The graphic novels loved by children and adults alike
Sep 22nd, 2012, 4:21 am
The Comics: Since 1945 by Brian Walker
Requirements: CBR Reader, 311 MB.
Overview: The most comprehensive survey of postwar comics, covering the period when some of our best-known cartoonists were at their creative peaks, The Comics: Before and Since 1945 is now available in a revised and updated paperback edition. Organized by decade, illustrated with exemplary selections of historic comic strips, and supplemented by biographical profiles of the artists, it is both comprehensive and graphically stunning, ideal for both devoted comics fans and serious students of popular culture.

Genre: Comics, History, Comic books, Strips, Collection.

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The Comics: Since 1945
    Brian Walker Author
    Published by Harry N. Abrams, 2002-2004.

      Founder and former director of the International Cartoon Museum of Art, Walker here presents a survey of postwar strips that made it to the big time of daily syndication, as well as of their creators. Strip illustrations (210 in color, 776 in all) range from Little Orphan Annie collecting scrap metal to help the war effort, to Doonesbury's Zonker parodying interactive media by losing his punchline to a computer error. Walker, who since 1984 "has been part of the creative team that produces Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois," orients the book toward hugely popular strips like the still-running Peanuts, B.C. and Garfield and cubicle-based smash Dilbert, and thus ends up giving more of a history of American taste than of the entire form. Still, readers will be happy to rediscover the likes of '80s media tweaker John Darling; genre strips like the western Red Ryder (1938-64), '50s sci-fi Twin Earths and the adventure strip Steve Canyon; and Walt Kelly's ever-influential Pogo. Proceeding chronologically, Walker notes the effects of the invention of television, the politics of syndication, and the means of racial integration, and offers biographical profiles tracking the careers of all the names less familiar to us than the characters-the cartoonists. The whole feels a little too accepting of the dictates of syndication for a mass audience, but it is a solid account of the way various artists have worked within that system.

      When Comics Were Funny Reviewed by Gord Wilson on January 24, 2005.
        And not just funny--witty, colorful, inventive, slapstick, adventurous--and eagerly awaited. Here's an oversized, hardback, full-color, coffee table book chock-full and brimming with the art of the funny papers. Brian Walker, son of Mort Walker (Beetle Bailey), not only draws comics but also mounts exhibitions of them. This book includes hand-colored originals from the Museum of Cartoon Art, as well as full page Sunday layouts. From the Yellow Kid and Hogan's Alley at the turn of the century to the wartime wonders of the 'forties, this is a coffee table book you can't put down. Retailing at $50, Amazon's price is about $30--a bargain and a steal for such a beautiful volume. Also check out Walker's companion volume, The Comics: Since 1945.

      Down the Memory Lane of Comics... Reviewed by J. Guild on April 28, 2005.
        Hey, where to start in writing a review on a book about Comics, when one has been reading them for over 60 years. An excellent book in every way. Physically,this book is beautifully constructed,with top of the line paper, printing and color illustrations. A great dust jacket, as well as glossy hard covers printed with comic strips. A large volume 10X14 inches, over an inch thick and 326 pages...WOW! By the way, there is a companion book, which is just as good, covering Comics before 1945; same size and by the same author.

        What great memories this book brought back. I was born in 1935 and was an avid Comic Strip reader of 10 where this book starts. While there are many strips covered in this book that are unfamiliar to me,and probably to most people; all my favourites are there. All through the years, in my opinion the Strips and writers were at their best in the 40's and 50's. But then that was when they were really growing up and so was I.

        My favourites were Dick Tracy, Little Orphan Annie, Li'l Abner, Smilin' Jack, Popeye, Beetle Baily, Joe Palooka, Blondie, Tarzan, Captain Easy, Mandrake the Magician, Mutt and Jeff, Smokey Stover, Henry, Superman, Terry and the Pirates, Pogo and later Doonesbury. Dick Tracy was my overall favourite, especially in its prime with super characters such as Flattop,Mumbles, The Mole, Brow, B.O.Plenty, Gravel Gertie and little Pebbles, Pruneface, etc., etc.
        Then there was Li'l Abner with Daisy Mae and Ma and Pa Yokum.The nation wide craze set off by those wonderful Shmoos and then the creation of Sadie Hawkins Day antics that swept the schools and colleges. Nothing like that kind of stuff today!
        I guess all this fun was just too much for the prudes of political correctness, and their misguided efforts put the end to it all.

        At the height of the Comic Strip days, everyone was aware of the 'funnies'and knew all the characters. If you didn't know who Dagwood or Annie's dog Sandy, or Fearless Fosdick was; you just didn't know what was happening. There is nothing like it today. I found the papers kept dropping reader favourites,cutting back on the number of strips, introducing strips with agendas and social engineering, to the point many readers lost interest and abandoned them.
        As a matter of fact, I was really following only Pogo and Doonesbury for the last few years and sadly we have even lost Pogo. Dick Tracy is not even carried by out largest paper in Toronto. I just read the Tracy strips on the Net for 2005. Fletcher and Collins give it a good try, but the storylines and artwork fall way short of the master, Chester Gould. Not only that, punching the keyboard and reading the screen is a poor subsitute for sitting back with the funny papers enjoying a coffee after breakfast or dinner; again in my opinion.

        This book also covers a lot of what I call cartoons,and does a great job of it,but cartoons just aren't what the world of Comic Strips was all about. Walker has also included a huge list of references if one wants to dig further.

        This book should not be thought of as a review of any particular strip. It is really a history of Comics, a reference to use if one wants a quick look-see of what a strip looked like and a little about the artists who drew the strips. It also tells a lot about what went on behind the scenes with the artists, newspapers and syndicates over the years.
        It also talks about Comics as an artform.Here I agree,one only has to look at how the artwork progressed in a strip like Dick Tracy and more recently Doonesbury, to see the advancement from very simple sketches to excellent art of colors, silhouette, perspective and all, to appreciate it.

        After reading the book, I hope one day to visit the International Museum of Cartoon Art; although I continue to think of the Comic Strips as one thing and Cartoons as something completely different. A great gift for a friend or yourself if you were a follower of the "strips".

      THE Essential Book on American Comic Strip Art Reviewed by Craig W. Englund on April 6, 2007
        Anyone who is interested in American comic strips and their creators must have this book in their library. It is by far the most comprehensive survey of the genre and the best source for reproductions of the comic strips discussed. While obviously limited by space considerations, Brian Walker has done an admirable job of showing at least one example of most comic strips of connsequence from the first half of the twentieth century. The rather disturbing insecurity demonstrated by some comic artists and other commentators in other recent books (Masters of American Comics and Cartoon America), who seem obsessed with their desires to have comic art classified as "fine art," is nowhere to be found in Brian Walker's essays on the subject. He rightfully accepts comic art for what it is and, by providing useful background information on the creators, helps the reader appreciate the obvious merits of this art. The color reproductions in this volume are also superior to those in the catalogue which accompanied the recent comic art exhibition. All those with a new found interest in comic strip art after visiting that exhibit would be best served by making this their first purchase from those books currently available on the subject.

    About the Author
      Brian Walker is a founder and former director of the Museum of Cartoon Art (now the National Cartoon Museum). He is also part of the creative team that produces Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois. He lives in Connecticut.

Download Instructions:
http://www.gboxes.com/pkqa7iwkkdhy -- The Comic Since 1945 (2002)
http://www.gboxes.com/5lujoilytqm8 -- The Comic Before 1945 (2004)

Sep 22nd, 2012, 4:21 am

Labor Omnia Vincit Improbus... Hard Work Conquers Everything!
Jan 21st, 2015, 4:42 pm
Added:

The Comics Before 1945

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In the five decades after the Yellow Kid first appeared in 1895, the funnies became an essential element of American life. Comic strip characters, Buster Brown, the Katzenjammer Kids, Krazy Kat, Tarzan, Dick Tracy, Popeye, Blondie, Li'l Abner, were everywhere. They starred in live-action and animated films, stage plays, and radio programs. Their phrases invaded the language; their adventures, which reflected societal changes, were retold in books and inspired hit songs.
This visually stunning, comprehensive survey, copiously illustrated with rare original comics art, is the most authoritative history of prewar American newspaper comics currently in print. It documents the major trends in the funnies business, decade by decade, and presents in-depth biographies of 21 of the most influential creators of the era. "The Comics Before 1945 joins Brian Walker's The Comics Since 1945" to form a classic survey of American popular culture by one of the greatest authorities in the field.
Jan 21st, 2015, 4:42 pm

Labor Omnia Vincit Improbus... Hard Work Conquers Everything!