Action ! Mystery ! Thrills ! - Comic Book Covers Of The Golden Age 1933-1945
(2012 - Fantagraphics Books)

(edited by Greg Sadowsky) I really love the design of this book. Roughly comic-book size, with 176 covers, each presented as full-bleed, thanks to a variable black central gutter that allows for the slightly different dimensions of variously proportioned originals. These are bright and clear reproductions of the colorful covers with all the published titles & other typography. There is a great diversity among the gathered pieces, but I do have to say that the several selected funny-animal or humorous examples seem out of place among all the gunplay, bondage, sci-fi, horror and superhero shenanigans. There is a 2-page foreword and 22 other pages where small images of the covers are presented again, captioned with the artist, book title and issue, publication month & year, and anecdotal information concerning them. The artists collected include: William Allison (3), Edd Ashe (4), C.C. Beck, Paul Berdanier, Dave Berg, Jack Binder, Charles Biro (8), George E. Brenner, Dick Briefer, W.C. Brigman, Al Bryant, Carl Buettner, Nick Cardy, John Celarrado, Lillian Chestney, Jack Cole (5), L.B. Cole (7)*, Reed Crandall (3), Harold DeLay, Bernard Dibble, Joe Doolin (2), Will Eisner (16), Bill Ely, Bill Everett (5), Gene Fawcette, Lou Fine (12), Creig Flessel, Bob Fujitani, James Gary, Terry Gilkison, Chester Gould, Vernon Greene, Paul Gustavson, Frank Harry, Irwin Hasen, Burne Hogarth, Bob Kane (2), Maurice Kashuba, Walt Kelly (4), Jack Kirby (5), Harry Lucey (2), Sheldon Meyer, Jon Mayes, Charles J. Mazoujian, Sheldon Moldoff, Jim Mooney, Leo Morey, Irv Novick, Rudy Palais, Frank R. Paul, Hank Porter, Bob Powell (3), Mac Raboy (7), Gus Ricca (5), Don Rico, W.E. Rowland, George Rozen, Art Saaf, Alex Schomburg (14), Emile Schurmacher, Joe Shuster (2), Joe Simon (5), Ed Smalle, Dick Sprang, John Stanley, Leonard Starr, Charles Sultan (2), Frank Thomas, Ben Thompson, Jimmy Thompson (2), Rodney Thompson (2), George Tuska, Alonzo Vincent, Bert Whitman, Ogden Whitney, Jim Wilcox, Basil Wolverton, Bob Wood, Dan Zolnerowich (4) and UNKNOWN (3).