
For anyone interested not just in the history of comics but the history of America and fight for the rights of women I think you will definitely enjoy this one.
Some online blurbs on the book - https://scholar.harvard.edu/jlepore/publications/secret-history-wonder-woman
-Yoc
Crimson-Blue-Green:
--- Quote from: erikpsmith on August 09, 2017, 01:56:22 AM ---
Superman: Last Son of Krypton -- Elliot S. Maggin, 1978 (originally published as a paperback movie tie-in by Warner, this was reprinted in an exclusive hardcover edition with dust jacket by the Science Fiction Book Club.)
--- End quote ---
I have the sequel to this book, "Superman: Miracle Monday". In fact I did a book report on it in the ninth grade! The theme was "pick a book about a hero you like". Most people picked a real person but I asked the teacher for permission to write about Superman and he said it was okay. :)
Geo (RIP):
Here's a few more to add to the list:
American Comic Book Chronicles by various writers
The Silver Age Sci-Fi Companion
The Comic Journal Library Volume 10:t The EC Artists by Fantageraphics Books
The Life and Legend of Wally Wood #1`edited by Bob Stewart & J. Michael Patron
Wood Work Wallace Wood 1927-1981 by IDW
The Secret History of Marvel Comics by Bell/Yassallo
More food for Thought!
Geo
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