The Golden Age of DC Comics: 365 Days

From Publishers Weekly
Although old-style comic books may never be as big as they were between the late 1930s and mid ’50s, the continued popularity of their characters is evident by their frequent appearances in movies and in television. This boldly constructed retrospective is full of nostalgia and humor, and will entice old collectors and casual fans alike to flip through its pages again and again. The extreme close-ups of the selected panels force readers to examine every background detail, and the irregular cropping keeps the eye straining for as much information as possible. The accompanying authors’ comments hint at what is special about the art and enjoin readers to see merit even in the often goofy captions (when discussing a strip about femme fatales, for instance, the authors proclaim, "They don’t write dialogue like this anymore: ‘A strange person! Eclipse was her name, and Eclipse her nature!’ To which Blackhawk replies: ‘And finally she eclipsed—herself!’"). Striking cover and binding art, coupled with the volume’s unusual shape and heft, will attract attention, as will the back cover, which features ads for such staple comic book products as whoopee cushions, boomerangs and model airplanes. Printed on glossy black paper that is a wonderful contrast to the color-saturated panels, the text offers a mixture of information about the characters, historical tidbits on the comics and wry commentary on the artwork and plot points. The big heroes and heroines such as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are covered, as are their sidekicks and villains, but so are failed characters, short-lived ideas and the funny animal characters that were used as fillers. This coffee-table book is too much fun for readers to peruse just one page a day.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Book Description
From the late 1930s to the mid-1950s, DC Comics blazed a creative, innovative trail in popular culture, and the company has remained at the forefront of the comics industry ever since. In one milestone after another, DC Comics introduced the fantastic characters that became everyone's favorite super heroes: Superman, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Aquaman, Green Lantern, and Shazam! This brilliantly illustrated volume features entirely new, large-format photography of the original comic books, showcasing the fabulous visual world of the DC comic-book heroes and artists.

Comics historian Les Daniels, graphic designer Chip Kidd, and photographer Geoff Spear have delved deep into the DC archives, to which they were granted unprecedented access, highlighting not only the classics that have become pop-culture icons but also lost gems like More Fun Comics and Comics Cavalcade. The 365 images, shot especially for this book, along with the impeccably researched text and informative introductory essays, ensure that this blast from the past will have a huge appeal for both comic-book devotees and newcomers. AUTHOR BIO: Les Daniels is the author of the official histories of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, as well as DC Comics: A Celebration of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes and Abrams' Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics. Chip Kidd is an award-winning graphic designer and author of The Cheese Monkeys. His work has been featured in Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Time, Graphis, and Entertainment Weekly. Geoff Spear's award-winning photographs have appeared in magazines such as Vogue, Entertainment Weekly, GQ, and Newsweek, and in numerous books on comics.

About the Author
Les Daniels is the author of the official histories of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, as well as DC Comics: A Celebration of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes and Abrams' Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics. Chip Kidd is an award-winning graphic designer and author of The Cheese Monkeys. His work has been featured in Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Time, Graphis, and Entertainment Weekly. Geoff Spear's award-winning photographs have appeared in magazines such as Vogue, Entertainment Weekly, GQ, and Newsweek, and in numerous books on comics.


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This gorgeous full-color volume, part of Abrams' line of "365 Days" illustration books, presents early comics as Pop Art. In a horizontal format, it spotlights isolated images from DC Comics spanning the years 1937 to 1956, selected by comics historian Daniels (DC Comics: A Celebration of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes) and book designer Chip Kidd (Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross) and photographed by Geoff Spear from DC's own archives. Sometimes it showcases individual story panels, sometimes parts of pages or covers with some captions or word balloons incomplete and unreadable. It's an unusual way to present the comics, as Daniels and Kidd acknowledge in their introductions, but largely it works. The images are expertly chosen and well framed; most have real impact, with only some cropped covers being diminished in power. Daniels and Kidd delve deep into DC's history, featuring not only icons such as Superman and Batman, but also unearthing forgotten characters like Genius Jones, who was shipwrecked alone with a library full of books, read them, and became the super-smart Answer Man. Recommended for all art collections. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.


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