The Silver Age Of Comic Book Art

Picked this up at a discount book store in Toronto.  The format and flashy cover caught my eye: thumbing it showed a nice selection of art from the top silver age artists so I bought it.

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The Silver Age Of Comic Book Art by Arlen Schumer is a fan’s look at eight artists: Infantino, Ditko, Kirby, Kane, Kubert, Colan, Steranko and Adams.  Schumer uses blow ups of comic panels and addresses each artist through quotes in the panels in place of the original text.  It’s a singularly visual book and takes focus to pick out and read what he has to say, but it’s the art that headlines this book.

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Google has a nice preview available; take a virtual thumb through and see for yourself.  The Amazon reviews seem overly harsh; Schumer writes like a fan and really gets the reader into the art.  This book isn’t meant to be a be all and end all tome on the period: it’s a look at art from great creators.  I knew most of the info already but it was still a joy to read and would make a perfect gift for comic art fans.