• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Action! Mystery! Thrills!: Comic Book Covers of the Golden Age 1933-45

Started by Black Lantern,

37 posts in this topic

rjpb

rjpb

Posted
Posted

Neat - I'll have to check this out - it's a bit confusing as the ad copy says full-sized covers but the sample pages show 6 per page. If it does indeed have 200 full size cover repos than I'll probably buy it - as I've been slowly liquidating many of my classic cover books anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
adamstrange

adamstrange

Posted
Posted
My guess is that the covers are one per page large size and that the sample pages we see with 6 a page are the "extensive" information advertised on the back cover blurb.

 

They are full sized images, one per page.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Black Lantern

Black Lantern

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I can also recommend "Four Color Fear: Forgotten Horror Comics of the 1950s". Many cool Pre-Code Horror reprints (Ajax-Farrell, Atlas, Avon, Charlton, Comic Media, Fawcett, Fiction House, Gilmor, Harvey, Quality, Standard, St. John, Story, Superior, Trojan, and Youthful), with extensive background notes on the artists, writers, and companies involved in their creation. And in the middle part of the book you can find many full-sized covers.

 

"Digital restoration has been performed with subtlety and restraint, mainly to correct registration and printing errors, with every effort made to retain the flavor of the original comics, and to provide the reader the experience of finding in the attic a bound volume of the finest non-EC horror covers and stories of the pre-code era." :applause:

 

Amazon

Link to comment
Share on other sites
adamstrange

adamstrange

Posted
Posted
Sadowski produces great books, with, and I really appreciate this, excellent quality reproduction.

 

Looks like he got a lot of help from folks here.

 

He got a whole lot of help from Jon Berk and a little bit from the rest of us.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
adamstrange

adamstrange

Posted
Posted

I received my copy a couple days ago and I'm very impressed with how it turned out.

 

I'm probably pickier than most about wanting to see accurate reproductions of comics because I think that the best copies more completely convey the intention of the original artists and that that vision is worth preserving and presenting. The main problems I find with reprint books are small scans, lack of color fidelity and presence of production/handling defects.

 

This book is the first time I feel that someone got it "right." I can quibble with a shade of color on some of the comics but, overall, it's a tribute to Greg, who had to do quite a bit of computer touch up to get the cover scans ready for the printer. This book is the closest you will get to understanding how cool GA covers are, short of getting the Church or some similarly exemplary copy.

 

The covers are reproduced one per page, in approximately the same size that they were printed. There's a half-inch margin in the center so that you don't have to break the binding to see the entire cover image.

 

The covers are arranged sequentially by date, starting with Famous Funnines and ending with Animal Comics (Dec 45). The usual suspects received more entries than other artists: Fine, Raboy, Eisner, Kirby, Schomburg and LB Cole. Most all of the artists you would expect to be represented are.

 

There may have been issues with rights or a need to have covers for each time period but I do feel that some choices are not optimal. Even so, all of the covers included are interesting and it does leave room for a second volume to supplement this one. (Another volume is planned but will cover 1946 up).

 

I would gladly have given up some of the artists represented with multiple examples in order to include Jack Burnley, Charles Quinlan, Bernard Bailey and Leo O'Mealia. Flessel has one cover but it's Tec 6, not a particularly strong one. Neither Real Life 3 nor Great 3 were included.

 

The text is very minimal consisting of an intro, acknowledgments and a cursory background on each issue. The background notes only infrequently expound on why a cover was actually selected for inclusion, so this pretty much is just an "eye candy" book, not that there's anything wrong with that when the candy is so sweet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BB-Gun

BB-Gun

Posted
Posted
My guess is that the covers are one per page large size and that the sample pages we see with 6 a page are the "extensive" information advertised on the back cover blurb.

 

They are full sized images, one per page.

6686656429_b8504d3762_z.jpg

6686656029_2414d6ab59_z.jpg

 

It is a pretty good deal. For contributing one cover (Air Ace) I received 175 in return, full size and beautifully colored.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Boba

Boba

Posted
Posted
My guess is that the covers are one per page large size and that the sample pages we see with 6 a page are the "extensive" information advertised on the back cover blurb.

 

They are full sized images, one per page.

6686656429_b8504d3762_z.jpg

6686656029_2414d6ab59_z.jpg

 

It is a pretty good deal. For contributing one cover (Air Ace) I received 175 in return, full size and beautifully colored.

:o:o:o

 

I wonder is there a list of the covers featured inside? hm

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Go to topic listing