The comics: An illustrated history of comic strip art (Hardcover)

by Jerry Robinson (Author)

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Product Description
While there are many debates about when the medium of words married with pictures first evolved into what we know today as comics - be it in nascent prehistoric paintings in the caves of France or the more traditional illustrated adventures of such characters as the Katzenjammer Kids which first appeared at the end of the nineteenth century - virtually everyone born in the last one hundred years has read or seen a comic strip at one time in their lives. In an exhaustive historical overview that captures the magic and innovation of this incredibly vibrant art form Jerry Robinson, comics historian, award-winning comics artist and co-creator of the popular Batman villain The Joker, takes us on a journey from the beginning of the comic strip industry to the present day in The Comics. Originally published in the early 1970s, this volume has been revised and updated to include commentary on the last thirty years of comics history: from Mutt & Jeff to Calvin & Hobbes, from George Herrimann's Krazy and Ignatz to Patrick McDonnell's Mutts, Jerry Robinson brings the history of this great industry alive for a new generation. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Putnam; 1st edition (1974)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399109374
• ISBN-13: 978-0399109379
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 9.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,503,906 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Hidden Gem, November 7, 2000

By	El Kabong - See all my reviews

First published in '74, Robinson's THE COMICS -an informal history of the newspaper comic strip- stands the test of time better than most formal histories attempted in the years since. The book's format (no strip represented with more than one or two examples) allows Robinson the elbow room to go beyond simply recounting a chronological series of high points. Where the Bill Blackbeard anthologies concentrate on generous continuities of landmark strips (and these books are terrific as well), THE COMICS covers more terrain. All of the acknowledged Grand Masters are paid appropriate homage, but in addition, Robinson covers dozens of little-known or forgotten strips (Etta Kett, Willie Doodle, Rusty Riley), single gag-panels, and even a chapter on foreign comics to close out the book. His text is refreshingly down-to-earth and devoid of snobbery, yet always respectful of the various creators and always reverential to the form itself...no doubt due to Robinson being a toiler in the same vineyards himself (among others, the very funny CLASSROOM FLUBS & FLUFFS). He makes no claim for the book as an encyclopaedic reference work, yet this is as comprehensive and carefully-researched a history as you're likely to find, even a quarter-century later. Certainly they whip the tar out of the better-known Maurice Horn titles. Perhaps the best facet of THE COMICS is Robinson's uncanny knack for describing the various styles of the artists with startling accuracy in a sentence or two. Each of his analyses on the rendering techniques of McManus, Gould, McCay, et al, is a small revelation: quick, precise and dead-on. (A born cartoonist, even in prose form.)....