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

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SuperScrounge:
I've actually reviewed my books over at NitCentral.

But for those who don't want to slog through my attempts at reviews...

100 Years Of American Newspaper Comics, Edited by Maurice Horn - good

Batman: The Complete History by Les Daniels - nice

Comic Book Culture: An Illustrated History by Ron Goulart - nice, but not as good as his other books

Comic Book Rebels by Stanley Wiater & Stephen R. Bissette (book of interviews) - good

DC Comics: Sixty Years Of The World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes by Les Daniels - good

The DC Vault by Martin Pasko - good

The Essential Guide To World Comics by Tim Pilcher & Brad Brooks - interesting

Foul Play! The Art And Artists Of The Notorious 1950s E.C. Comics! by Grant Giessman - good

From Aargh! To Zap!: Harvey Kurtzman's Visual History Of The Comics by Harvey Kurtzman - okay

Great American Comic Books by Ron Goulart - nice

The Great American Comic Strip: One Hundred Years Of Cartoon Art by Judith O'Sullivan - okay

Hong Kong Comics: A History Of Manhua by Wendy Siuyi Wong - nice

Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades Of The World's Greatest Comics by Les Daniels - good

The Marvel Vault by Roy Thomas & Peter Sanderson - good

The Pirates And The Mouse: Disney's War Against The Counterculture by Bob Levin - okay, but could have been better

R. F. Outcault's The Yellow Kid by Bill Blackbeard - nice

Science Fiction Comics: The Illustrated History by Mike Benton - nice

Space Aces!: Comic Book Heroes From The Forties And Fifties! by Denis Gifford - okay

Superhero Comics Of The Golden Age: The Illustrated History by Mike Benton - nice

Superhero Comics Of The Silver Age: The Illustrated History by Mike Benton - nice

Superman: The Complete History by Les Daniels - nice

Will Eisner’s Shop Talk by Will Eisner (interviews) - good

Wonder Woman: The Complete History by Les Daniels - nice

erwin-k:
Have not seen this book in well over forty years, but it was the first comic history book I ever saw.

Comic Art in America by (Steven?) Becker

mopee167:
Yoc, I wanted to like Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (2000), I really did. But whereas the Steranko History of Comics Volumes I and II painted the Golden Age as a difficult but exciting time, Kavalier & Clay just made it all seem so depressing.

The Wolverton bio (Fantagraphics, 2015) sounds interesting. I may have to check it out.

Same with Hajdu's The Ten-Cent Plague. Can someone expound on the twisting of data?

Les Daniels’ 3 Complete History books are worth a look. Superman and Batman are good;
Wonder Woman is the best and most informative.

Mike Benton’s The Illustrated History series is good. Wish it would have continued beyond the five volumes into other genres.

Ron Goulart’s Great History of Comic Books (Contemporary Books, 1986) is probably the best single volume history of the medium.

Goulart’s Comic Book Culture: An Illustrated History (Collectors Press, 2000) is, as Keith said, not as good as his other books. It’s got some pretty pictures, but it propagates the myth that R. Patenaude was a woman.

And I agree with darkmark that Men of Tomorrow by Gerard Jones is well worth the read.

Yoc:
Hi M,
As I recall it Hajdu's The Ten-Cent Plague, he had a list of all the artists driven out of comics by the CCA which some, better informed than I, took dispute with.  That's the only one I recall off the top of my head.  If you Googled the title plus reviews you might find some more.  But I say again, it's a very, very good book to read.  Up there with Men of Tomorrow.

I've just started reading Comics through Time, (4 Volumes) A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas by M. Keith Booker.
It's covering from the first books on to very recently.  Over 2000+ pages in the four volumes.

-Yoc

crashryan:
Yoc, Comics Through Time looks like it might be interesting, but when I followed the link I found that it wasn't free--it was offered as an e-book for a mere $375! A bit rich for my pocketbook.

Mopee, it seemed to me that Kavalier and Clay was written by an angry author who wanted to address the injustices of the early days of comics. On the other hand Steranko talked to people who actually lived through those times. I'm sure his fannish enthusiasm for the subject brought out their nostalgic side. Besides, of all the interviews I've read with Golden Age creators, only a few seem to have completely negative memories of their days in the industry. in his Graphic Story Magazine interview Harry Harrison told outrageous stories about being cheated by Victor Fox, but he could still laugh about it.

It makes a difference too that those guys were so young. When my friends and I were trying to break into illustration  forty years ago we were stiffed, underpaid, and mistreated by clients. We hated it, and we fought and we griped. But most of the BS just rolled off our backs and became dinner-party stories. It was easier to say "what the heck" when your expenses were low, your ambitions were high, and you had a bunch of friends in the same boat.

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