This is the thread where we talk about regular wordy-books that are ABOUT comics

I've got Eisner/Miller by Charles Brownstein in front of me. Looks interesting.

And AAoKaC is pretty much what got me reading comics again after getting out around '91.

my girlfriend is reading AAoKaC now, and is heartbroken that Thomas K. didn't make it to the U.S.

hey Vic Fluro: I luv Men of Tomorrow, but am trying to locate Jones' The Great Comic book heroes. Amazon is not very informative vis-a-vis what the book actually comprises. And how is it different form Jules Feiffer's book of the same name?

The book gained a lot of popularity, providing comics as a scapegoat for juvenile delinquency. Public outcry eventually brought about the Congressional inquiry into Comics and the creation of the Comics code.

Remember, before gangsta rap or punk rock, we could always blame comics.

I don't know if it's in print anywhere -- but I know there's still a copy of this in my local public library.

xpost

They're both insider-written histories of the industry, but they're very different in subject matter. Feiffer's book is about a few specific "classic" Golden Age superhero features, while Jones's book is about "mainstream" (DC, Marvel, and direct market) American comics from the Silver Age through the time of the book's publication. There are two very different editions of this book. The first was published circa 1985 and is basically a nostalgia book, with puff-pieces on comic series that Jones and his co-author particularly liked, as well as the "notable" books of the era. It ends on a very optimistic note, talking up all the good indie books that had just hit the mainstream (e.g., Zot!, American Flagg!) The second was published directly after the big industry crash circa 1995, and is pretty heavily revised to add lots of dirt, gossip, and a big section/screed tacked on to the end about the dire turn that the industry took after Watchmen came out. Jones gets really personal and bitter about his involvement in the industry at that time and it's very interesting reading, in a car-crash-rubbernecking sense.

I will write something about Give My Regards To The Atomsmashers when I have had my post-holiday sleep.

Ha ha, that's brilliant! As I read his book, I keep thinking, Damn, I wish this guy would post to ILComics (not that you gals/guys aren't more than enough).

Superman vs Hollywood SPOILER: H'wood wins.

CAVEAT from chapters/indigo:
About the Author
Jake Rossen is a freelance writer who wrote a cover story for Wizard magazine on Superman Returns.

Doesn't Hollywood pretty much always win? It's like the Anti-Life Equation or something.

I will write something about Give My Regards To The Atomsmashers when I have had my post-holiday sleep.

I read the B. Meltzer essay in this yesterday, how cringingly embarrassing.

I thought there was a thread on this inspired by Junot Diaz (and Lethem's Fortress of Solitude to a lesser extent), but can't find it, but wanted to mention Lee Henderson's The Road Narrows As You Go, which sits still unread on my pile, but will probably get read before the end of the year. It's about a comic strip artist in San Francisco in the 80s. Was reviewed in the Globe & Mail by a sometimes ILCer. Globe and Mail site is down at the moment, but a relevant tweet by Sean: https://twitter.com/goodmanbeaver/status/515586670247555072

(found it)

Sean Rogers's review of The Road Narrows As You Go
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/the-road-narrows-as-you-go-a-rambunctious-new-novel-that-follows-the-life-of-a-cartoonist-in-the-1980s/article20805395/

Wait, Sean is an ILC-er??? I know Sean!

he was circa 2006 at least

that's funny. i haven't seen him in about five years tho'

wondering if anyone read the new book about Marvel in the 1970s or as Esquire put it Marvel on LSD, sounded like could be fun - attaching cpl links

https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a43918564/70s-marvel-comics-lsd/

https://www.hoganmag.com/blog/2023/5/12/when-the-house-of-ideas-really-was-talking-with-author-eliot-borenstein

might be nice to keep this thread going as originally planned as repository for recommendations or discussion

waving my trotters in delight at how every successive chapter of According To Jack Kirby confirms my sour teenage 90s impressions

That Stan Lee was full of shit?

no spoilers!