The best reading from the Golden Age.

[Larryw7]

The stories in Batman 1-5 are pretty fun

 

Yeah, I think for the superhero genre, Batman stories from 1939 until the late forties/early fifties are tough to beat. There are a lot of inventive plots rather than just 12 pages of a guy in tights kicking (not that there's anything wrong with that!).

 

 

I agree with October that, overall, EC's are the best.

[BB-Gun]

The trilogy origin of Captain Marvel Jr. is one of the best golden age superhero stories

 

Are these reprinted somewhere?

Alan Light reprinted each individual issue (Master 21, Whiz 25, and Captain Marvel Jr. 1), but I don't think the whole story has been reprinted together.

 

I want to read it in color, but might have to settle for the Alan Light reprints.

 

Well, here is where it starts. I think the first part was the best. Whiz 25 was reprinted along with 7-28 by Alan Light and it has a nice cover with good reproduction. The story is retold in Cap Jr. 1. Fun but brutal. Not as harmless as the later Captain Marvel stories.

bb

[Shield]

Depends on your definition of golden age, but for my money nothing (with the exception of Barks) beats ECs. The stories hold up extremely well after 50+ years...which is probably why they keep being made into TV shows.

(thumbs u

[piper]

Depends on your definition of golden age, but for my money nothing (with the exception of Barks) beats ECs. The stories hold up extremely well after 50+ years...which is probably why they keep being made into TV shows.

(thumbs u

 

(thumbs u (thumbs u

[The Black Hand ®]

We must remember that for every great GA story, there were a dozen really awful ones.

[piper]

We must remember that for every great GA story, there were a dozen really awful ones.

 

That could be said of any era.

[thehumantorch]

Gotta vote for Bark's ducks. Classics like the Square Egg story or the Pixilated Parrot. Or the story about Scrooge meeting another duck who claimed to have more $$ and they had the same amount of assets and had to unroll their balls of string to determine which string ball was longer.

[adamstrange]

Gotta vote for Bark's ducks. Classics like the Square Egg story or the Pixilated Parrot. Or the story about Scrooge meeting another duck who claimed to have more $$ and they had the same amount of assets and had to unroll their balls of string to determine which string ball was longer.

 

Flintheart Glomgold

 

There are so many great Barks stories!

[MrBedrock]

Or the story about Scrooge meeting another duck who claimed to have more $$ and they had to unroll their balls

OUCH!

[G.A.tor]

Doesn't matter. I just ordered #3 and #4. Thanks! (thumbs u

I have the HC vol 1-4, they are all great reading!

[Mister O]

Hi Everyone,

 

I am new to the forums and the Golden Age of books. Rather than post a new topic, I decided to search and found this thread! Lot's of interesting information in this thread so far! This thread covers many small runs or certain books to read.

 

This topic has been on my mind for the last couple of weeks, and I have decided to take the plunge. I am looking to start a golden age run for the first time, and want to get books to read rather than spend thousands to invest in certain key issues.

 

I can invest in key books throughout my comic book collecting journey, but I would like to actually accomplish something that I have never done. I am looking to complete at least one run of golden age comic book title more for reading enjoyment than anything else.

 

The books do not have to be ultra high grade, and could be from the fair to very good grade range so long as they are presentable and readable. My main goal is to have fun reading the books, rather than encapsulating them to look at. It would be a bonus to own books that have nice covers for displaying, but my main goal is to collect and read some excellent stories.

 

Reading through the forums, I see many recommendations for EC comics, and many other titles or publishers. I just want to narrow it down to the MUST read titles. If you had to start over and want to narrow it down to complete a run of any one comic book title which one would be the consensus recommendation to collect?

 

The genres can be anything except romance. I am more particular to the superhero, horror, crime type genres, and have even dabbled into some of the war books. I could use the help of each of the forum members who have collected and read these books for years. Your help would be truly appreciated in narrowing down the title of choice. Thanks for reading and possibly taking the time to respond.

 

Eric

 

 

 

[Forbush-Man]

Welcome to the Boards, Eric.

 

You mentioned EC's, and I would agree they are great reads. I know EC is known for their pre-code horror, but you should look into their Sci-Fi publications. I think they actually were the best of what they did back then. You won't kill yourself price-wise, issues won't be too difficult to find & you should be able to haggle the prices down on mid to lower grade copies. Maybe not great on an investment level, but great art and great stories. Weird Science, Weird Fanatsy & Weird Science-Fantasy are the titles (combined into one toward the end.) About 53 issues in all to complete all three titles.

 

Here's a site for viewing the titles. Click the Gallery next to the title to see the covers. Click the covers to see who did the stories. Grand Comic Book Database

 

 

I'm sure others will have some great suggestions for you as well.

 

Kudos on doing the search first........you've started on a high-note.

[Forbush-Man]

You could also buy the hardbound reprints on the EC's and collect most everything that was published. Have a nice library that won't break the bank.

[Mister O]

Thanks for your reply Fuleman. Yes, I agree that EC reprints can be found at the fraction of the cost, and would decide against getting the original EC books. The run would in most likelihood have to consist of non-reprint books that can only be read through attaining the originals. Good start so far. If anyone else has suggestions please let me know.

 

Thanks,

Eric

[RIP_ODB]

Have you checked http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/?

[BustedFlush]

If not said before, Marvel in the '40's had shown sharp writing instincts honed toward the teen reader of that era, Funny, wild, beyond expectations, their stories moved; riskier plots, larger ideas.

[adamstrange]

My main goal is to have fun reading the books, rather than encapsulating them to look at. It would be a bonus to own books that have nice covers for displaying, but my main goal is to collect and read some excellent stories.

Great reading can be found in Barks' Ducks, Eisner's Spirit and most any EC. Batman is a fun title as well. All of those can be obtained in reprints so if you're looking for something not reprinted and where the entire title is of high quality it's a bit harder, unless we consider some really short title. Scrooge would be one of the best to make a recommendation here but a couple unusual series to try would be Crime Does Not Pay and any horror title from Superior or Ajax/Farrell.

[143ksk]

Well, if I had to pick a single run to collect...

 

[Bat-Man]

Batman 1...........Batman 1.......BATMAN1!!!

 

 

[Pat Calhoun]

well- trying not to repeat anything in the thread- the post war and pre code books often catered to the adult audience of that era so are maybe more literary. Atlas fantasy and horror rivals and maybe even surpasses EC in that they managed a greater variety of tone and had a big stable of super artists and many fine occasional contributors. Stan Lee's ability to work free lance with so many folks was an achievement. That said Airboy is good and cheap too. While reprints are fine- nuttin beats the real thing... I'm partial to the late issues of Wonder and Startling (sorry they are pricey- probably my fault for praising them too often!) with sister titles Exciting and Thrilling not far behind. The Schomburg airbrush covers are his career peak and the insides mix hero, SF, teen humor, and crime etc with many great artists including the mighty Frazetta... There is something to be said for all the GA anthology titles (Jumbo comes to mind and Sheena is the ultimate heroine) that sort of assumed if you like a good hero yarn you'd also like a good pirate story, a good western, a good funny animal, a good detective... Aaahhhhh