American Daredevil: Comics, Communism, and the Battles of Lev Gleason

by Brett Dakin

Overview

MEET LEV GLEASON, 

A REAL-LIFE COMICS 

SUPERHERO!

Gleason was a titan among Golden Age 

comics publishers who fought back 

against the censorship campaigns and 

paranoia of the Red Scare. After 

dropping out of Harvard to fight in 

France, Gleason moved to New York 

City and eventually made it big with 

groundbreaking titles like Daredevil

and Crime Does Not Pay.

Brett Dakin, Gleason's great-nephew, 

opens up the family archives-and 

the files of the FBI-to take you on a 

journey through the publisher's life 

and career. In American Daredevil, 

you'll learn the truth about Gleason's 

rapid rise to the top of comics, 

unapologetic progressive activism, 

and sudden fall from grace.

Whether it was Dr. Frederic Wertham 

and Seduction of the Innocent or 

the House Un-American Activities 

Committee, Gleason was always 

ready to take on the enemy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781988247519
Publisher:	Chapterhouse Publishing Incorporated
Publication date:	08/18/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	237
File size:	11 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

TAKING OFF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

AMERICAN DAREDEVIL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

A LIFE OF CRIME. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

CHAPPAQUA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

TROUBLEMAKER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

ANTI-FASCIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

A TALE OF TWO COMMITTEES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

CONTEMPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

UNWINDING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

DELINQUENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

FIGHTING BACK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

UN-AMERICAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

ALEXANDER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

RETREAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

SEDUCER OF THE INNOCENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

DISAPPEARING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

INFORMANT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

THE FRIENDLY BROKER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

UNRAVELING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

WATCHING THE WORLD GO BY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

EPILOGUE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

LEV GLEASON'S PHOTOGRAPHS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

LEV GLEASON'S PUBLICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

NOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

ABOUT THE AUTHOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Editorial Reviews

"American Daredevil pulls Lev Gleason out of the shadows of history and places him in the well-deserved spotlight as one of the founding fathers of the comic book industry."- Michael Uslan, comic book historian and producer, Joker, The Spirit, Justice League, and the Batman films





“AMERICAN DAREDEVIL PROVIDES A FRESH PERSPECTIVE ON THE HISTORY OF COMICS, AND AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIONEERS OF THE AMERICAN COMIC BOOK INDUSTRY. [...] AT A TIME WHEN FASCISM NO LONGER SEEMS CONTAINED WITHIN THE PAGES OF HISTORY TEXTBOOKS, WE CAN TAKE SOME INSPIRATION FROM GLEASON, WHOSE ANTI-FASCIST ACTIVISM WAS NOT CONFINED TO HIS COMICS.” - LEONARD RIFAS, COMIC BOOK ARTIST, HISTORIAN, TEACHER, AND AUTHOR, KOREAN WAR COMIC BOOKS





“Comic books tell legends of heroes that stand up and do the right thing. Lev Gleason was not only an early publisher of these stories, he was a superhero in his own right. His story deserves to be told, and Dakin does so here in an informative, entertaining manner.” - Anthony Del Col, writer, Luke Cage, Kill Shakespeare, and Son of Hitler

From the Publisher