All in Color for a Dime is arguably my favorite title to any book ever about comics. It speaks of a time when comics were bright, cheap, and evocative. It was a time when comics were definitely part of an underworld of disposable trash, valued only by a few who knew what treasure was hidden in those glimmering four-color goodies. And it wasn't about the cash, it was about the wonderful worlds of imagination unlocked for kids and adults alike in a time when escape was all too necessary.
I saw ads for the book, but never got one until I was an adult myself and chanced across a copy of the paperback in a bookstore somewhere. I snapped it up and gave it a read, enjoying the essays written by fans for other fans about comics that had slipped away into the forgotten world of the past. These days, the Golden Age is vibrant, well documented and easily available, but then it was truly unknown save for a few fans and old pros who remembered the way back.
I bring all this up because I found a hardback copy of All in Color for a Dime edited by Dick Lupoff and Don Thompson, a few weeks ago. It's been like finding it all over again. I prefer packaging of the paperback, but it's nice to have the volume in a more reliable, reader-comfortable format. I don't have to worry about this copy cracking out when I read through it, so I can truly enjoy the essays.
And I can get a better look at the cover gallery. I used to treasure the old price guides not so much for the prices, but for the glimpses they gave of thumbnails of old comic book covers. Occasionally a tome would offer up more, and this is such a case. Again with the internet this stuff is so available as to seem commonplace, but to get a glimpse of these vintage covers back in the day was a real treat, and lingered in the memory in ways the modern deluge of information can never equal.
Anyway, here for your viewing pleasure is the comic book cover gallery from All in Color for a Dime.
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