THE COMIC-BOOK BOOK
1973
The sequel to the earlier ALL IN COLOR FOR A DIME, THE COMIC-BOOK BOOK was a collection of updated essays about the golden age of comics that had mostly appeared in the early 60s in the pages of the early fanzine XERO. As with most of the available books on comics in the 70s, I first read it out of my local library. Nostalgic and heart-felt, it contained chapters on such classic series as Plastic Man, the Spirit, the EC line of comics, the great air-combat strips such as Airboy, Carl Barks’ Donald Duck, Floyd Gottfredson’s Mickey Mouse, the comics-inspired radio shows, and the “second banana” short-lived super heroes of the 40s, among others. It was a treasure-trove of information about comics I’d never or seldom seen before, and it made me want to read them all, a feat I mostly managed to accomplish over the years.
It’s been brought back into print in the last few years, along with ALL IN COLOR. Look for it in your local library.
