The Essential Guide To World Comics

Recently, U.S. comics fans have been given new opportunities to broaden the geographic scope of their reading by the proliferation of translated manga titles from Japan, which all but dominate many bookstores' graphic-novel sections, and by the translation of European works in record numbers. Yet vast areas of the globe remain underrepresented on American shelves. Help in rectifying that situation comes from British comics experts Pilcher and Brooks, whose opening chapter here succinctly but thoroughly surveys nearly a century of comics publishing in the U.S., focusing on superheroes while touching on other genres. Similar surveys of the comics scenes of Britain, Japan, Southeast Asia, France, elsewhere in Europe, Latin America, Scandinavia, Australia and New Zealand, and the Middle East and South Asia follow. Each chapter contains copious color illustrations and a mini-biography of a prominent "World-Class Creator." The authors know their stuff, and their different tastes--one elevates the comics medium to fine art; the other believes it can be "just big, dumb fun"--ensure balance. A stunning eye-opener to the comics medium's variety. Gordon Flagg
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