Book Review: American Comics - A History

Comics have conquered America. From our multiplexes, where Marvel and DC movies reign supreme, to our television screens, where comics-based shows like The Walking Dead have become among the most popular in cable history, to convention halls, best-seller lists, Pulitzer Prize–winning titles, and MacArthur Fellowship recipients, comics shape American culture, in ways high and low, superficial, and deeply profound.

In American Comics , Columbia professor Jeremy Dauber takes readers through their incredible but little-known history, starting with the Civil War all the way into the twenty-first century, taking in the grim and gritty Dark Knights and Watchmen alongside the brilliant rise of the graphic novel.

Dauber’s story shows not only how comics have changed over the decades but how American politics and culture have changed them. Throughout, he describes the origins of beloved comics, champions neglected masterpieces, and argues that we can understand how America sees itself through whose stories comics tell. Striking and revelatory, American Comics is a rich chronicle of the last 150 years of American history through the lens of its comic strips, political cartoons, superheroes, graphic novels, and more.

American Comics: A History was published November 2021 by W.W. Norton and Company.

Continuing my to-read backlog, this one speaks directly to half-century (and counting) love of the genre. As an avid fan, quite a good bit of Dauber's very indepth narrative was known to me. Still, there are always new facts to learn and little-known stories to be revealed. That was my target for reading his book.

Some things which I enjoyed reading more about: the explosion of genre titles in the late 1940's (romance, western, horror and crime), the factors that lead to the creation of the Comics Code which in turn lead to the creation of Mad - the comics and then the magazine.

With so many decades of history to cover, Dauber really has to move at a lightning pace, giving the well-researched highlights. The ninety-some pages of notes at the end, though, give plenty of places for readers to go for more specific details on all topics covered. That makes this volume one of those to be used for revisits over time rather than a one-read-and-done sort of thing.

The only glaring point is that this book focused on a very visual medium has no photos or artwork; it is pure text. It almost fits like a textbook for a college course on comics which would in turn be supplemented by lecture (where artwork would be a big part of the visual presentations). Again, the references come in handy to point folks to the source material that might have some artwork as well.