AMERICAN COMIC BOOK CHRONICLES 1945-1949

At long last, this 1945-49 volume covers the comic book industry during the aftermath of World War II, when scores of writers and artists returned from foreign battlefields to resume their careers. It was a period when readers began turning away from super-heroes in favor of other genres, like the grittier, more brutal crime comics, horror and more. It was a time when Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created Young Romance, inaugurating a golden age of romance comics. And it was during this five-year period that Timely and National Comics capitalized on the popularity of Westerns, that Bill Gaines plotted a new course for EC Comics in the wake of his father’s death, and that Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster first sued for the rights to Superman. And Fox pushed the envelope with sexy titles, including the infamous Phantom Lady, Rulah and Jo Jo. Timely kicked off all-girl titles like Sun Girl and Namora, and began dozens of new titles, like Venus, which began as a girls title and switched to a horror gem by Bill Everett; Tessie the Typist which had Basil Wolverton stories inside, to the long-running Millie the Model (by Dan DeCarlo) and Patsy Walker. Superboy began as a minor strip in DC's Adventure Comics before he gained his own title. Offbeat heroes came and went: The Green Lama (by Mac Raboy), The Shadow continued to prosper, Captain America became Captain America Weird Tales, Captain Marvel and the Fawcett heroes marched on, and much more came and went in the comics world. These are just a few of the events chronicled in this exhaustive, full-color hardcover, further documenting the ACBC series' cohesive, linear overview of the entire landscape of comics history! Outstanding series, profusely illustrated in full color, this examines not only the well known highlights but behind the scenes, lesser known series, origins, trends and more. Any fan of the Golden Age should find this rewarding and engrossing. The first of the 1940s was covered in a previous volume, which remains available. Due to unforeseen circumstances, this sequel to the 1940s was LONG delayed but is all new here and worth the wait.