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ashleylm's review
4.0
Sometimes even I don't know what I want. On seeing this largish tome, I was hoping for a fun but insightful look at 80 years of Archie, crossing my fingers it wouldn't be 5 page intro and then nothing but reprints (it wasn't) or that it would be mainly shots of collectibles with prices (as one terrible book on Hawaiana turned out to be, recently), and I was gratified to find it was primarily biographies/interviews with Archie personnel, interspersed with a handful of stories, and occasional themed cover round-up.
But I wanted more! I feel the "who were the people behind Archie" story is low on the scale, like writing about Disney animators before writing about Disney the studio ... you have to be very niche to want to go that far. So I know about the art background or war experience or private love of several artists, but I'm not really sure about circulation numbers, how the various TV series happened, why they introduced a gay character (or why they waited so long!), etc., etc. It was both too behind-the-scene and not-behind-the-scenes enough.
That said, there was a good mix of text to image, and it reignited my interest in Archie and the gang. It was a fun read, but not entirely what I wanted ... not that I'd been sure what that was to begin with.
It was at its best very early on, describing the genesis of Archie and the company that created him, some contemporary descriptions (a sexy photo essay) of how comics are developed, etc. By no means disappointing to read.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve!
But I wanted more! I feel the "who were the people behind Archie" story is low on the scale, like writing about Disney animators before writing about Disney the studio ... you have to be very niche to want to go that far. So I know about the art background or war experience or private love of several artists, but I'm not really sure about circulation numbers, how the various TV series happened, why they introduced a gay character (or why they waited so long!), etc., etc. It was both too behind-the-scene and not-behind-the-scenes enough.
That said, there was a good mix of text to image, and it reignited my interest in Archie and the gang. It was a fun read, but not entirely what I wanted ... not that I'd been sure what that was to begin with.
It was at its best very early on, describing the genesis of Archie and the company that created him, some contemporary descriptions (a sexy photo essay) of how comics are developed, etc. By no means disappointing to read.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve!
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