Books About Comic Books

The American comic book has been around since the middle of the 19th century in one form or another. Of course, comics as we know them today, really had their origins in the 1930's when enterprising businessmen decided to reprint newspaper comics in booklet form and give them away as promotional items.  Well...the bottom line is that the history of comics is a rich an varied one, and many a book has been written on the subject.

Today I am going to feature one of...well, one of MANY...books about comic books that I have in my library.  It is called All in Color for a Dime, first published in 1970.  When I started collecting comics almost 30 years ago now, this was the book that people would refer to if you wanted a book on the history of the industry.  It was edited by Dick Lupoff and Don Thompson, both fixtures in the comics and sci-fi world of the day.  Don was the founding editor of the Comic's Buyer's Guide, while Dick is the author of many science fiction stories and was an editor for a number of Edgar Rice Burroughs short stories in the 1960's.

  

The book itself features chapters written by various collectors, creators and writers of comic books on the history of Superman, Batman, Captain Marvel, Popeye and the like.  These characters and others like them are the foundation of the Golden Age of comics.  The book also talks to publishers like M.C. Gaines, and publishing houses like Fiction House.  All in all it is a great look at the Golden Age...written at a time when the Silver Age had just drawn to a close.  There is even a chapter in the book by then future editor-in-chief of Marvel, Roy Thomas.

Many books on the topic have been written since...many good ones.  But this one remains one of the first and best.

Until next time...