Ghastly Terror!: The Horrible Story of the Horror Comics (Primal-Spinal Comix History)

Ghastly Terror!: The Horrible Story of the Horror Comics (Primal-Spinal Comix History)
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Sennitt's attacks on EC pull down an otherwise quality product

My favourite book on the subject actually...

I loved it!

Not bad, but nothing new

Problematic

Ghastly Terror!: The Horrible Story of the Horror Comics (Primal-Spinal Comix History)
Stephen Sennitt
Manufacturer: Critical Vision
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Tales of Terror! The EC Companion Tales of Terror! The EC Companion

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Showcase Presents: House of Mystery, Vol. 1

ASIN: 1900486075

Book Description

In the 1950s horror comics flourished to the extent that fifty or more different titles could be published in a single month. Later these comics were effectively banned, indicted as a cause of 'juvenile delinquency'. Prurient imagery incorporating scantily clad women, limb-chopping and 'trauma to the eye', was often outlawed.

Tracing their development from the grotesque visions of the 'pre-code' horrors through to the relative sophistication of b&w titles in the sixties and seventies, Ghastly Terror! is an entertaining examination of this most persecuted and popular of comic genres.

Customer Reviews:

Sennitt's attacks on EC pull down an otherwise quality product.......2006-07-17

Sennitt does quite a good job at displaying plenty of horror stories, particularly many rare ones that generally don't get covered in books about horror comics. This book contains many images from the comics as well, and for the most part makes good selections of horrific images to draw us in. His coverage of the Warren classics Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella is also great for the uninitiated who are unfamiliar with them.

That said, the book isn't without its flaws, which pull it down to an at best 3 star rating. For starters, as has already been mentioned, coverage of the pictures in the book are generally up to 10 pages away from the page where the picture appeared, making things tough. And while Sennitt tries to dispel myths and inaccuries about EC comics, what he ends up doing is making even more inaccurate and misleading comments about them. For example, Sennitt's claim that the EC horror comics weren't the first horror comics is certainly spot on. But for every instance where he dispels inaccuracies about EC's history, he has two or three where he appears to purposely mislead the reader. For example, he tries to make the claim that Atlas was a higher profile and better horror comic publisher than EC because at their peak they published 18 horror comics to EC's 3. He completely ignores the fact that one of the main reasons why the EC's were of such high quality was because they didn't push the quantity to such points that the quality suffered. Yes, Atlas published more total horror comics, but very few could argue that the quality of Atlas's work was better than EC's. His claim that other comic book publisher's had an overall group of artists just as good as EC's is also an opinion out of line with virtually anyone familiar with comics of that era. Sennitt claims Bill Gaines, publisher of EC is a hypocrite by earlier conforming to the ACMP Comic Code, conveniently leaving out the fact that ACMP's standards weren't anywhere as strict as the Comics Code put into place in 1954 that effectively put EC out of business. Probably worst of all is when Sennitt out and out lies by claiming that EC threw in the towel completely and didn't even bother trying to do comics under the Comics Code when they actually launched an entire line of 'New Direction' comics that were under the watchful eye of the code in 1955.

Sennitt's coverage of rarer, lesser seen horror comics is great. But his attacks on EC in this book are quite absurd at times and really pull down his credibility. If you're an EC fan, you probably don't want to bother with this one, although the coverage of other horror comics is pretty in depth and intriguing.

My favourite book on the subject actually... .......2005-05-18

Stephen Sennit's "GHASTLY TERROR" is a fantasic book to own for anyone really into the horror comic genre. Warren, Skywald, E.C., and loads of precode titles can be read about in this book. Oh and the author is British. We British rule.

I loved it!.......2005-01-23

I really loved this book. I found it refreshingly non EC, as many other works seem bound to push EC and nothing else. Ghastly Terror goes places the others don't. A plus is that it is filled, not just with information, but also many images from the pages of interesting and rare old horror comics. The history is completed in a chronological and not overly rhetorical fashion. Break the mold and check out a fresh look with this one. Highly recommended.

Not bad, but nothing new.......2004-11-30

After having read New England Comics's Tales Too Terrible To Tell collection, and a lot of the wonderful EC reprints from Russ Cochran/Gemstone, I have to reassess this book. While Sennitt keeps the book moving, his work is extremely derivative. His anti-EC bias is also way off base, and just plain old tiresome after a while. I did enjoy his stuff on Warren and Skywald, but he's no athority on pre-code.

For that, the above-mentioned TTTTT, and Mike Bentons Illustrated History of Horror Comics (if you can find it cheap) are recommended.

Problematic.......2004-07-24

Mr Hilliard's review is right on the money. However, it should also be mentioned that a good deal of the information on pre-code horror appears to have been simply lifted from the hard work conducted in Tales Too Terrible to Tell--a reprint/history series from the 90s.

Ghastly Terror : The Horrible Story of the Horror Comics

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Ghastly Terror : The Horrible Story of the Horror Comics
Grant Sennitt
Manufacturer: Headpress
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000P0UA2I

Introduction to art,: An illustrated topical manual
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Introduction to art,: An illustrated topical manual
Lorenz Eitner
Manufacturer: Burgess Pub. Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: B0007DNIE0

Introduction to Art: An Illustrated Topical Manual
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Introduction to Art: An Illustrated Topical Manual

Manufacturer: Burgess Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000H78UXK

Introduction to Art - an Illustrated Topical Manual
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Introduction to Art - an Illustrated Topical Manual
Lorenz Eitner
Manufacturer: Burgess Publishing Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000VJS9GM

Book Description

The emergence in recent years of a significant corpus of highly-acclaimed films by people of African descent in different parts of the world heralds a new era in the history of film. This collection of eight original essays by noted scholars, critics, and practitioners of independent Black cinema offers a rare global and systematic examination of what is unique and what is common to the making of films in English-speaking ("Anglophone") Africa, in the United States, and in Britain.

Jim Pines examines the history and contemporary dynamics of production, distribution, and screening in Britain. James Snead looks at images of Blacks conveyed by independent Black filmmakers in America, and Manthia Diawara surveys Black filmmaking in Anglophone Africa.

Three essays provide a particularly informed, provocative, and creative reflection on the aesthetics of Black film and in doing so present a formidable challenge to modernist and Western notions of aesthetics: Kobena Mercer's identification of "interruption," "creolization,"and "carnival aesthetics" as key aspects of the dialogic imagination of independent Black film in Britain; Teshome Gabriel's creative presentation of what he describes as the "traveling" or "nomadic" character of Black independent film practice; and Clyde Taylor's iconoclastic assault on the very notion of aesthetics itself.

Distributed for Celebration of Black Cinema.

Black Frames: Critical Perspectives on Independent Black Cinema

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Black Frames: Critical Perspectives on Independent Black Cinema
Mbye B. Cham Mbye Cham
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OR7TVM

Book Description

Who are Teen Heaven? Only the most popular band on earth! At least, they will be! Their music rocks and rolls harder than a boulder speeding down a steep hill. Adam, their lead singer, is kinda like Frankenstein if Shelley's monster was made out of hipster music giants instead of just some random dudes the doctor dug up in the cemetery next door. Ector, the lab hand who built him, is in the supergroup, too, along with three cute girls named Nat, Al, and Paris. But how will Teen Heaven achieve the superstar status they'll have tomorrow? Find out in this new graphic novel.

Customer Reviews:

damn straight!.......2004-07-14

jose is a genius. and no that is not hyperbole.

The best book ever!!!!.......2004-06-30

Everyone needs to buy this book. This book is the greatest!!! I just love Jose's work.

Book Description

Director Robert Rodriguez teams with comic book legend Frank Miller to bring the acclaimed comic book series to the screen.

Customer Reviews:

Superb for price.......2005-08-30

One of the most informative and professionally layed out books about a movie I have ever read. Usually you would have to pay top dollar to buy a book of such high quality. Definately recommend to any film enthusiast or maker!

Frank Miller's Sin City : The Making of the Movie.......2005-08-28

Frank Miller is a comic book god, rejuvenating classic stories like Batman and Daredevil while simultaneously conjuring up well-written and provocative tales of sinister film noir and graphic novel impressionist avant-garde violence. One of the most impressive and original movies I've seen for years, SIN CITY blew me away with its knowingly malicious nature, razor-edge script and frenetic action. To have such revolutionary geniuses like Miller and Quentin Tarintino collaborate on a film like this, it's more than welcome for American audiences looking for a non-traditional event that shakes the rule book, rips out all the pages and burns them. This behind the scenes tome, penned by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez is filled to the brim with all the essentials that make a great backstage look at the absorbing world of filmmaking. Containing the entire screenplay for Sin City, a widespread behind the scenes photo collection, cast and filmmakers feelings on the film, nicely presented publicity material for the marketing, and so much more. Lavishly presented and with enough info to satisfy the most ardent fan, what more could you want? This is indispensable material for any film fan, and a great value, it makes this even more appealing. If you don't already have this enthralling manuscript, buy it now!

Astonishing & insightful.......2005-08-17

Simply all you could ask for. Detailed journey through the entire movie with quotes from the director and the author. Excellent quality pictures. Great behind the scenes information and gossip. Can't wait for the sequels!!!

If you loved the movie you'll love the book..........2005-08-04

If you know a decent movie when you see one, you'll love this book on the making of Sin City. It explains how the movie was taken from graphic novel to screen. It has quotes from the cast and crew, the screenplay in it's entirity, as well as some awesome pictures. It goes into detail about the wardrobe and cars in the movie, and how they achieved the comic-book style that they were going for. Plus, almost every page has a page from the graphic novel in the background, so if you've never read the original Sin City you pretty much can by buying this book (If your eyesight's good enough, that is).

immaculate.......2005-08-03

one of the most beautiful publications i've seen, the pictures are immaculate quality! the book is comprised of excerpts from the comics and interviews with key players (mainly robert and frank). it is a fine collectable, packed full of pictures of stills in various stages of production (from a frame of the comic, to a blue screen image, to the final composite). published by rodriguez's own publishing company, which explains the extraordinary quality on every page. the book also has a beautiful hardcover with matte finish. the book is also quite large, and definately great value for the price.

Book Description

Book and CD set!
This book presents a clear and direct path to experiencing the feel of pulse and rhythm. The exercises are fun and mentally challenging while incorporating the use of our physical selves for a whole body experience of music. Todd Isler has found a way to illuminate the logic and beauty within even the most complex rhythmic system, and this guide will be invaluable for vocalists adn instrumentalists alike.

Customer Reviews:

A History of Entertainment with a World War II Theme.......1999-12-18

This is an academic history of the way the entertainment industry has protrayed World War II and, thus, how and in what manner the war has entered the collective memory. It is mostly free of academic jargon and has 30 pages of footnotes which alone are worth the price of the book. On the one hand, it is a splendid history of the post-war entertainment industry and the way World War II helped to shape it. On the other, it is a thoughtful meditation of how popular culture shapes the nation's historical consciousness. It is the only work I know of which covers the subject, so it is required reading for anyone interested in the subject.

I only give it four stars because of its treatment of Catch-22. The author is correct that the grim anti-war message of that work deepened and enriched the country's memory of the experience of the war, but on another level, Catch-22 played an important role in increasing the nation's amnesia. The moral center of the book is an old Italian peasant who tells Yossarian and his friends that it doesn't matter who wins the war, that he will still be sitting in the door of his house. Nately makes a fool of himself trying to refute the peasant, but the peasant's viewpoint is the viewpoint of Joseph Heller. Indeed, the peasant is about the only character who keeps his dignity in the book. Biedler deals with this matter only in a footnote, calling the peasant "cynical," but Joseph Heller would not have called him that and indeed, when we read Catch-22 in the '60s, all of us knew that the peasant was speaking for Heller (Heller himself admitted that in some of his campus lectures as I recall). The problem with that viewpoint, of course, was that the Italian peasant was not Jewish. If he were, he would not remain sitting on his doorstep when the Nazis marched through. Heller never admitted that sometimes there are things worth fighting for. Indeed, he couldn't have if he wasn't going to write a different book than the one he did. What makes the book courageous is that he wrote an anti-war novel about a war that everybody except Pat Buchanan used to agree was worth fighting. What makes the book cowardly is that Heller finessed the point. In doing so and in writng such a powerful classic, Heller was greatly contributing to "American forgetting." A direct line can be drawn between Catch-22 and those fools who think the Holocaust never happened. That Joseph Heller was a Jew does not excuse him; in fact, it makes his error worse. Biedler should have addressed this very central theme to the way America has treated World War II.

That criticism aside, this is a book which is fascinating to read and thoughtful to boot.

Book Description

The now-classic memoir that shocked, outraged, and ultimately changed the way America looked at the civil rights movement and the black experience.

By turns shocking and lyrical, unblinking and raw, the searingly honest memoirs of Eldridge Cleaver are a testament to his unique place in American history. Cleaver writes in Soul on Ice, "I'm perfectly aware that I'm in prison, that I'm a Negro, that I've been a rapist, and that I have a Higher Uneducation." What Cleaver shows us, on the pages of this now classic autobiography, is how much he was a man.

Customer Reviews:

Lost for words.......2007-09-27

After reading this book I believe trying to articulate in writing "what my opinion" is would be doing it an injustice. The man is brilliant and has influenced me to search for more knowledge and wisdom. Thanks Mr. Cleaver!

Sad, Revolutionary, and Incindiary at the same time,.......2007-09-10

Mr. Cleaver wrote a semiautobiography about how society sets itself up along racial and gender lines. Raping women is reprehensible and evil and it doesn't help solve the racial/gender problem. It excabates it. Challenging the racist/sexist society by making alliances with people whom he considered to be his enemies will solve most of the problem. He should have shown love for his fellow man/woman. Didn't Jesus tell people to love your enemies, not hating and violating them? Later on in life, his views have changed for the better.

He right, even now. .......2007-06-02

The themes exhibited in "Soul On Ice" are race, racism, individuality vs. societal standards and traditions, injustice, humanity, religion/faith, inhumanity and activism. Cleaver spends a great deal of time writing on the injustices Black people face in America, and how even though he is what society wants him to be, it is his fault that he allow society to be right. He pledges to take steps towards change and to become a benefit to society.
I know that a lot of people think that they know about the civil rights movement and the effects it had on the Black race, but they don't. This story of a man who, at the time, had been locked up for more than half of his life, is the story of all real Black people. I think that sometimes Black people do things and think that it is their nature, which is how stereotypes brew. Cleaver shows us that it is history and hatred that have made us a collective in an usual individual world. We do think for ourselves, yet a racist society continues to force us to travel down a road that we have not set for ourselves, and that he has fell into racist America's trap. He has become the stereotype: (supposedly) uneducated, a prisoner, and a victim of "The Ogre" (the white woman).

One of the best books i've ever read...........2007-03-09

Eldridge Cleaver was one of the most loquacious orators of modern times...painting ghetto vignettes with skillfull mastery....he was one of the most brilliant revolutionary minds of the 20th century...please, do yourself a favor and read this book!

decent writer, bad man..........2007-01-11

people consider this to be 'in the world of literature' and serious?
cleaver's a misogynistic pig, a racist, and a multiple rapist. that's all you need to know.

Soul on Ice: Eldridge Cleaver Autobiography

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Soul on Ice: Eldridge Cleaver Autobiography
Eldridge Cleaver
Manufacturer: Dell Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HB25B4

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Soul On Ice
Eldridge Cleaver
Manufacturer: Dell Pub. Co. (Ramparts Books)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JI6YH6

Missouri: Faith Came Late/Ice Castles/A Living Soul/Timing is Everything (Heartsong Novella Collection)

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Missouri: Faith Came Late/Ice Castles/A Living Soul/Timing is Everything (Heartsong Novella Collection)
Freda Chrisman , Joyce Livingston , Hannah Alexander , and Tracey V. Bateman
Manufacturer: Barbour Publishing, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

Meet four women who have life wrapped up, until: Dr. Serena must face secrets of her past; Esther finds her comfortable life disrupted; Julie meets the single minister; and Carlee works with a star skater. As God opens their hearts, can they let go and let love in?

Amish Soul on Ice: An Amish Boy's Slide from His Past

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Amish Soul on Ice: An Amish Boy's Slide from His Past
John, N. Keim
Manufacturer: PublishAmerica
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Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 1424189632

Bones of Jade, Soul of Ice: The Flowering Plum in Chinese Art

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Bones of Jade, Soul of Ice: The Flowering Plum in Chinese Art
Maggie Bickford
Manufacturer: Arthur Schwartz Sales Co
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ASIN: 0894670328

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CLEAVER, ELDRIDGE
SOUL ON ICE
Manufacturer: MC GRAW HILL
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MMVJJM

ELDRIDGE CLEAVER Post-prison writings and speeches by the author of "Soul On Ice".

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ELDRIDGE CLEAVER Post-prison writings and speeches by the author of "Soul On Ice".
Eldridge edited and intro by Robert Scheer Cleaver
Manufacturer: Random House (Ramparts)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000J0IDZU

Eldridge Cleaver's Soul on Ice (Monarch review notes and study guides)

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Eldridge Cleaver's Soul on Ice (Monarch review notes and study guides)
Walter James Miller
Manufacturer: Monarch Press
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Eldridge Cleaver: Post-Prison Writings and Speeches by the Author of "Soul on Ice"
Eldridge / Scheer, Robert [ed] Cleaver
Manufacturer: Random House / Ramparts
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