The New Smithsonian Book of Comic Book Stories: From Crumb to Clowes [Hardcover]

Bob Callahan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 17, 2004

A panorama of some of the most creative and subversive art of our times, this one-of-a-kind anthology celebrates the artistry and insight of comic book art, graphic novels, and graphic journalism from the 1960s to the present. Classics such as R. Crumb's I Remember the Sixties, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's Spider-Man saga “The Final Chapter,” and Dan Clowes's Caricature are featured, plus new sequences of work by Chris Ware and Ben Katchor created exclusively for this volume.

The book is divided into four main galleries: Underground Comics, Silver Age Super Heroes, A Raw Generation, and Dark Fiction and Deep Fantasy, and includes a special supplement of four-color work by Lynda Barry and others as well. In his lively introduction, Bob Callahan celebrates the achievements of American comic book art from the late 1930s to the present. An indispensable collection.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The first Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book Comics was and remains an invaluable resource for comics readers, collecting excellent and rare works with precision and wit. This new volume is neither precise nor witty, and actually performs a disservice to comics readers and historians. Under the aegis of collecting both mainstream and "alternative" comics from the mid-1960s to the present, Callahan has included such artists as Ben Katchor, Frank Miller, Joe Kubert and Chris Ware. With a book like this, insiders will inevitably make "how come so-and-so wasn't included" arguments. In this case, though, absences and inclusions will cause readers to question the core value of this volume. Callahan purports to cover the scope of comics from the last 40 or so years, but leaves out hugely influential figures in contemporary comics, including Mark Beyer, Aline Kominsky, Julie Doucet, Phoebe Gloeckner (there's a severe dearth of female cartoonists), Howard Chaykin, Chester Brown, Todd McFarlane, S. Clay Wilson, Dave Sim and many, many others. Instead, there are minor works by minor cartoonists like Rick Geary, Melinda Gebbie and Frank Stack, and jumbled or inconsequential work from great cartoonists like Gilbert Hernandez, Kaz, Joe Sacco, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. Neither a definitive anthology nor a helpful resource, this is a haphazard grab bag of some good comics, numerous dubious achievements and some downright mysteries.
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Review

“Bob Callahan's book brilliantly records comics' coming of age. A necessary introduction to the maturity of the medium.”—Will Eisner

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Smithsonian Books (October 17, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1588341836
• ISBN-13: 978-1588341839
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 1.4 x 11.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,457,370 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Silly mistakes and lack of colour mar this book, June 3, 2005

By 

B. Bagnall (London, UK) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The New Smithsonian Book of Comic Book Stories: From Crumb to Clowes (Hardcover)

Since another reviewer on this page has pointed out the Fat Freddys Cat mistake, I thought I'd draw readers attention to the other problems with this book. The Captain America story, which features 2 of Sterenko's most well known double-page spreads also features a strange right-hand page that does not appear in the original comic. This page (which precedes the spreads) features a reproduction of a later page and appears to have been dropped in randomly. This page unfortunatly creates a knock-on effect that means the 2 spreads are now right and left pages! For a book that claims to celebrate the best comics created this is a poor oversight. Also, the Dan Clowes story features 2 pages out of order. Lastly, why on earth is 95% of the book in black and white? For stories like The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen - where the colour really helps add tone and mood - this seems like a strange decision.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great examples, Poor Execution, July 16, 2006

By 

Robert S. Petersen "Gusti" (Illinois) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The New Smithsonian Book of Comic Book Stories: From Crumb to Clowes (Hardcover)

I agree with the other reviewers the editing is shoddy in production, but the initial selection of the materials is quite excellent. No one could argue that all of the comics included are indeed some of the best work from the later half of the 20th century. for that reason I am willing to give the book a little more respect and hope that a paperback edition corrects some of the more glaring faults.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for collectors and newbies alike, August 28, 2007

By 

C. Kocur (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The New Smithsonian Book of Comic Book Stories: From Crumb to Clowes (Hardcover)

An expertly assembled collection of stories, covering everything from superheroes, to feminist comics, to historical fare. The only complaint that I have is that sometimes the splash pages (especially 2-page spreads) were arranged in such a way as just to make them fit, and not necessarily with the flow of the story. Other times the print was just too small to be reasonably called legible. But overall, a good variety for the money, and a fabulous primer for anyone who is wondering what comics are all about.