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Comic Book Apocalypse!: The Death of Pre-Code Comics and Why It Happened, 1940–1955
- GenresNonfiction
256 pages, Hardcover
Published September 28, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 30, 2025
This is a survey of some of the lurid comic book covers from the time before the comics code was implemented. This code was a result of pressure by conservative groups who thought comics were causing children to be violent or learn about sex. The pre-code comics were often quite violent and almost always showed women in compromising sexual poses, but there's really no hard evidence that they caused juvenile delinquency. If you want in-depth analysis of this period in comic book history, this really isn't the place to find it, but you will be exposed to its broad strokes. The reproductions of the artwork is top notch, with many covers from obscure sources. Hogan did a great job hunting down artist credits. Each section begins with a couple of pages giving us an overview of the various genres, publishers, and creators. Hogan's commentary for each cover is short and often pithy. A major drawback to the otherwise nice book design is that a number of the pages have white text on a glossy black background, hard to read and subject to gathering marring fingerprints. Overall, though, this is a fun book with a lot of information about the period that I didn't know.
October 24, 2025
Is it a coffee table book? An academic discussion of pre-code comics? A little bit of both, but in the end neither parts are fully satisfying.
Best aspect of the book --- excellent (for the most part) reproductions of some amazing covers with artist credits uncovered on many rare titles. Kudos.
Worst aspect of book --- clunky format --- and, who thought it was a god idea to have reverse type of body copy on glossy black pages? Much harder to read than it should be. I'm sure it looked great on the brilliantly illuminated computer monitor, but much less so in print.
And when you do read it, you might find, as I did, that its attempt at loftiness leaves it too dry in places for its own good.
2.5 rounded to 3 because of those great covers.
Best aspect of the book --- excellent (for the most part) reproductions of some amazing covers with artist credits uncovered on many rare titles. Kudos.
Worst aspect of book --- clunky format --- and, who thought it was a god idea to have reverse type of body copy on glossy black pages? Much harder to read than it should be. I'm sure it looked great on the brilliantly illuminated computer monitor, but much less so in print.
And when you do read it, you might find, as I did, that its attempt at loftiness leaves it too dry in places for its own good.
2.5 rounded to 3 because of those great covers.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews