The Library of Comics

 

                                  The Library of Comics:

 Few books were published in the 1940s, 1950s and into the 1960s with an accurate portrayal of the history of comics. One had to rely on old newspaper articles which are often incomplete or a handful of books that were later to be proved very inaccurate. But that has changed now. There are many books out discussing various aspects of the comic industry from its very beginning to current times. Over the last half-century I have collected many of those volumes which also includes runs of  comic books and comic strips which were never before available.

 In the early 1960s, unlike DC, Marvel did not reprint a great many stories from the 1940s in their annuals and reprint magazines. When they did republish a story, it was often altered due to Comics Code restrictions as seen in these two splashes from Fantasy Masterpieces.  So the Marvel Masterworks and Omnis let us “silver-agers” see these stories uncensored for the first time.

There is one book that inspired this. It is The Great Comic Book Heroes by Jules Feiffer. It was an outstanding and unique book for it's time, 1964.  It featured Golden Age heroes and stories from many companies.

But for now...

Let us begin with these Marvel bookcases:

Taschen Books

                                Often written by Michael J. Vassallo, Nick Caputo and me!

                                 DC LIbrary:

     

      

      

     

Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Will Eisner and Romance Comics, Political Comics and Graphic Novels

   

    

Romance comics (bottom right) and Paperbacks

          Eisner and Graphic Novels (Bottom right)

EC & Horror/Crime comics of the 1950s: Part 1 

    

PS Publishing: Crime & Horror Part II

     

                                        

                            

                                   Archie

                         Disney & Comic Strips

Westerns

                    Bios, Reference  & Creators 

                             

     Various  (Star Trek, James Bond & More)

                               Comic History

                                 The Comic Strips

This is a bit difficult to show beccause many of the books are "hidden" from the front.  So many photos are needed.

Charles Schulz, but not Peanuts, below