Go Yoe!

As far as I'm concerned, Craig Yoe is one of the heroes of the comics industry. With his Yoe Books imprint he's made long-forgotten, out of print American comics accessible again through his range of books. Rare comics that were burnt on bonfires in the notorious anti-comics campaigns of the 1950s live again in relatively affordable collections to be seen by those of us who weren't around then. History, even pop culture history, is too important to be cast aside.

I was therefore dismayed this week to find that Yoe Books had been savagely criticised as "a disservice to comics history" in an article by a representative of a rival publisher, based mainly on the books not looking as slick as the way they would have presented them. It read like sour grapes. (Yoe Books present the old comics as they were printed - off-register imperfections and all, - which in my view is far better, and more faithful,  than any slick restoration or garish recolouring.)

Admittedly the rival publisher (Fantagraphics) has produced many great books on old comics too, but there was no need to publicly slag off a competitor. It came across as very unprofessional. The comics industry doesn't need such spite and negativity. 

Thankfully, the article brought out people who expressed their support of Craig's work, and I'm one of them, which is why I'm posting this link to his site to help promote his books. If you're interested in comics history, go Yoe! 
http://yoebooks.com

More Fifties horrors from PS Publishing

British company PS Publishing are bringing back more pre-code American horror comics soon with the publication of three hardback volumes of classic terror. The sort of comics that caused anxious parents to get paranoid in the 1950s, thinking they'd corrupt their kids! Now those stories live again in deluxe collections for collectors and historians! Here's the info from their website...

Pre-Code Classics: OUT OF THE SHADOWS Vol.1

Bookshop ISBN: 978-1-78636-071-7
Slipcase ISBN: 978-1-78636-072-4

Page Count: 180 Pages
Dimensions: 260 x 180mm

Bookshop Product information:

Standard Comics did not believe in #1 issues. They were convinced that comics sold better if they appeared to have been around for awhile, and therefore they started all their horror titles with #5. Those titles were The Unseen, Out of the Shadows, and Adventures into Darkness, each lasting about ten issues of fairly well-done E.C. imitations. They also produced a suspense one-shot, Who Is Next? #5, that deserves mention -- it features a town terrorized by a serial killer.

Artists include George Roussos, Alex Toth, Jerry Grandenetti, George Tuska, Art Saaf, Ruben Moreira, Rocco Mastroserio, Ross Andru and Jack Katz.

This first volume features the Standard Comics issues of Out Of The Shadows, Issues 5-9 July 1952 to July 1953.

Pre-Code Classics: NIGHTMARE Vol.1

Bookshop ISBN: 978-1-78636-069-4
Slipcase ISBN: 978-1-78636-070-0

Page Count: 180 Pages
Dimensions: 260 x 180mm

Bookshop Product information:

St. John was a mid-sized comics publisher with a varied list of titles, and in June 1952 they joined the horror binge with two titles, Strange Terrors and Weird Horrors. Strange Terrors ended after seven issues, to be replaced by Nightmare #3, picking up from the Ziff-Davis series. However -- and I can’t explain this, only report it -- they then combined the title Nightmare with the numbering from Weird Horrors, so that Weird Horrors #9 and Nightmare #3 were followed by Nightmare #10. And after Nightmare #13 the title was changed to Amazing Ghost Stories for its final three issues.

Artists include Everett Raymond Kinstler, Joe Kubert, Alex Toth, Murphy Anderson,. Gene Colan, Bernie Krigstein, Matt Baker, George Tuska and Bob Powell

This single volume features the St John issues of Nightmare, Issue #3 October 1953 and Issues 10-13 December 1953 to August 1954.

Pre-Code Classics: STRANGE TERRORS Vol.1

Bookshop ISBN: 978-1-78636-077-9
Slipcase ISBN: 978-1-78636-078-6

Page Count: 180 Pages
Dimensions: 260 x 180mm

Bookshop Product information:

Just when you thought maybe we’d run out of nasty comicbooks here comes Strange Terrors from St. John—issues 1 thru 5, June to December 1952 . . . just cos you knows we loves ya! Artists include Don Perlin, Rafael Astarita, Paul Gattuso, Ralph Mayo, George Meyerriecks, Bob Forgione, Joe Kubert, George Tuska and William Ekgren. They’re all here—witches, vampires, walking corpses, ghosts, ghouls and goblins galore.

Artists include Don Perlin, Rafael Astarita, Paul Gattuso,Mayo, George Meyerriecks, Bob Forgione, Joe Kubert, George Tuska and William Ekgren.

This first volume features the St. John issues of Strange Terrors Volume 1 issues 1 - 5 June 1952 to December 1952.

Order the books directly from the publisher here:

http://www.pspublishing.co.uk/forthcoming-titles-26-c.asp

More pre-code classics

Continuing their series of hardback reprints of collected pre-Comics Code American comics, British publisher PS Publishing are soon to release more new volumes.

Here's the info:

Pre-Code Classics World of Fear Volume 1.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into your comic shop, here come those PS guys again with another crazy collection of bygone stories and panels set to blow your mind. This time out they’re hitting you with the full run of WORLDS OF FEAR from the magical days of 1952 and featuring artists and writers such as Sheldon Moldoff, Bernard Baily, Bob Powell, George Evans, Mike Sekowsky, Moe Marcus, Bob McCarty, Harry Harrison and Norman Saunders. Crossing horror and SF has never been more enjoyable. Lock the door, flip the tab on a can of soda and delve into those potato chips. It’s a marriage made in Heaven.

Artists include Sheldon Moldoff, Bernard Baily, Bob Powell,  George Evans, Mike Sekowsky, Moe Marcus, Bob McCarty, Harry Harrison and Norman Saunders

Each volume contains between 5 - 6 issues digitally enhanced and faithfully reproduced.
Volume One features issues 1-5 from November 1951 – June 1953.


Scheduled for a March release, you can order the book directly from the publisher:
http://www.pspublishing.co.uk/pre-code-classics-worlds-of-fear-volume-1-4190-p.asp

Pre-Code Classics Lars of Mars/Crusader from Mars/Eerie Adventures Volume 1.This one is hard to overplay, comicbook fans in that material like the stuff contained in the handful of issues that made up the full output of Ziff Davis’s LARS OF MARS is tough to beat. No, strike that: it’s impossible to beat! Heck, written by Jerry Siegel and drawn by Murphy Anderson and the true forerunner of the Red Planet’s J’onn J’onzz, this is the real McCoy.

Artists include Allen Anderson, Murphy Anderson, Gene Colan, Marvin Stein, Henry Sharp, George Roussos, Mike Becker, Bob Powell and Al Carreno.

Volume 1 features the Ziff Davies issues of  Lars of Mars #10 April/May 1951 & #11 July/August 1951, Crusader from Mars #1 March 1952 & #2 Fall 1952,  Eerie Adventures #1 Winter 1951.

Scheduled for a February release, you can order the book directly from the publisher's website:
http://www.pspublishing.co.uk/pre-code-classics-lars-of-mars--crusader-from-mars--eerie-adventures--volume-1-4187-p.asp

U.S. Spotlight: HORROR BY HECK

I've always liked the work of Don Heck and thought the dismissal of his style by some people overlooked the talents he had. After all, this was a guy who was one of the main artists at the dawn of The Marvel Age of Comics in the 1960's. He was the co-creator of Iron Man and had a memorable stint on The Avengers amongst other comics. Before that he illustrated many short stories for non-superhero genres. Now Craig Yoe and his Yoe Books team have compiled a hardback selection of Don Heck's great 1950s horror comics stories in the latest volume of The Chilling Archives of Horror Comics. 

Horror By Heck is a faithful reproduction of those forgotten strips and proves what a great artist Don Heck was. The choice of cover image was obvious, - it had to be the notorious bullet wound cover from Horrific No.3 (Jan 1953) but Yoe Books take it a stage further and it's an actual die cut hole in the cover! Ban this filth! No, sorry, BUY this filth!

Hardback, 160 pages. $24.99

ISBN: 978-1-63140-463-4

Horror in the National Archives!

There's some fascinating revelations about the 1950s British anti-comics crusade over on the Down the Tubes blog today. No point in me reiterating it, so take a look for yourselves here:
http://downthetubes.net/?p=23475

You may remember that a few years ago I found some news items about the campaign that had appeared in the Daily Mirror in 1954. If you've never seen them they're hilarious in their paranoia, with the Bishop of Coventry comparing comics to Satan! Click on this link:
http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/1954-year-britain-got-horrors-over.html  

Retro Thrills from Ilex Press

Tim Pilcher has been working in comics for a long time now and his enthusiasm for the medium has led him to write books such as The Essential Guide to World Comics (with Brad Brooks) and the two volumes of Erotic Comics: A Graphic History. He's been an assistant editor at DC Comics' London office for Vertigo comics, is now a consulting editor at Ilex Press, and is the current chair of The Comic Book Alliance, and gives regular talks on the subject of comics.

Basically, Tim likes comics. All comics. And he likes to promote them however he can. His latest venture for Ilex Press is a great way to bring some classic comics to the attention of fans and public alike in a cheap accessible format.


The Little Books of Vintage... series is a set of six full colour softback books covering a specific subject of 1950s American comics. Horror, Crime, Combat, Romance, Sci-Fi, and Sauciness are the topics, with each 112 page book priced at £3.99 and stuffed with extracts from those old comics. The small 112mm x 82mm format doesn't really allow for any full length stories to be reprinted, but the books offer a marvelous showcase of covers, panels, vintage ads and so on.




The focus is mainly on the art as these are really intended to give people a cheap sampler of the look and atmosphere of those bygone comics. In the case of the Sauciness book, a couple of the out-of-context panels provide unintended humour or make the stories seem, well, saucier, than they actually were, but that's all part of the fun of these items.


The majority of the material in the books comes from pre-Comics Code sources so it's good to see a British publisher getting these once-forbidden comics back on the shelves. Each book comes with a short introduction where Tim Pilcher has provided a brief history lesson about the genres he covers. Naturally, the damaging anti-comics crusade and how horror comics were "effectively neutered", and how the "thriving genre collapsed in 1954" is mentioned in the Horror and Crime books. Likewise, the jingoistic aspects of war comics, and how Harvey Kurtzman's strips for EC took an anti-war stance is also covered in the Combat collection.


If there's a negative to the books it's that the binding is a bit too tight to show off the few double-page spreads that are represented, but thankfully most pages stand alone.

At the back of each book is a free fridge magnet of a classic 1950s comic cover. Great comic art reduced to fridge magnets? Well, it's a way to start a conversation about comics if guests notice them on your fridge door, and that can't be a bad thing.


Fridge magnets become the main focus of another collection, the Lovelorn box set, which features 16 covers of romance comics from titles such as Exotic Romances and GI Sweethearts. The set is accompanied with a 48 page book which gives a brief history of the genre and then a story synopsis for each of the 16 covers.


Got enough fridge magnets by now? How about postcards? Ilex have two books in that regard too. Tales of Terror and Lovelorn each feature 30 full postcards of vintage horror and romance comic covers. There's some excellent stuff here and the 165mm x 120mm size shows off the artwork nicely.


I'm very enthusiastic about comics of the 1950s. Perhaps partly because I was born at the end of that decade and just missed them, but also because they often have such high quality artwork. Mainly though, the fascination for me is that marvelous juxtaposition of clean cut characters and white picket-fence environments being invaded by the most gruesome horrors. In that respect they betray the paranoia of the times, where conservative "normality" was ever fearful of the latest bogey man "corrupting" their society. From Communism to rock and roll, it seems that everything was a target of suspicion - and even comics themselves became a perceived threat to the status quo. The fact that these comics caused such "moral" outrage that they were banned is the true horror.


These format of these books may not appeal to the serious collector who wants his archive collections reproduced as closely to the original size and presentation as possible, but really these are meant to be fun items for the wider audience. Presented as gift books or bought as an impulse purchase, the Little Book of Vintage... collections act as a nice primer and fast history lesson about comics long gone. If they broaden people's minds beyond the current comics they know, then that's great. It's even better if they encourage some to delve a bit deeper into the subject and buy Ilex's more in-depth books on comics such as Fredrik Strömberg's Comic Art Propaganda or Mike Conroy's War Comics: A Graphic History or the numerous archive books such as those published by PS Publishing or Yoe Books.

Apparently pre-order sales on the Little Vintage books have already done spectacularly well so snap up your copies now while you can! The books will be released soon and can be ordered from Amazon.

Ilex Press website: http://www.ilex-press.com/bookshop/


Tim Pilcher's blog (mature readers only): http://sexdrugsandcomicbooks.blogspot.com/