500 Great Comic Book Action Heroes

Barron's
ISBN 0764125818
$18.95 U.S/ $27.50 Can.
http://www.barronseduc.com

In all my life, I never expected this book from Barron’s. Looking at the culture of the “hero” is usually a task best undertaken by Marvel, DC or one of the other publishers who direct their work towards Comics and Heroes in some fashion.

Finding that Barron’s of all places has brought one of the best history of various Super and non-superpowered characters together it should certainly be looked at with a fine tooth comb. But, since I use a hair brush instead of a comb, I tend to pull everything together in one direction but still give the scalp a nice massage. Now, what that has to do with reviewing a book might be a little hard to follow but trust me; I can do it.

In his foreword, the late Will Eisner discusses the evolution of how the different generations of heroes came about. How Batman evolved from Dick Tracy when we needed someone to battle a new type of crime and Superman gave birth to Spider Man when we needed a more realistic hero, someone who was not so ‘naïve’ as the writer puts it. He also discusses how his own character, The Spirit, came about as a demonstration that a ‘hero’ didn’t have to always be a superpowered individual. He or she could be the boy or girl next door, a teacher or even a kid on a bike who saw a house on fire.

But “500 Great Comic Book Action Heroes” is about the Comic Book Action figures. From  Superman, and  Batman, to  Captain America and Blade to some of the more obscure characters of the medium, the book tries to cover as much of the genre as it can, and it tries to do it in an honest and straightforward manner, with as much objectivity as the author can find.

The thing is, it is still difficult to be objective when it comes to Comic Book Heroes. Normally one either hates them or loves them. Mike Conroy tries to do it however; as he moves between the various Comic Book universes and companies, he demonstrates an honesty that makes the reader forget the question of “Does he love them” or is he just writing a book?

The question becomes more, “Did he come to love them?” because it is difficult to read the histories of these men and women and not grow to understand more about the creators and what they had in mind, which in turn should cause a non-fan to come to love them, or at least to understand better why we as fans love them.

Giving a history of the genre from it’s earliest beginnings, through the Golden and Silver ages and looking at the social and cultural attitudes surrounding them, the book is both an excellent resource and a nifty little piece of Comic fun.

From Adam Strange to Zatanna the book touches on both the major and the minor characters and tries hard to not short change any of them, and even deals fairly with the many costumed groups that populate the various Comics universes.

Will Eisner says in the foreword, “Perhaps the most significant contribution of heroes into the popular literature of the 20th century was made by the form of graphic narrative known as comics.” It is difficult to disagree with this statement, and the serious comic collector as well as just someone interested in pop culture will want stick this one on their reference shelf.

The heroes are presented in sections with male heroes, teams, female heroes, newspaper heroes, war, western, and science fiction heroes.
500 Great Comic Book Action Heroes by Mike Conroy is just what the title proclaims.