General Category > Comic Related Discussion

Books on the History of Comic Books you have read or own in your collection!

<< < (6/6)

Poztron:
Someone mentioned Stephen Becker's Comic Art in America (which I believe came out in 1962, as my parents gifted me with a new copy for my 12th birthday). A great book, very well written with lots of reprinted comics. It barely touches on comic books, but is a masterful overview of comic strips.


Another fine book which no one has mentioned, but which is worth seeking out, is Coulton Waugh's The Comics (1947, MacMillan). Very detailed run-through of many classic comic strips and cartoonists, though its coverage of comic books in the final chapter is minimal and disappointing. Waugh drew the strip "Dickie Dare" for ten years, FWIW. The main weakness of the book is that there are fewer illustrations of strips he is talking about than would be ideal. Still, this is a classic. (It looks like it was reprinted in 1991, but even that edition is pricey on Amazon. Keep an eye out for it.)


Finally, a great book, not previously mentioned is Cartoon Cavalcade edited by Thomas Craven (1943, Simon and Schuster) described on it's front cover dj as A Collection of the best American humorous cartoons from the turn of the century to the present. This is a finely selected anthology of comic strips and gag cartoons ranging from the old days of humor magazines (such as Life, Puck, and Judge) on through the evolution of comic strips and gag cartoons (New Yorker, etc.) Just great stuff. The repro of the art is not as good as it would be now (they didn't have high resolution scanning back then and photostats of halftone shading sometimes leave something to be desired). Nevertheless, its a vast collection (450pp.) I see this is up on Amazon in used copies at really reasonable prices...amazing prices, really. Conditions tend be in the "acceptable" range, but if I didn't still have my own copy, I'd probably spring for one of those.


As far as comic book histories go, the best history (copiously illustrated) of UG comix is Patrick Rosenkranz's Rebel Visions (2008, Fantagraphics). It's a bit chaotic, bouncing back and forth between artists and time periods, but I think he mostly gets things right, though some of the later artists and women cartoonists get short shrift.


As for golden and silver age comics history, Roy Thomas's Alter Ego and various books from TwoMorrows Publishing deserve a shout out. Top quality and research.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[*] Previous page