Bill Ward's Torchy The first three issues of Bill Ward's classic cheesecake comic are reprinted here for the first time. Ward created the character Torchy Todd after being drafted into the military and soon the comic strip became syndicated to Army newspapers worldwide. Loaded with gags and pin-up charm, the solo series Torchy ran for six issues. Collected here are 22 stories from both Torchy and Modern Comics (1946-50) and includes an introduction by comics historian Trina Robbins. 8x11, softcover, 160 black & white pages. $25.00

Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman's Co-creator Joe Shuster showcases rare and recently discovered erotic artwork by the most seminal artist in comics, Joe Shuster. Created in the early 1950s when Shuster was down on his luck after suing his publisher, DC Comics, over the copyright for Superman, he illustrated these images for an obscure series of magazines called "Nights of Horror," published under the counter until they were banned by the U.S. Senate. Juvenile deliquency, Dr. Fredric Wertham, and the Brooklyn Thrill Killers gang all figure into this sensational story. The discovery of this artwork reveals the "secret identity" of this revered comics creator, and is sure to generate controversy and change the perception of the way we look at Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, and Jimmy Olsen forever. The book includes reproductions of these images, and an essay that provides a detailed account of the scandal and the murder trial that resulted from the publication of this racy material. 8x9, hardcover, 160 black & white pages. $24.95

Great Women Superheroes
by Trina Robbins The most famous female superhero is Wonder Woman, created in 1940 by a William Moulton Marston, a psychologist who also happened to invent the lie detector. But superheroines like the Blonde Phantom (1946); Ultra Violet (1947) and Miss Masque (1946) have long been forgotten. Trina Robbins (A Century of Women Cartoonists) resurrects the story behind these early characters and introduces a new generation of superheroines and their creators in The Great Women Superheroes. When was Wonder Woman created? Who is Miss Fury? What is Supergirl's disguise? Here comic illustrater and writer Robbins answers these questions and a great many more. In this detailed history of female superheroes from the Forties through the Nineties, the author covers both the well-known and the obscure. She chronicles comic-book heroines and their creators and also analyzes these characters. Robbins explores the roots in the booming comic industry of the 1940s, when the new characters provided powerful role models for female readers. And she criticizes the "bad girl" comics of the 1990s, wherein scantily clothed pinups spend their adventures bathed in blood. Written in a witty, entertaining manner and filled with black-and-white illustrations, this book packs as much punch as the superheroines it chronicles.
8x11, 208 black and white pages, softcover. ... $21.95