Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The Great Comic Book Heroes: Jules Feiffer by Jules Feiffer ISBN: 1-56097-501-6 Publisher: Fantagraphics Books Pub. Date: March, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (3 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: WHAT WAS THE SOURCE OF THEIR SUPER POWERS?
Comment: My review is based on the original 1965 hardbound Bonanza Books edition. I mention this because, according to another reviewer, the more recently released softbound edition is both abridged and without some or all of the color comics that make this book such a joy.
Feiffer writes several pages of introduction that trace both the history of comics from newspapers to comic books and his own development from a child infatuated with everything about comics and super heroes to an adult writer/cartoonist.
I grew up following the adventures of many of the comic book super heroes he presents here. (Comic books were in their heyday and cost 10 cents.) By the time I was "into" comics, these super heroes were already well established and their super powers were taken for granted. In THE GREAT COMIC BOOK HEROES, Feiffer includes many of the comic book sequences that reveal how these super powers came to be. Here's some of what I learned from Feiffer:
Superman, as most of us do know, was sent to earth as a baby from a planet whose destruction was imminent. Inhabitants of that planet were all endowed with what, on earth, were super powers.
Batman didn't really have super powers. From the time when, as a child, he saw his parents killed by gangsters, he trained his body and mind to function as a crime fighting machine.
The Human Torch was, in fact, not human. He was created in a lab.
The Flash got his superhuman speed as a result of breathing gas fumes during a lab accident.
The Green Lantern got his powers from a green ring made from a magic green lantern.
Captain America got his super powers from an injection of a secret formula. He was supposed to be one of many superior beings created to fight "the Nazi menace," but the scientist who invented the secret potion was killed by the Nazis before he could make any more. He took it's "recipe" to the grave with him. Thus, only one super hero, Captain America.
Plastic Man got his super powers from another lab accident in which he was exposed to a mysterious acid.
These are but a few of the Super Heroes, in their original comic book form, included in Feiffer's book. These, in particular, fill in missing backgrounds for me.
In these old comic books there was no confusion. There were "us good guys" and "those bad guys." And guess what - the good guys always triumphed.
Rating: 2
Summary: The text is excellent, BUT...
Comment: I own the ORIGINAL hardcover edition of this book... It was printed [a lot] in the 1960s and you SHOULD still be able to get a nice copy of it in good condition for [an amount of money]. ...
DON'T buy the reissue version of this book unless you DON'T want the reprints of the comics in the HC version in FULL color.
From what I understand from people who have bought the paperback reprint, the publisher has NOT reprinted the original stories in full color NOR have they reprinted the full pages, either!
Big disappointment for people who actually WANTED to read the original stories in addition to Feiffer's text. Perhaps the publisher could not obtain the rights to reprint the original stories in their entirety in full color, ...
Still, if you want to read the sentimental recollections of a old-time comic book fan, you could do a lot worse than Jules Feiffer's prose. It is amusing and worth half the admission price of what I paid for my hardcover copy.
The question YOU have to answer is -- do you want to pay for a book that's an abridged version of the original?
Rating: 5
Summary: The first Comic Book Book
Comment: Jules Feiffer did the world a favor in 1965, when he put together this little collection. At the time, comic book collection was not really a hobby, and re-prints of older materials were unheard of. Out of a fond sense of nostalgia, he assembled and published the origin issues of his favorite comic book heroes.
Inside this excellent volume are the origin issues of most of the classic Golden Age superheroes. This collection is somewhat unique, in that the characters are from several different publishers who would never collaborate today. Assembling this collection of stories would cost a pretty penny in todays collector's market!
Included are: Superman #1 (1939); Batman #1 (1940); Marvel Mystery Comics #1 - The Human Torch (1941); Flash #1 (1940); All-American #16 - The Green Lanter (1940); All-Star #1 - The Spectre (1940); Flash #5 - Hawkman (1940); Wonder Woman #2 (1946); Marvel Mystery Comics #7 - Sub-Mariner (1940); Captain America Comics #1 (1941); Police Comics #1 - Plastic Man (1941); The Spirit Sunday Section (July 20, 1941); and a single page on the origin of Captain Marvel, a character for which he could not get re-print rights.
Thank you Jules Feiffer!
 |
Title: How to Read Superhero Comics and Why by Geoff Klock ISBN: 0826414192 Publisher: Continuum International Publishing Group Pub. Date: October, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
 |
Title: Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America by Bradford W. Wright ISBN: 0801874505 Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press Pub. Date: 01 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
 |
Title: The Comic Book Makers by Joe Simon, Jim Simon ISBN: 1887591354 Publisher: Vanguard Productions (NJ) Pub. Date: 01 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
 |
Title: The Comics Journal Library: Frank Miller by Milo George ISBN: 1560975288 Publisher: Fantagraphics Books Pub. Date: 18 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
 |
Title: The Dragonslayer (Bone, Book 4) by Jeff Smith ISBN: 188896300X Publisher: Cartoon Books Pub. Date: 01 March, 1999 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
