Comic Book Heroes from Sil Age

by Will Jacobs and Gerard Jones

Book Overview

The Comic Book Heroesbegins with that first issue of the Flash, an event that would alter American pop culture forever. It's the story both of the superheroes and their all-too-human creators. From... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0517554402
• ISBN13: 9780517554401
• Release Date: December 1985
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
• Length: 292 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A great resource.

It may not be of much interest to casual readers, but to longtime fans, I couldn't recommend this book enough. It doesn't just sit on my shelf, I've reread it dozens of times because the intimate details it contains on this often misunderstood industry are priceless. Of particular interest to me were the sections on the 70s, the beginning of fandom, the evolution of characters, and the pop culture phenomenon as we know it taking shape. It's simply amazing, as though Jones and Jacobs are sitting right there with you recounting these stories. Even as someone who's loved every aspect of comics since before I could read, I was still surprised by all the drama that was going on behind the scenes during these years of entertainment I have fond rememberances of. If there's a flaw, it's that the authors sound a little bitter at times, but that's because they were there in the thick of it during much of the time that this all occured.

Essential history of comic books and their creators.

To Jacobs and Jones, the real "comic book heroes" are the artists, writers and editors who created the grand adventures and heroes. While they acknowledge that comics have historically led to tragedy for their creative people, they show how real-world heroes like Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Steve Gerber, Carmine Infantino and many others endured tragedy to create memorable heroes and stories. It is an essential work for anyone interested in popular culture, as entertaining to read as it is informative. Note: Gerald Jones is currently revising and updating this book for a release sometime in the next two years - but this book is so satisfying you shouldn't wait.