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Comic Book History of Comics
Comic Book History of Comics
For the first time ever, the inspiring, infuriating, and utterly insane story of comics, graphic novels, and manga is presented in comic book form! The award-winning Action Philosophers team of Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey turn their irreverent-but-accurate eye to the stories of Jack Kirby, R. Crumb, Harvey Kurtzman, Alan Moore, Stan Lee, Will Eisner, Fredric Wertham, Roy Lichtenstein, Art Spiegelman, Herge, Osamu Tezuka - and more! Collects Comic Book Comics #1-6.
224 pages, Paperback
First published June 5, 2012
66 people are currently reading
792 people want to read
About the author
Fred Van Lente
1,355 books320 followersFred Van Lente is the New York Times-bestselling author of comics as varied as Archer & Armstrong (Harvey Award nominee, Best Series), Taskmaster, MODOK's 11, Amazing Spider-Man, Conan the Avenger, Weird Detective, and Cowboys & Aliens (upon which the 2011 movie was based), as well as the novels Ten Dead Comedians and The Con Artist.
Van Lente also specializes in entertaining readers with offbeat histories with the help of his incredibly talented artists. He has written the multiple-award winning Action Philosophers!, The Comic Book History of Comics, Action Presidents! (all drawn by Ryan Dunlavey), and The Comic Book Story of Basketball with Joe Cooper (Ten Speed September 2020).
He lives in Brooklyn with his wife Crystal Skillman, and some mostly ungrateful cats.
Van Lente also specializes in entertaining readers with offbeat histories with the help of his incredibly talented artists. He has written the multiple-award winning Action Philosophers!, The Comic Book History of Comics, Action Presidents! (all drawn by Ryan Dunlavey), and The Comic Book Story of Basketball with Joe Cooper (Ten Speed September 2020).
He lives in Brooklyn with his wife Crystal Skillman, and some mostly ungrateful cats.
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April 1, 2022
If you've even wondered about the history of comic books, this is a great place to start. It covers the Golden Age boom, The Seduction of the Innocent, the early days of Marvel, underground comix, bande dessinée, manga, creators' rights and many more topics. It is a very dense read. Something that I would read 10-20 pages at a time before taking a break. It feels like a descendant to The Big Book series Paradox Press put out in the 90's, condensing bigger topics into digestible bites.
January 26, 2018
ইদানিং কমিক্স বইয়ের প্রচুর নেশা হয়েছে। তাই কমিক্স বইয়ের ইতিহাস নিয়ে করা এই কমিক্স বইটা পড়ে ফেললাম। অনেক অনেক ইনফরমেশন। পুরোটা বইতে বিভিন্ন টাইম পিরিয়ড জুড়ে কমিক্সের এত ডিটেইলস আছে যে সব মনে রাখা কঠিন । কমিক্স-জগতের বিভিন্ন মহারথী লেখক কার্টুনিস্ট এডিটরদের বারে বারে বিভিন্ন সময়ে কমিক্সের ইভল্যুশনে বিভিন্ন ভূমিকা নিয়ে ফিরে আসার কাহিনী - শুরুতে তাল মিলানো একটু কষ্টই লাগছিল।
বইটার শুরু হয়েছে প্রাগৈতিহাসিক যুগে গুহাবাসী মানুষদের ছবি আঁকার কথা দিয়ে। এরপর মনের ভাব/ গল্প/ কাহিনীর প্রকাশের জন্য ছবি আঁকার কথা ( ছবি :p ) উঠে এসেছে।
প্রথমেই কমিক্সের গোল্ডেন এজের গল্প। কবে প্রথম কমিক্সে ছবির মধ্যেই ব্লবে ডায়লগ দিয়ে কমিক্সের প্রেজেন্টেশন আরও
সহজ করে তোলা হল। কবে প্রথম vertical প্যানেলের বদলে horizontal প্যানেলে ছবি আঁকা শুরু হল ইত্যাদি নানা রকম বিবর্তনের মধ্যে দিয়ে কিভাবে আমাদের কমিক্স গুলো এখনকার মত দেখতে হল।
১৯২৯-৩৯ এ আমেরিকার গ্রেট ডিপ্রেশনের সময়ে কমিক্স ছিল মানুষকে সহজ সরল আনন্দ দেওয়ার চমৎকার এবং বহুল
প্রচলিত ও স্বীকৃত সফল মাধ্যম। যদিও পাঠককে সহজ সরল আনন্দ দেওয়ার পেছনে কার্টুনিস্ট বা অন্যান্য শিল্পীদের প্রচেষ্টার
কথা বেশ নিরীহ শোনায় , আদতে কমিক্স ইন্ডাস্ট্রি একটা বেশ কম্পিটিটিভ বিজনেস ইন্ডাস্ট্রি যেখানে কমিক্স সার্কুলেশন
এবং ডিস্ট্রিবিউশনের জন্য ছিল বিভিন্ন ক্ষমতাশালী সিন্ডিকেট। এবং কমিক্সের মেইন ক্রিয়েটরদের তুলনায় এইসব ব্যবসায়ীদের আয় ছিল অনেক অনেক বেশি। যেমন, সুপারম্যানের ক্রিয়েটর Siegel & Shuster এর এনুয়াল ইনকাম ছিল ১৫০,০০০ মার্কিন ডলার কিন্তু এর সিন্ডিকেটের এনুয়াল ইনকাম ছিল ৫০০,০০০ মার্কিন ডলার। এছাড়াও কমিক্স ইন্ডাস্ট্রিটা বেশ একটা লেবার এক্সপ্লয়েটিং ইন্ডাস্ট্রি। মেইন কার্টুনিস্টদের এঁকে দেওয়া কী ফিচারগুলোর মধ্যবর্তী transition ফিচার গুলো এঁকে দেওয়ার জন্য থাকত প্রচুর লেবার কার্টুনিস্ট, যাদেরকে অনেক স্টুডিওতেই ঘিঞ্জির মধ্যে স্বল্প বেতনে এবং অনেক বেশি ওয়ার্কিং আওয়ার কাজ করতে হত। লেবার কারটুনিস্টদের ইউনিয়ন তাদের ন্যায্য অধিকার আদায়ের দাবিতে বিভিন্ন সময়ে Fleischer & Disney এর মত বড় বড় স্টুডিও সহ অন্যান্য স্টুডিওতেও বিক্ষোভ ও আন্দোলনও করে।
শুধু সহজ সরল আনন্দ দানই নয় কমিক্স ব্যবহার হয়েছে রাজনৈতিক হাতিয়ার এবং প্রোপাগান্ডার মাধ্যম হিসেবে। ২য় বিশ্বযুদ্ধের প্রাক্কালে (কিছু সময় আগেই সুপার হিরো কমিক্স গুলো খুব বাজার পেয়েছে) সেসময় বাজারে ছাড়া হল আমেরিকান প্যাট্রিয়ট সুপারহিরো " ক্যাপ্টেন আমেরিকা" যার প্রথম কভারেই দেখা যায় ক্যাপ্টেন আমেরিকা হিটলারকে ঘুষি দিচ্ছে। এছাড়া ২য় বিশ্বযুদ্ধ চলাকালীন সময়ে বিভিন্ন আমেরিকান মিলিটারি বেজে কার্টুনিস্টদের নিয়োগ দেওয়া হয় মিলিটারি রিক্রুটমেন্ট, প্রোপাগান্ডা, যুদ্ধকালীন নানা রোগ বিষয়ক সতর্কতা , অস্ত্রের সঠিক যত্ন আত্তি নেওয়া নিয়ে নানারকম কমিক্স তৈরি করতে। সেসময় ডিজনির স্টুডিওর ৭৫% আউটকামই ছিল আমেরিকান ডিফেন্স ইন্ডাস্ট্রির জন্য। এছাড়া সময়ে সময়ে বিভিন্ন ফ্যাশন ট্রেন্ড, merchandising এ কমিক্স মুখ্য ভূমিকা রেখেছে।
যুদ্ধ পরবর্তী সময়ে সুপারহিরো কমিক্সগুলোর বাজার আস্তে আস্তে ঝিমিয়ে পড়ে (পপুলার সুপারম্যান, ব্যাটম্যান বাদে)। এসময় রোমান্টিক কমিক্সগুলো বেশ বাজার পেতে থাকে টিন এজ এবং young adult দের মধ্যে। In male dominated comics culture, these sexist comics from romance genre were full of gender bias.
এছাড়া বিশ্ব যুদ্ধফেরত যোদ্ধাদের মধ্যেও সুপারহিরো এর ফ্ল্যাশি ফ্যান্টাসির প্রতি আগ্রহ কমতে থাকে। ক্রাইম genre এর কমিক্স এসময় বাজার নেওয়া শুরু করে। কিন্তু এইসব কমিক্স গুলোতে প্রচুর ভায়োলেন্স এর ডেপিকশনের কারণে বাচ্চাদের মেন্টালিটিতে কীরকম বিরূপ প্রভাব ফেলবে এইসব বিবেচনায় সেন্সরবোর্ড, আইন প্রণয়ন এবং কমিক্সের জন্য নীতি নির্ধারণের কড়াকড়ি এবং কাঁচি চালাচালিতে ক্রাইম কমিক্সগুলোকে অনেক লঘু করে ফেলা হয় আগের ভায়োলেন্ট কনটেন্টগুলোর তুলনায়। Ironically crime comics এর প্রথম successful creator বব উডস তার প্রেমিকাকে তারই কমিক্সে আঁকা wayতে খুব নৃশংস ভাবে খুনও করে। :/
সুপারহিরো এবং মেল ডমিনেটেড কালচারে first female comics writer Tarpe এবং আরেকজন চমৎকার লেখক এবং কমিক্স রাইটার Patricia ছাড়াও প্রথম আফ্রিকান-আমেরিকান ফিমেল কার্টুনিস্ট জেল্ডা ম্যাভিন এর কথাও উল্লেখ আছে।
কমিক্স যত জনপ্রিয় হতে থাকল মানুষের মাঝে এর কনটেন্ট নিয়ে নানারকম সমালোচনা এবং বিতর্কও শুরু হল। বিভিন্ন সময়ে বাচ্চাদের কমিক্সের নেশা ছুটাতে National Congress of Parents & National Education Association কে কমিক্সের বিরুদ্ধে নামতে দেখা যায়। সাইকোলজিস্ট মারস্টন কমিক্সের বিরুদ্ধে অভিযোগ আনেন যে এর মেল ক্যারেক্টারগুলোতে feminine & maternal instinct absent - যা তো বাচ্চাদের জন্য খুব দরকার। পরে কমিক্স কোম্পানীগুলোর দ্বারা মগজ ধোলাই হয়ে সে নিজেই ছদ্মনামে তৈরি করে আরেক ফিমেল সুপারহিরো - Wonder Woman (specially for male readers.) A survey of DC showed that the readership of Wonder Woman consists of 90% male while girls prefer to read Superman.
এরপরে আসে হরর কমিক্স। Juvenile delinquency কে প্রমোট করে এই অভিযোগে হরর কমিক্সকেও ক্রাইম কমিক্স গুলোর মত সেন্সর বোর্ডের অনেক বিধিনিষেধের মুখে পড়তে হয়। এরপর কমিক্স কোডের দাপটে টিভির সাথে কম্পিটিশনে কমিক্স পিছিয়ে পড়তে শুরু করে। বেশিরভাগ ক্ষেত্রেই এইসব কমিক্স কোড ছিল অযৌক্তিক এবং রেসিস্ট, যেমন, কোন এক কমিক্সে আফ্রিকান-আমেরিকান কে সায়েন্টিস্ট হিসেবে দেখানো হলে কমিক্স কোড রেগুলেটরি অথোরিটির আপত্তির মুখে হোয়াইট মেল আমেরিকান কে সায়েন্টিস্ট দেখানো হয়।
টেলিভিশনের আবির্ভাবের পরও বিভিন্ন কমিক্স ফ্যানবেজ কমিক্স ইন্ডাস্ট্রির fueling power হিসেবে কাজ করে। And by this time superhero comics were revived again and they were a success. এছাড়া সোভিয়েত ইউনিয়নের মহাকাশ অভিযান sci-fi comics কে আরও পপুলারাইজ করে তোলে। পপ আর্ট হিসেবে কমিক্স এর প্রচারের পর টিভি সিরিজ হিসেবে টিভির পর্দায় আসতে থাকে বিভিন্ন কমিক্স, আরও পরে কমিক্স ক্যারেক্টার গুলো নিয়ে তৈরি হতে থাকে মুভি। পরে হিপ কালচারের ইনফ্লুয়েন্সে আন্ডারগ্রাউন্ড কমিক্স কালচার আরেকবার পরিবর্তিত, পরিবর্ধিত হয়। সব মিলিয়ে অনেক দীর্ঘ একটা যাত্রা!!
বইটার শুরু হয়েছে প্রাগৈতিহাসিক যুগে গুহাবাসী মানুষদের ছবি আঁকার কথা দিয়ে। এরপর মনের ভাব/ গল্প/ কাহিনীর প্রকাশের জন্য ছবি আঁকার কথা ( ছবি :p ) উঠে এসেছে।
প্রথমেই কমিক্সের গোল্ডেন এজের গল্প। কবে প্রথম কমিক্সে ছবির মধ্যেই ব্লবে ডায়লগ দিয়ে কমিক্সের প্রেজেন্টেশন আরও
সহজ করে তোলা হল। কবে প্রথম vertical প্যানেলের বদলে horizontal প্যানেলে ছবি আঁকা শুরু হল ইত্যাদি নানা রকম বিবর্তনের মধ্যে দিয়ে কিভাবে আমাদের কমিক্স গুলো এখনকার মত দেখতে হল।
১৯২৯-৩৯ এ আমেরিকার গ্রেট ডিপ্রেশনের সময়ে কমিক্স ছিল মানুষকে সহজ সরল আনন্দ দেওয়ার চমৎকার এবং বহুল
প্রচলিত ও স্বীকৃত সফল মাধ্যম। যদিও পাঠককে সহজ সরল আনন্দ দেওয়ার পেছনে কার্টুনিস্ট বা অন্যান্য শিল্পীদের প্রচেষ্টার
কথা বেশ নিরীহ শোনায় , আদতে কমিক্স ইন্ডাস্ট্রি একটা বেশ কম্পিটিটিভ বিজনেস ইন্ডাস্ট্রি যেখানে কমিক্স সার্কুলেশন
এবং ডিস্ট্রিবিউশনের জন্য ছিল বিভিন্ন ক্ষমতাশালী সিন্ডিকেট। এবং কমিক্সের মেইন ক্রিয়েটরদের তুলনায় এইসব ব্যবসায়ীদের আয় ছিল অনেক অনেক বেশি। যেমন, সুপারম্যানের ক্রিয়েটর Siegel & Shuster এর এনুয়াল ইনকাম ছিল ১৫০,০০০ মার্কিন ডলার কিন্তু এর সিন্ডিকেটের এনুয়াল ইনকাম ছিল ৫০০,০০০ মার্কিন ডলার। এছাড়াও কমিক্স ইন্ডাস্ট্রিটা বেশ একটা লেবার এক্সপ্লয়েটিং ইন্ডাস্ট্রি। মেইন কার্টুনিস্টদের এঁকে দেওয়া কী ফিচারগুলোর মধ্যবর্তী transition ফিচার গুলো এঁকে দেওয়ার জন্য থাকত প্রচুর লেবার কার্টুনিস্ট, যাদেরকে অনেক স্টুডিওতেই ঘিঞ্জির মধ্যে স্বল্প বেতনে এবং অনেক বেশি ওয়ার্কিং আওয়ার কাজ করতে হত। লেবার কারটুনিস্টদের ইউনিয়ন তাদের ন্যায্য অধিকার আদায়ের দাবিতে বিভিন্ন সময়ে Fleischer & Disney এর মত বড় বড় স্টুডিও সহ অন্যান্য স্টুডিওতেও বিক্ষোভ ও আন্দোলনও করে।
শুধু সহজ সরল আনন্দ দানই নয় কমিক্স ব্যবহার হয়েছে রাজনৈতিক হাতিয়ার এবং প্রোপাগান্ডার মাধ্যম হিসেবে। ২য় বিশ্বযুদ্ধের প্রাক্কালে (কিছু সময় আগেই সুপার হিরো কমিক্স গুলো খুব বাজার পেয়েছে) সেসময় বাজারে ছাড়া হল আমেরিকান প্যাট্রিয়ট সুপারহিরো " ক্যাপ্টেন আমেরিকা" যার প্রথম কভারেই দেখা যায় ক্যাপ্টেন আমেরিকা হিটলারকে ঘুষি দিচ্ছে। এছাড়া ২য় বিশ্বযুদ্ধ চলাকালীন সময়ে বিভিন্ন আমেরিকান মিলিটারি বেজে কার্টুনিস্টদের নিয়োগ দেওয়া হয় মিলিটারি রিক্রুটমেন্ট, প্রোপাগান্ডা, যুদ্ধকালীন নানা রোগ বিষয়ক সতর্কতা , অস্ত্রের সঠিক যত্ন আত্তি নেওয়া নিয়ে নানারকম কমিক্স তৈরি করতে। সেসময় ডিজনির স্টুডিওর ৭৫% আউটকামই ছিল আমেরিকান ডিফেন্স ইন্ডাস্ট্রির জন্য। এছাড়া সময়ে সময়ে বিভিন্ন ফ্যাশন ট্রেন্ড, merchandising এ কমিক্স মুখ্য ভূমিকা রেখেছে।
যুদ্ধ পরবর্তী সময়ে সুপারহিরো কমিক্সগুলোর বাজার আস্তে আস্তে ঝিমিয়ে পড়ে (পপুলার সুপারম্যান, ব্যাটম্যান বাদে)। এসময় রোমান্টিক কমিক্সগুলো বেশ বাজার পেতে থাকে টিন এজ এবং young adult দের মধ্যে। In male dominated comics culture, these sexist comics from romance genre were full of gender bias.
এছাড়া বিশ্ব যুদ্ধফেরত যোদ্ধাদের মধ্যেও সুপারহিরো এর ফ্ল্যাশি ফ্যান্টাসির প্রতি আগ্রহ কমতে থাকে। ক্রাইম genre এর কমিক্স এসময় বাজার নেওয়া শুরু করে। কিন্তু এইসব কমিক্স গুলোতে প্রচুর ভায়োলেন্স এর ডেপিকশনের কারণে বাচ্চাদের মেন্টালিটিতে কীরকম বিরূপ প্রভাব ফেলবে এইসব বিবেচনায় সেন্সরবোর্ড, আইন প্রণয়ন এবং কমিক্সের জন্য নীতি নির্ধারণের কড়াকড়ি এবং কাঁচি চালাচালিতে ক্রাইম কমিক্সগুলোকে অনেক লঘু করে ফেলা হয় আগের ভায়োলেন্ট কনটেন্টগুলোর তুলনায়। Ironically crime comics এর প্রথম successful creator বব উডস তার প্রেমিকাকে তারই কমিক্সে আঁকা wayতে খুব নৃশংস ভাবে খুনও করে। :/
সুপারহিরো এবং মেল ডমিনেটেড কালচারে first female comics writer Tarpe এবং আরেকজন চমৎকার লেখক এবং কমিক্স রাইটার Patricia ছাড়াও প্রথম আফ্রিকান-আমেরিকান ফিমেল কার্টুনিস্ট জেল্ডা ম্যাভিন এর কথাও উল্লেখ আছে।
কমিক্স যত জনপ্রিয় হতে থাকল মানুষের মাঝে এর কনটেন্ট নিয়ে নানারকম সমালোচনা এবং বিতর্কও শুরু হল। বিভিন্ন সময়ে বাচ্চাদের কমিক্সের নেশা ছুটাতে National Congress of Parents & National Education Association কে কমিক্সের বিরুদ্ধে নামতে দেখা যায়। সাইকোলজিস্ট মারস্টন কমিক্সের বিরুদ্ধে অভিযোগ আনেন যে এর মেল ক্যারেক্টারগুলোতে feminine & maternal instinct absent - যা তো বাচ্চাদের জন্য খুব দরকার। পরে কমিক্স কোম্পানীগুলোর দ্বারা মগজ ধোলাই হয়ে সে নিজেই ছদ্মনামে তৈরি করে আরেক ফিমেল সুপারহিরো - Wonder Woman (specially for male readers.) A survey of DC showed that the readership of Wonder Woman consists of 90% male while girls prefer to read Superman.
এরপরে আসে হরর কমিক্স। Juvenile delinquency কে প্রমোট করে এই অভিযোগে হরর কমিক্সকেও ক্রাইম কমিক্স গুলোর মত সেন্সর বোর্ডের অনেক বিধিনিষেধের মুখে পড়তে হয়। এরপর কমিক্স কোডের দাপটে টিভির সাথে কম্পিটিশনে কমিক্স পিছিয়ে পড়তে শুরু করে। বেশিরভাগ ক্ষেত্রেই এইসব কমিক্স কোড ছিল অযৌক্তিক এবং রেসিস্ট, যেমন, কোন এক কমিক্সে আফ্রিকান-আমেরিকান কে সায়েন্টিস্ট হিসেবে দেখানো হলে কমিক্স কোড রেগুলেটরি অথোরিটির আপত্তির মুখে হোয়াইট মেল আমেরিকান কে সায়েন্টিস্ট দেখানো হয়।
টেলিভিশনের আবির্ভাবের পরও বিভিন্ন কমিক্স ফ্যানবেজ কমিক্স ইন্ডাস্ট্রির fueling power হিসেবে কাজ করে। And by this time superhero comics were revived again and they were a success. এছাড়া সোভিয়েত ইউনিয়নের মহাকাশ অভিযান sci-fi comics কে আরও পপুলারাইজ করে তোলে। পপ আর্ট হিসেবে কমিক্স এর প্রচারের পর টিভি সিরিজ হিসেবে টিভির পর্দায় আসতে থাকে বিভিন্ন কমিক্স, আরও পরে কমিক্স ক্যারেক্টার গুলো নিয়ে তৈরি হতে থাকে মুভি। পরে হিপ কালচারের ইনফ্লুয়েন্সে আন্ডারগ্রাউন্ড কমিক্স কালচার আরেকবার পরিবর্তিত, পরিবর্ধিত হয়। সব মিলিয়ে অনেক দীর্ঘ একটা যাত্রা!!
June 21, 2012
I was willing to give this book a try because upon skimming, I saw that it gave Dr. Wertham a fair analysis: far, far too many books about comic books paint him as an egotist out to ruin harmless fun. Van Lente and Dunlavey present not only all the medical and especially social work he did that formed the background for his incendiary attitude toward '50s comics, they also (both fairly, and hilariously--I about choked with laughter at some panels in the p. 84-85 spread [Archie Andrews and Superman sticking up a liquor store! wat]) presented his main arguments in Seduction of the Innocent and acknowledged the legitimate ones (racism, misogyny) while pointing out the illegitimacy of others (fascism, "promoting homosexuality," all comic books being 'crime' comics [see the aforementioned Archie & Supes panel]).
This a very dense work, but it has to be: it's covering the development and history of comics from their inception (not only The Yellow Kid, but even further back, to Töpffer's captioned illustrations in the early 1800s!) to now, and presenting a wide range of creators during that history, including the events that tend to get swept under the rug in lionizing biographies: Stan Lee's highly collaborative work with Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, and how the lack of credit for Kirby and Ditko's input in the universe led to tensions and breaking within Marvel; Walt Disney's union-busting efforts in 1941, when he tried to get the organizers arrested by the FBI by denouncing them as communists; or Bob Kane refusing credit to the co-creator of Batman, Bill Finger, and to Jerry Robinson, who co-created the Joker and Robin with Finger.
But this isn't some kind of exposé or tabloid tell-all, where Van Lente and Dunlavey just dig up dirt; it's more that they present all the sides of the people involved in the industry, good and bad, amazing and exploitative, because they recognize that comics were created by human beings and humans are messy creatures. This makes for a fascinating history.
The last few chapters are harder to 'get' than the preceding, but I don't think this is an issue with Van Lente and Dunlavey's work so much as it's a reflection that the increasing corporatizing of the comic industry led to a dizzying amount of mergers, buy-outs, and other Wall Street mathematics--not to mention all the copyright issues, transfers, and other entanglements--and that's bloody hard to keep straight. It's really to their credit that the chapters on these situations ("No More Wednesdays" and "1986 AD," and also "The Grabbers," on the creators' rights legal battles in the '80s) are as clear as they are. P. 186, encapsulating the legal minefield of the U.S. Marvelman -> British Marvelman -> British Marvelman-imported-to-U.S.-and-renamed-Miracleman mess, sums it up pretty well. (It also has the distinction of being another 'choking on laughter' page.)
The sheer amount of research, depth and breadth, dedication, and love for the medium in this work makes it worth all 5 stars. I only picked this up because my enjoyment of the recent Marvel universe movies made me a little interested in the background, and I was blown away by all that Van Lente and Dunlavey managed to encompass. Highly, highly recommended for comic book fans, of any level.
This a very dense work, but it has to be: it's covering the development and history of comics from their inception (not only The Yellow Kid, but even further back, to Töpffer's captioned illustrations in the early 1800s!) to now, and presenting a wide range of creators during that history, including the events that tend to get swept under the rug in lionizing biographies: Stan Lee's highly collaborative work with Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, and how the lack of credit for Kirby and Ditko's input in the universe led to tensions and breaking within Marvel; Walt Disney's union-busting efforts in 1941, when he tried to get the organizers arrested by the FBI by denouncing them as communists; or Bob Kane refusing credit to the co-creator of Batman, Bill Finger, and to Jerry Robinson, who co-created the Joker and Robin with Finger.
But this isn't some kind of exposé or tabloid tell-all, where Van Lente and Dunlavey just dig up dirt; it's more that they present all the sides of the people involved in the industry, good and bad, amazing and exploitative, because they recognize that comics were created by human beings and humans are messy creatures. This makes for a fascinating history.
The last few chapters are harder to 'get' than the preceding, but I don't think this is an issue with Van Lente and Dunlavey's work so much as it's a reflection that the increasing corporatizing of the comic industry led to a dizzying amount of mergers, buy-outs, and other Wall Street mathematics--not to mention all the copyright issues, transfers, and other entanglements--and that's bloody hard to keep straight. It's really to their credit that the chapters on these situations ("No More Wednesdays" and "1986 AD," and also "The Grabbers," on the creators' rights legal battles in the '80s) are as clear as they are. P. 186, encapsulating the legal minefield of the U.S. Marvelman -> British Marvelman -> British Marvelman-imported-to-U.S.-and-renamed-Miracleman mess, sums it up pretty well. (It also has the distinction of being another 'choking on laughter' page.)
The sheer amount of research, depth and breadth, dedication, and love for the medium in this work makes it worth all 5 stars. I only picked this up because my enjoyment of the recent Marvel universe movies made me a little interested in the background, and I was blown away by all that Van Lente and Dunlavey managed to encompass. Highly, highly recommended for comic book fans, of any level.
December 17, 2015
Very nicely done! Van Lente and Dunlavey do an admirable job of condensing comics history into a single volume without leaving anything major out. This is comics history from an American point of view. Europe, the UK, and Japan are touched on only with regards to the ways in which their comics have been received in the USA, plus any pertaining cultural background--for the UK, for instance, Mick Anglo's Marvelman is mentioned partly for the Captain Marvel influence and partly because of its impact on Alan Moore's career; 2000AD and Warrior get mentioned for similar reasons. Not a complaint so much as an observation. Comics history is full of fascinating sidebars that aren't really germane to the big picture. That said, there's an impressive level of detail in this book, and I'd even go so far as to call it the single best general overview of the subject I've ever read. It belongs on the shelf next to Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics as an essential text. Van Lente and Dunlavey are particularly good at showing broader cultural context. One reason the Golden Age of comics took off in New York City in particular was because there was a large pool of out of work talent due to Fleischer Animation Studios packing up and moving to Florida. I had not known that before, not being a student of animation history. The book is chock full of such interesting details. Highly recommended!
October 20, 2013
This is impressive, I guess, in the very achievement of a comic book history of comics, as Scott McCloud helps us see comic theory through comic form...I can't say I really liked it, visually, though I see what they are doing, to pay homage to the various styles across the decades... But I still didn't love it... and its smart, well-researched, snarky, smart-assed, but I can't say I ever laughed or even smiled much... it's a bit of work to get through, as useful as it is for serious comics historians... it's intended to be entertaining but ends up feeling corny to me a lot. I have started this a couple times and put it down, saw all the rave reviews for it and thought I should get through it, give it a chance... I think it is a good basic intro to the whole history, so it's impressive in that respect, and never intends to be "objective," as in a typical history book, which I also appreciate. the scope of it for only 200 pages for the whole of the history is also pretty impressive... an impossible task to do to most people's satisfaction, I guess... or mine, at least!
December 18, 2015
This is a hard one to rate. It is a very dense, fairly interesting, unflaggingly homosocial history of comics, though it is not just one history, but overlapping, shifting histories, re-manifesting histories. By the end of the book it is clear that there are many ways to approach comic history and some versions could go back as far as several hundred years and some to the early nineteen hundreds (I would argue for cave paintings as another beginning).
How and when does an art form begin? Where do we locate the earliest seedlings? Who knows. Creation myths are, after all, myths. But there are less mythical seminal moments that stand out. There are people who are clearly of utmost influence and importance. And Lente tries to clarify and describe these moments and immortalize the people who happen to be, every single one of them, men.
So, what do I think of this book? It's tries to be silly at times when it doesn't need to be and probably shouldn't be. It confuses comic and comic (as if a book about sequential art has to be a comedy). Sometimes I worry Lente is stuck in Action Philosophers mode like an old fashioned record player, and he can't get out of that mode of hyper-active caricature. There are a lot of gags in here and it's just too packed with intensity and theatricality. There is a forced quality to the humor. Graphics work in a way that I find distracts from the text rather than offering textual collaboration.
I think I would have loved a very similar but very different book. One addressing similar content, but with a different demeanor, a calmer, more confident approach, and one that isn't to the Bechdel test what a radish is to cheesecake.
How and when does an art form begin? Where do we locate the earliest seedlings? Who knows. Creation myths are, after all, myths. But there are less mythical seminal moments that stand out. There are people who are clearly of utmost influence and importance. And Lente tries to clarify and describe these moments and immortalize the people who happen to be, every single one of them, men.
So, what do I think of this book? It's tries to be silly at times when it doesn't need to be and probably shouldn't be. It confuses comic and comic (as if a book about sequential art has to be a comedy). Sometimes I worry Lente is stuck in Action Philosophers mode like an old fashioned record player, and he can't get out of that mode of hyper-active caricature. There are a lot of gags in here and it's just too packed with intensity and theatricality. There is a forced quality to the humor. Graphics work in a way that I find distracts from the text rather than offering textual collaboration.
I think I would have loved a very similar but very different book. One addressing similar content, but with a different demeanor, a calmer, more confident approach, and one that isn't to the Bechdel test what a radish is to cheesecake.
August 15, 2014
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of COURSE this is incomplete. Partial. A bit scattered. The entire history of an art form is difficult to contain in a linear narrative. I appreciated reading this for myself, as an overview of points in comics history I haven't studied before. I feel like I understand the ownership rights drama a little bit better now that I've read this. And have more fodder for my ongoing opinion-forming re: superheroes and their pluses and minuses and ramifications for amerikan culture.
BECAUSE there's SO MUCH Content, this feels a little breathless. The pages are packed with illustrations and text, and the reader gets no breaks. So, I feel like, as a comic book, this could be better crafted. But the content is important and worth communicating. I'd almost say this would be a good text book for high school or so, but there's enough R rated content, maybe not so much. :)
Obviously biased and from a particular point of view, but fairly transparent in that point of view. The coverage of Disney is particularly intriguing. And I'm glad I now have context for names like Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and Osamu Tezuka.
It's a good start.
::cough cough would comics history pass the bechdel test? cough cough::
BECAUSE there's SO MUCH Content, this feels a little breathless. The pages are packed with illustrations and text, and the reader gets no breaks. So, I feel like, as a comic book, this could be better crafted. But the content is important and worth communicating. I'd almost say this would be a good text book for high school or so, but there's enough R rated content, maybe not so much. :)
Obviously biased and from a particular point of view, but fairly transparent in that point of view. The coverage of Disney is particularly intriguing. And I'm glad I now have context for names like Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and Osamu Tezuka.
It's a good start.
::cough cough would comics history pass the bechdel test? cough cough::
December 26, 2013
All in all, I was expecting the Comic Book History of Comics to be better. It's an interesting concept, presenting the history of comics in comic form, but sadly let down by the execution. First off, I can't say I'm much of a comic geek, so my grounds for evaluating the history part are shaky. That said, it seemed disjointed and slapdash. It also felt rather one-sided, as if someone set out to write the history of the Golden Age and Silver Age and the rest was almost an afterthought- the parts about foreign comics in particular seem tacked on, almost as if the author showed someone the manuscript and they came back at him with 'hey, what about the rest of the world?' There was no coherent narrative. That might have been all right, given that this is a comic book, if the author had also chosen to showcase different styles from section to section, but the same style is used throughout, aside from occasional obligatory take-offs on particular characters or artists. It isn't a particularly interesting style, and it fails to make many of the earlier authors distinct from one another, with the exception of Jack Kirby. ("Wait, which guy in a generic shirt and pants is that again?") I wavered between two and three stars on this one, but decided to go with three, mostly because it's Christmas.
July 24, 2012
Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey, creators of the unexpected and exceptional Action Philosophers, return to the nonfiction comics realm with this hilarious and insightful history of their chosen medium. Much like in Philosophers, the duo effectively uses exaggeration and humor. Van Lente employees asides and one-liners. Dunlavey relies on the best techniques from cartoonist forebearers. Perhaps nothing benefits more from this style than the events involving EC. They manage to display M.C. Gaines as a visionary, victim, and buffoon, often all at the same time. Though not as thorough as other similar prose histories, The Comic Book History of Comics covers the highlights in an energetic and exciting fashion of the convoluted, chaotic, and often tortured history in a unique and informative manner.
December 27, 2013
As with Action Philosophers, I got the individual issues of this title as they first came out. But reading the final product in toto is a different experience. This is a book I would like to teach, alongside Scott McCloud's, in an introductory comics class.
February 8, 2018
Packed with lots of great information but man, what a slog. This was essentially an overwritten dump of comics history with a lack of direction or focus. While the addition of the "women in comics" segments are appreciated (and important!) they feel completely tacked on here.
October 29, 2012
outstanding! i could feel my brain percolating. so much fun. just a ton of information and presented so well and clearly.
only now i feel a really expensive comics jag coming on...
only now i feel a really expensive comics jag coming on...
June 21, 2013
This review originally appeared on my blog Shared Universe Reviews .
In approximately 220 pages, Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey somehow manage to write and draw the history of comic books. This was a huge undertaking and anybody even slightly familiar with the history contained in this comic will know that. For those who didn’t know just how audacious a project this one, looking at the sources index organized by chapters will surely go a long way in helping you understand. The history of comics is long and rich enough that there have been books published that focused narrowly on even just one of the many subjects Van Lente and Dunlavey present in The Comic Book History of Comics. Still, the creative team did have to concentrate their efforts a bit and they do put the focus mostly on the development of American comics. Nevertheless, they take the time to highlight the importance and the contributions of outside markets and sometimes even concentrate on the importance of specific creators such as Osamu Tezuka.
Two things really stuck out to me while reading. The first is that it was a regular practice for most publishers since the early days of comics to print and sell as many issues and titles of whatever appeared to be popular at the present time. Because of this you got large booms in particular genres for a relatively short period of time only to see them vanish just as quickly. The rise and fall of romance comics is but one example of this. After learning that it’s discomforting to notice that the trend still seems to be going on today.
The second thing that stuck out was that creators regularly mistreated one another, sometimes in public and often in public locals, most notably courts of law. It saddens me as someone who regularly reads and enjoys comics and believes the creator rights that there has been, and unfortunately continues to be, numerous battles (often legal in nature) between creators. I'm aware that not all of them fought so much but it's upsetting to know that Stan Lee has his little cameo in all the Marvel studio movies and that his name is widely known. His name is often dropped in episodes of The Big Bang Theory and he's appeared on the show at least once. But how many of the show’s non-comics-reading fans even know who Jack Kirby is and how many of those are aware of the constant mistreatment he faced during the entire length of his prolific and influential career in comics?
It can be far too easy to enjoy reading comics in a vacuum within considering what goes on behind the scenes but I appreciate being given a reminder of the hardships some of the comic creators faced. It makes you appreciate their body of work more and it also makes you think a little about who you’re giving your money to when you buy your comics. I’d much rather purchase a comic such The Comic Book History of Comics than the 9 batman titles they sell each month. Both of those frustrations seem to primarily affect the American comics industry. It's quite nice that Van Lente and Dunlavey showed why there didn’t seem to be the same issues in the European market.
Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey are unapologetic in their approach to the history of the medium they clearly love. They provide a balanced view of comic book history, sometimes including things like the Walt Disney and Max Fleischer animation war, which I wouldn’t automatically related to comics works well in the context. Van Lenteand Dunlavey are clear in their explanation as to why the animation war played an important role in the development of comics and creator rights legal battles.
The Comic Book History of Comics makes me feel bad for having ignored or neglected to read some important comics work. I mean, I’ve never even read Maus. Pretty shameful, I know. Still, I’m grateful for the creative team’s push to explore more classic comic works.
The ending is spot on. Despite the fact that the comics industry has faced numerous issues and setbacks in its history, the book ends on a positive note. I’m sure if we looked at the history of film we would find as much in-fighting and lawsuits and idea stealing as we did here. It’s part of the entertainment industry and it’s easy to understand why creators defend their ideas so vehemently. One of the strengths of this important work is that the creative team accepts the good along with the bad and presents all of these to the reader. As a bonus to us, they do so with wit, humour and sharp criticism. It’s an absolute delight to read and, perhaps surprisingly, incredibly informative.
In approximately 220 pages, Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey somehow manage to write and draw the history of comic books. This was a huge undertaking and anybody even slightly familiar with the history contained in this comic will know that. For those who didn’t know just how audacious a project this one, looking at the sources index organized by chapters will surely go a long way in helping you understand. The history of comics is long and rich enough that there have been books published that focused narrowly on even just one of the many subjects Van Lente and Dunlavey present in The Comic Book History of Comics. Still, the creative team did have to concentrate their efforts a bit and they do put the focus mostly on the development of American comics. Nevertheless, they take the time to highlight the importance and the contributions of outside markets and sometimes even concentrate on the importance of specific creators such as Osamu Tezuka.
Two things really stuck out to me while reading. The first is that it was a regular practice for most publishers since the early days of comics to print and sell as many issues and titles of whatever appeared to be popular at the present time. Because of this you got large booms in particular genres for a relatively short period of time only to see them vanish just as quickly. The rise and fall of romance comics is but one example of this. After learning that it’s discomforting to notice that the trend still seems to be going on today.
The second thing that stuck out was that creators regularly mistreated one another, sometimes in public and often in public locals, most notably courts of law. It saddens me as someone who regularly reads and enjoys comics and believes the creator rights that there has been, and unfortunately continues to be, numerous battles (often legal in nature) between creators. I'm aware that not all of them fought so much but it's upsetting to know that Stan Lee has his little cameo in all the Marvel studio movies and that his name is widely known. His name is often dropped in episodes of The Big Bang Theory and he's appeared on the show at least once. But how many of the show’s non-comics-reading fans even know who Jack Kirby is and how many of those are aware of the constant mistreatment he faced during the entire length of his prolific and influential career in comics?
It can be far too easy to enjoy reading comics in a vacuum within considering what goes on behind the scenes but I appreciate being given a reminder of the hardships some of the comic creators faced. It makes you appreciate their body of work more and it also makes you think a little about who you’re giving your money to when you buy your comics. I’d much rather purchase a comic such The Comic Book History of Comics than the 9 batman titles they sell each month. Both of those frustrations seem to primarily affect the American comics industry. It's quite nice that Van Lente and Dunlavey showed why there didn’t seem to be the same issues in the European market.
Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey are unapologetic in their approach to the history of the medium they clearly love. They provide a balanced view of comic book history, sometimes including things like the Walt Disney and Max Fleischer animation war, which I wouldn’t automatically related to comics works well in the context. Van Lenteand Dunlavey are clear in their explanation as to why the animation war played an important role in the development of comics and creator rights legal battles.
The Comic Book History of Comics makes me feel bad for having ignored or neglected to read some important comics work. I mean, I’ve never even read Maus. Pretty shameful, I know. Still, I’m grateful for the creative team’s push to explore more classic comic works.
The ending is spot on. Despite the fact that the comics industry has faced numerous issues and setbacks in its history, the book ends on a positive note. I’m sure if we looked at the history of film we would find as much in-fighting and lawsuits and idea stealing as we did here. It’s part of the entertainment industry and it’s easy to understand why creators defend their ideas so vehemently. One of the strengths of this important work is that the creative team accepts the good along with the bad and presents all of these to the reader. As a bonus to us, they do so with wit, humour and sharp criticism. It’s an absolute delight to read and, perhaps surprisingly, incredibly informative.
September 15, 2019
Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlevy do a pretty good job of detailing the history of comics in America here, with issues focusing on origins, World War II, the Comics Code's creation, the Marvel early years, underground comics and more. It manages to juggle a number of threads in a fairly coherent throughline, although there is a bit of jumping back and forth through time and introducing prominent people before letting them hang out in the background for an issue before resolving their stories (this is most notable in Robert Crumb's section). Still, it's a massive amount of information that is presented in an intelligible way, with art that is both reflective of the plot and the eras the story is moving through, which is an impressive feat. This collection ends in the early 70's, so there's room for another volume (and there's the Comics For All volume, which approaches from a more world-wide perspective), that I hope the authors will get a chance to address. They've done a great job of using the medium to tell the story of the medium, which can be a challenge.
May 26, 2019
I really wanted to like this. I hoped it would be as entertaining and engaging as Scott McCloud...but McCloud this is not. This my friends, is a textbook. A very well-written, thorough, informative textbook with plenty of value. But it is very dry, and very matter of fact. The worst part is that it's really not a comic at all, because the text drives 100% of everything. The pictures are just there to be there, as if this is a children's book trying to keep your attention. The medium isn't really utilized to its potential, and for that reason I find the title and intent here misleading. This is actually "The Illustrated History of Comics".
September 7, 2012
Great exploration of the history of American comics (there is some info on European and Japanese comics, but it's primarily about the U.S.). Comics is a great medium for presenting information, so this is a good fit. It seems odd that it took so long for somebody to do a history of comics in comics form. I hope Van Lente & Dunlavey do more non-fiction comics to sit alongside this and their earlier "Action Philosophers Comics."
June 11, 2012
Utterly fascinating, clever, and brutally honest. Rips the band-aid off the wound of most of the unspoken truths and keeps going. Everything (almost) is covered from Disney (yay!) to Tezuka to Crumb to Image to piracy.
The only comics "textbook" to actually touch on the history of comics that I know of. Isn't afraid to get dirty, but also doesn't choose sides (ie. Stan Lee/Kirby/Ditko/Marvel).
Required reading for any fan of comics.
The only comics "textbook" to actually touch on the history of comics that I know of. Isn't afraid to get dirty, but also doesn't choose sides (ie. Stan Lee/Kirby/Ditko/Marvel).
Required reading for any fan of comics.
September 18, 2012
Great idea for a fun-to-read history of the comics form, with lots of humor and visual gags tossed in for good measure.
February 20, 2018
Often wry, snide, ironic and sarcastic, The Comic Book History of Comics is an engaging introduction to the appeal and evolution of illustrated storytelling.
August 5, 2019
I absolutely loved The Comic Book History of Comics. As the title says, it is in graphic novel (or comic book) format which works really well because the imagery shifts to gently mirror whatever subject the authors are talking on. The chapters are in thematic order that are roughly chronological but with lots of moving back and forth at is it covers the birth of the funnies, how they turned into comic strips, the first comic books, the golden age of superheroes, romance, horror, the legal battles over IP in the comic book industry, underground comics, graphic novels, French comics, and Japanese manga--among other topics.
All of this is grounded in a broader cultural history. For example, LA based Disney and a more gritty, Jewish/urban group based in New York are competing. The former ends up winning out by developing feature length animated film, driving the later out of business--and creating a supply of Jewish artists in New York for the emerging comic book industry. Much later, Stan Lee becomes like an "auteur" at a time when auter's are rising in cinema. Pop culture like Lichtenstein and Warhol ends up legitimating comic books. The Nazis didn't allow American comic books in occupied France and Belgium, leading them to miss out on superheroes and develop their own independent comic cultures. The comics code in the 1950s in the United States limited what could and could not be shown in comics, leading to stagnation in traditional forms but eventually to the underground comics and the liberation of regular comics.
I don't particularly like superhero comics but love graphic novels. Regardless of ones interest in these forms, this was an exciting literary and cultural history.
All of this is grounded in a broader cultural history. For example, LA based Disney and a more gritty, Jewish/urban group based in New York are competing. The former ends up winning out by developing feature length animated film, driving the later out of business--and creating a supply of Jewish artists in New York for the emerging comic book industry. Much later, Stan Lee becomes like an "auteur" at a time when auter's are rising in cinema. Pop culture like Lichtenstein and Warhol ends up legitimating comic books. The Nazis didn't allow American comic books in occupied France and Belgium, leading them to miss out on superheroes and develop their own independent comic cultures. The comics code in the 1950s in the United States limited what could and could not be shown in comics, leading to stagnation in traditional forms but eventually to the underground comics and the liberation of regular comics.
I don't particularly like superhero comics but love graphic novels. Regardless of ones interest in these forms, this was an exciting literary and cultural history.
April 5, 2017
Writer Fred Van Lente tackles the arduous task of making a comic book story, and not only does he not disappoint but it does so in the most daring way. Although the data it exposes are more or less known by the fans, it contributes a historical perspective of several of the cultural movements and commercial phenomena that marked the evolution of the comic. Focusing on American comics but with brief drifts for European and manga, this is the first text in which I have seen tackle without concessions controversial topics such as censorship, the rights of authors over their creation or digital piracy. In addition, what could be a long narrative full of dates and names is enlivened thanks to the complicity of artist Ryan Dunlavey, whose art is evolving remarkably, and that using all kinds of gags and visual metaphors (some unfriendly with their protagonists) makes us The course much more enjoyable. It reads like an informative, but also vindicative work, written from a certain indie militancy.
Absolutely recommended for comic fans who want to know about the long distance the medium had to go in order to reach its current status, and some unedifying stories of the great American publishers, who should be grateful that this work has been published with IDW and that the average Superhero fan will not bother to read it (although the writer is working for Marvel now, oh the irony).
Absolutely recommended for comic fans who want to know about the long distance the medium had to go in order to reach its current status, and some unedifying stories of the great American publishers, who should be grateful that this work has been published with IDW and that the average Superhero fan will not bother to read it (although the writer is working for Marvel now, oh the irony).
April 2, 2017
As a new and casual comic collector, this graphic novel provides useful context on the history of comics. I found the earlier parts of the book to be a bit boring, but towards the end where I knew a little more the context I enjoyed it more. I'm a little disappointed that it's in black and white: I liked the changing art style demonstrating new developments in comics towards the beginning, and it would have been cool if that had continued into changes in approach to colour.
November 8, 2018
Very interesting ever to a middle aged lady who didn't grow up on traditional comic books.
November 22, 2018
I wish I could build an entire course around this. Simply the best, most intriguing and most entertaining history of comics out there. A must for any musty fingered comic fan.
December 5, 2021
Было сложно читать книгу: обилие имён, издательств, фактов. Иногда казалось, что я читаю алфавитный указатель. Когда читал "понимание комикса" было ощущение целостности, плавного рассказа, а здесь, скорее, нет. Много внимания уделено юридическим разборкам авторства в комиксах. Любопытно было узнать, что японские комиксы — последователи американских.
October 5, 2012
The Comic Book History of Comics by Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey presents the long and storied history of the comic book and graphic novel art form and the industry that spawned it in the only format befitting the true history of comics, a comic book. In this meticulously researched book you will laugh, you will howl and you will even learn a thing or two about comics in America and all over the world.
In this book, IDW Publishing has collected the six issue series Comic Book Comics originally published by Evil Twin Comics.
This wonderfully drawn and written history begins before comics were known as comics and carries on through modern times delving into the direct comic market and comic book piracy. The writer, Van Lente, and the artist, Dunlavey, don’t just tell you the history of comics in a “here are the facts” sort of way. This book combines the words and the pictures into a deep narrative where each part tells you something about the birth and growth of the medium.
Using caricatures for some of the biggest comic book influences from William M. Gaines to Jack Kirby to Robert Crumb and Alan Moore the art gives the book its distinct look. Dunlavey’s art is not limited to caricatures; each page is highly detailed and dense with art that tells the story of comic books. The pictures echo the words on the page reinforcing the history and giving a broader view of the events that words cannot convey.
Dunlavey’s detailed style creates little moments within the narrative. It is the symbolism he uses to give greater understanding to the story. When the Comics Code Authority is introduced bringing about the end of American crime and horror comics in the 1950s, Dunlavey has a squad of storm troopers attacking the vampire caricature symbolizing comic horror. The storm troopers wear badges with the distinct Comics Code Authority ‘A’ on their sleeves. Fine points like these create the metaphors that words cannot.
Van Lente tells the history at a stimulating pace. Covering the significant moments with depth and clarity using punchy dialogue that entertains as it recounts the details. Big events in the developments of the medium are given proper attention. Did you know that when Walt Disney released “Snow White” it had a profound impact on the development of comic books? This full-length animated movie put New York’s top animators out of work and created a plethora of talented artists hungry for work. What was the medium the artists found? Comic books.
The creation of the Marvel Universe in 1961 also receives a great introduction to Stan Lee’s changing of Timely Comics into Marvel Comics. Van Lente mimics Lee’s bombastic dialogue as Lee toils with his future and desire to come up with something new that would either be his last hurrah in comics or the birth of realism in comic books. Dunlavey’s art uses the iconic imagery of Marvel in the 1960s to hammer home Lee’s enthusiastic thought process which led to the creation of the Fantastic Four.
The book is not limited to the creation of comic books but also looks at the stigma that surrounds comic books. Van Lente and Dunlavey explore why comics in the United States are viewed as immature and for children, where in Europe and Japan comic books are a form of high art and are revered by not just comic book readers but by the entire culture.
This stigma of comics can be traced back to World War II and the immediate aftermath. Just as American publishers were stifling their own creativity with the Comics Code Authority, Japan and Europe were developing new and innovative comics that covered all genres. Americans became great at making super hero comic books, but thanks to some anti-American sentiment and a desire to make their own art, Europe led by the French, and Japan were challenging what comic books can be. It is something American comics are trying to reclaim but struggle with to this day.
This book pulls no punches and talks about the seedy origins of comics and the unsavory characters that played a roll in creating some of the most beloved characters in comic books. Van Lente and Dunlavey present all arguments and sides to all stories in an understandable format. Topics from creator’s rights, creative disputes, the Marvel Method, the underground comics scene and the black and white boom of the 1980s are all explored lending much to the wide and varied tapestry that is the history of the comic books. This history book will appeal to history buffs and comic aficionados and fans.
In this book, IDW Publishing has collected the six issue series Comic Book Comics originally published by Evil Twin Comics.
This wonderfully drawn and written history begins before comics were known as comics and carries on through modern times delving into the direct comic market and comic book piracy. The writer, Van Lente, and the artist, Dunlavey, don’t just tell you the history of comics in a “here are the facts” sort of way. This book combines the words and the pictures into a deep narrative where each part tells you something about the birth and growth of the medium.
Using caricatures for some of the biggest comic book influences from William M. Gaines to Jack Kirby to Robert Crumb and Alan Moore the art gives the book its distinct look. Dunlavey’s art is not limited to caricatures; each page is highly detailed and dense with art that tells the story of comic books. The pictures echo the words on the page reinforcing the history and giving a broader view of the events that words cannot convey.
Dunlavey’s detailed style creates little moments within the narrative. It is the symbolism he uses to give greater understanding to the story. When the Comics Code Authority is introduced bringing about the end of American crime and horror comics in the 1950s, Dunlavey has a squad of storm troopers attacking the vampire caricature symbolizing comic horror. The storm troopers wear badges with the distinct Comics Code Authority ‘A’ on their sleeves. Fine points like these create the metaphors that words cannot.
Van Lente tells the history at a stimulating pace. Covering the significant moments with depth and clarity using punchy dialogue that entertains as it recounts the details. Big events in the developments of the medium are given proper attention. Did you know that when Walt Disney released “Snow White” it had a profound impact on the development of comic books? This full-length animated movie put New York’s top animators out of work and created a plethora of talented artists hungry for work. What was the medium the artists found? Comic books.
The creation of the Marvel Universe in 1961 also receives a great introduction to Stan Lee’s changing of Timely Comics into Marvel Comics. Van Lente mimics Lee’s bombastic dialogue as Lee toils with his future and desire to come up with something new that would either be his last hurrah in comics or the birth of realism in comic books. Dunlavey’s art uses the iconic imagery of Marvel in the 1960s to hammer home Lee’s enthusiastic thought process which led to the creation of the Fantastic Four.
The book is not limited to the creation of comic books but also looks at the stigma that surrounds comic books. Van Lente and Dunlavey explore why comics in the United States are viewed as immature and for children, where in Europe and Japan comic books are a form of high art and are revered by not just comic book readers but by the entire culture.
This stigma of comics can be traced back to World War II and the immediate aftermath. Just as American publishers were stifling their own creativity with the Comics Code Authority, Japan and Europe were developing new and innovative comics that covered all genres. Americans became great at making super hero comic books, but thanks to some anti-American sentiment and a desire to make their own art, Europe led by the French, and Japan were challenging what comic books can be. It is something American comics are trying to reclaim but struggle with to this day.
This book pulls no punches and talks about the seedy origins of comics and the unsavory characters that played a roll in creating some of the most beloved characters in comic books. Van Lente and Dunlavey present all arguments and sides to all stories in an understandable format. Topics from creator’s rights, creative disputes, the Marvel Method, the underground comics scene and the black and white boom of the 1980s are all explored lending much to the wide and varied tapestry that is the history of the comic books. This history book will appeal to history buffs and comic aficionados and fans.
December 18, 2013
When I saw the premise for this book, I was immediately excited. A history of comics done as a comic book is perfect! It would allow the writer to show exact examples of what he was describing. Sadly, the artwork is quite poor, and rarely takes advantage of the medium.
The writing is mostly solid, especially considering the vast amount of material covered. It's almost like trying to write the history of music. Even if you focused on just Rock 'n Roll, you would have to explain the roots, tangents, developments, revolutions, and hit as many key players as possible. Fred Van Lente, the writer, does all of this remarkably well. He's obviously done extensive research. I was a little bothered that he didn't do a better job attributing some of his quotes, but that's a small complaint. There is a lot of information here, and it's mostly well organized.
The real problem comes from the artist, Ryan Dunlavey. He has a simplistic, almost crude style. This in itself isn't necessarily a problem (although at times it is way too cluttered). But instead of reproducing actual art from the sources, he does a halfhearted "representation" of the art, and that just doesn't work. I suppose the authors were afraid of copyright infringement, but I can't imagine why. This is a historical, educational text; surely anything included would fall squarely under "Fair Use." Don't tell me how radical Jack Kirby's art was, show me! Let me see Herge, Crumb, Spiegelman, McFarlane!
The other problem is their failure to use the graphic medium to its fullest. There are some places where they arrange the panels to illustrate the style of an artist, but for the vast majority of the book it is just a straight, boring, four-panel layout. What a wasted opportunity! When trying to follow the strange, incestuous relationship of early comic artists and companies, it would have been wonderful to have a nicely illustrated chart or family tree. In most books, that would be expecting to much; but this whole book is illustrations!
I did learn a lot from the book. The history described is rich and interesting, and unfortunately filled with more villains than heroes, it seems. But ultimately it was frustrating, because it felt like I was reading a book that just happened to be a comic, rather than one that was designed to be so. The authors would have benefited greatly by reading more deeply into the works of Scott McCloud and Edward Tufte.
The writing is mostly solid, especially considering the vast amount of material covered. It's almost like trying to write the history of music. Even if you focused on just Rock 'n Roll, you would have to explain the roots, tangents, developments, revolutions, and hit as many key players as possible. Fred Van Lente, the writer, does all of this remarkably well. He's obviously done extensive research. I was a little bothered that he didn't do a better job attributing some of his quotes, but that's a small complaint. There is a lot of information here, and it's mostly well organized.
The real problem comes from the artist, Ryan Dunlavey. He has a simplistic, almost crude style. This in itself isn't necessarily a problem (although at times it is way too cluttered). But instead of reproducing actual art from the sources, he does a halfhearted "representation" of the art, and that just doesn't work. I suppose the authors were afraid of copyright infringement, but I can't imagine why. This is a historical, educational text; surely anything included would fall squarely under "Fair Use." Don't tell me how radical Jack Kirby's art was, show me! Let me see Herge, Crumb, Spiegelman, McFarlane!
The other problem is their failure to use the graphic medium to its fullest. There are some places where they arrange the panels to illustrate the style of an artist, but for the vast majority of the book it is just a straight, boring, four-panel layout. What a wasted opportunity! When trying to follow the strange, incestuous relationship of early comic artists and companies, it would have been wonderful to have a nicely illustrated chart or family tree. In most books, that would be expecting to much; but this whole book is illustrations!
I did learn a lot from the book. The history described is rich and interesting, and unfortunately filled with more villains than heroes, it seems. But ultimately it was frustrating, because it felt like I was reading a book that just happened to be a comic, rather than one that was designed to be so. The authors would have benefited greatly by reading more deeply into the works of Scott McCloud and Edward Tufte.
July 29, 2022
A slight disappointment, but relative to my initial high hopes this lands squarely in the middle.
You know how some of us recoil a bit at the sound of "history," remembering names, dates, treaties, wars—all the boring stuff from school? (Unless you love history, of course). Somehow I thought I'd be free of that in a history of comics, and yet, not so. This was very much a names, dates, treaties (i.e. contracts), wars (i.e. contract disputes) kind of history.
There was so, so much about this company and that writer and this artist and that law and this distribution method and that lawsuit and on and on and on, but nothing about, say, Peanuts. I don't know how you do a history of comics without talking about Peanuts, I really don't.
And the "comic book" style history didn't really lean into its comic-book-ness. Instead of appreciating the panels as text and image combined, almost every panel was narration and illustration; sometimes the illustrations had a word balloon or two, but for the most part the illustrations were unnecessary for the telling of the story. So it really felt like your usual history.
(Because of the format, I was especially thinking we'd see a lot about technical innovations, stylistic choices, things that could best be expressed visually—but all the topics covered could have been handled just as easily in a normal narrative without visual assistance).
So I was disappointed, because the title and format led me to expect something quite a bit different. We coincided on "it's about comics," but that's as far as my expectations met their delivery. I'm an Art Historian by training, all the way up to a Masters degree, and I can assure you the interesting part of Impressionism or Cubism or the Rococo, to me, is What It Looks Like (and how that differs from what art looked liked previously), not the age, background, and trials and tribulations of the artists.
Retitle this A Comic Book History of the Comic Book Business and it would be far more accurate.
Note: I have written a novel (not yet published), so now I will suffer pangs of guilt every time I offer less than five stars. In my subjective opinion, the stars suggest:
(5* = one of my all-time favourites, 4* = really enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = actually disappointing, and 1* = hated it. As a statistician I know most books are 3s, but I am biased in my selection and end up mostly with 4s, thank goodness.)
You know how some of us recoil a bit at the sound of "history," remembering names, dates, treaties, wars—all the boring stuff from school? (Unless you love history, of course). Somehow I thought I'd be free of that in a history of comics, and yet, not so. This was very much a names, dates, treaties (i.e. contracts), wars (i.e. contract disputes) kind of history.
There was so, so much about this company and that writer and this artist and that law and this distribution method and that lawsuit and on and on and on, but nothing about, say, Peanuts. I don't know how you do a history of comics without talking about Peanuts, I really don't.
And the "comic book" style history didn't really lean into its comic-book-ness. Instead of appreciating the panels as text and image combined, almost every panel was narration and illustration; sometimes the illustrations had a word balloon or two, but for the most part the illustrations were unnecessary for the telling of the story. So it really felt like your usual history.
(Because of the format, I was especially thinking we'd see a lot about technical innovations, stylistic choices, things that could best be expressed visually—but all the topics covered could have been handled just as easily in a normal narrative without visual assistance).
So I was disappointed, because the title and format led me to expect something quite a bit different. We coincided on "it's about comics," but that's as far as my expectations met their delivery. I'm an Art Historian by training, all the way up to a Masters degree, and I can assure you the interesting part of Impressionism or Cubism or the Rococo, to me, is What It Looks Like (and how that differs from what art looked liked previously), not the age, background, and trials and tribulations of the artists.
Retitle this A Comic Book History of the Comic Book Business and it would be far more accurate.
Note: I have written a novel (not yet published), so now I will suffer pangs of guilt every time I offer less than five stars. In my subjective opinion, the stars suggest:
(5* = one of my all-time favourites, 4* = really enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = actually disappointing, and 1* = hated it. As a statistician I know most books are 3s, but I am biased in my selection and end up mostly with 4s, thank goodness.)
January 15, 2017
This is more a "history of the comics industry" than a "history of comics". It talks more about publishing trends and publishing houses and fights over character ownership than it does about artistic style. And it is very much focused on the USA, with only a little content about Europe and Japan, and not very much about underground or independent comics. And that is OK, and interesting, but the title is a bit misleading.
In this telling, the creation of classic characters like Batman, Superman, Archie, etc., mostly seem to come about by a messy process of trial and error. Some talented people working in factory-like conditions just came up with a bunch of semi-random ideas and then kept going with whatever sold well. And then the credit and profits would go to the company, not the creators. Though, to be fair, the popularity of many of those characters is due not to the original version, but to many factors including things added by later creators working for the companies.
The story of the _art_ of comics, rather than the business, is also interesting, and there is more of that in works like Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art and Reading Comics.
In this telling, the creation of classic characters like Batman, Superman, Archie, etc., mostly seem to come about by a messy process of trial and error. Some talented people working in factory-like conditions just came up with a bunch of semi-random ideas and then kept going with whatever sold well. And then the credit and profits would go to the company, not the creators. Though, to be fair, the popularity of many of those characters is due not to the original version, but to many factors including things added by later creators working for the companies.
The story of the _art_ of comics, rather than the business, is also interesting, and there is more of that in works like Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art and Reading Comics.
July 5, 2016
Whew! I had no idea this would be so dense when I started it, but I'm better off for it! I was surprised to see van Lente bring in bits of animation history where it overlapped with comics history and was interested to find out how much it influenced the comics industry. It picks up pretty quickly after that, covering such major events as the Seduction of the Innocence and the Senate subcommittee hearings, the creation of Marvel Comics, the underground comix scene, the battle over creators' rights between artists like Jack Kirby and Jerry Siegel, the "British Invasion" in the mid-eighties and the speculation boom and bust in the eighties and nineties, and the development of Franco-Belgian and Japanese comics. Any chapter could be a jumping off point for further research on any of those topics and van Lente's and Dunlavey's presentation effectively stirs up interest in doing further research in almost all of them. This is definitely only a starting point, but the extensive chapter notes at the end provide plenty of avenues for exploration.
One major thing that struck me was that modern comics is a pretty uniquely American invention, with early comics providing inspiration in both Europe and Japan. It's a little sad to see how much more culturally accepted they are there as well, without having had the near-death blow that Americans comics had because of Wertham in the 1950's.
One major thing that struck me was that modern comics is a pretty uniquely American invention, with early comics providing inspiration in both Europe and Japan. It's a little sad to see how much more culturally accepted they are there as well, without having had the near-death blow that Americans comics had because of Wertham in the 1950's.
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