A Genre Unexplored: AMERICAN TV COMICS Get Their Due

A history covering five decades is coming in 2022…

As I noted here, TwoMorrows is focusing a lot these days on TV tie-in comics. And for good reason: There’s kitchy gold in them thar longboxes, whether we’re talking first-rate adaptations or what-were-they-thinking bombs.

There are two issues of Back Issue devoted to the topic this summer, but the publisher has also scheduled a full-length illustrated history on the subject: American TV Comic Books (1940s-1980s), by Peter Bosch.

Dig the official description:

AMERICAN TV COMIC BOOKS (1940s-1980s): From The Small Screen To The Printed Page

192-page FULL-COLOR Trade Paperback

American TV Comic Books (1940s-1980s) takes you from the small screen to the printed page, offering a fascinating and detailed year-by-year history of over 300 television shows and their 2000+ comic book adaptations across five decades. Author Peter Bosch has spent years researching and documenting this amazing area of comics history, tracking down the well-known series (Star Trek, The Munsters) and the lesser-known shows (Captain Gallant, Pinky Lee) to present the finest look ever taken at this unique genre of comic books. Included are hundreds of full-color covers and images, plus profiles of the artists who drew TV comics: Gene Colan, Alex Toth, Dan Spiegle, Russ Manning, John Buscema, Russ Heath, and many more giants of the comic book world. Whether you loved watching The Lone Ranger, Rawhide, and Zorro from the 1950s—The Andy Griffith Show, The Monkees, and The Mod Squad in the 1960s—Adam-12, Battlestar Galactica, and The Bionic Woman in the 1970s—or Alf, Fraggle Rock, and “V” in the 1980s—there’s something here for fans of TV and comics alike!

A few thoughts:

— The book lists for $29.95 and is due March 23, 2022.

— It will be available at comics shops and booksellers but you can already pre-order it directly through TwoMorrows. (Click here.)

— Man, so many of these comics deserve to be reprinted. Unfortunately, there are always those pesky rights issues. At least the Gold Key Star Trek collections are out there.

MORE

— Great TV COMIC BOOKS That Should Have Been. Click here.

— PAUL KUPPERBERG: My 13 Favorite 1960s Gold Key Comics TV Adaptations. Click here.

Author: Dan Greenfield

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2 Comments

  1. Sounds great! The only thing better would be to follow the book up with a collected edition of these comics!

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  2. I had a complete run of the Dell/Gold Key “Twilight Zone” and “Dark Shadows.” I gave them to my stepson – he later sold them without telling me. I was pissed. He told me that he didn’t want to tell me because he knew I would be mad. I replied that if he had told me, I would not have been mad; instead I would have matched the dealer’s offer and kept them for myself.

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