Comic Book Century: The History of American Comic Books (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Comic Book Century: The History of American Comic Books April Spisak Krensky, Stephen Comic Book Century: The History of American Comic Books. Twenty-First Century Books, 2007112p illus. with photographs (People's History) Library ed. ISBN 978-0-8225-6654-0$30.60 R Gr. 5-9 The past century of American comic-book history is effectively distilled into a compact package in this trim and engaging volume. Although each section is necessarily short, Krensky captures the key moments of the evolution and transformations of comic books from the 1930s on, dividing the history into momentous events rather than by decade (the exploration of underground and independent comics, for example, covers the 1960s and 1970s and includes nods to feminist comic artists, edgy comix experimentation, and the shifts within mainstream comic-book culture). If the final tone is a bit pessimistic about the future of the comic-book market, Krensky supports his position well as he evaluates the impact films, television, and the rapidly growing influence of graphic novels on the field will likely have. All is not lost, though, as the author also embraces the obvious overlaps between GNs and comics, the explosion of internet comic books, and the ways in which kids are still drawn to the relatively inexpensive format. Frequent full-color comic-book representations and black-and-white photographs (featuring only white males as comic-book readers, unfortunately), flashy sidebars, and a striking blue background combine well with the accessible text, making this resulting work visually appealing as well as highly entertaining. In addition, the generous end matter is well chosen for the audience: a timeline nicely sums up the key events touched on throughout the work, brief biographies of notable figures will likely inspire further exploration, and a selected bibliography and annotated list of further reading (websites and print materials) will offer readers plenty of new avenues for research. An index and source notes enhance the use of this history as a reference item. Even readers who come to this for a single fact or section will stay for the whole compelling history. Copyright © 2007 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois