haped like a massive brick—perhaps in intentional homage to the famous Big Little Books—this awesome chunk of history arranges its contents in a handy and logical, if somewhat arbitrary, manner. Each pair of pages features a reproduction of some classic comic-book artwork from the copious vaults of DC Comics on the right-hand page, while the left-hand page hosts text concerning the illustration, under the heading of the day of the year, including artist, author and magazine credits insofar as they are known. (Certain key holidays feature drawings of appropriate subject matter, but for the most part the linking of day and subject matter is irrelevant, a mere formulistic hook for the assemblage of nearly 400 stunning panels.) The selection of the artwork was jointly determined by comics historian Les Daniels—who then wrote the text—and by designer Chip Kidd, who is responsible for the overall look of the book. Photographer Geoff Spear then stepped in to capture the original art in as crisp and vivid a fashion as possible, including intelligent cropping and magnification.
The book opens with Daniels' introduction (Chip Kidd also contributes a preface), which delimits the Golden Age as that period stretching from Superman's debut in 1938 to the near-extinction of the superhero genre during the post-Wertham malaise of 1955. By his own admission, that's a liberal expansion of the term, since the Silver Age is generally acknowledged to have started in 1956 with the rebooting of the Flash. Also opening up his borders, Daniels opts to include rival publishers such as Fawcett under the DC umbrella, even though DC did not acquire these rivals as imprints until much later. But all these decisions become justifiable when presented with the glorious range of material.
It's impossible to summarize the hundreds of illustrations and descriptions, so perhaps the best tack to take is to mention a few highlights from each month.
Woozy Winks plays his buddy Plastic Man like an accordion in the entry for January 10, while Starman battles a giant octopus on January 14. The next day, Dr. Fate soars above a curiously stylized cityscape, while on the 21st, the Justice Society of America goes parading with guests Batman and Superman. On February 3, Dale Daring defies a pirate in stark black-and-white art. February 6 finds Johnny Quick manning all positions in a baseball game, thanks to his superspeed. Space-suited convicts toil on an asteroid on February 11. An early version of Superman outraces the proverbial locomotive on March 3, while Green Arrow stops "tungsten thieves" on March 7.
April 3 finds Hawkman and Hawkgirl going up against the Gentleman Ghost. Romance is in the air for secretary Mary Andrews on April 10. And April 13 finds Crawford Crow enjoying a comfy chair while plotting against his rival, Fauntleroy Fox. May 4 depicts the Flash as a speedy whirlwind ascending the Empire State Building. Less dignified, Captain Marvel gets a pie in the face on May 7. The Spectre confronts a giant talking brain on June 2. Two Face threatens Batman and Robin on June 4. And Wonder Woman helps reform a juvenile delinquent on June 7.
A mad scientist becomes the villain Professor Radium on July 8, while two days later the alluring Black Canary is seen at the start of her career. August 3 finds Superman tackling the Prankster amid giant alphabet blocks. Robotman suffers an amputation inflicted by a malicious suit of armor on August 12. Jimmy Olsen exhibits a spendthrift nature on September 10, while the very next day finds Batman, Robin and Superman acting as firemen.
October 13 focuses on Air Wave, a hero known for getting around town atop telephone wires. Magician Ibis the Invincible employs his omnipotent Ibis-stick on October 20. A nasty witch ensorcels a beautiful woman on, naturally enough, Halloween. November 11, Veterans Day, depicts a war scene, while Thanksgiving is celebrated by three members of the Justice Society and one unlucky turkey. The same trio pass out presents on December 24, while the next day finds Superman helping a chimney-stuck Santa.
A helpful index by character, creator and magazine title rounds out the volume.
Magnificent snapshots
It's impossible not to be enraptured by the garish, sublime, awkward, accomplished, humorous, solemn artwork assembled in these pages. Surely, older readers will feel a kind of nostalgia that younger ones won't. But any aficionado of the graphic arts will find in this volume many lessons in the sheer power of line and composition. As Kidd says in his afterword, this volume confers practically a complete education in the history of this famous era when creators had no backstory, so to speak, but were able to experiment and make things up as they went along.
To illustrate the variety of approaches undertaken, the compilers select not just the best-known characters of the period, but also a host of lesser lights and never-weres. Figures such as Bulletman, Fatman, El Carim and Johnny Peril illustrate the scattershot tactics of companies eager to match the heroes of competitors with ones of their own. Like some kind of explosion in the heretofore empty ecology of comics, these characters exfoliated to fill all available niches. But what's intriguing is that often the artwork connected with these failures was just as attractive as that for the major players. The success of any individual depended on the whims of the audience and marketplace. As Daniels says about the Tarantula, who was a prototype of Spider-Man, his failure is inexplicable in the light of Marvel's later success with Peter Parker.
Daniels' text manages to be at once both worshipful and playful, knowledgeable and sardonic. He tweaks the more outrageous powers, costumes, plotting and dialogue of these comics in laugh-out-loud fashion while still impressing you with the achievements of the creators. The selections he and Kidd have made give equal space to famous creators—Jack Kirby, Carmine Infantino, Frank Frazetta, Bob Kane, Curt Swan, et al.—and the forgotten and unsung. My new favorite is Mac Raboy, whose depictions of Captain Marvel Jr. practically leap off the page. Daniels does not neglect the writers of this era, either, and we see some familiar names from the SF field alongside the comics pros: Edmond Hamilton, Manly Wade Wellman, Otto Binder and Alfred Bester, for instance.
The decision to blow up and crop single panels, or at most a few panels at a time, allows us to admire the linework and coloration of these comics in startling new ways. Under this treatment, some pages look like lost Lichtenstein canvases. Others resemble poster art. The end result is to inspire admiration for the sheer feats of artistic ingenuity that went into these monthly books. Additionally, there's a good balance between head shots and crowd scenes, action shots and more static images. (Check out the lounging Red Gaucho on April 14.)
Finally, the compilers toss in several oddball reproductions, such as advertisements (March 25, July 15), photo montages (August 26) and 3-D overlays (May 13).
A source of trivia and knowledge, opinions and theses, this book is not just eye candy. But magnificent, inspirational eye candy it is, nonetheless!
