The Art of Classic Comics: 100 Postcards From the Fabulous 1950s Card Book – January 10, 2013

America once had an insatiable lust for the ten-cent color comic book. From modest beginnings before World War II, this highly competitive arm of the publishing industry swelled until hundreds of titles by dozens of publishers sold millions of copies monthly in the early 1950s. All sorts of genres and sub-genres flourished, including romance, war, "weird menace" featuring sadistic villains, and sci-fi, but the biggest category was horror, accounting for fully a third of the total by 1953. In this competitive and varied atmosphere, it took a bold (and sometimes lurid) cover to sell the "book."Ilex Press, which has made a specialty of mining World War II for retro camp and humor (previous card collections include WE CAN DO IT, with Rosie-the-Riveter type propadanda cards; and ARMY CAMP, with surprisingly homoerotic, towel-snapping soldiers), now has given us THE ART OF CLASSIC COMICS, 100 POSTCARDS FROM THE FABULOUS FIFTIES. The title is a slight exaggeration (the actual time span is 1947 to 1963), but this is a wonderful collection all the same. Titles such as WARFRONT, HEART THROBS, OPERATION PERIL, BAFFLING MYSTERIES, BADGE OF JUSTICE, and the highly admired and reviled CRIME DOES NOT PAY show the variety of genres available to any kid (or adult) with a few dimes in postwar America. The cards measure about 4 by 5.5 inches (10 x 13.5 cm), the color printing is gloriously accurate and vivid and in retrospect, amazingly campy. The message side is nicely matte and can take almost any type of pen. My only complaint is a minor one, that the horror-comic covers, at about a third of total, are a little underrepresented; then again, if you were fearing an all TALES FROM THE CRYPT sort of collection, fear not.In the Fifties, this Americana dwindled almost as quickly as it had arisen. A compendium of "experts" (some legitimate psychologists, others scare-mongers), frightened news stories and editorials, and concerned parents triggered Congressional investigations. A new type of comics "Code" of self-censorship was instituted, and between 1954 and late 1955, the color-comic format of this type nearly went away, except for some romance, a few super-heroes, kid stuff and the ever-resilient ARCHIE. For a reasonable amount of money you can give your friends and Postcrossing pals a taste of the good old/bad old days. Given the colorful, sturdy box and ribbon, THE ART OF CLASSIC COMICS would make a great gift, too.

Frame worthy, excellent quality. The heavyweight glossy card stock is thick enough to mail worry-free. Love how each back has a little graphic where your stamp goes. Even if it gets covered up it’s still a cute touch. Comes in a gorgeous box that even has a little ribbon to help you get the cards out of the box. So pleased with this purchase! Well worth the price for the amount of quality postcards you are getting! I just got it in the mail today and couldn’t wait to post a photo review because more people need to see how great these are!

Nifty collection of vintage images. The storage box is sturdy and well made. The cards themselves are a delight. There is something for every taste, romance, science fiction, crime, and western. Every cover is reproduced in a clear and crisp image. There is a little box on the back for postage if you were actually of a mind to mail these little treasures to your friends. I view my collection as sort of like "modern" baseball cards. Great to pull out of the box and pore over while imagining what the stories in the original comics were like. All that is missing is the time machine to drop you off at newsstands of another era.

The cardstock is excellent quality and so is the cute sturdy collector's box it came in. There are romance comic covers, war cartoon scenes, crime busters, and horror. The romance and crime buster ones are nice with a sense of humor. If you're into depictions of soldiers and the like, there are a handful in this set that you may appreciate. The reason I am removing two stars is because there are way too many horror/grisly postcards in the set! The collection is at least half grisly stuff depicting murder, blood, corpses, skulls, skeletons, torture, weird alien creatures devouring people, etc. I could have done without the explicit gore. I ended up having to give half the box away to someone I know who enjoys gore. So I am left with only half the quantity now. If you are not a horror fan, you will be a little bit disappointed. Box is 50% gory stuff more suitable for Halloween or horror buffs, 25% romance comics, and 25% mashup between detective/crimebusters and military depictions.

this is the most amazing set of postcards i have ever come across. the box itself is extremely sturdy and the cover is so beautiful! the cards themselves are all perfect wins. there is not a single unusable card in the whole collection. they are incredibly vibrant and the paper quality is very high. i love that they're slightly smaller than most postcards. i cannot wait to send these out, my friends will think they are hilarious. (note: the white mark in each picture is from the flash)

This is a great collection of cards, comparable in quality to the other 100 postcard sets around. The cards are stout enough, a bit thicker than the Marvel 100 card set, but not quite as thick as the Puffin or Vanity Fair card sets. The paper feels nice, and each card gives you the details about the comic book. The box they arrive in is very nice, sturdy, and the lid image is embossed.As for the card assortment, here's the breakdown. There are five categories of comic represented: romance, earthbound mystery (generally sci-fi/fantasy), space adventures, crime, and war comics. And here's the proportioning:Romance: 29Earthbound mystery: 30Space adventures: 14Crime: 19War comics: 8All in all, I highly recommend this set. It's a wonderful selection, with a lot of great (read: hilariously insane) covers.

I can't believe the quality of these postcards! Incredible. The colors are very vibrant and the stock is super sturdy. They are slightly smaller than the average touristic postcard but the variance in themes and the aloofness of some of the comic excerpts is so eclectic and fun! These are going to be my go-to thank you notes for months to come. I may order another set and make a laminated collage for wall art- they're that good!

Yes its different real postcards. Actual postcards which could be posted through the mail, space on the back for address and message plus a few words about the subject. The quality of card is not really very good. A nice sturdy box though.These are among my favourite illustrations available in this 100 postcards in a box format.These are as crazy as it gets. Zombies, vampires, monsters from the deep are all here and many more. Nothing could be more fun.The card used to produce these little gems is really too thin and curls up after a while so that spoils them quite a bit.

I saw these at an inflated price in the Saatchi Gallery before i got them online-these recall an incredible time in illustration--the essence o f pop arttrash as style---gaudy ,overblown--and politically incorrect onsomewar comic stereotypes!this type o f publication famously caused a reaction against comics led by DrFred Wertham's"seduction of the innocent"diatribe.Too good to pos t to anybody! bet they turn up in your local TK mAXX!

No Dc or Marvel here and despite what the picture on the box suggests, not that many Sci fi comics either but it is still a pleasant enough collection lots of war and teen romance comics, and yes they are actual postcards not just pictures in a book.

Great artwork, a topical gift for comic fans!

The quality of the box and the postcards is very good.Everything arrived in great condition and on the estimated schedule. The only reason I give this 4 stars instead of 5, it's because it took a bit too long to arrive to Portugal (16 days).