cover image 500 Great Comicbook Action Heroes

500 Great Comicbook Action Heroes

Mike Conroy. Barron's Educational Series, $18.95 (376pp) ISBN 978-0-7641-2581-2

Like the imaginary men and women it chronicles, this small, stocky guidebook to a century of comic superheroes holds its own share of secret identities. Alongside thumbnail profiles of fantastical characters, from the Phantom to the Disco Dazzler, the text also performs the role of industrial historian and biographer of the men who birthed the industry in the first place. Packed with short essays on the history of comics, covering such topics as Jack Kirby, co-creator of the Marvel universe, and the Kung Fu craze of the early 1970s (when titles such as Iron Fist and Master of Kung Fu became popular), the book paints a picture of flamboyant characters both before and behind the scenes, with plenty of hard information for connoisseurs and novices alike. While it could have used an index, this heavily illustrated encyclopedia-cum-cultural history will please anyone with more than passing interest in the subject.