Put briefly, the recent collection from Dark Horse (subtitled “Blackjacked and Pistol-Whipped: A Crime Does Not Pay Primer”) is an indispensible addition to the library of any serious student of comic book history. Not the comprehensive chronological reprinting a completest may have hoped for, this single volume $20 tpb cherry-picks stories spanning the titles heyday, 1942-1948. Artists include Joe Kubert, George Tuska, Bob Montana, Dan Barry, Carmine Infantino, and others. The cover, by Peter Poplaski, depicts the scene of CDNP artist and co-editor Bob Wood, a “high-living, hard-drinking gambler and womanizer [who] brutally murdered his lover in New York City” by bludgeoning her with an iron in a hotel room.
The volume includes an introduction by Brian Azzarello and “an expansive essay by Denis Kitchen [which] puts the titles meteoric rise and fall and colorful cast of participants in historical context.” Although editors Charles Biro and Bob Wood tended to play fast and loose with the details from time to time (for better dramatic effect), the basic facts of the “All True Crime Stories!” were essentially accurate, and because many of the stories they used went back decades, they had a virtually unlimited supply of new material. The art and stories pull no punches (pun intended) in the depiction of graphic violence, arguably offset by the final panel of the criminal reaping his final reward.
If I have one complaint about this volume, it’s that I would have liked to have seen a section of full-sized glossy reproductions of the lurid covers as Fantagraphics provided in their own Four Color Fear collection. Other than that, if you would like to read some of the stories which influenced young creators such as Stan Lee and Harvey Kurtzman (and incensed Frederic Wertham), then this volume is for you.
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I haven't gotten into picking up the collections of comics from this era, yet. But this collection may be my first. I just finished up Was Superman a Spy? by Brian Cronin over the weekend. It's gotten me excited about comic book history. I especially enjoyed the entry on this series in particular. What happened to Bob Wood was a shame but still interesting given his ties to the series. Also the inspiration behind it was interesting. Apparently Wood and Biro were at a diner one night and saw a man and woman, the next day they found out the woman was actually a kidnap victim! Thus the inspiration for the series.
With that said it may be a while before I add to the bookshelf, it's full enough as is!
...Even DC had additions to this genre , with the media-based GANG BUSTERS ( two words ????????? ) and MR. DISTRICT ATTORNEY ( a period after " Mr " ????????? ) , which , as we've recently discussted , were , essentially , anthologies and seem like they might be reprintable without any additionals to whoever owns the radio ( TV ) series concepts by now as I know MDA and I think GB were reprinted from in the 70s .
" DC's Atomic Age Crime Action " ?????????!!
Perhaps even try to get the nowadays-ever-so-salable phrase " Noir " in there , someways , Lefty ?????????
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I haven't gotten into picking up the collections of comics from this era, yet. But this collection may be my first. I just finished up Was Superman a Spy? by Brian Cronin over the weekend. It's gotten me excited about comic book history. I especially enjoyed the entry on this series in particular. What happened to Bob Wood was a shame but still interesting given his ties to the series. Also the inspiration behind it was interesting. Apparently Wood and Biro were at a diner one night and saw a man and woman, the next day they found out the woman was actually a kidnap victim! Thus the inspiration for the series.
With that said it may be a while before I add to the bookshelf, it's full enough as is!
...Even DC had additions to this genre , with the media-based GANG BUSTERS ( two words ????????? ) and MR. DISTRICT ATTORNEY ( a period after " Mr " ????????? ) , which , as we've recently discussted , were , essentially , anthologies and seem like they might be reprintable without any additionals to whoever owns the radio ( TV ) series concepts by now as I know MDA and I think GB were reprinted from in the 70s .
" DC's Atomic Age Crime Action " ?????????!!
Perhaps even try to get the nowadays-ever-so-salable phrase " Noir " in there , someways , Lefty ?????????