Funnybook Wordbook Review #7: The 10 Cent Plague

While bored in North Carolina recently, I finally finished reading David Hajdu's new account of the comic-book "witch hunt" of the 1950s. All in all, it presented a pretty good overview of the senate subcommittee hearings, the rise and fall of EC, and the events leading up to the decimation of the comic book market. As a history of the genre, it worked really well. If I had one complaint, however, it's that too much time was spent on the 'birth' of the comic book. This isn't really a valid criticism, since the subject matter fit perfectly with the book. However, being a huge fucking nerd, I got a little tired of reading the same old anecdotes and background about MC Gaines and Famous Funnies and all that shit.
As far as history books on comics go, this was one of the best I've read. It didn't dumb down the material; it didn't feel the need to justify itself simply for existing (so many can be boiled down to "we know comics are silly and goofy and all, but in this one Batman says a bad word!"). As an overview of the era, I'd highly recommend it. If you're an asshole like Schooly that hates comics, well, I'd suggest staying away.