Masters of American Comics

by John Carlin (Editor), Tom De Haven (Contributor), Cynthia Burlingham (Contributor)

Comic strips and comic books were among the most popular and influential forms of mass media in 20thcentury America. This fascinating book focuses on fifteen pioneering cartoonists-ranging from Winsor McCay to Chris Ware-who brought this genre to the highest level of artistic expression and who had the greatest impact on the development of the form.Organized chronologically, Masters of American Comics explores the rise of newspaper comic strips and comic books and considers their artistic development throughout the century. Presenting a wide selection of original drawings as well as progressive proofs, vintage printed Sunday pages, and comic books themselves, the authors also look at how the art of comics was transformed by artistic innovation as well as by changes in popular taste, economics, and printing conventions.First appearing in newspaper Sunday supplements, the comic strip became immediately successful and created the largest audience of any medium of its time. The comic book first began as a way to print existing newspaper comics, then subsequently established the mass popularity of superheroes in the 1940s and 1950s before it matured as a vehicle for independent personal expression in the underground comic books and graphic novels of the 1960s.Included in the book are insightful and entertaining essays on individual artists written by major figures in the fields of comics, narrative illustration, literature, popular culture, and art history. Masters of American Comics convincingly positions the genre of comics into the history of art and is destined to become a classic text for years to come.

Genres: Comics, Art, History, Nonfiction, Comic Strips, Anthologies, Criticism

328 pages, Hardcover

First published November 11, 2005

Reviews

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Warning: this is a big heavy art book; it's not for reading in bed, or on the bus. You will need to make time to peruse it at a substantial, well-lighted table or desk, but it's worth the effort. The catalogue of a 2005 exhibit at MOCA, it spans both comic strips and comic books, and features an excellent selection of artists ranging chronologically from Winsor McCay to Chris Ware and stylistically from Charles Schultz to Gary Panter. The first half of the book is the best part, a long survey essay by John Carlin accompanying substantial excerpts from the comics themselves. Carlin does a great job of putting each artist in context both within the time period in which the work appeared and within the overall history of comics. And the comic reproductions are well chosen to spotlight the artwork while also demonstrating how it functions as part of the narrative whole. All of the work included is interesting and well presented but I found the sections on the early newspaper strips (McCay, Herriman, Feininger, E.C. Seegar and Frank King)particularly fascinating, maybe because it was less familiar. I'm a long-time Gasoline Alley fan but the strips from the 20s and 30s were a revalation; I had no idea it ever looked like that.

The short essays on individual artists in the second part of the book are uneven in quality and the reproductions lean heavily on out-of-context splash pages and cover art, making this section of the book generally less interesting. But overall this is a great introduction to a broad range of some of the best American comics and their creators.

[Michael P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

One way to state the intellectual quality of this book is to say it was published by Yale University Press, and they were not slumming. It is the first I have seen to evaluate comic art in the context of twentieth century fine art. By surveying only the best, they find several who are deemed to rank as fine modern artists. Not every ranks so highly, the writers admit, so E. C. Segar and Chester Gould, for example, are included for their influence of comic strips. Overall, very well done, though some of the individual essays are uneven. Matt Groening’s on Gary Panter is biographical and not insightful and Raymond Pettibon’s on Will Eisner is a mere exercise in Pettibon’s overwhelming ego. Most, such as that by Jules Feiffer on E. C. Segar and Karal Ann Marling on Frank King are very fine indeed, as is the half-book length introduction by John Carlin.

[Norman Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the catalogue of a 2005 exhibit at the Hammer Museum and Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles. It's an academic, bird's-eye view of the history of comic strips and comic books, zeroing in on a handful of the most influential creators (according to the editors): Winsor McCay, Lyonel Feininger, George Herriman, E.C. Segar, Frank King, Chester Gould, Milton Caniff, Charles M. Schulz, Jack Kirby, Harvey Kurtzman, R. Crumb, Art Spiegelman, Gary Panter, and Chris Ware. Other creators are certainly mentioned, but it's these fourteen that get the most attention. Editor John Carlin gives us a long historical essay that fills the first half of the book, then there are individual essays on the creators by some of today's most prominent comics historians and creators: Tom De Haven, Brian Walker, Stanley Crouch, Jules Feiffer, Karal Ann Marling, Robert Storr, Pete Hamill, Patrick McDonnell, Glen David Gold, J. Hoberman, Françoise Mouly, Jonathan Safran Foer, Matt Groening, and Dave Eggers. These essays are somewhat hit and miss, but the overall effect is educational to a high degree. Well-reproduced samples of the artwork are scattered throughout the book, much of it from originals. Could they have included more art and less text? Sure, but I think the point of the book is to supplement the exhibit's extensive offerings, not replace them. There are many other books that go into more detail about the history of comics, but I don't think you could ask for a better overview than this one.

[Tommy Grooms · Rating 4 out of 5]

Masters of American Comics is a heavy, coffee-table style book, and its size lets the art contained within speak for itself. The contents are arranged chronologically with an emphasis on 15 masters who are representative and influential with accompanying essays of varying quality (of note, the essay on Will Eisner by Raymond Pettibon was disappointingly inscrutable). A larger essay by John Carlin chronicles the history and development of the comics medium in America, so the book serves as a crash course in American comics as well as a jumping off point for further exploration.

[Goatllama · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. So text heavy that it sucks some of the fun out of things. And these strips deserve the full fun factor, devoid of over-analysis. That's not to say that the essays and bios are bad, and do contain interesting information and thought-provokers, but... I'll always be recommending The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics instead.

[Brian Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating detail and wonderful examples of newspaper and comic magazine artwork. Text is sometimes repetitive and there is a strong feeling of two books instead of a coherent whole.

[Udinskiy Maxim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Рідкісний по обєму і важкий фоліант, а не книжка. Чудова підбірка рідкісних прикладів старих американських коміксів (від періоду газетних стріпів 1910-х до комікс-андеграунду 1960-1980-х) і там доволі докладні розділи. Якщо ви займамєтеся коміксами або цікавитеся історією коміксів - то ця фундаметальна праця буде в нагоді. Єдиний недолік - обкладинка - вона взагалі невиразна і взагалі не дає зрозуміти що там всередині, а ось всеередині є на що подивитися.

[Northpapers · Rating 5 out of 5]

An informative, artfully assembled walk through the history of American comics. I was unaware of how rich the early history of newspaper funnies was, and when and why they evolved into what they are today. Writers like Jonathan Safran Foer and David Eggers compose lively reviews of the importance and impact of the comic artists they love.

[Mike Horne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the catalogue of an exhibition with with Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. It does a great job of providing art work and articles (by important comic book artists) of everyone from Winsor McCay, George Herriman, Will Eisner, to Chris Ware.

A nice introduction to comics.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

So glad I could be a part of this landmark exhibition.

[Geoff Hayton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This would have been the book that changed my life, if I hadn't quit on my life. Winsor McKay ought to be embraced as the father of modernism.