The Golden Age of DC Comics
by Paul Levitz
(Taschen)

It shouldn’t be any surprise that Taschen would produce a huge tome on a visual medium like comics. The Golden Age of DC Comics by Paul Levitz is a hardcover that spans the years of comic art and story spanning 1935-1956. Reproducing covers (lots and lots of them), whole pages of comic panels that were between those covers, revealing pictures of the creators of these historic works and even some stills from early movie serials like Superman, what we get here with Levitz’s collection is a true historic overview.

There are titles here that even the most ardent comic fan will have never heard of and others everybody will have. Reading the descriptive captions next to the pictures (often times whole paragraphs full) we learn lots about the artists and writers every bit as important as any from the past few centuries and how and where they connect with one another (sometimes under aliases).

I’m kind of a nut for comics, if not the actual books themselves, the history behind them and the people who toiled often in obscurity to create characters movie producers and writers are still stealing from today. And to say I am a fan of Taschen art books, whether they be sex ones, stuff on cities, cars or something as wonderful as Paul Levitz’s book here, would be an understatement. But I do not heft empty praise.

All you’ll ever need to know, short of reading all these comics of course (which we probably all should be trying to do…talk about important literature and art!), is between the 400 pages of  The Golden Age of DC Comics.