From the card catalog

Again, we delve into my recent acquisitions from the Lawrence Public Library, recapping what I’ve been reading in between reviewing records and interviewing rock stars (last week, it was Jared from Bowling For Soup!).

book-cover-eerie-publicationsA recent couple of books paired up nicely, and featuring them together seemed rather appropriate. First, I read Mike Howlett‘s love letter to Eerie Publications – the lesser known, black sheep cousin to Warren and EC. Entitled the Weird World of Eerie Publications, Howlett’s book does an excellent and irreverent job of singing the praises of the rip-off, unoriginal, and schlocky dreck that publisher Myron Fass spun out. The art was over-the-top gory, and the stories were usually plagiarized, but there’s an undeniable appeal to the images lovingly reproduced in full-size within the pages of this history / ode to the magazines Eerie released.

A lot of the appeal comes from Howlett’s verbiage. I’ve yet to read a book of this heft and breadth which used as much profanity. Also, it was surprising to note the vast number of times the author flat-out admitted to the lower quality of the Eerie titles, as opposed to those of their much higher profile competitors. Still, the enthusiasm and verve complement the research and history on hand. You’ll not find another book so devoted to something so terrible.

book-cover-the-horror-the-horrorOn the other end of the spectrum is Jim Trombetta‘s anthology of 1950s horror comics, The Horror! The Horror! Trombetta provides deep-thinking commentary that places horror comics within the grander literary pantheon, as well as detailing the legal proceedings which led to their eventual demise. Placing the walking skeleton side by side with the concept of the memento mori, or examining the hideous infatuation with eye trauma, the author lends a critical eye that offers up much-needed serious analysis.

It’s a decidedly academic approach, yet also goes one step further than Howlett’s book. Whereas Weird World offered up mere panels and covers, The Horror! reproduces full pages, and several full stories from long-gone comics. Whereas EC and Warren’s titles have all lovingly been reproduced in ‘luxe hardcover editions, these pages give you what you would’ve seen when grabbing them off the rack in 1955 – bad color seperations and dog-eared corners intact. It’s a stellar piece of literary and artistic criticism.