In Review: Comic Book Fever – A Celebration of Comics: 1976-1986

Comic Book Fever - A Celebration of Comics: 1976-1986

By George Khoury
Publisher: TwoMorrows
Out: Now

The Book: This book is an examination of the pivotal US comics era of 1976–1986. Contained herein are the people, comics, and artifacts that made our childhood feel larger than life, and shaped the US comics industry into the pop culture staple that stands tall today.

Each chapter and sidebar in this book tells a story, and together they form a much larger story about the evolution and maturation of the comics medium. The book is designed to look and feel as close to an actual comic book as possible – from the stories about the comics themselves, to the stories about the biggest comic book ads, on down to the letters’ page.

The Review: Some of you may be wondering why a site principally dedicated to British comics is waving the flag for an examination of US comics. Well, it’s simple. It’s because we should never blinker ourselves to great work being done outside our normal purview and this is book really is great work.

Comic Book Fever - A Celebration of Comics: 1976-1986 - Contents

Just a look at the contents page alone should be enough to convince you. Comic Book Fever – A Celebration of Comics: 1976-1986 traces the metamorphosis of comics going from beyond being just about comics with the occasional foray into toys, TV and film tie-ins. This era of US comics sees the medium becoming the modern juggernaut it is now, with every film release being accompanied by a swathe of must buy toys, books, clothing and a myriad of alternate ways of buying into the vision of life that your current favourite movie projects.

Like author George Khoury’s other comic-related books such as True Brit, this is a delight to dip into. It’s also full of little gems, such as a picture of G I Joe that reveals Palitoy’s Action Man was a much closer clone than I had previously believed. Also, the article looking at the adverts within the US comics brought back many a memory, as I always wanted to try a Hostess Fruit Pie or a Twinkie or, even better, a Three Musketeers Bar. I have tried Twinkies now, only available here in recent years, and believe me, the adverts for Twinkies were far superior to the actual product!

Comic Book Fever - A Celebration of Comics: 1976-1986 Page 130

There is just too much in here to mention it all, but I will say that if you have been a comic fan in your life, you will not be disappointed in this first class comics “dip in” book. It’s as if Kevin Smith had decided that he wanted a book accompaniment to the TV series Comic Book Men and wanted the book to be as good or even better than the TV series.

And if you want one more reason to buy the book, it’s that it features Brian Bolland‘s beautiful art for the cover of Issue 5 of Camelot 3000. (If you have never read Camelot 3000, this might not mean much but trust me, you’ll be missing a treat!).

Hard copies of Comic Book Fever can be bought at TwoMorrows Publishing, Amazon UK, Amazon US, Forbidden Planet and all good comic and book shops

Download it from TwoMorrows Publishing



Categories: Books, Reviews, US Comics

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

1 reply

  1. Regarding Palitoy’s Action Man, the first ones sold in the UK were actually GI Joe figures imported and reboxed as Action Man. The first Action Man I had in 1966 has the GI Joe name embossed on its backside along with a 1964 copyright to Hasbro. The huge success of them in the UK led Palitoy to then manufacture their own, with their branding on the figure. They look identical, although side by side there are subtle differences to the paint job.

Discover more from downthetubes.net

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading