Government Issue!

Government Issue: Comics for the People, 1940's-2000's is an adorable volume from Abrams Comicart which showcases decades of comics used for safety advice, military propaganda, civil defense information, drug abuse dramatizations, and many other uses. Written and compiled by Richard L. Graham and featuring a forward by Sid Jacobson, former Harvey editor and who along with Ernie Colon has produced some of the best nonfiction comics of the last decade, this volume tries to be comprehensive.

The only knock is that I'd have loved to have had more full comics, but space as always with these kinds of collections is a premium. From benign comics like one about fighting fires starring Smokey the Bear to infamous tomes like Milt Caniff's "How to Spot a Jap" to safety tips from the Peanuts gang, this one truly has something for everyone. There's vigorous work by Jack Sparling and some of the earliest comics work ever by Neal Adams. Also on hand are some great King Features characters and even Walt Kelly's Pogo shows up.

For a gander at some of the material contained take a gander at the covers below, some by seasoned and respected professionals in the comic book biz.

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9/11 & After!

One of the most impressive accomplishments in comics I've come across in recent years is the collaboration between Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon adapting the 9/11 Commission Report into graphic form.


Colon is a magnificent artist and the The 9/11 Report is presented with clarity and with the addition of graphics givin the sometimes dense narrative, a great deal more emotion. It's powerful stuff.

Just the other day I chanced on the sequel titled After 9/11 and it tracks the events which developed out of the attack and follows the story up to June 6, 2008. Again it's the work of Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon and if anything is more impressive visually. Colon's craftsmanship and his ability to nimbly move between styles makes the tome far less static than it would be in lesser hands.


If you haven't seen these, go to your local library and check them out. All public libraries should be required to carry them, and I suspect most do. It's well worth your time.

By the way, here's an interview with Jacobson and Colon about the first volume. It speaks to their motives and how they worked.

And here for no particular reason are other 9/11 comics which have been produced.









Are there others?


And let me add this tome by longtime comic book artist Herb Trimpe. The Power of Angels is a frank peek behind the scenes in those awful days.

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