Classics Illustrated: A Cultural History with Illustrations

William B. Jones, Jr. Classics Illustrated: A Cultural History with Illustrations. McFarland, 2002. 287 pages; $55.00. Postwar Period From approximately 1945 until 1955 another generation of American teenagers emerged onto the adolescent stage. Here, during these formative years, the youngsters played fast-moving neighborhood games such as Johnny-rides-a-pony, ringalevio, and spud, helped their mothers operate those ringer washing machines, while off to the side, eyed their fathers slap another patch on a tire's inner tube. In the schoolroom, they sang "The Arkansas Traveler," "Stout-Hearted Men," and "Tit Willow" while their teachers reminded them that "the proof of the pudding is in the eating" or warned about the dangers of being "out of kilter." Back in the house, these kids screwed flashbulbs into cameras, threw coal into the furnace (later, they would remove the ashes), and, when feeling mischievous, listened to some neighbor "chew the fat" on those party line telephone connections. Sometimes, they watched an older sister (or an unmarried aunt) get "dolled up" for a Saturday night dance or envied an older brother who strolled into a diner and ordered a blue plate special. In their kitchens, these adolescents wolfed down bowls of Kellogg's Pep (Superman's official cereal), gulped glasses of Ovaltine (Captain Midnight's favorite drink), and watched their mothers toss a generous spoonful of Crisco into a frying pan, while in the background the radio adventures of Boston Blackie ("friend to those who had no friends"), The Fat Man ("Weight: 237 pounds; fortune: danger"), The Shadow ("Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?"), We the People (Gabriel Heatter's reassuring "Ah, there's good news tonight"), and, of course, The Lone Ranger ("Who was that masked man?") emanated from the front room. At the neighborhood shows, the youngsters cheered their favorite cowboy heroes-Johnny Mack Brown, Lash LaRue, Red Barry, Hopalong Cassidy-galloping across the plains blasting those unsavory, mustachioed villains trying to steal some widow's ranch while over in the combat zone John Wayne, Dennis Morgan, and John Garfield repeatedly routed America's Axis foes. Since the postwar period was in its incipient stages, many of the youngsters remembered those blackout shades their parents installed, the postage-stamp-sized points necessary to buy rationed food, the backyard victory gardens, those war bonds sold almost everywhere, and the Memorial Day parades, where polite spectators quietly demurred when the Gold Star mothers-sitting collectively in their convertible automobiles-passed in review. For literary pursuits, every teenager stocked his own stash of comic books, those ten-cent purchases that provided untold enjoyment and faraway dreaming. Here in the fantasy world of Red Ryder, Little Lulu, Mandrake the Magician, Bucky Bug, L'il Abner, Smilin ' Jack, Terry and the Pirates, The Little King, and Dick Tracy, these adolescents reveled in the fun and fancy these monthly publications provided. Blackhawk, Plastic Man, Batman, Archie, The Phantom, Wonder Woman, Superman-these comic book characters provided a visual education and, coupled with pride in ownership, formed the basis of a youngster's first library. But what comic books stood out? …