The Comics: Before 1945 [Hardcover]

Brian Walker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2004

In the five decades after the Yellow Kid first appeared in 1895, the funnies became an essential element of American life. Comic strip characters, Buster Brown, the Katzenjammer Kids, Krazy Kat, Tarzan, Dick Tracy, Popeye, Blondie, Li'l Abner, were everywhere. They starred in live-action and animated films, stage plays, and radio programs. Their phrases invaded the language; their adventures, which reflected societal changes, were retold in books and inspired hit songs.
This visually stunning, comprehensive survey, copiously illustrated with rare original comics art, is the most authoritative history of prewar American newspaper comics currently in print. It documents the major trends in the funnies business, decade by decade, and presents in-depth biographies of 21 of the most influential creators of the era. "The Comics Before 1945 joins Brian Walker's "The Comics Since 1945 to form a classic survey of American popular culture by one of the greatest authorities in the field.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Something of a prequel to Walker’s already released The Comics Since 1945, this volume actually surpasses its companion’s considerable beauty and charm—if only because early newspaper comics were so whimsical and imaginative. Gorgeously illustrated, the weighty coffee-table book is organized by decade, allowing it to broadly contextualize the strips into the historical periods that gave them life. There are also brief, page-long bios of their most notable creators, among them Richard Outcault (The Yellow Kid and Buster Brown), Frank King (Gasoline Alley), Cliff Sterrett (Polly and Her Pals), Harold Gray (Little Orphan Annie) and Chester Gould (Dick Tracy). For the most part, however, Walker wisely steps back and lets the strips tell their own stories—a good decision since the one fault of the book lies in his prose, which tends to chug along with a kind of bland lethargy that doesn’t quite rise to the verve of his subject. While informative and factually interesting, his writing often contains all the vigor of a college textbook. But the strips themselves are perfectly chosen and lovingly laid out: from the fanciful slapstick of the Katzenjammer Kids to the protosurrealist dreamscapes of Windsor McKay’s Little Nemo and the obsessively reenacted dramas of unrequited love in George Herriman’s Krazy Kat.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The New Yorker

Walker follows his previous book, "The Comics Since 1945," with this similarly encyclopedic and sumptuously produced volume. He asserts that comics did not, strictly speaking, start with the Yellow Kid (whose nightshirt was at first blue). Nonetheless, the spectacular success of Richard F. Outcault's grammatically inept street urchin essentially inaugurated American comic-strip culture. Walker revisits such popular titles as "Blondie," a high-living-flapper strip that subsequently became a tale about everyman Dagwood Bumstead; "Li'l Abner," said by John Steinbeck to contain some of the best writing in the world; "Secret Agent X-9," originally written by Dashiell Hammett; and the nearly forgotten "Wash Tubbs," which featured a valiant but flawed do-gooder named Captain Easy, the prototype for the modern superhero. Over the next half century, comics gradually split into the two main genres still recognizable today: improbable adventure stories and situational high jinks.
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams; 1ST edition (October 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810949709
• ISBN-13: 978-0810949706
• Product Dimensions: 13 x 9.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,073,333 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When Comics Were Funny, January 24, 2005

By 

Gord Wilson "alivingdog.com" (Bellingham, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Comics: Before 1945 (Hardcover)

And not just funny--witty, colorful, inventive, slapstick, adventurous--and eagerly awaited. Here's an oversized, hardback, full-color, coffee table book chock-full and brimming with the art of the funny papers. Brian Walker, son of Mort Walker (Beetle Bailey), not only draws comics but also mounts exhibitions of them. This book includes hand-colored originals from the Museum of Cartoon Art, as well as full page Sunday layouts. From the Yellow Kid and Hogan's Alley at the turn of the century to the wartime wonders of the 'forties, this is a coffee table book you can't put down. Retailing at $50, Amazon's price is about $30--a bargain and a steal for such a beautiful volume. Also check out Walker's companion volume, The Comics: Since 1945.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE Essential Book on American Comic Strip Art, April 6, 2007

By 

Craig W. Englund - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Comics: Before 1945 (Hardcover)

Anyone who is interested in American comic strips and their creators must have this book in their library. It is by far the most comprehensive survey of the genre and the best source for reproductions of the comic strips discussed. While obviously limited by space considerations, Brian Walker has done an admirable job of showing at least one example of most comic strips of connsequence from the first half of the twentieth century. The rather disturbing insecurity demonstrated by some comic artists and other commentators in other recent books (Masters of American Comics and Cartoon America), who seem obsessed with their desires to have comic art classified as "fine art," is nowhere to be found in Brian Walker's essays on the subject. He rightfully accepts comic art for what it is and, by providing useful background information on the creators, helps the reader appreciate the obvious merits of this art. The color reproductions in this volume are also superior to those in the catalogue which accompanied the recent comic art exhibition. All those with a new found interest in comic strip art after visiting that exhibit would be best served by making this their first purchase from those books currently available on the subject.

Craig Englund

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great as a gift book and for the hard to please fan!, August 14, 2005

By 

M. B. RENTZLER (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Comics: Before 1945 (Hardcover)

Many time book stores will sell gift books that are all fluff with no meat in them. This book (I am happy to state) is not one of them.

Broken up by decade you get a treasure trove of strips, some everyone knows and some obscure but beautiful (you will often find yourself wishing for more).

The text pieces are insightful and the strips themselves both are chosen for the classic and the obscure.

Well worth it for the Amazon price!!!