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trin's review against another edition
3.0
A workmanlike account of the rise and fall of comic books, from their creation in the early part of the 20th century to their near-destruction at its midpoint. Hajdu provides ample quotage both from interviews with comic book creators and from the various writings of comic book detractors. Basically the two arguments can be summed up thusly:
Pro-comics: FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION! Also, sex and violence really sell!
Anti-comics: THINK OF THE CHILDREN! Also, my anti-comics screeds really sell!
Hajdu (and, I think, the average reader, myself included) naturally sides with the comics folks, even though some early works were apparently really nasty—though nasty enough to make [a:Garth Ennis|14965|Garth Ennis|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-M-50x66.jpg] or [a:Frank Miller|11139|Mary Shelley|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1205347203p2/11139.jpg] blush, I can’t say.
The book itself is thorough and readable, but never thrilling; someone else compared it to a term paper, and I think that’s fairly accurate. I’d only recommend it if you’re really interested in the subject—or writing a term paper yourself.
Pro-comics: FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION! Also, sex and violence really sell!
Anti-comics: THINK OF THE CHILDREN! Also, my anti-comics screeds really sell!
Hajdu (and, I think, the average reader, myself included) naturally sides with the comics folks, even though some early works were apparently really nasty—though nasty enough to make [a:Garth Ennis|14965|Garth Ennis|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-M-50x66.jpg] or [a:Frank Miller|11139|Mary Shelley|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1205347203p2/11139.jpg] blush, I can’t say.
The book itself is thorough and readable, but never thrilling; someone else compared it to a term paper, and I think that’s fairly accurate. I’d only recommend it if you’re really interested in the subject—or writing a term paper yourself.
jaifman's review against another edition
3.0
Partiendo de la base de que el libro proporciona mucha información sobre el tema del que trata, lo cual al final entiendo que es lo importante, lo cierto es que como ensayo no es especialmente apasionante y no te atrapa mucho.
Por otro lado se agradece que se publiquen en España obras tan de "nicho" dentro de la historia de la cultura popular y de forma tan cuidada, en ese aspecto un 10 a Es Pop por todo su repertorio, del que me voy a leer unas cuantas.
Por otro lado se agradece que se publiquen en España obras tan de "nicho" dentro de la historia de la cultura popular y de forma tan cuidada, en ese aspecto un 10 a Es Pop por todo su repertorio, del que me voy a leer unas cuantas.
hectaizani's review against another edition
4.0
A history of the rise and fall of comics in the United States in the 1940's and 1950's.
spitzig's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting depiction of the the comic book scare. The book did a good job of depicting the progression of the demonization of comics. Nothing really revolutionary to me, though. Also, I think more could have been said about the aftermath of the scare.
stevenyenzer's review against another edition
3.0
This book is more like a history of comic books in America up through the formation of the Comics Code, with a special focus on that period. There are a lot of biographical sketches of folks who seemed of somewhat incidental importance; I had trouble tracking all of the names.
bhurlbut's review against another edition
3.0
A solid piece of history and interesting up to a point. Hajdu never really spells out how the Great Comic Book Scare changed America. It clearly places it within the realm of postwar paranoiacs and fretting over "evil" influences in the life and culture of the country, but the book never quite gets off the ground. Still, it is an interesting subject and well covered.
scheu's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed The Ten-Cent Plague, but I have a significant gripe. If you're going to force the reader through the origins of comic books (the beginning of the story, and information I've been over multiple times), you ought to give them the end of the story as well. Horror comics didn't go away. Marvel, DC, and Warren were publishing many of them in the 1970s, and the ones I read as a kid were pretty gruesome. The Comics Code that was created to police the industry became a joke that was either ignored or completely abandoned. The masses and their hysteria moved elsewhere as we all realised that our problems weren't really rooted in comics.
Best of all, comics are still here.
Best of all, comics are still here.