Americas Great Comic Strip Artists

A treasury of outstanding graphics and rare and beautiful comic art, this book is also a history of the art form itself, as seen through the work of 16 of the finest cartoonists of the last century, including Al Capp, Charles M. Schulz, Walt Kelly and Chester Gould. Marschall's fascinating text portrays the life and times of these artists, demonstrating their influence on American art and society. 250 illustrations, many in full-color.

The comic strip was created by rival newspapers of the Hearst and the Pulitzer organizations as a device for increasing circulation. In the United States it quickly became an institution that soon spread worldwide as a favorite form of popular culture. What made the comic strip so enduring? This fascinating study by one of the few comics critics to develop sound critical principles by which to evaluate the comics as works of art and literature unfolds the history of the funnies and reveals the subtle art of how the comic strip blends words and pictures to make its impact. Together, these create meaning that neither conveys by itself. The Art of The Funnies offers a critical vocabulary for the appreciation of the newspaper comic strip as an art form and shows that full awareness of the artistry comes from considering both the verbal and the visual elements of the medium. The techniques of creating a comic strip - breaking down the narrative, composition of the panel, planning the layout - have remained constant since comic strips were originated. Since 1900 with Winsor McCay's Little Nemo in Slumberland key cartoonists have relied on the union of words and pictures to give the funnies their continuing appeal. This art has persisted in such milestone achievements as Bud Fisher's Mutt and Jeff, George McManus's Bringing Up Father, Sidney Smith's The Gumps, Roy Crane's Wash Tubbs and Captain Easy, Harold Gray's Little Orphan Annie, Chester Gould's Dick Tracy, Zack Mosley's Smilin' Jack, Harold Foster's Tarzan, Alex Raymond's Secret Agent X-9, Jungle Jim, and Flash Gordon, Milton Caniff's Terry and the Pirates, E. C. Segar's Popeye, George Herriman's Krazy Kat, and Walt Kelly's Pogo. In morerecent times with Mort Walker's Beetle Bailey, Charles Schulz's Peanuts. Johnny Hart's B.C., T.K. Ryan's Tumbleweeds, Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury, and Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes, the artform has evolved with new developments, yet the aesthetics of the funnies remain basic. The Art of The Funnies unearths new information and weighs the influence of syndication upon the medium. Though the funnies go in ever new directions, perceiving the interdependency of words and pictures, as this book shows, remains the key to understanding the art.

As one of the most influential writers in comics history, Alan Moore has penned such important and acclaimed titles as 2003's biggest selling graphic novel, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, part of Moore's own America's Best Comics imprint.

Contributions by David M. Ball, Ian Gordon, Andrew Loman, Andrea A. Lunsford, James Lyons, Ana Merino, Graham J. Murphy, Chris Murray, Adam Rosenblatt, Julia Round, Joe Sutliff Sanders, Stephen Weiner, and Paul Williams Starting in the mid-1980s, a talented set of comics artists changed the American comic book industry forever by introducing adult sensibilities and aesthetic considerations into popular genres such as superhero comics and the newspaper strip. Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (1986) and Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's Watchmen (1987) revolutionized the former genre in particular. During this same period, underground and alternative genres began to garner critical acclaim and media attention beyond comics-specific outlets, as best represented by Art Spiegelman's Maus. Publishers began to collect, bind, and market comics as “graphic novels,” and these appeared in mainstream bookstores and in magazine reviews. The Rise of the American Comics Artist: Creators and Contexts brings together new scholarship surveying the production, distribution, and reception of American comics from this pivotal decade to the present. The collection specifically explores the figure of the comics creator—either as writer, as artist, or as writer and artist—in contemporary US comics, using creators as focal points to evaluate changes to the industry, its aesthetics, and its critical reception. The book also includes essays on landmark creators such as Joe Sacco, Art Spiegelman, and Chris Ware, as well as insightful interviews with Jeff Smith (Bone), Jim Woodring (Frank) and Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics). As comics have reached new audiences, through different material and electronic forms, the public's broad perception of what comics are has changed. The Rise of the American Comics Artist surveys the ways in which the figure of the creator has been at the heart of these evolutions.

Yellow press headliners : Jewish comics in the dailies -- Comic book heroes -- The underground era -- Recovering Jewishness.

Carmine Infantino. Steve Ditko. Jack Kirby. Gil Kane. Joe Kubert. Gene Colan. Jim Steranko. Neal Adams. Some of the greatest comic book artists of their generation, who created some of their greatest work during The Silver Age of Comics (circa1956-1970). They not only drew definitive versions of the medium’s greatest characters including The Flash, Batman, Captain America, Superman, Thor, Green Lantern, Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, Green Arrow and more— but set trends in the art of comic book storytelling. Now this popular and influential body of work, along with each artist’s thoughts, ideas and commentary, is presented in The Silver Age of Comic Book Art, a coffee table comic book art history book written and designed in a daringly different format by comic book historian and illustrator Arlen Schumer, and published in hardcover and digital/e-book editions by Archway Publishing (from Simon & Schuster). Dynamic spreads of the actual printed comic art, graphically enlarged, are integrated with comic-styled text, often by the artists themselves, that replaces the original comic book copy with more personalized prose that places the art firmly in the period it was created: the turbulent 1960s. By creating a comic book history book that reads like a comic book, Schumer succeeds spectacularly in making you see, as if for the first time, the comics you’ve been reading your whole life. “Arlen Schumer documents an important period in comic book history, told with an explosive format and stunning design. It reflects the kinetic rhythm of the era.” — Will Eisner (1917-2005), creator of The Spirit and the graphic novel A Contract with God "Through the years, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing many books that pay tribute to the art of comics, but Arlen Schumer has created an entirely new format in presenting the art and words of the artists. It's the most comprehensive and personal way a fan or colleague can learn what lies beneath the art. Arlen has found the perfect way to inform and entertain. It’s simply awesome —and the best representation of my work ever!” —Gene Colan (1926-2011), legendary comic book artist “A lovingly crafted tribute to the superhero comic of the 1960s, The Silver Age of Comic Book Art recaptures the four-color visionary surge of the era, its jet-age psychedelic rush of imagination and the titanic, luminous figures, both real and imaginary, that glittered in its firmament. For a brief moment in the late 20th century, it seemed as if the spirit of the age wore a vivid leotard, a chest emblem, and traveled in a strobing blur of speed lines. For anyone with any interest in or affection for that moment, this beautiful volume is indispensible.” — Alan Moore, author of Swamp Thing and Watchmen For more on The Silver Age of Comic Book Book Art, join Arlen’s Facebook group of the same name, and visit Arlen’s website: www.arlenschumer.com

An overview of comic strip history presents the work of leading cartoonists past and present, from Krazy Kat to Bloom County