The Classic Era of American Comics

In terms of both words and images the world had never seen the like of the American comicbook. They were bizarre, morbid, lurid, risque and bursting with subconcious desires of burgeoning youth culture. By the time 1954 arrived their were 500 different comics beingpublished by 35 different companies, selling over 60 million copies a month between them. This is the history of the era and the art it produced. The book looks at the pioneers of the comicbook and the comic's founding links with sleazy pulp magazines; the campaign for censorship; the fraught relationship between the comicbook artists and their publishers; how what they did was rarely recognised as art at the time - and of course the comics themselves.