"Don’t turn your back for even a second, for I, the Cryptologist, have returned from the mire to bring you the latest issue of my despicable magazine! For fans of Neal Adams’ horror comics, I’ve got a wealth of his dark imaginings to share with you, plus never-before-seen things to pique your interest. Once you’ve savoured that, you’ll be fascinated to see Batman’s perilous encounters with the macabre, before I disclose some surprising actors who couldn’t resist the lure of the horror movie—one of them being Humphrey Bogart! Spiderbaby’s very own Beverly Washburn will venture into my lair to discuss her time in horror, as a prelude to my setting loose the spiders that terrorized cinema screens, comic books and the pulps. And before you go, I’ll throw in more of those lurid paperback covers along, with your regular dose of B-movie masterpieces and another selection from the Hammer archive. So if you enjoy the dark side, I dare you to step on into my creepy magazine with editor Peter Normanton, solely cooked up for you retro horror fans!”

For its first ever Annual, Back Issue magazine is pulling out all the stops with a special tribute to Silver/Bronze Age superstar Neal Adams! Presented are the best features on Neal from several long sold-out issues, including: a guided tour of Adams' Continuity Studios! Neal and Denny O'Neil discussing their seminal work on Green Lantern/Green Arrow! Adams on the evolution of Ms. Mystic! Plus Superman-centric and Batman-centric interviews with Neal, revealing behind-the-scenes secrets of his approach to those signature characters! There's Adams art galore throughout, including rare and unseen work, all behind an unused 1960s Adams cover. Don't miss it!

NEW PRINTING! The American Comic Book Chronicles continues its ambitious series of FULL-COLOR HARDCOVERS, where TwoMorrows' top authors document every decade of comic book history from the 1940s to today! Kurt Mitchell and editor Roy Thomas composed this volume about the “Golden Age” of the comic book industry, a period that presented the earliest adventures of such iconic super-heroes as Batman, Captain Marvel, Superman, and Wonder Woman. It was a time when America’s entry into World War II was presaged by the arrival of such patriotic do-gooders as Will Eisner’s Uncle Sam, Harry Shorten and Irv Novick’s The Shield, and Joe Simon and Jack Kirby’s Captain America. It was when teenage culture found expression in a fumbling red-haired high school student named Archie Andrews. But most of all, the first five years of the 1940s was the age of the “packagers” when studios headed by men like Harry A Chesler, Will Eisner, and Jerry Iger churned out material for a plethora of new comic book companies that published the entire gamut of genres, from funny animal stories to crime tales to jungle sagas to science-fiction adventures. These are just a few of the events chronicled in this exhaustive, full-color hardcover. Taken together, American Comic Book Chronicles forms a cohesive, linear overview of the entire landscape of comics history, sure to be an invaluable resource for ANY comic book enthusiast!