Category: Book Reviews

Dr. Werthless: The Complicated Legacy of Fredric Wertham

Any mention of the name of Fredric Wertham at Comic-Con immediately elicits howls of derision and snarky comments. And not without reason. Wertham was, after all, a central figure in the assault on comic books in the 1950s that led to the elimination of most horror, crime, and suspense titles and precipitated the downfall of … Continue reading Dr. Werthless: The Complicated Legacy of Fredric Wertham →

Shadowplay: Midnight School – A Nightmarish Fever Dream

"How can someone be so sure of the sunny days that will come again when shadows endure?" Sam Fonseca's graphic novel Shadowplay: Midnight School is a nightmarish fever dream of students trapped in a hellish high school for days that never end. You may think your high school experience was unpleasant, but this is next … Continue reading Shadowplay: Midnight School – A Nightmarish Fever Dream →

Taschen’s Spider-Man Vol 1: 1962–1964

Big, beautiful, and nearly (but not quite) perfect book of the dawn of Spider-Man The initial volume in Taschen's Marvel Comics Library, Spider-Man. Vol. 1: 1962–1964, brings the first stories of Marvel's web-slinging superhero to a sumptuous, large, high-quality format. The book is massive. The pages measure 11 by 15.6 inches. Its 698 pages make … Continue reading Taschen’s Spider-Man Vol 1: 1962–1964 →

Seeing Is Believing – or Is It the Other Way Around?

The essays in Errol Morris's recent book Believing Is Seeing (Observations on the Mysteries of Photography) explore a series of mysteries, each based on one or more photographs. Writer and documentary filmmaker (The Thin Blue Line, The Fog of War, Tabloid) Morris uses the photos as the starting point for explorations of what the photos … Continue reading Seeing Is Believing – or Is It the Other Way Around? →