As a collector / dealer / blogger...  I either buy / trade / or receive many publications and books during each month.  I am not able to read them all at once, and choose what I want to read, unless it was submitted for possible review, or ask my wife Tina if she would like to 'guest blog' on something I think may interest her.

This Harvey Comics Classics Volume is one that I want to definitely blog about in both versions of my Blog, as this trade paper back compilation is one that is of great value.  Both for historical reference value and monetary value. 

Plus in my case, for nostalgia value.  You see, before I turned into a 'Marvel Zombie' years ago, I read many Harvey Comics as a young child. My Great-Aunt and Uncle were the ones that got me reading comics, as they always bought new ones for my younger brother and I to read at their house, or brought them down to my folks house for us to read when they visited.

In the bags of comics would be many Harvey titles, including Richie Rich, Casper, Baby Huey, and Hot Stuff.

The darnedest thing is, I wonder if they even knew that this 'Hot Stuff' was truly a 'Little Devil'?  There is one story inside this book that makes reference to who his father is! 

This Volume has a great foreward by Mark Arnold. In addition the book has a historical introduction by Jerry Beck.  Both of these men are persons I have blogged about before, and they are truly knowledgable on the Harvey Comics Universe!  This is what I call the 'historical reference value' to this book!

Here is where it took me a little time to read all of this volume.  It really does have 110 Classic Comics Stories from 1957 - 1966 in this volume!  You would think that these being 'funnybook' stories, that one could zip right through the stories.  After all, the stories range from one page to five pages, with a few continued stories going to an additional five pages.

But you know what?  There really is a lot of reading to these stories!  So there is the monetary value to this volume! Actually 480 pages to this book! Plus sixty-four of the pages are in color!  The rest are in black & white but look like they were drawn yesterday!  A great reproduction of the original comics!

I want to thank Jemiah Jefferson for turning me on to this series from Dark Horse.  It truly was 'refreshing' as well as 'nostalgic' to read many of the early stories when I was a kid again. 

BTW, Hot Stuff was the only Harvey Comics Character to first appear in his own self-titled comic. (The other characters were first introduced in other titles, before receiving their own title.) His comic was 'Hot Stuff, The Little Devil' and it was first published in 1957.  And oh yeah, for a change of pace, there were also appearances of Stumbo the Giant in his comic, and there are several of Stumbo's  stories reprinted here in this volume also!

If you are a Baby Boomer, and remember these stories as a kid, you probably would have fun re-reading them again, and catching up on the ones you missed later like I did.  Plus your kids or grand-kids probably haven't seen this series, because most of the comic books from the original series that I even see today are way too beat up to purchase for resale.  Again talk about value... only $19.95 for the cover price of this Volume!   I gotta check out the other four Volumes in this series that feature Richie Rich, Casper, Baby Huey, and the 'Harvey Girls' - Little Dot, Little Lotta, and Little Audrey!   

Publication Date: April 02, 2008
Format: FC & b&w, 480 pages, TPB, 7" x 10"
Price: $19.95
Age range: AA+
ISBN-10: 1-59307-914-1
ISBN-13: 978-1-59307-914-7

For more info: 

http://www.darkhorse.com/Books/14-341/Harvey-Comics-Classics-Volume-3-Hot-Stuff-TPB