Curse of Lono

 Four-Color Fantasy

 

Super heroes from the Atom to Zatara: 75 years of DC Comics

 

 In 1935, DC Comics founder Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson published New Fun No. 1, the first comic book with all-new, original material—at a time when comic books were mere repositories for the castoffs of the newspaper strips. What was initially considered to be disposable media for children was well on its way to becoming the mythology of our time—the 20th century’s answer to Atlas or Zorro. More than 40,000 comic books later, in honor of the publisher’s 75th anniversary, TASCHEN has produced the single most comprehensive book on DC Comics, in an XL edition even Superman might have trouble lifting. More than 2,000 images—covers and interiors, original illustrations, photographs, film stills, and collectibles—are reproduced using the latest technology to bring the story lines, the characters, and their creators to vibrant life as they’ve never been seen before. Telling the tales behind the tomes is 38-year DC veteran Paul Levitz, whose in-depth essays trace the company’s history, from its pulp origins through to the future of digital publishing.

 Year-by-year timelines that fold out to nearly four feet and biographies of the legends who built DC make this an invaluable reference for any comic book fan.

A wild ride to the dark side of Americana The Curse of Lono is to Hawaii what Fear and Loathing was to Las Vegas: the crazy tales of a journalist's "coverage" of a news event that ends up being a wild ride to the dark side of Americana.

Originally published in 1983, Curse features all of the zany, hallucinogenic wordplay and feral artwork for which the Hunter S. Thompson/Ralph Steadman duo became known and loved. This curious book, considered an oddity among Hunter's oeuvre, was long out of print, prompting collectors to search high and low for an original copy. Taschen's signed, limited edition sold out before the book even hit the stores, but this unlimited version, in a different, smaller format, makes The Curse of Lono accessible to everyone.

Hunter S. Thompson's books include Fear and Loathing in America, Screwjack, Hell's Angels, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Proud Highway, Better Than Sex, The Rum Diary, and Kingdom of Fear. He was contributor to various national and international publications, including a weekly sports column for ESPN.com. Thompson was famous for his free-wheeling, intoxicant-fueled observations on politics and society in Rolling Stone. With wit and salty language, he created a public persona of a hard-drinking, gun-toting anti-authoritarian. He centered his reporting around his crazy behavior and called it ""gonzo journalism.""

Hunter S. Thompson died February 2005.