1950s & 1960s Rock 'n' Roll and Folk

The Monkees Comic Book Book releases on September 12, 2026. Order yours today!

You thought you knew The Monkees. Then there were the comic books.

At the height of Monkeemania, Davy, Micky, Mike, and Peter escaped television and landed in a medium with an even looser relationship with reality.

The result was The Monkees comic-book series: gloriously strange adventures filled with disguises, spies, sharks, cows, elephants, impossible escapes, fourth-wall-breaking gags, instant changes of scenery, and the kind of logic that makes perfect sense only when The Monkees are involved.

Now that wonderfully peculiar corner of Monkees history has been brought back together in The Monkees Comic Book Book: Reference Book and Price Guide.

The original comics have been carefully digitally restored, reviving their bright colors and exuberant artwork while preserving the character of the originals. But this is more than a trip through vintage panels.

It's also a collector's guide to the series, including a complete price guide to the original comics, background on collecting them, and a timeline placing the comic releases alongside what was happening in the world of The Monkees at the time.

Along the way, you'll also find:

• the story of collecting the original Monkees comics
• an extensive interview with legendary Monkees comic artist Jose Delbo
• a complete price guide for the original issues
• a timeline connecting the comics to the larger Monkees story
• memories and commentary from people connected to The Monkees, comics, television, music, and 1960s pop culture
• a foreword by Peter Noone
• contributions and appearances from Bobby Hart, Butch Patrick, Deana Martin, Bill Mumy, James Lee Stanley, Jon Provost, and many more
• photographs, memorabilia, history, and several delightful detours that could probably happen only in a book about The Monkees

Authors Mark Arnold and Charles F. Rosenay!!! previously teamed up for Not Just Happy Together: The Turtles from A-Z (AM Radio to Zappa), their sprawling guide to the music, history, personalities, and wonderfully tangled universe surrounding The Turtles. Here, they bring that same collector's curiosity to one of the most unusual corners of Monkees history.

This is not an attempt to make The Monkees comic books more dignified than they were.

Quite the opposite.

It's a chance to enjoy them again in all their colorful, corny, chaotic, fourth-wall-demolishing glory while preserving the history around them and giving collectors a practical guide to the originals.

Part restored comic collection, part reference book, part price guide, part pop-culture time machine, The Monkees Comic Book Book is exactly as strange, useful, and specific as its title suggests.

Paperback edition.

“The blues had a baby and they called it rock ‘n’ roll,” said the great Muddy Waters.

But what was the firstborn? What was the first rock ‘n’ roll record?

Using this question as their starting point, writer Jim Dawson and DJ Steve Propes nominate 50 recordings for that honor. Beginning with a 1944 Jazz at the Philharmonic recording, “Blues,” and ending with Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel,” What Was the First Rock ‘n’ Roll Record? Profiles some of the most important and influential recordings in rock’s history.

For each nominee, Dawson and Propes provide chart positions, labels, recording information, and an explanation as to why it might qualify as the first. Lesser known milestones like “Open the Door, Richard” and “Rocket 88” appear here alongside acknowledged classics like “Shake, Rattle, and Roll” and “Rock Around the Clock,” and many forgotten artists are restored to their rightful place in rock’s pantheon. The result is a provocative and entertaining guide to the earliest days of rock ‘n’ roll.

This 30^th anniversary updated and revised edition brings to light new and surprising details about the songs, albums, and artists that are vying for the honor of being the first rock ‘n’ roll record.