The Complete Milt Gross Comic Books and Life Story [Hardcover]

Milt Gross (Author, Artist)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 3, 2010

Milt Gross was a cartooning genius who was championed by Art Spiegelman in "Raw" and Dan Nadel in "Art Out of Time." Gross wrote and drew what many consider to be the first graphic novel, "He Done Her Wrong," and was a popular comic stripper (with hilarious cartoon-style Yiddish-isms), animator, and screenplay writer (co-writer of films with Charlie Chaplin). This beautifully designed book collects the complete comic book stories of comic genius Milt Gross, culled from rare, impossible-to-track-down comic books of the 40s, which have been lovingly restored. In addition to exhuming every one of Gross' wild and crazy comic book stories, this tome shares rarephotos, sketches, and unpublished art, including the previously unknown cover to the Milt Gross Funnies #3!

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Toward the end of a long career spent writing cartoon-and-prose books, drawing a variety of newspaper strips, and in Hollywood, humorist Gross turned in the late 1940s to the relatively disreputable realm of comic books. He brought with him a number of his features from the funny pages, including That's My Pop, about a boastful layabout whose credulous son admires him nevertheless; Count Screwloose, about a resident of the Balmycrest Booby Hatch; and Banana Oil, in which frauds and braggarts are debunked with the titular rejoinder, which became a catchphrase. Gross augmented those with new creations, including ditsy Moronica and annoying canine Pete the Pooch. Such characters' outlandish behavior and breezy, loopy dialogue (which retains only a trace of the distinctive Yiddish-inflected patois characteristic of Gross' earlier work) were matched by the artist's wildly hyperbolic, screwball drawings. As if comics curator Yoe hadn't done enough service by unearthing these long-unseen stories, he prefaces them with a lengthy biographical essay illustrated with art from throughout Gross' career. --Gordon Flagg

Review

How do I love thee, let me count the ways: this isn't so much a book review, but a book RAVE. Craig Yoe's massive new tome reprinting the comic book art of Milt Gross (IDW/Yoe Books, 354 color pages, $39.99 or cheaper on Amazon) is an absolute must-have by everyone reading this blog. Buy it now. Gross was the dean of funny cartoonists, influencing everyone from Bob Clampett and Harvey Kurtzman to R. Crumb. He pioneered what we call today the graphic novel, worked in animation, wrote songs, coined slang, had a long running newspaper comic strip and directed two insane MGM cartoons in the 1930s (I've embedded one of them, Jitterbug Follies (1939), below). Yoe's new book reprints Gross rarely seen comic pages for Picture News magazine and for the American Comics Group (ACG) from the 1940s. He precedes this with a 38 page detailed history of Milt Gross, loaded with rare cartoons, advertisements, still photos and frame grabs that are worth the price of the book alone. A Foreword by Herb Gross (Milt's son) and a clever Fold-INtroduction by Mad's Al Jaffee set the zany tone. The Complete Milt Gross Comic Books and Life Story; To paraphrase both Jack Kirby and Milt Gross: Dun't Esk, just buy it! --cartoonbrew.com

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Idea & Design Works Llc (February 3, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1600105467
• ISBN-13: 978-1600105463
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.7 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #759,628 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Vice magazine calls Craig Yoe the "Indiana Jones of comics historians." Publishers Weekly says he's the "archivist of the ridiculous and sublime" and calls his work "brilliant." The Onion calls him "the celebrated designer." The Library Journal, "a comics guru." BoingBoing hails him "a fine cartoonist and a comic book historian of the first water." Yoe was Creative Director/Vice President/General Manager of Jim Henson's Muppets, and a Creative Director at Nickelodeon and Disney. Craig has won an Eisner Award and the Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Long overdue book about a forgotten comic genius, March 16, 2010

By 

David Burd (East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete Milt Gross Comic Books and Life Story (Hardcover)

Writer/editor Craig Yoe seems to specialize in uncovering little-known cartoonists such as Boody Rogers and the many obscure artists he explored in the four Arf volumes (Modern Arf, Arf Museum, Arf Forum and Comic Arf). This time, Yoe focuses on one of the most famous and successful cartoonists of the last century, who sadly has faded into relative obscurity. It's about time somebody did a book on Milt Gross, the only artist to have his name in the title of a comic book (save for Walt Disney who never actually drew comics).

The book is wonderful, and Gross deserves most of the credit for that, since it includes all of his comic book work in one hefty volume comprising an impressive 354 pages. The comic book pages are nicely reproduced (and not re-colored or doctored) from the original comics and are predictably hilarious. Milt's work is just terrific which it makes it all the more mysterious why he isn't more popular today. (Maybe this book will change that situation.)

But we can't ignore Yoe's contribution to the book, not only as editor and archivist but as author of a fairly in-depth biography that's chock full of rare illustrations and photographs. There's lots to read in this fascinating tale of success in the first half of the 20th century.

For me, the most enjoyable aspect of Milt's life story is how, back in the day, cartoonists were genuine stars, not unknown scribblers chained to a drawing board. From his work on the four-color funny pages Milt went on to work with Charlie Chaplin as a gag writer, among other accomplishments. Gross was a comic celebrity who dabbled in animation, books and even fine art.

I also have to say something about this book as a book. Unlike a novel, it is not "Kindle-friendly." The cover alone is a work of art, with a tipped-on color plate and fancy spot varnish on the spine. There are color endpapers that add to the deluxe feel. The tromp l'oeil effect on the cover makes it look like a tattered old comic book, but the quality binding assures that it will never actually be worn or tattered. The book even includes a Fold-In by Mad's Al Jaffee. Try THAT on a Kindle!

I highly recommend The Complete Milt Gross to anyone interested in comics history or anyone who just likes to laugh. It makes a great gift for the book-lover in your life.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gross Load of Cartoon Genius..., March 17, 2010

By 

Mike Fontanelli (Sherman Oaks, California USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Milt Gross Comic Books and Life Story (Hardcover)

Wow! There just aren't enough adjectives to describe the brilliant Milt Gross, one of the greatest American cartoonists of the 20th (or any other) Century. The last Gross reprint (HE DONE HER WRONG) came out in 2004. My review for that book contained the following: "A definitive, coffee table art book on Gross and his contributions to American comic strips and animated cartoons is long, long overdue..." Happily, that oversight has now been addressed with flying colors by groundbreaking editor/archivist Craig Yoe. An outstanding, milestone edition and a labor of love which I can sum up in two syllables: BUY IT!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is a treasure trove of brilliance, March 16, 2010

By 

Robert "Sudlow" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Milt Gross Comic Books and Life Story (Hardcover)

To me Milt Gross is like an underground cartoonist decades before underground comix. So it was no surprise at all to learn from the book that R. Crumb is a fan. Gross' work has many of the same sensibilities of Crumb. The book even shows how Crumb quoted Gross on the cover of Zap Comix: "Is Dis a System?"--and I like how that's now on the cover of this book.

Speaking of the cover I love the tipped-in plate and how it looks like an old beat-up comic, yet the printing inside is so perfect. This sets the bar for how reprints of classic comics should be done. Easily five stars, I wish there were more to give.