I will also courageously step forward on this public forum and say how much I enjoyed the Atlas Heroes volume.

Obviously many do not enjoy Golden Age or Atomic Age comics because they are simply not as good (on average) as the books of the Silver Age and beyond. Sure, there are those exceptional Golden Age strips (Eisner's Spirit, Cole's Plastic Man, etc.). But on the whole, most Golden Age books were crudely drawn by artists not good enough to cut it in the syndicated newspaper strip business.

Also, the industry was aiming at a much younger reader.

None of that ever seems to bother me as I seem to have the ability (my wife would say the stunted emotional development) to place myself in the mind frame I had as a kid when I first started reading comics. Back then, finding a Golden Age reprint was like finding a lost scroll of hyroglyphics. I was fascinated.

Also, I NEVER read an Archive or a Masterwork cover-to-cover. These books were published on a monthly schedule. They were never meant to be read that many in a sitting. Under those conditions the formulas do become tiresome - no question. (I also refuse to watch more than a single episode of any old movie serial in a siting for the same reason.)

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Might I remind you all that EC (being done contemporaneously with the Atlas revival) was also restricted to 7 and 8 page stories, and yet those stories were compelling and well-written.
I will also totally disagree. The horror books in particular as so predictable and repetitive that I have had a hard time slogging through even one issue. Exactly how many times does a corpse rise from the grave to extract its gruesome revenge?

Kurtzman's writing is a different matter His books are head and shoulders above the rest of the line. And I think the Crime & Shock Suspenstories are a little more readbale than the horror and science fiction because they relied less on the gross-out factor to deliver their punch. But twist endings lose their impact when you know every freakin' story is going to try and end with a twist.

What EC had was much, much better art. And, like Lee's Marvel Comics in the Silver Age, EC was a much smaller line of comics than many of their competitiors making it easier to maintain a consistent quality throughout the line.


It IS gratifying to read on this thread several posters acknowledging what I've always felt - Everett's work during this period is absolutely his best stuff and well worth preserving in a hardcover format.

Now, bring on that all Sub-Mariner volume!