The World Encyclopedia of Comics (Volume 1)

Maurice Horn

ISBN 10: 0791048578 ISBN 13: 9780791048573

Publisher: Chelsea House Pub (L), 1998

Synopsis

Alphabetical entries look at comic strips, comic books, characters, and cartoonists

About this title

About the Author:

Edited by Maurice Horn, a world-recognized expert on comic art, who is based in New York City. He has authored and edited numerous books and articles on the subject.

From Library Journal:

While no encyclopedia covering ongoing periodical literature can ever be truly complete, the multivolume set here, enlarged and updated from its first edition published 20 years ago, comes impressively close. Horn, an internationally recognized comics authority with several similar books to his credit, has ensured that this work offers a staggering overview, including the obvious newspaper strips and superhero tales as well as underground, independent, and international titles. While not every single comic ever printed is covered here, and while other comics histories might cover single creators or a particular company more extensively, no other publication offers such a wide and varied scope. Extensive historical data are to be found in the first half of Volume 1, and then the listings begin, reporting on writers, artists, publishers, and characters galore, all mixed together alphabetically and covering information up to December 1997. Entries are at times uneven. For example, the glowing discussion of Bill Waterson's wonderful decade-long run of Calvin and Hobbes is equal in length to that of DC's Batman, even though the latter has a 60-year publishing history. Entries can be brutal on perennial favorites (Batman is judged a "worn-out cliche," and Captain America "limps on"), and key developments are sometimes overlooked (Cap's significant resurgence under Mark Waid and John Garney in 1996 is not even mentioned). Even so, this set has appeal owing to its thorough and insightful coverage and ample illustrations and by virtue of its being the only one of its kind. Only minor differences exist between the single-volume version and the set reviewed above; the hefty tome has the same content and page count as the set, with certain reorganizations (the 80 pages of color illustrations are found together, and comics history articles are found toward the back). Either version is well recommended, but the price difference would make the single-volume work the obvious choice.?Chris Ryan, New Milford, NJ
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Chelsea House Pub (L)
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0791048578
• ISBN 13: 9780791048573
• Binding: Library Binding