Michael D Hamersky On Comics Reviews: Charley's  WAR! Volume 1  of 7 (so far) Published by Titan Books     - Photos: (topmost above) The front cover to Volume One of Charley's WAR by Pat Mills & Joe Colquhoun from Titan Books. (Above top left) A photo of my grandfather, who though not a 'tommy', was a 'yank' who went 'over there' in World War I.  This book made me think of what he must have went through during that time, as he was also gassed.

TODAY'S FEATURE - Blog #3447:

As you can tell from the top left photo of this blog post... I have a 'personal' interest in this book about World War I.  Even though my grandfather, Aloyisus 'Ollie' Hamersky was not a 'tommy', he was one of many 'yanks' who was sent 'over there' in the 'Great War'.  But enough about my family... What's this book about?

Here's what the publisher has as a promo for this book:

"From renowned UK comics writer Pat Mills (Marshal Law, Sláine) and legendary artist Joe Colquhoun (Johnny Red) comes a truly classic piece of British comics history, by turns thrilling, humorous and horrifying.

In 1916, Charley Bourne lies about his age to enlist and fight on the battlefields of France. But thoughts of glory and patriotism are swept aside by bloody horror and needless sacrifice as artillery rains down on the trenches of the First World War.

Rich in the detailed minutiae of the terror-punctuated existence of a ‘Tommy’, Charley’s War features a brand new introduction and ‘director’s commentary’ by Pat Mills, a cultural history of the comic, and an essay on the Battle of the Somme."

Okay... The above is pretty much what I read in this book.

You see... Charley's War is mostly about the story of a 'simple-minded', yet quick-witted teenager named Charley Bourne. Like so many during those days, Charley lied about his age and signed up in 1916 to "fight the Hun for King and Country".

So like many other 'tommys', he found himself in what many called "Hell" in the trenches of France.  During the period that this book covers, he makes slowly makes friends, yet struggles to survive the living hell amid a company of strange persons of the same rank. And stranger yet, all of them are under orders from ranking officers, many whom come across as either simpletons, psychopaths, or out and out uncaring career military men out to make a name for themselves!

I found this story to be bleak and terrible at times, which the black & white artwork just reinforces!  There is also the overwhelming cynicism and negativity througout the story presented here.  It just permeates the trenches the men are in, almost as much as the posion gas does... Talk about grim n' gritty comics today... This story makes those look tame in comparsion!

The writer of this story uses what could be called a 'gimmick' in that there are Charley's letters to his parents in his own way of spelling, and the return letters from his family and other family members.

Yet, I found myself engaged in reading each of the chapters presented, as this was originally a comic book feature during the 1980s. So there are multiple chapters with breaks and partial recaps. 

I found this book to very well researched, very well written, and the artwork is fantastic, even though it is in black & white, which was just fine for me!

Again, although my grandfather was a 'yank' I could just imagine a 'little taste' of what he must have gone through as well.

My comic book grade for this hardcover book is a NEAR MINT MINUS (NM-) 9.2 out of a possible 10.0 grading scale.  The reason being, when the book was first brought to my attention, I had no idea there were seven volumes already in this series! I thought there was just the one book, and maybe he died?  That fact there are already 7 of them since 2005 is maybe a bit much for me to think about purchasing all of them... Although I wouldn't mind reading more of them!  The 8th volume is being released this upcoming October... Maybe I should ask a local library to buy 'em all?  This first one was that good!

Here's the info for purchasing the book:

Hardcover: 112 pages
Publisher: Titan Books (October 1, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1840239298
ISBN-13: 978-1840239294
Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 9 x 0.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds 

Here's the link where YOU can buy it online, as I don't have it listed for sale in my online comic book shop:  Charley's War (Vol. 1): 2 June - 1 August 1916

Again, this book is a great start for compiling into hardcover format what was printed years ago in UK Comic Book format!

~Michael D Hamersky

BTW, You can 'follow' this blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app!  We currently have over 2,466 'Followers'!  Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button! 

And for those of YOU that haven't yet... I would appreciate it if YOU would!!!

~ Michael D Hamersky

If I have it... You can find it 'Under The Big Top Of Comics' at:  

http://www.ComicBooksCircus.com/ 

Web Page Note:  This blog post is written for the IE Browser standards.  Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up differently, sorry about that!

The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer.  Note:  As of Monday, June 27th, 2011, I'll be using my new laptop, where the default resolution is 'higher', so there may be some temporary glitches until I am used to the new resolution.

NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

Comics Creators: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email or mail us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works!

To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:

Make It So Marketing Inc., PO Box 130653, Carlsbad, CA 92013

 Also, if you are a Facebook member, I would have liked you to send me a 'Friend Request'. However, I have reached the maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so I've added a New 'Facebook Fan Page' so that even more of YOU can 'Like' what I am doing, and be interactive with me and others there.  Here is the link to that 'Facebook Fan Page': Michael D Hamersky On Comics! Please click the 'Like' button on that page! 

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Michael D Hamersky On Comics Presents: The First Of A Series Of Free Reports At 'Hamersky On Comics' The Facebook Fan Page!     - Photos: (Above) Michael D Hamersky at the 2010 Free Comic Book Day event he blogged and mobile Facebooked from!  And no, those two comics weren't part of the 'free comics' being given away, LOL!  BTW, you can click on the photo and be taken to the Facebook Fan Page where, after clicking the 'LIKE' button, you will be able to click on the link to read / download the first free report!                         - (Above top left) Michael selling at the second comic book convention he sold at, back in 1973 at the Sheraton Hotel on Harbor Island in San Diego.  Michael started selling in the basement of the El Cortez Hotel in 1972 when the con was known as 'San Diego's West Coast Comic Convention'.  The San Diego Comic Con is now known as Comic-Con International: San Diego. Michael still attends the Comic-Con, but as a blogger / mobile Facebooker, not as a comic book dealer!

TODAY'S FEATURE - Blog #3446:

I've mentioned before in this Blog, that I have a few pages going on at Facebook!

As well as being an 'admin' at several Fan Pages for Tina's and / or my clients, I also have a Facebook profile, group, and fan page!

That's because I maxed out my 'personal' profile page with over 5,000 Facebook Friends Plus others Fan Pages being 'Liked' back in early 2009.

So, because having a 'fan page' for myself sounded somewhat 'vain' at the time, I instead joined with the Facebook Comic Con (FBCC) folks, and started a Facebook Comic Con | Make It So Marketing group page, that is affiliated with the FBCC folks.  The 'Make It So Marketing' is the name of Tina's business.

However, I could see before the recent change on groups / group pages at Facebook, that I also needed another page, due to maxing out my 'profile' page with the 5,000 imposed limit. 

So I finally decided that it wouldn't be that 'vain' to start up a 'fan page' about what I am most involved in nowadays, and took the plunge!  Which ended up with the 'Michael D Hamersky On Comics' Facebook Fan Page, which I have been promoting a little more, what with the changes at Facebook with the group pages.

Well, yesterday I woke up at 1 AM with the solution to one of Tina's clients questions on how to present a 'free chapter' of their new book, as a 'gift' to 'fans' of their own author fan page at Facebook.

Well, I don't like to experiment on clients fan pages, without trying them on either my profile, fan or group pages first!

So I ended up with compiling a 'free report' on a subject that I re-blogged on back in 2009, when I still had an eBay blog, (before eBay closed 'their' blogging platform').  At that time I had re-presented a series of four blogs on 'How To Protect And Store Your Paper Collectibles', with an emphasis on 'comics'.

That's because you wouldn't believe the condition of comics that came in to me after buying them on eBay from non-comics dealers!  Sheesh!  No bags, no boards, and no protective envelopes when shipping the comics to me!   No wonder other eBayers weren't bidding on these sellers listings!  And I learned soon enough that only really low bids on their listings would be profitable enough for me to buy to resale from them! 

But I started feeling bad about this, as some comics would have been really 'something' to place in my own personal collection if only they had been stored properly... What a shame...

So that's why I blogged this series of four blogs separately. at my eBay blog.

Yesterday morning, while it was still dark(!), I compiled those four blogs into a pretty good draft as a 'free report' for those that would take the time to click the 'LIKE' button on my Facebook Fan Page, Michael D Hamersky On Comics!

So I wanted to bring this to the attention of this blog's readers!

If you would like to know 'How To Protect And Store Your Paper Collectibles' from a guy that first sold at the 1972 San Diego's West Coast Comic Convention, (now known as the Comic-Con International: San Diego), all you have to do is to click this link, Michael D Hamersky On Comics, and then click the 'LIKE' button there!

You'll notice that the photo you see when you first arrive at that page will change to another photo after you click the 'LIKE' button... And just above that is a blue arrow which guides you to the blueish colored link.  Clicking that blueish colored link will open up either a new window  or tab, depending on the browser you are using, where a .pdf copy of the report will appear. You are then encouraged to read and even print a copy of that report for yourself.

Of course, if you have been buying and selling comics or other paper collectibles for a while, you'll probably know most or even all of these tips, but this 'free report' is more to help those that have comics or other paper items in their possession that would like to properly take care of them, either to give to their kids, or maybe resell them sometime in the future, and re-capture some, most, or even more than the cost they paid for them!

Again, this is the just first of a series of 'free reports' that I'll be giving away in the future at that fan page, as a 'Thank You' to those of you that click the 'LIKE' button on my Facebook Fan Page! 

And as a final note... If YOU already have 'LIKED' that Facebook Fan Page of mine, you don't need to 'unlike' it to get the 'free report'.  All you have to do is go to that 'Welcome & Free Report' link at the left side of the Fan Page, and after clicking that link, you'll see a new page which has the same blueish colored link to click on!

~Michael D Hamersky

BTW, You can 'follow' this blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app!  We currently have over 2,464 'Followers'!  Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button! 

And for those of YOU that haven't yet... I would appreciate it if YOU would!!!

~ Michael D Hamersky

If I have it... You can find it 'Under The Big Top Of Comics' at:  

http://www.ComicBooksCircus.com/ 

Web Page Note:  This blog post is written for the IE Browser standards.  Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up differently, sorry about that!

The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer.

NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

Comics Creators: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email or mail us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works!

To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:

Make It So Marketing Inc., PO Box 130653, Carlsbad, CA 92013

 Also, if you are a Facebook member, I would have liked you to send me a 'Friend Request'. However, I have reached the maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so I've added a New 'Facebook Fan Page' so that even more of YOU can 'Like' what I am doing, and be interactive with me and others there.  Here is the link to that 'Facebook Fan Page': Michael D Hamersky On Comics! Please click the 'Like' button on that page! 

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Michael D Hamersky On Comics Reflects On: Gene Colan Comic Book Illustrator and More! 1926 - 2011      - - - Photos: From the panel that Mark Evanier hosted backin 2001 at the Comic-Con International: San Diego (SDCC). One of the days I'll remember for a long time, because of who attended: John Romita Sr., John Buscema, Gene Colan, Marie Severin, and others.

TODAY'S FEATURE - Blog #3445:

I've been up for hours, working on a client's project, and was about ready to go back to bed, when I came across a Facebook Friend, (Holger Haase), 'Liking' my Facebook Fan Page.

I noticed that, because I was also trying out the project I had been working on with my Facebook Fan Page, and was going in to tell Holger 'thanks', when I saw the notice of Gene Colan's passing on Holger's Facebook wall...

Last year at this time, I had blogged about Gene's wife, Adrienne Colan, passing on, in blog #3172.

Today, I'm thinking and blogging about Gene once again, but this time regarding his passing...

As I mentioned in the earlier blog, I had seen both Gene and Adrienne several times at the San Diego Comic Con, and I really enjoyed hearing Adrienne's stories about the 'old days', when she was able to talk freely. 

That's because Gene was always busy illustrating at his table during those times. 

It seems I only got to hear Gene speak for any length at panels, basically the ones that Mark Evanier hosts every year.

The photos at the top right of this blog post are from a special panel during the 2011 SDCC. (There are others from the same con that don't have Gene in them at this special photo album.) 

Gene was honored by his peers with a surprise early birthday cake.  He would be turning 75 years old.

I remember that panel very well, as Gene was really touched by all those that had fond memories of working with him, or around him in comics.  There were a lot of memories shared there... 

He was truly touched, and ended up taking off his cap, which he rarely did on stage, and thanking all that were in attendance.

Yes, I had been a fan of his works, and continued to buy Daredevil comics after John Romita Sr. left that series in 1966.  Gene's comic book art was so cinematic during that series... It was truly a wonder to behold when each issue came out!  I've published a photo of his first Daredevil front cover, from issue #21, from October 1966, although his interior pencils on DD started in #20.

I could on and on about his works on Iron Man, Tomb of Dracula, etc., etc., but today... I just wanted to talk about the man, and let you see on your own, over 3,000 stories credited to him on the Grand Comics Database.

Gene was a true 'Gentleman', both on stage and off, in big crowds and individually one-on-one at his Artist Alley table.

My condolences to his family and friends...

~Michael D Hamersky

BTW, You can 'follow' this blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app!  We currently have over 2,464 'Followers'!  Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button! 

And for those of YOU that haven't yet... I would appreciate it if YOU would!!!

~ Michael D Hamersky

If I have it... You can find it 'Under The Big Top Of Comics' at:  

http://www.ComicBooksCircus.com/ 

Web Page Note:  This blog post is written for the IE Browser standards.  Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up differently, sorry about that!

The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer.

NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

Comics Creators: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email or mail us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works!

To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:

Make It So Marketing Inc., PO Box 130653, Carlsbad, CA 92013

 Also, if you are a Facebook member, I would have liked you to send me a 'Friend Request'. However, I have reached the maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so I've added a New 'Facebook Fan Page' so that even more of YOU can 'Like' what I am doing, and be interactive with me and others there.  Here is the link to that 'Facebook Fan Page': Michael D Hamersky On Comics! Please click the 'Like' button on that page! 

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Michael D Hamersky On Comics Reviews: Stan Lee's How To Draw Comics!     - Photos: (topmost above) The front cover to 'Stan Lee's How To Draw Comics' from Watson-Guptill Publications. (Above top left) Stan Lee - author, with Michael D Hamersky in 1993 at the Comic-Con International: San Diego (SDCC).

TODAY'S FEATURE - Blog #3444:

As you can tell if you are a first time reader of my blog, I am a 'fan' of Stan Lee.  The photo shown at the top left of this blog was taken at the 1993 San Diego Comic Con / Comic-Con International.

No, I'm not a personal friend of Stan Lee... But he has been a big influence on my choice of reading, accumulating, collecting, trading, buying, and selling of comic books since the early 1960s.

Now that this has been made known to you, here's an additional piece of info: I've already mentioned Stan's earlier work, "How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way' in this blog years ago. Plus followed up on the topic, after viewing the DVD for the book and blogging about it. Here's the link to that blog from August 11th of 2007. Please excuse the blog format, as it was written for a different blog platform, instead of this current one. Also, here's a link to where you can purchase that earlier book, How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way.

So, now I've told you of why I value Stan Lee's advice, and that there was an earlier 'version' if you would call it that, of this book. What is this book then?

Here's what the publisher has as a promo for this book:

In Stan Lee's How to Draw Comics, Stan Lee sets out to teach everything he knows about drawing and comic book characters, The book focuses primarily on action-adventure comics, but will touch upon other genres and styles, such as romance, humor, horror, and the widely influential manga style. From producing concepts and character sketches to laying out the final page of art, the man with no peer—Stan Lee—is the ultimate guide to the world of creating comics.

Fair enough! Kind of a 'generalization' though...

Here's just some of the chapters in this book:

Preface, Introduction, A Brief History Of Comic Books... By A Guy Who Lived Them, Tools of the Trad, The Basics: Form, Perspective & Foreshortening, The Human Head, Characters & Costumes, Bring On The Backgrounds, Peerless Penciling, Lively Letering, Commanding Covers, Getting Work, Suggested Reading, Websites, Schools & Suppliers.

So you see... This book covers from the history of comics to 'old school' comic book crafting, to modern day techniques, with a little help on 'Getting Work'. Plus suggested additional reading!

I found that although I have a love of comics, I still didn't know how the modern artists, letterers, colorists, etc. were 'doing it' today.  This book brought me up to speed, although illustrating is not my forte, and never was.

But for those of you that are thinking this field might be one you'd like to get into, or you know someone that is fond of illustrating, this just might be the book to kindle that interest into something more!

Sure, there's at least 60 books on how to draw comics on Amazon alone to choose from!  Heck, I've even seen a few of those at comic cons and brick n' mortar stores myself!

However, this book is one that has been written by the Master of Comics, (along with contributing writer David Campiti), and has illustrations by contributing artists including Neal Adams, Frank Cho, Vince Colletta, Joe Sinott, Michael Turner, Jim Lee, Jae Lee, Jack Kirby, and several others to make the chapters stand out even more!

Definitely worth taking a look at, and the book would make a good gift to someone you'd like to encourage taking a look at the world of comics for a possible source of income.  The cover price is only $24.99, written by someone who has been there from almost the beginning of comics, and is knowledgeable of what is going on today!

Now that the 'sales pitch' is over, (wink), I've got to admit that it wasn't hard to give this book a 'comic book grade'!

My comic book grade for this softcover book is a NEAR MINT (NM) 9.4 out of a possible 10.0 grading scale, of course!  Or as Stan himself would say... 'Nuff Said!

Here's the info for purchasing the book:

Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Watson-Guptill; Original edition (November 16, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780823000838
ISBN-13: 978-0823000838
ASIN: 0823000834
Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 8.6 x 0.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 2 pounds:

Here's the link where YOU can buy it online, as I don't have it listed for sale in my online comic book shop: Stan Lee's How to Draw Comics: From the Legendary Creator of Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and Iron Man!

And yes, I may be a 'fanboy' at heart when it comes to Stan, but this is a really good updated for the 2010s book for someone wanting to check out the waters for becoming involved in the illustrative side of the comic books industry!

~Michael D Hamersky

BTW, You can 'follow' this blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app!  We currently have over 2,462 'Followers'!  Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button! 

And for those of YOU that haven't yet... I would appreciate it if YOU would!!!

~ Michael D Hamersky

If I have it... You can find it 'Under The Big Top Of Comics' at:  

http://www.ComicBooksCircus.com/ 

Web Page Note:  This blog post is written for the IE Browser standards.  Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up differently, sorry about that!

The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer.

NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

Comics Creators: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email or mail us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works!

To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:

Make It So Marketing Inc., PO Box 130653, Carlsbad, CA 92013

 Also, if you are a Facebook member, I would have liked you to send me a 'Friend Request'. However, I have reached the maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so I've added a New 'Facebook Fan Page' so that even more of YOU can 'Like' what I am doing, and be interactive with me and others there.  Here is the link to that 'Facebook Fan Page': Michael D Hamersky On Comics! Please click the 'Like' button on that page! 

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Michael D Hamersky On Comics Reviews: The HoRRoR! The HoRRoR! Comic Books That The Government Didn't Want YOU To Read!     - Photos: (above) The front cover to 'The HoRRoR! - The HoRRor!' softcover book. Top left Photo: Front Cover to Weird Terror #6 - cover dated July of 1953, with cover by Don Heck!

TODAY'S FEATURE - Blog #3443:

I have mentioned before, both in this Blog and at my Facebook Fan Page, (Michael D Hamersky On Comics), that I used to buy old comics from Lanning's Bookstore in Downtown San Diego. 

That bookstore was usually run by Mrs. Peggy Lanning, and I could always depend on a shopping cart full of old stripped-covers comics for sale there. The stripped-covers were 'returns' that had been stripped of their front covers for reimbursement by the publishers in the 'good old days', when there wasn't any local comic book shops, (LCBS), in existence.  The practice continued for many years.

Anyways, in that shopping cart I would find old Atlas war comics, western comics, and yes... HoRRoR comics!  As well as other from other publishers, but I was just learning that Atlas Comics was the precursor to what became known as Marvel Comics!

So, I've always had a 'fondness' of reading comics from those years.  Which is hard to do now, because even the 'reader copies', (Good to Very Good grade), are expensive now.

So when I saw this book, I just had to pick it up! 

Here is a great video on what this book is about:

Pretty Cool, huh?! 

While I'm at it... Here is the publisher's info on this book:

"The Horror! The Horror! uncovers a rare treasury of some of the most important and neglected stories in American literature—the pre-Code horror comics of the 1950s. These outrageous comic book images, censored by Congress in an infamous televised U.S. Senate subcommittee investigating juvenile delinquency in 1954, have rarely been seen since they were first published—and are revealed once again in all of their eye-popping glory. Jim Trombetta, in his commentary and informative text, provides a detailed history and context for these stories and their creators, spinning a tale of horror and government censorship as scary as the stories themselves.

Bonus DVD--Confidential File, a rare 25-minute TV show that first aired on October 9, 1955, about the "evils" of comic books and their effect on juvenile delinquency is included with the book.

Please note that the enclosed DVD begins with a 58-second test pattern, followed by the tv show."

If you are new to this topic, and / or new to my blog, I'll just recap some of the history of 'HoRRoR Comics'!

First, as you may or may not know...The HoRRoR comics of the 1950s are seeing a lot of interest lately.  That's because other publishers have been printing books on that period in comics history.

Sure, there were more than just HoRRoR / MONster / Crime comics during that period, but it was those comics genres of the 1950s that were so 'shocking' to several adults, most notably the child psychologist Frederic Wertham, author of the anti-comics 'Seduction of the Innocent'.

Indeed our own U.S. Senate actually held hearings on these comics!  To stop this assault on their publications, several comics publishers started a "voluntary" Comics Code that banned much  of what those three genres of comics pictured.

Indeed, the Comics Code wiped out many of the comic book publishers, and left those that were still printing just a shadow of their former publishing glory.

So many things were banned during this period.  Even in westerns, the gunsmoke of guns going off were deemed to be too much and were censored!  So it did go from one extreme to the other in the mid to late 1950s.

Much of this comics history is recounted in this book: 'The Horror! The Horror! Comic Books the Government Didn’t Want You to Read!', along with the following:

1) An interpretive essay for the start of each chapter. The essays were on 'The Age of Nuclear Terror', 'Crime', 'The Critic', 'The Dead Don't Die', 'Skeletons', 'The Grin', and other topics.  

2) Front Cover art and some complete and incomplete stories from many of these hard to find comics!

3) The book also comes with a DVD of a 30-minute TV program from 1955, which of course was warning parents about the dangers of crime and horror comics. 

So... Now you have a basic idea of what the book is about...

What's 'My Take' on it?

Well, let me start with the front cover, which like a comic book either grabs me to pick it up or not.  This one did... Right away!

The interpretive essays is something that I am used to, because I did one last year for the the 1966 Batman TV Series book, 'Gotham City 14 Miles'. So I know how hard it is to write one of them!  Plus I read my fellow essayists essays for the book, all 13 of them, and know how hard it is for those to be written, let alone edited!  The author, Jim Trombetta, did a pretty good job, IMO, on presenting each one of the chapters' topics.  Some were very knowledgeable, some were funny, and others were in between serious and over the top.  Yet a good balance was struck throughout the whole book!

Now for the front cover art.  Quite honestly there are a few websites that offer front cover art for this time period.  However, none have the full sized comic book art that this book has! Yes, there are a few pages where four comic book covers are presented, but for the most part each cover is a stand alone page.  It is there on those pages that I once again encountered the L.B. Cole front covers that I grew to appreciate reading the magazine 'Comic Book Marketplace', and it was here that I found even better scans of the Don Heck covers from this time period.

Yes, Don Heck is mainly remembered today for his Iron Man and Avengers work at Marvel Comics, but I 'marveled' at these HoRRoR comics that illustrated the front covers for.  And yes, 'everyone' knows about the bullet in the head front cover, as seen here in Horrific #3, but there are several other covers that have beautiful, but not so 'horrific' in nature to view.  It made me appreciate Don's works even more today.  Don's 'wiki' entry can be found here. 

The DVD would be 'special' for someone who hasn't seen it.  I've already seen it on YouTube, so while it is a nice addition to this book, it is something that appears to be in the 'public domain'.  Yet, if you haven't viewed it, it is a very interesting commentary on those times.  Plus, keep in mind, that when this documentary was produced... The Comics Code had already come into existence! Just another one of those sensationalistic TV show episodes... after the fact.

Please don't get me wrong about this book!  I found it to be informative, as well as a 'good read' on this period in comic book history... My comic book grade for this one-shot comic book is a VERY FINE / NEAR MINT (VF/NM) 9.0 out of a possible 10.0 grading scale.

Here's info on the book itself:

Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Abrams ComicArts; Pap/DVD Re edition (November 1, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780810955950
ISBN-13: 978-0810955950
ASIN: 0810955954
Product Dimensions: 11 x 8 x 1.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds 

So where do you buy it?  Here's a link to an reputable online connection: The Horror! The Horror!: Comic Books the Government Didn't Want You to Read!  

Thank you for reading this blog today, and be sure to come back for more informative yet entertaining, (I hope!) blog posts!

~Michael D Hamersky

BTW, You can 'follow' this blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app!  We currently have over 2,462 'Followers'!  Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button! 

And for those of YOU that haven't yet... I would appreciate it if YOU would!!!

~ Michael D Hamersky

If I have it... You can find it 'Under The Big Top Of Comics' at:  

http://www.ComicBooksCircus.com/ 

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The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer.

NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

Comics Creators: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email or mail us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works!

To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:

Make It So Marketing Inc., PO Box 130653, Carlsbad, CA 92013

 Also, if you are a Facebook member, I would have liked you to send me a 'Friend Request'. However, I have reached the maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so I've added a New 'Facebook Fan Page' so that even more of YOU can 'Like' what I am doing, and be interactive with me and others there.  Here is the link to that 'Facebook Fan Page': Michael D Hamersky On Comics! Please click the 'Like' button on that page! 

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