Jillian Tamaki, co-author of This One Summer, picks the best graphic pieces of the year. Jillian Tamaki, coauthor of the New York Times bestseller This One Summer, selects the best graphic pieces of the year. The Best American Comics 2019 showcases the work of established and up-and-coming artists, collecting work found in the pages of graphic novels, comic books, periodicals, zines, online, in galleries, and more, highlighting the kaleidoscopic diversity of the comics form today.

Funnybooks is the story of the most popular American comic books of the 1940s and 1950s, those published under the Dell label. For a time, “Dell Comics Are Good Comics” was more than a slogan—it was a simple statement of fact. Many of the stories written and drawn by people like Carl Barks (Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge), John Stanley (Little Lulu), and Walt Kelly (Pogo) repay reading and rereading by educated adults even today, decades after they were published as disposable entertainment for children. Such triumphs were improbable, to say the least, because midcentury comics were so widely dismissed as trash by angry parents, indignant librarians, and even many of the people who published them. It was all but miraculous that a few great cartoonists were able to look past that nearly universal scorn and grasp the artistic potential of their medium. With clarity and enthusiasm, Barrier explains what made the best stories in the Dell comic books so special. He deftly turns a complex and detailed history into an expressive narrative sure to appeal to an audience beyond scholars and historians.

Based on interviews with Stan Lee and dozens of his colleagues and contemporaries, as well as extensive archival research, this book provides a professional history, an appreciation, and a critical exploration of the face of Marvel Comics. Recognized as a dazzling writer, a skilled editor, a relentless self-promoter, a credit hog, and a huckster, Stan Lee rose from his humble beginnings to ride the wave of the 1940s comic books boom and witness the current motion picture madness and comic industry woes. Included is a complete examination of the rise of Marvel Comics, Lee's work in the years of postwar prosperity, and his efforts in the 1960s to revitalize the medium after it had grown stale.

Bart Beaty and Benjamin Woo work to historicize why it is that certain works or creators have come to define the notion of a "quality comic book," while other works and creators have been left at the fringes of critical analysis.

"Here is the long awaited complete history of comic books from the 1890s to the 1980s--the characters, the classics, the creators, trends in the marketplace, and the business of comic book publishing--by one of the field's top authorities and major collectors. Thoroughly researched, Ron Goulart's Great History of Comic Books boasts more than 200 black-and white illustrations, 24 pages in full color, an invaluable index, and the lively writing style that has made Ron Goulart so popular with comic book fans everywhere. Herein you'll find: the origins and exploits of superheroes; the lives and times of artists, editors, writers, including Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Siegel and Shuster, Will Wisner, Joe Simon, Sheldon Mayer, Jim Shooter, and many more--in their own words; many rare reprints and early sketches. This definitive one volume account of one of America's liveliest industries, from before Superman to after Spider-Man, is a must for every collector's bookshelf. " -- Back cover

Chronicles the legendary super heroes, monsters, and caricatures that have told the story of America over the years and the ups and downs of the industry that gave birth to them