Ultimate comic book heroes like Superman, Batman and Captain Marvel take center stage in this comprehensive guide to Golden Age comics. Collectors and dealers are sure to seek out a reference devoted to the era that began in 1938 with Superman and concluded in 1956 with the debut of Barry Allen as The Flash.This companion reference to Comic Book Checklist and Price Guide offers collectors an affordable and portable resource for use at conventions and within their own library. A collection of 1,000 comic book covers of hundreds of Golden Age comics featured in this resource, which also includes an easy-to-use tab reference for identifying and pricing. This is the one Golden Age guide collectors will look to again and again!· 1,000 photos assist with quick identification· Contains pricing and information on comic book legends like Superman and Batman· Updated values help collectors accurately assess issues

This book is an updated history of the American comic book by an industry insider. You'll follow the development of comics from the first appearance of the comic book format in the Platinum Age of the 1930s to the creation of the superhero genre in the Golden Age, to the current period, where comics flourish as graphic novels and blockbuster movies. Along the way you will meet the hustlers, hucksters, hacks, and visionaries who made the American comic book what it is today. It's an exciting journey, filled with mutants, changelings, atomized scientists, gamma-ray accidents, and supernaturally empowered heroes and villains who challenge the imagination and spark the secret identities lurking within us.

"SINS OF THE FATHER," Part One Featuring the show-stopping talents of SPAWN series artist JASON SHAWN ALEXANDER and the writer behind such hit shows as Wutang: An American Saga, MarvelÕs Runaways, and Starz's American Gods RODNEY BARNES. When a small-town beat cop comes home to bury his murdered fatherÑthe revered Philadelphia detective James Sangster Sr.Ñhe begins to unravel a mystery that leads him down a path of horrors that will shake his beliefs to their core. The city that was once the symbol of liberty and freedom has fallen prey to corruption, poverty, unemployment, brutality and vampires. Welcome to KILLADELPHIA.

"21,000 color illustrations. $20,000,000.00 of collectible comic books. Complete cataloging system for comic books, 1935-1965. Relative value index for 50,000 comic books. Scarcity index; relative rarity of collector's comics, many illustrations in this book are of the only copy left in existence."--Dust jacket.

Originally published in France and long sought in English translation, Jean-Paul Gabilliet's Of Comics and Men: A Cultural History of American Comic Books documents the rise and development of the American comic book industry from the 1930s to the present. The book intertwines aesthetic issues and critical biographies with the concerns of production, distribution, and audience reception, making it one of the few interdisciplinary studies of the art form. A thorough introduction by translators and comics scholars Bart Beaty and Nick Nguyen brings the book up to date with explorations of the latest innovations, particularly the graphic novel. The book is organized into three sections: a concise history of the evolution of the comic book form in America; an overview of the distribution and consumption of American comic books, detailing specific controversies such as the creation of the Comics Code in the mid-1950s; and the problematic legitimization of the form that has occurred recently within the academy and in popular discourse. Viewing comic books from a variety of theoretical lenses, Gabilliet shows how seemingly disparate issues—creation, production, and reception—are in fact connected in ways that are not necessarily true of other art forms. Analyzing examples from a variety of genres, this book provides a thorough landmark overview of American comic books that sheds new light on this versatile art form.

DC's first generation of super-heroes has been driven into retirement, hiding, or madness—except for a few who are willing to change with the times. But behind the scenes, something sinister is unfolding—a subtle plot that may engulf the planet and remake it in one man's image.

Get the ultimate insights on the heyday of DC Comics. Spanning from 1935 to 1956, more than 600 pages of covers and interiors, original illustrations, photographs, film stills, and ephemera chart the creators, the stories, and the game-changing super heroes Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.