Crime and mystery fiction, from noir to horror, has influenced the comic book from the beginning. The origins of the American comic book industry have also been bound up by real organized crime, problematic racist and sexist practice, and corrupt politics that generated—and exactly parallel—current political trends and policies. How did all these elements create and shape the medium?

Bullets & Balloons: Crime, Culture and Comic Book History examines the connections of this forgotten history.

The new book, expanded from articles originally commissioned by the NorCal Mystery Writers of America, examines the comic book's connections to both the crime genre and genuine crime.

This includes discussion of mob-affiliated Harry Donenfeld, creator of DC comics; Al Barreaux, the black Jazz Age artist who created comic's first superhero; early comics work by crime authors Dashiell Hammett, Mickey Spillane and Nobel laureate Patricia Highsmith; Leverett Gleason, Communist publisher who created crime comics and defied the House Un-American Activities Committee; the industry's parallel development and contribution to America's film noir culture, and the emergence of the extreme political Right, who used comic books as a whipping-boy to take control of the US congress, ushering in an era of censorship and the Cold War. Among many, many others.

The author is an independent comics creator since 1986, first ever to be published in the 60-year history of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, submitted for Edgar Allan Poe Award consideration, an internationally sold graphic novelist, contributor (with crime author Gary Phillips) to the 'Graphic Novels' chapter in Simon and Schuster's best-selling Agatha, Macavity and Anthony award-winning How to Write a Mystery: the MWA Handbook (Lee Child editor, Scribner 2021) and currently a Northern California Mystery Writer of America Board Member At-Large.

Many books on the history of comics, its characters and personalities have engaged audiences worldwide. This is a bold, fresh examination for fans, authors, historians and casual readers alike.

Now available in special eBook format, lavishly illustrated with historic period covers, artwork, photos and documents, including interactive links.

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