Synopses & Reviews
In
Give Our Regards to the Atom-smashers!, some of our most intriguing and creative contemporary writers weigh in on the world of comics: the ones they love versus the ones they hate, the comics they devoured as kids and still can't live without, and the comics that have influenced them in their work and their lives.
Here is Jonathan Lethem on childhood friendships, comic books, and the genius of artist Jack Kirby . . . Brad Meltzer on spending a summer vacation with the New Teen Titans. . . Glen David Gold on the obsessive nature of collecting . . . Myla Goldberg writing about the disturbed visions of Chris Ware and Renée French . . . Steve Erickson riffing on the perverse patriotism of American Flagg. Here, too, are Luc Sante on Tintin, Aimee Bender on Yummy Fur, Greil Marcus on Uncle Sam, Lydia Millet on Little Nemo in Slumberland, and many others. Give Our Regards to the Atomsmashers! is a quirky, thrilling, and compulsively readable celebration of the unique alchemy of words and drawings that forms the language of comic books. It is a book that will delight the seasoned comics reader and invite everyone else into a whole new world.
Review
"The piece on using comics in creative writing classes is a snooze, but John Wray on Jim Woodring and Glen David Gold on collecting are marvelously disquieting, and Lydia Millet on Little Nemo and the art of the novel is positively transcendental." Ray Olson, Booklist
Review
"The essays in Atomsmashers feature an unfortunate number of instances in which attempts at precision...fall flat....The best writing in Atomsmashers elaborates on [the] interplay of style and substance..." Wyatt Mason, Harper's Magazine
Review
"To read this anthology is to return to a pre-adolescent time when a comic book could transport you and even save you....This is a collection marked by adolescent pedantry. And that's what makes it terrific." Claire Dederer, Newsday
Synopsis
Fantastic essays on the world of comics are penned by creative contemporary writers who explore the ones they devoured as kids, the ones they love and the ones they hate, and the comics that have influenced their work and their lives.
About the Author
Sean Howe, formerly an editor at the Criterion Collection, lives in New York City.