Customer Reviews

Rodolphe Töpffer: The Complete Comic Strips

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At long last the father of comics, Töpffer, has made it back into print in grand style. This exceptionally researched volume by David Kunzle is a compilation of Topffer's early experiments in picture stories that were the impetus for modern comics everywhere in Europe and the United States. Before this publication these works were only available in research libraries and rare book collections. It not only includes all eight of Töpffer's puplished stories it also includes a few never before seen omissions, variants, and a few unfinished works. This is not just for comic enthusiasts or historians these are genuinely entertaining stories that have an absurdist vein that is startling and engaging. Töpffer is was not a primative or a novice, but an exceptional visionary who saw a new way to tell stories as if they were actually happening in front of you over time. He played with this innovation drawing out some remarkablly original ways of telling stories that channeled the spirit of Tristam Shandy and put it in the body of James Gilray.

This is an amazing book, documenting the early graphic artist, a French man. His drawings and accompanying text, translated into English, are droll and wry. The format is a trifle large to hold, as the book is oversize. I recommend this book to followers of comedy and artists!