Crime comic books in the 1950s caused controversy leading to their suppression and near extinction. Twenty-five years later, the dark hero, femme fatale, and bleak outlook of crime story comic books are even more striking and subversive. Terrence Wandtke traces the history of crime comics from their beginnings to the current resurgence and analyzes the cultural forces that give rise to influential works like Frank Miller's Sin City, Brian Azzarello's 100 Bullets, and Ed Brubaker's Criminal. The Dark Night Returns is the third book published in the RIT Press' Comics Studies Monograph Series....
Crime comic books in the 1950s caused controversy leading to their suppression and near extinction. Twenty-five years later, the dark hero, femme fata...
The popular horror comics of the 1950s not only frightened their readers, they also alarmed Cold War politicians who enacted the prohibitive Comics Code, sacrificing horror on the altar of good taste. Wandtke examines and explains the story of the resurgence of horror comics and introduces readers to the new shape of horror comics within the American culture in the 1980s. Terrence Wandtke is a professor at Judson University and the author of The Dark Night Returns (RIT, 2015).
The popular horror comics of the 1950s not only frightened their readers, they also alarmed Cold War politicians who enacted the prohibitive Comics Co...
