The Comic Book History of Comics (3 Points)

The Comic Book History of Comics by Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey is a smart and exciting way to find out more about the favorite media. 

I would not say that this comic was easy to read thought. Usually, when you read a sequential art, you are exposed to the main character and follow his/her adventures. But in real life, history is made by a lot of people. That is why it was a bit hard to follow the story in the beginning. But as soon as main "characters" as Jack Kirby, William Eisner, Stephen Ditko, Jerry Siegel, and Joe Shuster, and of course, Stan Lee, the story began to come together in my head, and it was now easier to follow. I guess this is understandable. In the beginning history of comics, there was no one storyline. There were trials and errors to make a new massive media that no one believed will become a significant part of the art. 

It is particularly amusing how publishers could not realize why their Action Comics were selling so good. It took them some time to realize that it was because of the first superhero - Superman. It would seem obvious for us now. 

It was also sad for me to find out that even in such field as comic books, there still were some fights and conflicts about who owns a character or story. I thought that in the early comic book industry, when there were no vast teams, it would easy to make credits for comics books and characters fairly. But as in almost all art fields, this is still a problem. 

It was also fascinating to find out that my favorite superhero - Spiderman, was created mostly by a man who loved the philosophy of Ayn Rand - Stephen Ditko. A philosophy I respec at least in some artistic ways. 

I was glad that this book also respected the history of other countries like France and Japan. I was raised mainly by the french graphic novels (or bande dessinee) and later Mangas because, unfortunately, USA comics came in easy access in my country only recently. 

It is interesting to think that some other artist would make the second part of this book in 80 years more. He would speak more about the rise of Webcomics, independent artists, and how leading columns of comic books like Marvel and DC positively influenced a new era of superhero movies and games

- Aleksandra Ferentc