Thursday, December 15, 2011

The Secret History of AA Comics

Shameless Plug Department: The Secret History of AA Comics is now available in trade paperback form at lulu.com. You can order a copy by clicking on the link in the column on the right.

This alternate history of the comic book business -- in which M.C. Gaines bought out the owners of DC Comics, Green Lantern and The Flash were the premier heroes, and Superman and Batman were reimagined to start the Silver Age -- appeared in somewhat different form in issues of Alter Ego and Back Issue. There is additional text material as well as new artwork included in this version.

1 comment:

  1. BobRo, I received my copy of this last week, and when I started reading it, I literally could not put it down until I finished it.

    Most of the art was really nice*, and added so much to the book - but the look at the comic book industry (via "AA Comics") was so entertaining and so relevant to the Earth-Prime DC Comics was delightful.

    The homages to Curt Swan and Jack Kirby and Carmine Infantino - the ones that I specifically recognized that way - were fantastic. The movie and TV promo shots were absolutely delightful.

    The cover redo's were likely my favorite part of the book. The "Flash #123" and "All-Star Comics #37" with the appropriate substitutions were incredible. Imagine... a book that made me nostalgic for Superman. (Actually, I feel that way nowadays ANYHOW...)

    And the history of the comic stories, via the publishing history, was a riot. The editorial lists of comics was a lot of fun.

    This is fun for comic fans and it's twice as much fun for fans of DC Comics and the business that was conducted behind its doors. I love this book.

    I remain,
    Sincerely,
    Eric L. Sofer
    The Silver Age Fogey
    x<]:o){

    *Okay, a little bit of the art looked kinda amateurish - not bad, no, but maybe not as professional as one would want (e.g., the All-Star comics #58 mock ups for the gangster or monster covers.) This is NOT a reason to miss this book - but I had to note SOMETHING that wasn't 100% wonderful about it, I guess...

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