Addams Family Novels

While digging up the Addams Family tree, not only did I discover a few comics but also a pair of books published in 1965 based on the TV series.

The first is simply titled, The Addams Family and you can get a used copy on Amazon for just under $10. I got lucky with the one I ordered. Considering the book is almost 55 years old, it's in excellent condition.

The cover says it's a novel but there isn't really an ongoing story through the book's nine chapters. Each chapter is a self contained story, like an episode of the show. Most interesting to me were the opening stories which detail the Addams moving into their new home and meeting Thing.

This gag may be familiar if you've seen the new animated movie.

Believe it or not, Thing is not a proper member of the Addams family. At least in this book's canon, he was already living in the house when they moved in. Throughout the family's history, some relations aren't consistent between all their appearances, such as which side of the family Fester and Grandmama are on.

In addition to novels and short stories, the author wrote a few plays with names like Dracula, the Musical?: Book, Music, and Lyrics and The Pinchpenny Phantom of the Opera. Even though these works were 20 years after this book, it's clear he always had a special sense of humor.

And then there is the final chapter, which is only a few pages. It finds Gomez talking with Morticia about their cousin Charles and wondering if they should have let him depict their family in his cartoon. Moricia then surprises Gomez by telling him she's gotten them a deal for a network TV show!

If you're a fan of the TV series and just can't get enough Addams, I highly recommend picking up a copy. While it may not exactly capture the personalities of the live action characters, I think the writing perfectly captures that Addams attitude and humor.

The second book is titled The Addams Family Strikes Back and was also published in 1965.

This book seems to be a bit more on the rare side than the first as the cheapest copy I've managed to find was $30! I do love them but that's getting a bit pricey for a paperback for me.

Most of the info I can find about it is from the wiki page for the Addams Family.

"The Addams Family Strikes Back by W.F. Miksch tells how Gomez plans to rehabilitate the image of Benedict Arnold by running for the local school board. The tone and characterizations in this book resemble the TV characters much more closely than in the first novel. Cousin Itt appears as a minor character in this story, but as a tiny, three-legged creature rather than the hairy, derby-hatted character seen on television and in the movies. The novel was published in paperback form by Pyramid Books in 1965"

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