Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 22, 1994 TAG: 9405150123
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: D-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MIKE MAYO Book page editor
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Edited by Lucy Shelton Caswell. Ohio State University Press. $8 (subscription, $20 per year; Ohio State University; 2500 Kenny Road; Columbus OH 43210-9979)
"Inks" is a new magazine that combines scholarly and popular analyses of print cartoons and comic art. That's a broad field and if the first issue is an accurate indication, the editors intend to explore new ground. The three lead articles in this issue, for example, are a serious exegesis of "Arkham Asylum, a 1989 Batman graphic novel, by Lucy Rollin; Robert C. Harvey's examination of the role of Bud Fisher, creator of Mutt and Jeff, in the development of today's comic strip; and an autobiographical piece by Oliver Harrington, a black cartoonist from New York who now lives and works in Berlin.
Harrington's work is fascinating. In style, subjects and treatment, it bears a strong resemblance to Will Eisner's, but since Harrington was drawing black characters from the 1930s to the `60s and commenting on life in a strictly segregated society, his art has been largely unknown in this country. Like so many artists of his generation, he took politicly unpopular positions (liberal; he worked for the NAACP) and eventually became an expatriate. The illustrations that appear with his article are reprinted from a 1958 collection and will leave readers wanting to see more.
In all, this is an impressive debut. "Inks" is carefully laid out with well-chosen black and white illustrations. I look forward to future issues.
Over My Dead Body: The Sensational Age of the American Paperback: 1945-1955.
By Lee Server. Chronicle Books. $16.95 (trade paper).
"What we have here are some paperback books, circa 1945- 1955, remnants of a brief but gloriously subversive era in the history of American publishing. These cheap, pocket-sized editions came wrapped in lurid cover art and screaming headlines, hyping stories about crime, lust, and violence. Casting a neonlike glow from wire racks in durg stores and bus depots across the nation, they conveyed an alluring collective vision of a corrupt and sensual world."
Those are the opening sentences of Lee Server's "Over My Dead Body," a richly illustrated look back at the glory days of paperback art. The hundreds of paperback covers that fill the following pages prove the truth of his words. Those covers, lovingly reproduced with vivid colors, are the real point of the book. Server includes examples of the predominant styles, from nonrealistic stylized designs and maps to the bizarre exaggerations of science-fiction and mysteries.
While you may be tempted simply to look at the pictures, Server's text is informative, well-written and funny. Several of the authors who have since achieved a measure of respect - John D. MacDonald, Philip K. Dick, William Burroughs - got their start on the paperback racks. (Server's stories about the relationship between the Beats and the paperback houses are terrific whether they're apocryphal or not.) Other writers - Harry Whittington, Jim Thompson, Charles Willeford - have been "rediscovered" more recently by new publishers. Of course, he gives credit to the artists who created the covers, which, in many cases, are more interesting than the books themselves.
Those too young to remember this kind of paperback art may not understand its appeal, beyond the most obvious level. But for anyone who can recall that first glimpse of forbidden fruit promised by these books, "Over My Dead Body" is a delightful stroll down memory lane, admittedly, a shady and disreputable memory lane.
by CNB