History of Comics website

[CharlieRock]

This is the best online history I have read of comic books from the Golden Age.
http://www.thecomicbooks.com/

I made mention of this in another thread but thought more about it and it should get it's own thread. This site also has a transcript of the congressional hearings to ban comics and lots of neat links.

[Yoc]

Thanks for letting everyone know about this Charlie.

[josemas]

I started reading it but when I got to the part about the Eisner-Iger shop he mentions that Alex Toth worked for the shop.  That stopped me cold.  I'd never heard that before.

Has anybody else heard this anywhere else?  Did I just miss something all these years or is he in error about this?

Best

Joe

[darkmark (RIP)]

Yeah, but 1 thing they got wrong, which we all did until the transcripts came in:  Eisner didn't make any "courageous stand" and testify about Fox copying Superman. 

[JVJ (RIP)]

I gave up on the second paragraph where he puts Al Capp at New Fun #1 and implies that it pre-dates Li'l Abner.

PLUS, he fails to credit his sources, which he is obviously misinterpreting. If this is the best you've seen CharlieRock, I ache for the history of comics.

Peace, Jim (|:{>

[JVJ (RIP)]

I just read some more of this and it is ALL third- to fifth-hand regurgitation of other people's work and research and much of it is mis-interpreted with errors added. Please do NOT recommend this site as an accurate history of the early comics. It literally turns my stomach to read crap like this.

Granted, the guy went to a lot of effort to do this, but it both perpetuates existing errors and adds a multitude of new ones.

Peace, Jim (|:{>

[narfstar]

It is sad the fallacies get as much credence as the facts because most do not know the difference. Much of historical "fact" has become such simply by quoting false info as fact.

[CharlieRock]

Where can I read more history in this style then online? This was the site that popped up most on my search engines at work. I am home now and maybe can get on more websites since my net here isn't restricted.

[Ami_GFX]

The history of Comics is a vast subject and I don't know of a single site that covers it all. I can recommend a few books that cover some of the era that Thecomicsbooks.com talks about.

All in color for a dime by Richard Lupoff and Don Thompson. The golden age from the perspective of growing up in it.

Comix, A history of comic books in America by Les Daniels--my mom gave me this book when I was about 12. I don't think she noticed the chapter on Underground comics. She probably just ordered it from a book club and gave it to me for Christmas.

The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America by David Hajdu. I found this book in a pile of free books and it reawakened my interest in comics--especially golden age comics--which I hadn't pursued much since my mid 20s.

There are lots more out there. As I said, the history of comics is a vast subject. I recently found out about the "Atlas Implosion" which I never even heard of in my teenage comic colecting days. One of the best references I found on the the subject was an article by JVJ--THE GREAT ATLAS IMPLOSION by Jim Vadeboncoeur--which I managed to read online but there is another article in an issue of Alterego about this important but obscure event in the history of comics that I am going to have to buy the hardcopy for because it isn't available online.

The the comicbooks.com is very sloppy, not just in fact and research but basic grammer and editing as well. I liked the basic chronological approach but it needs to be done a lot better. I did find it amusing to read Werthams "It's still murder" article about the comics code which I'd never seen before.

[josemas]

There are lots more out there. As I said, the history of comics is a vast subject. I recently found out about the "Atlas Implosion" which I never even heard of in my teenage comic colecting days. One of the best references I found on the the subject was an article by JVJ--THE GREAT ATLAS IMPLOSION by Jim Vadeboncoeur--which I managed to read online but there is another article in an issue of Alterego about this important but obscure event in the history of comics that I am going to have to buy the hardcopy for because it isn't available online.

The Alter Ego article about the Atlas Implosion that I believe you're referring to was written by Tom Lammers who later published an expanded version of it in a booklet which he has made available to members of the Timely-Atlas Comics Yahoo group of which he is also a very active member.

Best

Joe

[Bob Hughes]

Any of the books by Ron Goulart are good sources of golden age history. Although I think he just keeps selling the same book over and over again to different publishers.

The Men of Tomorrow by Gerard Jones is also essential.

[Yoc]

Roy Thomas' ALTER EGO is THE essential magazine for all GoldenAge comics fans if you can find it.  
Two Morrows publishes it and several other excellent magazines.
You can see their offerings and order them online here:
http://www.twomorrows.com/

[narfstar]

It is hard to beat holding the paper copies in your hand but Alter Ego is available for digital downloads at twomorrows for pretty cheap for such a book. They have started adding several nice color pages.

[josemas]

Speaking of Alter Ego, I picked up the latest issue this week at my LCS.  Another great ish highlighted by a tribute to George Tuska.
 
The next issue (#100) is going to be an extra large issue and will be published on the 50th anniversary of the day that Jerry Bails came out with the very first issue back in 1961.

After that issue #101 takes a look at Victor Fox and the comics he published. 

Lots of stuff to look forward to.

Best

Joe

[narfstar]

Speaking on the history of comics and Alter Ego, Roy is looking for

Richard Arndt is working on a "Tales from the [Comics] Code" issue of ALTER EGO for this Halloween, and would really appreciate knowing if there are any black/African-American characters in U.S. comics between 1955 and 1964-65, when Marvel and DC introduced such characters in SGT. FURY and OUR ARMY AT WAR?

Tiny in Little Audrey, Little Rascals and Lobo have already been mentioned. Any others?