"The Horror! The Horror! Comic Books the Government Didn't Want You to Read!"

From Abrams ComicArts and The Manda Group, Sneak Peek author Jim Trombetta's scholarly "The Horror! The Horror! Comic Books the Government Didn't Want You To Read!", a 304-page anthology, featuring more than 200 rare covers and 1950's era comic book stories, illustrating 'horror' and 'crime' genres.

Trombetta, formerly an episodic writer for the 1980's TV series "Miami Vice", provides a detailed history for these stories and their creators, with his researched commentary and fascinating subtext, spinning a tale of horror and government censorship as scary as the stories themselves.

Artists featured include Johnny Craig, Reed Crandall, Jack Davis, Steve Ditko, Al Feldstein, Frank Kelly Freas, Russ Heath, Graham Ingels, Alex Toth, Wally Wood and Basil Wolverton.

Before the comic book industry's self-regulated 'Comic Books Code Authority' in the 1950's, companies would publish exploitation comic books, targeting readers (mainly kids) with lurid covers and interior art.

Themes showcased included "...gruesome depictions of murder, mayhem, robbery, rape, cannibalism, carnage, necrophilia, sex, sadism, masochism and virtually ever other form of crime, degeneracy, bestiality and horror..."

"The Horror! The Horror!" also includes the bonus DVD: "Confidential File," a rare, 25-minute TV show, first airing in 1955, about the 'evils' of comic books at the time and their effect on juvenile delinquency.

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "The Horror! The Horror! Comic Books the Government Didn't Want You to Read!"...