I got hold of this over-sized tome the other day much to my delight. The Bronze Age of DC Comics is a giant book from Taschen Publications put together by former longtime DC kahuna Paul Levitz. In broad terms it tracks the development of the company from 1970 to 1984. It's a gold mine for any comics fan and for me in particular since these years are my nostalgic favorites for the company.
I got hold of this one when I took a gift card given to me by my beautiful daughters for Father's Day (or my birthday possibly since both are about the same time) and went to Barnes and Noble to potentially cash it in if I could find something of note. Almost immediately in the discount tables I found this book, already marked to half price and making it nearly free with my gift card. It seemed the ideal circumstance, I snatched it up and found a comfortable chair to peruse this treasure trove of vintage artwork.
I was instantly transported back to the 1970's, the ideal time really for my collecting in the hobby, especially DC which to my mind really worked overtime trying to regain the market lead they'd surrendered to Marvel in the early years of the Bronze Age. This book took me back with great art, covers and other features which showcase the characters and talents who put the books together back then.
Jack Kirby is of course a key personality as are Neal Adams, Marshall Rogers, Denny O'Neil (there's an interview him), Jim Aparo, Joe Kubert, Berni Wrightson, Mike Kaluta, Joe Orlando, Walt Simonson,among many many others. New Gods, Manhunter, Swamp Thing, The Shadow, and other DC efforts are showcased.
Taschen has produced five volumes in this series and the attention to detail is remarkable as can be seen by the spines of the books seen above. The heads show really evoke the eras covered in the books and show the broad development of the company over a great many years.
I might like to get hold of the Silver Age volume sometime and possibly the Golden Age one too, but I doubt I'll ever find them for such a nice price again.
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Sheer beauty Rip! I think I need this volume also…I keep hoping (somewhat unrealistically) that both DC and Marvel will see the error of their current ways – and simply recon both Universes fully back to about 1978-to-1984 or so…But, I guess I’m just being an old fart fan boy…BUT – the good news is there are retrospectives like this out there – as well as a ton of old bronze & silver age back issues I still haven’t tracked down yet….BTW: Did you happen to see an HP Lovecraft (somewhat thin) biographical book on the Barnes & Noble discount tables? I’m thinking I need that too, as I passed it up last time I was in there in June…
ReplyDeleteSorry but didn't clap eyes on the Lovecraft volume. As for comics returning to greatness, I gave up hope nearly a decade ago. I just enjoy the old stories now for the most part.
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That would be a great volume to have for me, too. Those were the years that I read DC. Will have to track this one down. Thanks for the post.
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome. It's a doozy!
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Thanks Rip - looks like a great book.
ReplyDeleteI recently purchased Batman: The War Years, by Roy Thomas from a B&N discount table. It, too, is a fun book.
Doug
I've looked hard at those War Books and they are being discounted at several locations. I found them at Half Price Books and at Ollies. Tempting!
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I've got the first three volumes, Rip, but don't think I'll bother with the last two. You can see photos of some pages from the Golden and Silver Age (as well as Bronze) volumes over on my blog. I could just lose myself for hours looking through them.
ReplyDeleteI kniow. I read and enjoyed your reviews and that's what got me to hankering after these books. Beautiful!
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