A well-researched, engaging history of American superhero comics.
Grand explores the history of the medium in this nonfiction work.
The author was first introduced to comic books as a kid in 1982 when he read the backstories of his favorite He-Man action figures through a series of promotional Masters of the Universe mini-comics published by Mattel. Comic books would play a central role in his life for the rest of his childhood and teenage years. Even after graduating from medical school and joining a medical practice, the supernatural lure of comic books remained ever-present. With a sound research background honed during his postgraduate studies, Grand began a multiyear study of the history of comic books that has culminated in this work. The book begins with the origins of the medium, Victorian-era visual sequential art (“proto-comics”) like Rodolphe Töpffer’s newspaper comic strip, Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck. Dividing comic book history into eight eras, the author explores the development of the form from its early 20th century roots through the present. The “Golden Age” of the 1930s and 1940s moved away from the comedic sensibilities of earlier works toward violent stories featuring superheroes like Captain America and Batman, featuring characters with “superhuman abilities, costumes/code names, and a mission of justice.” As society and culture developed in the mid-20th century, so too did comic books—they adapted to the television culture of the 1950s and 1960s, and later to the cynicism of the 1970s with the rise of antiheroes, “good-guy type of killers who got the job done.” The 1980s and 1990s (the “Dark Age” and “Extreme Age,” respectively) saw the growing popularity of dark, brooding themes, as well as “over-the-top anatomy, weaponry, and sexuality combined with sales-driven gimmicks,” culminating in the current “Movie Age,” characterized by CGI, special effects, and blockbuster films.
While Grand acknowledges that this is not “a complete history of comics,” it is nevertheless a thorough one, covering many of the larger trends as well as artists, authors, and publishers who helped to shape the superhero genre. A thoughtful final section on diversity explores representations of women and Black people in comic books throughout the 20th century and the intersection of comic book narratives with social issues like civil rights, women’s rights, and multiculturalism. This impressively researched book boasts more than 1,000 reference endnotes and a 19-page bibliography that reflect a solid grasp of the vast library of American comic books as well as a respect for academic scholarship. Also included are the perspectives of insiders like comic artist Guy Dorian Sr. and wholesale comics distributor Bud Plant, who were interviewed by the author, as well as legendary artist Jim Steranko, who writes the book’s foreword. Grand’s narrative, which balances the enthusiasm of a lifelong fan with astute analysis, is accompanied by a wealth of images and reproductions of comic book panels and iconic covers. Combined, these elements make not only a well-written, smart study of superhero history and lore, but also a beautifully crafted, visually appealing volume. And while admittedly not comprehensive (the text largely ignores the history of underground and alternative comix and Japanese Manga), this is an admirable addition to the scholarship on superheroes and comic books.
A well-researched, engaging history of American superhero comics.Pub Date: June 13, 2023
ISBN: 9781476690391
Page Count: 358
Publisher: McFarland
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
Sedaris at his darkest—and his best.
In which the veteran humorist enters middle age with fine snark but some trepidation as well.
Mortality is weighing on Sedaris (Theft by Finding: Diaries 1977-2002, 2017, etc.), much of it his own, professional narcissist that he is. Watching an elderly man have a bowel accident on a plane, he dreaded the day when he would be the target of teenagers’ jokes “as they raise their phones to take my picture from behind.” A skin tumor troubled him, but so did the doctor who told him he couldn’t keep it once it was removed. “But it’s my tumor,” he insisted. “I made it.” (Eventually, he found a semitrained doctor to remove and give him the lipoma, which he proceeded to feed to a turtle.) The deaths of others are much on the author’s mind as well: He contemplates the suicide of his sister Tiffany, his alcoholic mother’s death, and his cantankerous father’s erratic behavior. His contemplation of his mother’s drinking—and his family’s denial of it—makes for some of the most poignant writing in the book: The sound of her putting ice in a rocks glass increasingly sounded “like a trigger being cocked.” Despite the gloom, however, frivolity still abides in the Sedaris clan. His summer home on the Carolina coast, which he dubbed the Sea Section, overspills with irreverent bantering between him and his siblings as his long-suffering partner, Hugh, looks on. Sedaris hasn’t lost his capacity for bemused observations of the people he encounters. For example, cashiers who say “have a blessed day” make him feel “like you’ve been sprayed against your will with God cologne.” But bad news has sharpened the author’s humor, and this book is defined by a persistent, engaging bafflement over how seriously or unseriously to take life when it’s increasingly filled with Trump and funerals.
Sedaris at his darkest—and his best.Pub Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-39238-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2018
PROFILES
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