Blackjacked And Pistol Whipped A Crime Does Not Pay Primer

Gangsters, kidnappers, maniacal killers, and thugs of all stripes had their lurid stories recounted in Crime Does Not Pay! Featuring thrilling, brutal tales and disturbing, despicable characters, Crime Does Not Pay enthralled a nation and was the most popular comic book of its time. The series was a favorite target of Dr. Fredric Wertham and other censors and is partially responsible for the creation of the Comics Code Authority—yet it was also an inspiration for Harvey Kurtzman's reality-based EC Comics. See why this series was both revered and reviled in this unique "best of" primer! * Crime Does Not Pay editor Bob Wood brutally murdered his girlfriend and was later murdered himself! This fascinating sidebar is detailed in an essay by cartoonist, historian, and co-editor Denis Kitchen. * Contains a selection of stories from across the series' run in the 1940s, a new cover, an illustrated essay, and an introduction. * All-new Crime-inspired cover by artist Pete Poplaski with colors by Bernie Mireault.

Gangsters, kidnappers, maniacal killers, and thugs of all stripes had their lurid stories recounted in Crime Does Not Pay! Featuring thrilling, brutal tales and disturbing, despicable characters, Crime Does Not Pay enthralled a nation and was the most popular comic book of its time. The series was a favorite target of Dr. Fredric Wertham and other censors and is partially responsible for the creation of the Comics Code Authority—yet it was also an inspiration for Harvey Kurtzman’s reality-based EC Comics. See why this series was both revered and reviled in this unique “best of” primer! * Crime Does Not Pay editor Bob Wood brutally murdered his girlfriend and was later murdered himself! This fascinating sidebar is detailed in an essay by cartoonist, historian, and co-editor Denis Kitchen. * Contains a selection of stories from across the series’ run in the 1940s, a new cover, an illustrated essay, and an introduction. * All-new Crime-inspired cover by artist Pete Poplaski with colors by Bernie Mireault.

The Eisner and Harvey Award-nominated series continues to recount the criminal deeds of the bandits, bank robbers, serial killers, and gangsters of yesteryear while reprinting some of the most notorious pre-Code comics of all time! Our latest deluxe hardcover--including every uncensored page from Crime Does Not Pay issues #58 to #61--is packed with timeless true-crime tales by artists George Tuska, Jack Cole, Fred Guardineer, Dan Barry, Charles Biro, and others! This volume also features an enlightening new foreword by Eisner Award-winning writer Jeff Jensen (Green River Killer)! "Even in today's more jaded times, the guilt-free exuberance the creators poured into every bullet and blood spatter is infectious. This Crime pays, with hours of fun." -The Seattle Times

Winner of the Popular Culture Association's Ray and Pat Browne Award for Best Book in Popular or American Culture In the 1940s and ’50s, comic books were some of the most popular—and most unfiltered—entertainment in the United States. Publishers sold hundreds of millions of copies a year of violent, racist, and luridly sexual comics to Americans of all ages until a 1954 Senate investigation led to a censorship code that nearly destroyed the industry. But this was far from the first time the US government actively involved itself with comics—it was simply the most dramatic manifestation of a long, strange relationship between high-level policy makers and a medium that even artists and writers often dismissed as a creative sewer. In Pulp Empire, Paul S. Hirsch uncovers the gripping untold story of how the US government both attacked and appropriated comic books to help wage World War II and the Cold War, promote official—and clandestine—foreign policy and deflect global critiques of American racism. As Hirsch details, during World War II—and the concurrent golden age of comic books—government agencies worked directly with comic book publishers to stoke hatred for the Axis powers while simultaneously attempting to dispel racial tensions at home. Later, as the Cold War defense industry ballooned—and as comic book sales reached historic heights—the government again turned to the medium, this time trying to win hearts and minds in the decolonizing world through cartoon propaganda. Hirsch’s groundbreaking research weaves together a wealth of previously classified material, including secret wartime records, official legislative documents, and caches of personal papers. His book explores the uneasy contradiction of how comics were both vital expressions of American freedom and unsettling glimpses into the national id—scourged and repressed on the one hand and deployed as official propaganda on the other. Pulp Empire is a riveting illumination of underexplored chapters in the histories of comic books, foreign policy, and race.

Presenting over 20 classic full length Superman tales from the DC Comics vault!

"Presenting over 20 classic full length Batman tales from the DC Comics vault!"--Cover.

With the recent explosion of activity and discussion surrounding comics, it seems timely to examine how we might think about the multiple ways in which comics are read and consumed. Graphic Encounters moves beyond seeing the reading of comics as a debased or simplified word-based literacy. Dale Jacobs argues compellingly that we should consider comics as multimodal texts in which meaning is created through linguistic, visual, audio, gestural, and spatial realms in order to achieve effects and meanings that would not be possible in either a strictly print or strictly visual text. Jacobs advances two key ideas: one, that reading comics involves a complex, multimodal literacy and, two, that by studying how comics are used to sponsor multimodal literacy, we can engage more deeply with the ways students encounter and use these and other multimodal texts. Looking at the history of how comics have been used (by churches, schools, and libraries among others) will help us, as literacy teachers, best use that knowledge within our curricula, even as we act as sponsors ourselves.

Focusing especially on American comic books and graphic novels from the 1930s to the present, this massive four-volume work provides a colorful yet authoritative source on the entire history of the comics medium. Comics and graphic novels have recently become big business, serving as the inspiration for blockbuster Hollywood movies such as the Iron Man series of films and the hit television drama The Walking Dead. But comics have been popular throughout the 20th century despite the significant effects of the restrictions of the Comics Code in place from the 1950s through 1970s, which prohibited the depiction of zombies and use of the word "horror," among many other rules. Comics through Time: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas provides students and general readers a one-stop resource for researching topics, genres, works, and artists of comic books, comic strips, and graphic novels. The comprehensive and broad coverage of this set is organized chronologically by volume. Volume 1 covers 1960 and earlier; Volume 2 covers 1960–1980; Volume 3 covers 1980–1995; and Volume 4 covers 1995 to the present. The chronological divisions give readers a sense of the evolution of comics within the larger contexts of American culture and history. The alphabetically arranged entries in each volume address topics such as comics publishing, characters, imprints, genres, themes, titles, artists, writers, and more. While special attention is paid to American comics, the entries also include coverage of British, Japanese, and European comics that have influenced illustrated storytelling of the United States or are of special interest to American readers.