Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics

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GeorgeC

Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics

Post by GeorgeC » November 27th, 2010, 12:26 am

I'm not surprised that Ben found the documentary a letdown.

I kind of had a feeling that it would be that way.

I don't know what it is, but I have a feeling a lot of these documentaries are using the same lame history survey books or letting the marketing departments for the major comic book companies write them.

One thing's for sure -- I really doubt most comic book documentaries are written by fans.

The same's true to a large extent for books on the subject, too.

One of the few writers that has done a good series of books on comics is Les Daniels. He's written books about both Marvel and DC Comics. I happen to think his best book on the subject is still Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics. It's a great survey on what is still the top publisher in the comics industry after 40 years. Even though it's now 20 years out of date (published in 1991), it's still the best book that's affordable on any one company. In addition to surveys of Marvel decade-by-decade, chapter by chapter, it has profiles of the company's most popular and enduring characters as well as a series of reprints in the back of the book.

I still frequently spot this book in both used bookstores and the remainder piles at Barnes & Nobles.

Daniels' DC Comics book, DC Comics : Sixty Years of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes, isn't as good as his Marvel book --- for one it lacks chapter by chapter analysis AND reprints(!), but it's still the closest thing to a companion for his earlier Marvel book.

Daniels' DC Comics overviews are really best in his booklength surveys of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman in the respective books named after those characters. The Wonder Woman book in particular reveals a lot of strange information about the character's creator as well as the basic that no one has really figured out how to write the character (to capture the reading audience's attention) since her creator died! The closest anyone has to understanding the character is probably best served by the observations of Lynda Carter but somehow these views have transferred to the writers of the current comics... Wonder Woman remains DC's highest-profile female character visually but still amongst its worst characters in writing and monthly sales.

Plastic Man has also had a book devoted to him largely based on an expansion of a New Yorker article written by cartoonist and social critic, Art Spiegelman. While the writing is pretty good and the reprints in the book are appreciated, it is overwhelmed by the over-designing and overbuilt desire of book designer Chip Kidd to top his past works.

Recently released is another DC Comics character profile on the original Captain Marvel. Titled Shazam!: The Golden Age of the World's Mightiest Mortal it's written AND designed by Chip Kidd. I've only had brief glances at it in bookstores but it looks to be another over-designed book. I'll probably end up getting it on sale since the Captain is one of my favorite characters. Unfortunately, he's largely relegated to being called Shazam (which is wrong) because of the fact that Marvel Comics owns the character name and will not let DC call the character by his proper title on the cover of any books DC publishes!

True muck-raking books of both Marvel and DC largely don't exist in print because they're not allowed by either company... The fact that DC is owned by Time-Warner largely discourages publishing of investigative books unless they're by independent publishers and generally are in very limited print runs. The case is very much true for Marvel even before the recent Disney buyout of that company. The best sources for muck-raking of DC and Marvel largely remain online but even those sources can be dubious given the fact that most legal litigation is largely settled out of court, closed files or is half-remembered due to passing of top creators and second-hand and third-hand that dilute the basic truths in some publishing conflicts. The best book that covers this subject remains Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book by Gerard Jones. Jones wrote for both Marvel and DC in the 1980s and 1990s and definitely has an inside track on the seedier side of the industry.

Last but not least, I have to mention what remains my favorite character survey book and what I consider the ultimate collection of Golden Age superhero prints. 25 years ago, I had the fortune to run across a copy of The Great Comic Book Heroes by Jules Feiffer and it remains one of my treasured books on the subject. While Feiffer's essays in the books sometimes divert into ridiculous juvenile and fratboy discussion of the characters, the reprints in that book represent the primal versions of the top character along with many of their origins and first appearances! From Superman to Batman to Plastic Man to The Spirit to The Spectre and Wonder Woman, Captain America and the Original Human Torch, there is hardly a classic major Golden Age superhero that isn't in that book. Well recommended, even though original hardcover copies are over 40 years old. It's a well-printed book meaning many copies still exist in very good or even fine condition like my copy and it can usually be bought from a comic book convention for $20 or less. Avoid the 1990s paperback reprint by Fantagraphics since Fantagraphics never bothered to get the reprint rights for the comics themselves... As enjoyable as Feiffer's essays can be, they're not the main point of this book -- that would be the reprints!

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Re: Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics

Post by Ben » November 28th, 2010, 6:44 pm

GeorgeC wrote:I'm not surprised that Ben found the documentary a letdown. I kind of had a feeling that it would be that way.
Here's what George is referring to:
http://animatedviews.com/2010/secret-or ... dc-comics/


There look to be a few new DC75 books that are out this year which appear to be quite nice retrospective pieces, but I agree that the rose tinted glasses are usually on the editors' noses when they compile that stuff. "Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book" and "The Great Comic Book Heroes" sound like excellent reference volumes which I'll look out for in future.

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Post by Randall » November 28th, 2010, 11:05 pm

Paul Levitz is pictured here with his rather huge new DC history book from Taschen (it weighs the equivalent of 128 comics!). Reviews on Amazon are quite positive, too.

http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2010 ... tml#019785

Considering the potentially limited print run, I've just ordered a copy!

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Post by Ben » November 29th, 2010, 10:24 am

That looks like the book that Secret Origin wanted to be as a documentary!

I also like the look of the 75th Anniversary Poster Book, though not something I'd probably shell out for. But wow...that Levitz volume looks like the definitive word...and the definitive size!

Amazon reveals it comes in an outer box...snazzy, but I've just spent waaay too much on end of year DVDs (and contemplating a bunch of bad 50s sci-fi from the WB Archive before their bundle deal sale ends) to jump at this. Put it on the list of cool stuff you need to show me when I eventually make it over!

GeorgeC

Post by GeorgeC » November 29th, 2010, 11:13 am

I've heard about the Levitz book, but I dunno...

I've read plenty of these "insider" books and they've always been kind of a disappointment.

It's also a Taschen book. Big price... OUCH!

For legal reasons, they can't talk about legal settlements/lawsuits and nobody wants to talk about the editorial fiefdoms at DC, either.

One of the dirty secrets that's not-so-secret is that for a long time, it was hard to coordinate anything at DC because the editors felt proprietary towards the characters they controlled! Mort Weisinger was the long time editor of Superman from the 1940s until 1970 and almost didn't let anybody else use the character in titles like JLA! Likewise, the Batman editors were proprietary and isolated themselves from the other editors and didn't talk to the other editors, either. That kind of bunker-like mentality led to a lot of continuity problems and it set a pattern that continues to this day. Meanwhile, at Marvel, the main reason its continuity was fine for a decade (1960s) was that there was only one main editor there -- Stan Lee!

The Superman ownership lawsuit is the one everybody knows about. There were other lawsuits to shut down Captain Marvel/Fawcett comics, and suits to collect monies from characters like The Flash (Infantino) and Green Lantern (Nodell). The other suits you don't hear much about because they didn't get far and/or there were quick settlements and non-disclosure agreements.

The Superman lawsuit is on-going and I suspect will last as long as Siegel has an heir (widow or daughter). What a waste of life. I just know Time-Warner lawyers are holding in and waiting for death to settle that suit!

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Post by Randall » November 29th, 2010, 10:29 pm

Yes, the Taschen book is pricey, but imagine what it'll cost in a year or two as a collectible!

If nothing else, it should be a good investment. ;)

I thought the Daniels DC book from over 10 years ago was very good, and I still enjoy paging through it, but this monster book by Levitz looks to be much better yet.

The book that is a DC year-by-year chronicle that recently came out was tempting too. I looked at it in the bookstore, and it's nicely done. But it couldn't compare to the Taschen for completeness.

GeorgeC

Re: Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics

Post by GeorgeC » November 30th, 2010, 11:16 am

Big pass from me on the Taschen book. Just can't justify it to myself. It's an awfully heavy book that requires the strength of Hercules to lift and I have my doubts about anything revealing being popped out. I think I can do without Batman sketches by Bob Kane (who only drew the book for about a year) and pages on people who were at the beginning of DC for less than 2-3 years. That and I'm also not crazy about gatefold pages.

My ideal DC history book would have been more like Les Daniels' Marvel book -- affordable, company breakdown by decade (not enough happens year by year that's decent to bother to chronicle most times!), and character profiles where appropriate in the text. (Reprints of old stories are also appreciated!) I just haven't seen a book that good since in the past 20 years. It's kind of sad that's the case...

I did see the DC Year-By-Year book and frankly didn't care for it. Take that as you will... I wasn't a huge fan of the Jim Lee icon book, the Adam Hughes Cover Run book, and know that I can live without looking at and owning another Alex Ross book, too.

Things are kind of sunnier on the animation side. Wouldn't mind getting "Art of Tangled" and the recently published "Disney Design" book.

I'm kind of burned out on comic books unless they're decent reprints of Golden Age/Silver Age and feature character and storylines I care about. This recent death/kill-joy stuff and company spin/PR is not my cup of tea...

GeorgeC

Post by GeorgeC » December 4th, 2010, 3:29 pm

I'm going to say right now that I have the Chip Kidd Captain Marvel book in my hands. It's a Columbus Metro Library copy.

(Library system in my area is GREAT for graphic novels! It's saved me tons of money on books I decided were NOT things I wanted in my collection as well as confirmed and decided some buying decisions. I became a Spirit fan because of the fact the system has the first 7 Archives volumes. It also kept me from buying the Simon & Kirby DC Library books because as much as I like their Captain America run I just don't care for their DC characters as much. Not a huge New Gods fan, either, but at least I had the chance to check out those full-color volumes, too!)

I got back from library and grocery shopping 40 minutes ago and looked over the book for about 10-15 minutes.

It's one of the better superhero retrospectives done in the past few years. It's definitely better than the Spiegelman Plastic Man book. 1,000 times better than that wretched Catwoman book that came out years ago, too.

It doesn't have as much as text as Les Daniels' DC character retrospectives do but it's chock full of original Captain Marvel art and pictures of rare collectibles featuring character art from the 1940s and 1950s.

If that doesn't qualify as a definite buy for a Captain Marvel fan, I don't know what does!

Kidd had me at the photos of the original comic book art even before I took closer looks at the pictures of the Ultimate Captain Marvel fan's figurines, ad art, and the reprint of the only Simon & Kirby Captain Marvel story.

GeorgeC

Re: Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics

Post by GeorgeC » December 5th, 2010, 1:57 am

Adding more DC commentary...

I doubt the documentary covered this but DC Comics has an excellent tradition of science fiction/fantasy comics... particularly for the 1950s and early 1960s.

In addition to "Adam Strange," a cousin to the earlier John Carter of Mars, Flash Gordon, and Buck Rogers, there was a classic series published within the DC Comics title Strange Adventures between 1960-1964. This feature was called, "The Atomic Knights."

DC just recently reprinted the original run of this title in its own hardcover called, "The Atomic Knights." It's part of the ongoing DC Comics Library series which has all but effectively succeeded the stalled DC Archives series.

The writer of this series is John Broome (Flash, Green Lantern 1960s writer) with art by Murphy Anderson (he inked over a lot of Carmine Infantino's artwork in the 1950s and 1960s but was an accomplished penciler in his own right).

I've gotta say it has an excellent premise and has potential as a movie or TV series. Atomic Knights is basically an alternate future set on an Earth devastated by nuclear exchange during World War III. WWIII lasted all of 20 days(!) and has killed all plant life and most animals on Earth. There are a few thousand survivors on the planet struggling to live off of supplies stored by the military and governments prior to WWIII.

A group of six of these survivors led by an ex-soldier don irradiated knight armor and become known as the Atomic Knights. The Atomic Knights struggle, like King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table before them, to unite survivors and establish law and order (justice in the best sense of the word) in a world besieged by opportunists and warlords.

I think this is a fine hardcover reprint to at least borrow and read... Luckily, my library once again came through and I could get a copy I DIDN'T have to pay for!

It's been an excellent read so far. Too bad DC was foolish enough to retcon this series from the main continuity.

Being a fan of Arthurian mythology and the film Excalibur in particular, I'm really enjoying this series. It's better than most of the early 1960s DC Comics with the exception of Doom Patrol which I find about as good... which is still to stay a cut above most of the rest of the line. It's good old-fashioned pulp science fiction that's just fun to experience.

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Post by Randall » December 5th, 2010, 10:35 am

I've passed on Atomic Knights until now. That armor just looked goofy to me, though I love anything by Anderson. Maybe I'll have to check it out.

I've got the Mystery in Space book that came out a while ago, reprinting DC's sci-fi stories (Adam Strange, Space Cabbie, etc.). That's a fun read. It looked like it was to be the first of a "Pulp Fiction Library" series of reprint books, but I'm guessing low sales killed the idea. There's a bigger hardcover "Mysteries in Space" book that came out many years ago, too, which I pulled from the library once. I may have to track that one down again.

(Checks eBay.)

....One copy on eBay right now. Asking 100 bucks. No sale.

GeorgeC

Re: Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics

Post by GeorgeC » December 5th, 2010, 10:58 am

If you get past the armor design (it's medieval/Renaissance design armor), the Atomic Knights storyline is very decent.

Again, I think it would make for the basis for a very good film/TV series if done correctly. Of course, my bias is towards animation versus live-action! You can never have too many action/adventure animation. Imagination and fun is something that's desperately needed.

*****

Adam Strange has had 2-3 Archives books dedicated to him.

I haven't really read anything of Strange beyond the "Planet Heist" limited series that came out a few years ago. Very good stuff! Much better than its follow-up, the Rann/Thannager limited series. That tied into the Crisis crap that's been going on forever.

I just hate the nihilist stuff that's the rage now in comics... that beside the constant rehashes and character kill-offs is my biggest disappoint with both Marvel and DCC.

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