Sunday, October 14, 2012

Ghosts!



















DC's Showcase reprint program has been excellent in getting its classic Silver Age superhero series back into easily accessible print. If you're a reader of comics like I am, and care somewhat less for the bells and whistles of color and exquisite printing, these basic phone book collections are ideal entertainment packages. They almost make comics a cost-effective way to pass the time, something getting new comics cannot make an argument for at all.

But for the myriad superhero antics made cheaply available, it's often the volumes like the one featuring the first eighteen issues of Ghosts which really make me smile. These are often successful comics of their time, now forgotten in the haze of super hero lore. Comics about realistic people confronting recognizable dilemmas and facing grim and mostly deadly consequences, are the core of any good narrative and especially good ghost comics. These are by and large very good  ghost comics.

Apparently the series edited by Murray Boltinoff  was originally to be called "True Ghost Stories", but was shortened at the last minute. That's a great decision as the former title was very restrictive. "Ghosts" is short and to the point. No need to quibble or debate what's going on between these covers.

And the covers, mostly by Nick Cardy with the odd exception by Mike Kaluta, are simply outstanding and the detail of making the first dozen covers appear to be on ancient scrolls is exceedingly clever. It gets abandoned after the first year or so, but it makes for a decidedly distinctive look to this surprising hit for DC Comics from a time when superheroes were supposed to have ruled the day.


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4 comments:

  1. Was Never A Fan Of Those Ghost/Mystery DC Comics
    Yet, Those Nick Cardy Covers!
    And Those Bold 20 Cent Covers SLAY
    20 Cents!

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  2. This is one volume i want to get, along with The Losers, and the Secrets of Sinister House, Rip Hunter, Sea Devils...anyway DC had a great run of books other than Superman and Batman.

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  3. Davey - Twenty cents a piece does seem like many lifetimes ago. I can remember being able to get all of Marvel's output for several dollars, now it couldn't be had for several hundred.

    Tony - All of these are good. The quality is amazing and the price points cannot be beat. Entertainment that lasts a while is a rare thing in the modern comics world.

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  4. ...The GHOSTS comic , much if not all of the time , fulfilled its United States Post Office obligation by running text stories , following an older funnybook tradition , not a letters column !
    There is a REALLY peculiar (especially for a comic book) text story that I recall as appearing in a GHOSTS issue , which I have been bringing up on the Web for ages , and have never been able to find anyone else with the ability to tell me about !!!!!
    I'm not going to do that here , maybe later , this is an old post , after all , and I've been blog-posting for quite a bit -

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