Comics: Between the Panels

Rating:
Summary: Too anecdotic, too unbalanced
Review: 500 pages and 670 illustrations about comics might seem like a good deal for comic lovers, but think again before you invest in this encyclopedic volume, unless you have an obsession for details and writers of the 30s.

No matter if you know a little about every Marvel, DC, EC and Image Comic book ever published, you will still find plenty of information about rare titles and anecdotic situations of the industry you never heard before. That on the positive side. On the negative side, it is not very encouraging to read only 50 or so pages about your favorite topics, and spend the rest of the book learning about rare cult titles and "legend" writers.

Also, the book is a little or too much unbalanced. There are six pages, four illustrations and two text boxes devoted to the story of mile high comics. On the other side, there is less than one page dedicated to The Fantastic Four, one of the key titles to understand comic book history. Spider Man is mentioned only nine times in 500 pages, while Frank Frazetta (who?) appears 46 times. Jimmy Hendrix is mentioned one time.

Good for a library. Too much detail for the average reader.

Rating:
Summary: THE BIBLE FOR EVERY COMIC BOOK FAN
Review: Curious about the behind-the-scenes to the wondrous world of comics? Look no further! This massive book is everything you wanted to know about comic books, but were afraid to ask! What's great about this read, is the stories behind the creators are pratically more fantastic than the comics they're creating. Mike Richardson and Steve Duin add a stylish and humorous flare to the writing, making it the most enjoyable encyclopedia I've ever read. Comic book fans beware! Within a matter of hours, this book could transform you from a mild-mannered comic reader, into an omniscient virtuso with the comic book medium. This book must be read!

Rating:
Summary: Incredible source for lovers of comic books
Review: Despite being one of the best written books about the medium, Comics Between the Panels has a sometimes TOO impartial look over comic book history's main events/actors. Though this makes it unique (and quite daring, I would say), a strange "hatred" against the "establishment" of comics makes this for moments a book for union workers of the field rather than for fans. Anyway, it looks really great and has very entertaining stories I never read about. I just can't forgive the authors for giving Batman around 15 lines, and giving unknown writers nearly two pages. Also, STAN LEE ROCKS!

Fun to read and fun to look at, only excessively "political". Anyway, a must-have for a real lover of comic books and the magic behind their creation.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating insights into the history of Comic Books
Review: Even though the book invites the reader to dip in and pick whatever topic they want to read in whatever order - I found myself delightfully engrossed, enough to read the book cover to cover. Personally, IÕve read most every book published over the past 30 years about the history of Comics, Comic strips, and the comic industry and this was the first one where page after was filled with new information and insights. ÒComics Between the PanelsÓ filled in the gaps that other books about the comics industry glossed over. It had an insiders perspective that made the reader a real fly on the wall. I thoroughly recommend this book to any Comic Book Connoisseur and lover of the genre. What a fun read. John Moss

Rating:
Summary: Fashinating alfabetical art and story book of comics
Review: I have many reference books of comics but this new one is one of the best. I looks like an encyclopedia but it is rather backround story book. Writers really know the comics reading and collecting world and they have made numerous interesting interviews. I have read some of the stories every night before going to bed - and I think I will do so for long. There are 500 pages, which include many of the best cover reproductions and other nice comic art. I found very much information about EC art and artists, which are my main interests. I think that every comics lover should have this lovely book.

Rating:
Summary: THE BIBLE FOR EVERY COMIC BOOK FAN
Review: The author assumes an almost cynical and throwaway air in many of his discussions of personalities both living and dead that are highly opiniated and frequently unfair. As an attempt at encyclopedic scope it fails because of a lack of objectivity, as a book of opinion it also fails because it is too longwinded and not insightful when it presumes to spend a lot of time discussing the psychology of artists instead of focusing on their work and its merits. The author clearly struggles in a finding a voice that he hopes to be both sophisticated and informed, but which is neither. Puzzling entries include the one on Alex Schomburg that makes highly negative allusions to the latter years of his life -- he lived to 92! -- when he was becoming senile, instead of detailing his enormous achievement as one of the best Golden Age cover artists who left his indelible mark on the era. And God knows where he got his opinion of Al Feldstein, who he apparently has never met, because his pop psychology analysis of him would fall apart when confronted by the man who wrote and drew for EC and then edited MAD during its heyday. Only the comics industry, with its devout fanboys who devour everything printed about it would tolerate such a sloppy and frequently silly compendium as this.

Rating:
Summary: Marred by negativity
Review: The author assumes an almost cynical and throwaway air in many of his discussions of personalities both living and dead that are highly opiniated and frequently unfair. As an attempt at encyclopedic scope it fails because of a lack of objectivity, as a book of opinion it also fails because it is too longwinded and not insightful when it presumes to spend a lot of time discussing the psychology of artists instead of focusing on their work and its merits. The author clearly struggles in a finding a voice that he hopes to be both sophisticated and informed, but which is neither. Puzzling entries include the one on Alex Schomburg that makes highly negative allusions to the latter years of his life -- he lived to 92! -- when he was becoming senile, instead of detailing his enormous achievement as one of the best Golden Age cover artists who left his indelible mark on the era. And God knows where he got his opinion of Al Feldstein, who he apparently has never met, because his pop psychology analysis of him would fall apart when confronted by the man who wrote and drew for EC and then edited MAD during its heyday. Only the comics industry, with its devout fanboys who devour everything printed about it would tolerate such a sloppy and frequently silly compendium as this.

Rating:
Summary: Engrossing Encyclopedia of a Unique American Literary Form
Review: The same accessibility and bright colors that attract readers to comics in the first place will also attract them to this comprehensive encyclopedia of the comic book. Not only is it highly readable, but the production values of the book make it physically beautiful as well. Of course, I first looked up my favorites, but then I was immediately drawn to entry after entry as the time flew by. What a fascinating chronicle of the history and people who brought fantasy to newsprint.This book should appeal to readers of all ages. Congratulations to Dark Horse on publishing such a fine book.

Rating:
Summary: A MUST-HAVE FOR ANYONE WITH A LOVE OF COMICS.
Review: This lavish, full-color, coffeetable-style volume celebrating the comics medium was a dozen years in the making. Via alphabetical entries, the authors take an idiosyncratic look at everything from creators, characters, and companies to conventions and collectors. Drawing on their years of expertise in the field and on interviews with hundreds of comics veterans, Mike Richardson (Dark Horse Comics' publisher) and Steve Duin (columnist for the Portland Oregonian) provide the inside scoop on the early days of comics in the 1930s, the studio days of the 1940s, the crisis in the 1950s, and the resurgence in the 1960s. And the book offers plenty of behind-the-scenes info about comics in more recent decades as well. You'll find R. Crumb side by side with crime comics, Li'l Abner brushing elbows with Little Annie Fanny, and Superman nose-to-nose with Spawn. This book is a must-have for anyone with a love for comics.