In the early part of the 20th century, the United States had the world's most amazing comic strips, a legacy of innovation and irresistible storytelling almost forgotten today. That's just one of the reasons I'm grateful for "The Comics: The Complete Collection" (Abrams ComicArts, $40), by Brian Walker.
Walker, who previously released the book in two volumes, is a comic-strip expert who has worked in every aspect of the field. He is part of a team producing new strips ("Beetle Bailey," "Hi & Lois"), has taught cartoon history at the School of Visual Arts, was director at the Museum of Cartoon Art, served as editor of "Collector's Showcase" and has written books and magazine articles on the subject.
Walker is such a scholar that, if there's a flaw in the book, it is his relentless amassing of minutiae. He is so thorough, so methodical and so academic that this can be a formidable and forbidding tome to the newcomer.
But for those with a love of the medium, it's virtually indispensible.
In the first few chapters alone, Walker demolishes a host of myths about R.F. Outcault's "The Yellow Kid" that I had taken as gospel for decades. From there, Walker's work is one discovery after another: Which strips were owned by the syndicate and which by the artists (often forcing major artists elsewhere, such as Roy Crane leaving "Captain Easy" to start "Buz Sawyer." And how the term "hot dog" got popularized (Tad Dorgan's "Inside Sports"), or what "katzenjammer" means (German for "cats howling," and a popular '20s euphemism for a hangover) and why a "Rube Goldberg device" is still a catchphrase.
Walker also brings an artist's eye to how many amazing, uniquely American early strips got started and what effect they had, such as the surreal "Krazy Kat" (George Herriman), the intricate "Little Nemo in Slumberland" (Winsor McCay) and the Art Deco "Bringing Up Father" (George McManus).
He continues with the rise of strips through their heyday, and later decline, examining not only the strips and giants such as Milton Caniff ("Terry and the Pirates"), Al Capp ("Li'l Abner') and Walt Kelly ("Pogo"), but the now-declining business of comic strips and even the marketing. (Think "Buster Brown shoes" plus radio, television and movie spinoffs.)
Naturally, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of actual comic strips included. Combine that with interviews and biographies of major American cartoonists, and "The Comics: The Complete Collection" lives up to its name. This book is so comprehensive and full of valuable information that superlatives simply fail me.
