The Great Women Cartoonists

Customer Reviews:

An invaluable guide to a neglected area of comics history........2005-10-06

An updated, and substantially rewritten, edition of the author's previous "A Century of Great Women Cartoonists", this lavishly-designed book covers an area of comics history of which even the majority of diehard fans remain sadly ignorant.
Charged with Robbins' characteristic blend of didacticism and fangirl enthusiasm, the forgotten heroines of the graphic art are lovingly portrayed, with copious illustrations showing us exactly why the careers of these women deserved to be more widely recognized. An illuminating and entertaining read, with a lively and colourful layout that lures the reader's eye.

A Change of Pace.......2005-01-08

This book by author Trina Robbins is a newer version of an earlier one. It is a book based generally on female cartoonists
as opposed to men.

Ms. Robbins ,referred to as a herstorian,has done a extensive
research into the history of comics for both men and women,and this book highlights women and female chararacters such as GoGirl! which she created with Artist Anne Timmons .

Very nice overview.......2003-04-20

This is a big, fun, overview of women cartoonists from about 1895 to now. It would make a great gift. Lots of full-color reproductions of the work and some quotes from the artists make this a great introduction for anyone interested in women artists. That being said, it is really kind of a "coffee table" book in that the text is secondary. There is no analysis, just a chronological introduction of each artist, and the nature of the book requires that the author can only briefly mention incredibly important cartoonists like Alison Bechdel in a sentence, or not even mention Roz Chast at all. Still, you can't do everything in one book, and some people would not be interested in heavy reading. This book should serve as an excellent appetizer for those who will seek out more about these talented women, and to check out more writing by Trina Robbins.

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WONDERFUL as EVER!
gremlins
Lacks Dahl Magic
original
At last, Disney & Dahl's lost treasure.

The Gremlins
Roald Dahl , Artists and Writers Guild , and The Disney Studios
Manufacturer: Dark Horse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1593074964

Book Description

Published in 1943 and long unavailable, Dark Horse Books is proud to present this landmark book from the author of such beloved tales as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach and Matilda. Digitally restored, this remarkable presentation of Dahl's classic story, lavishly illustrated by the artists of the Walt Disney Studios, will delight readers of all ages! The Gremlins is the story of Gus, a British World War II fighter pilot, who during the Battle of Britain turned to look out on the wing of his plane only to see an amazing sight: a little man, no more than six inches tall with horns growing from his head, drilling a hole in the plane's wing. Gus was the first man to ever see a Gremlin, and what happened after that would change the war, and the world, forever. Bought by Walt Disney to be produced as an animated motion picture (and considered to be the first story featuring the mythical airplane sabotaging creatures known as Gremlins), the project was ultimately shelved and is reprinted here for the first time in over 60 years.

Customer Reviews:

WONDERFUL as EVER!.......2007-04-06

I have both the "Dark Horse" edition and the original and both are outstanding books. I got my first "Gremlins" in probably 1950 or so and find the new copy to be as good as the original.

The price on this edition sure beats the going rate for an original and the artwork is fine, at least to me. Probably a child of today won't appreciate the art and the story line but the "Gremlins" themselves are fantastic!

I highly recommend this book to anyone who remembers the original and also "the days of old."

gremlins.......2006-11-10

A wondeful discovery after 60 years. Sadly the colour quality of the full page colour pictures this 2006 edition is poor when compared with my original 1943 Christmas present. The original pictures are bright & sparkly while those of the new 2006 edition are dark & even the colours have different hue. For example the picture of Gremlin Gus on the joystick. In the original the instrument dials are all clearly legible this not the case in the 2006 edition.
However how many people are priviledged to have an original to make comparisons with?
So thanks for the dicovery, maybe now Disney will release the film.
Eric Fletcher

Lacks Dahl Magic.......2006-10-30

I'm a Roald Dahl fan but this book doesn't come close to being as good as his other stories. It reads like a rough draft of an idea he had that was never fully developed into a finished story. I'm amazed Disney decided to have it published.

The characters are flat. You never really like or dislike the gremlins, even though they are supposedly an enemy of the airforce, but later become friends. And Gus, and airforce pilot, is stupid and dull. Dahl has other stupid and dull characters in other stories but they are usually the villans and are presented with delicious, twisty Dahl humor. In The Gremlins, Gus is supposed to be a hero. The biggest disappointment was the lack of Dahl's signature humor. The story lacks so much of what you normally expect in a Dahl tale I kept asking myself with disbelief, "this is a Roald Dahl story?"

original.......2006-10-25

I have an original signed 1943 edition of this picture book, which my parents read to me as a child, and I now own as a family treasure. A treasure it certainly is...one of the most poignant children's books ever written.

At last, Disney & Dahl's lost treasure........2006-10-06

I'm a Disneyphile and I've been coveting this book ever since I first heard about it. I've scoured Australian secondhand bookstores for years, hoping, by some miracle, that I might find an original copy tucked away in a dusty corner somewhere with a $2 sticker on it, but to no avail. [...].

But recently I went to Abebooks just to check if there were any reasonably-priced copies available, and I nearly fell off my chair when I saw a copy for less than $10! Then I saw another one, and another one, and another one, and I immediately thought with great joy: "It's been reproduced!" And sure enough, Dark Horse Comics have lovingly restored and reissued this lost treasure, a fascinating collaboration between two of the greatest creative minds of the 20th century: Walt Disney and Roald Dahl. Previously only available to collectors with deep pockets, this whimsical tome is now available for everyone to enjoy, the young and the young at heart alike. Bravo, Dark Horse! My only regret is that the film version never got off the ground, but this book is the next best thing ... until maybe one day John Lasseter decides to do what Peter Jackson did with the "lost spider pit sequence" from the original King Kong and actually remake it from scratch as a labour of love.

America's Great Comic-Strip Artists: From the Yellow Kid to Peanuts

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America's Great Comic-Strip Artists: From the Yellow Kid to Peanuts
Richard Marschall
Manufacturer: Stewart, Tabori, & Chang
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Comics Before 1945

ASIN: 1556706464

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One line in this beautiful coffee-table book on early comic-strip artists, America's Great Comic-Strip Artists, stands out: "Although George Herriman is the most celebrated comic-strip artist of all time--and by common agreement the greatest--his best-known strip, Krazy Kat, has been praised by people who have never seen it." While many people may be familiar with the featured artists or with their work (Little Nemo, Popeye, Dick Tracy, Peanuts), the wealth of artistry in America's comics pioneers is something not to be overlooked. To examine the illustrations that begin each chapter--details of each artist's work enlarged so that you can see the grain of the paper and the dot patterns of color--is to be in awe of these graphic art masters. Richard Marschall's loving history begs to be visited again and again.

Father of the Comic Strip: Rodolphe Topffer (Great Comics Artists Series)

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Father of the Comic Strip: Rodolphe Topffer (Great Comics Artists Series)
David Kunzle
Manufacturer: University Press of Mississippi
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1578069483

Book Description

Sixty years before the comics entered the American newspaper press, Rodolphe Topffer of Geneva (1799-1846), schoolmaster, university professor, polemical journalist, art critic, landscape draftsman, writer of fiction, travel tales, and social criticism, invented a new art form: the comic strip, or "picture story," that is now the graphic novel. At first he resisted publishing what he called his "little follies." When he did, they became instantly popular, plagiarized, and imitated throughout Europe and the United States.

Topffer developed a graphic style suited to his poor eyesight: the doodle, which he systematized and also theorized. The drawings, with their "modernist" spontaneous, flickering, broken lines, forming figures in mad hyperactivity, run above deft, ironic captions and propel narratives of surreal absurdity. The artist's maniacal protagonists mix social satire with myth. By the mid-nineteenth century, Messrs. Jabot, Festus, Cryptogame, and other members of the crazy family, comprising eight picture stories in all, were instant folk heroes. In a biographical framework, Kunzle situates the comic strips in the Genevan and European culture of the time, as well as in relation to Topffer's other work, notably his hilarious travel tales, and recounts their curious genesis (with an initial imprimatur from Goethe, no less) and their controversial success.

Book Description

For over twenty-five years, Disney artist Carl Barks (1901-2000) created some of the most brilliant and funny stories in comic books. Gifted and prolific, he was the author of over 500 tales in the most popular comic books of all time. Although he was never allowed to sign his name and worked in anonymity, Barks's unique artistic style and storytelling were immediately evident to all his readers. Barks created the town of Duckburg, and a cast of characters that included Donald Duck's fabulously wealthy Uncle Scrooge, the lucky loafer Gladstone Gander, the daffy inventor Gyro Gearloose, the rougish crooks the Beagle Boys, and the Italian sorceress Magica de Spell.

Carl Barks and the Disney Comic Book: Unmasking the Myth of Modernity is the first critical study of Barks's work in English. From a cultural studies perspective, the author analyzes all phases of Barks's career from his work in animation to his post-retirement years writing the Junior Woodchucks stories.

Andrae argues that Barks's oeuvre presents a vision strikingly different from the Disney ethos. Barks's central theme is a critique of modernity. His tales offer a mordant satire of Western imperialism and America's obsession with wealth, success, consumerism, and technological mastery, offering one of the few communal, ecological visions in popular culture. Although a talented visual artist, Barks was also one of America's greatest storytellers and, Andrae contends, lifted the comic book form to the level of great literature.

Customer Reviews:

sociological perspectives and critiques in Carl Bark's comics.......2006-08-31

Certainly Carl Barks is well-known for his vivid, singular drawings of the Donald Duck characters in the Disney comics and cartoons. He would have a place in the pantheon of 20th-century comic illustrators for the imagination of his portrayals and scenes on the basis of their entertainment value alone. But beneath the prodigious output were deep undertones reflecting concerns and mores of popular culture and an implicit critique of many of these--which aspects of Barks's comic illustrations Andrae fully brings out. "Barks's tales are inextricably linked to the politics of his time and offer one of the most trenchant critiques of patriarchal capitalism in any popular media." One sees this inhering in the character Uncle Scrooge with his boundless love of lucre and joy in diving into his swimming pool filled with coins. Born in 1900, Barks lived to be nearly 100. He teamed with Disney in the 1930s. In his later decades, Barks evolved from implicit perspectives on general foibles such as greed and materialism to criticisms of specific aspects of U. S. politics and its effects. Many of these later strips "call into question the tentacle-like homogenization of both the Third World and the United States by consumerism and global capitalism." Andrae covers amply all of the layers of Barks's illustration art from unique style with lasting appeal to incorporation of issues of popular culture and often critiques of these. Readers will look forward to subsequent books following this first in the publisher's Great Comic Artists Series.

Excellent historical look at the work of Carl Barks.......2006-08-22

Thomas Andrae's new book is an informative explanation of the historical and personal backgrounds of the Disney comic book work of Carl Barks. Beginning from the obvious--but often overlooked--premise that Barks did not write in a vacuum, Andrae explored the various social and historical phenomena of the 1940s-1960s. Probably even the most amateur Barks scholar could see that Barks's later Asia-based stories, like "The Treasure of Marco Polo," were grounded in the political turmoil of the day (the Vietnam War, rise of the Khmer Rouge, etc.). Much less obvious, however, is, for example, his treatment of the feminist movement following World War II, or the national shift from an economy of hard-working, entrepreneurs to a bunch of wage-slave desk jockeys. The former is most often represented in Donald's interactions with Daisy; the latter actually is part and parcel to a shift in the theme of Barks's Donald ten-pagers--Donald becomes a downtrodden, one-of-the-masses employee, no longer with any hope for his future. Throughout one realizes that intentionally or not, Barks chronicled history in his stories.

Andrae also delves into Barks's personal background as it pertains to his stories. While largely abstaining from writing a biography, he frequently makes specific note of events in Barks's life that influenced a given story. For example, Barks went through a wrenching divorce in the late 1940s, in which his wife enlisted the help of a lawyer and took from him literally everything except his art supplies, clothes, and a blanket. From that we get stories involving lawyers like Sharky, the shyster of "The Golden Helmet." Andrae also examines less personal influences, like the real town of Hemet that spawned Uncle Scrooge's money bin.

On both of these points, the book is fantastic and well worth reading. There are a handful of criticisms I have to offer, though. For one thing, a great deal of the first two chapters focuses on Barks's cartooning career prior to his career as a comic book artist. While Barks learned a great many lessons from these experiences that are employed in the comics, they do not require nearly seventy pages in a treatise on "the Disney Comic Book." For another thing, Andrae, in his efforts to offer interpretations of Barks's stories beyond the historical, much too often resorts to psychological explanations involving repressed or socially inhibited sexual desires, fears of castration, fetishes, and the like. It is absurd to think that Barks's characters are undergoing such stresses in the majority of his stories. I strongly suspect that the emotional turmoil Donald et al. experience is much more related to simple social anxiety than anything sexual. The main criticism I have of the book, however, is that it relies too heavily on editorials in the Carl Barks Library and on interviews from Conversations with Carl Barks, by Donald Ault. Not so much, by any means, that this book isn't worth reading; just that parts of it can be skimmed by a CBL-owning reader. Andrae was one of the chief editors of the CBL, and therefore can be excused for maintaining the same theories now as then; however, a new book ought to bring new insight, not regurgitation of existing thought. As stated, however, I do not believe the book seriously impaired as a result of this flaw.

On the whole, however, I recommend this book. The historical study is excellent, as noted, but additionally, I came away with greater understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment for Barks's work (which is saying something, since I had though highly of him to begin with), especially the stories I hadn't liked as much. For that alone, it is well worth reading.

Robert Hutchings
North Dakota State University

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A touching and moving true story
Beautiful way to tell a beautiful story
Wonderful!
Spot On!
Hello ... can I have my copy back ...?

Ethel and Ernest: A True Story
Raymond Briggs
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0375407588
Release Date: 1999-09-21

Amazon.com

Raymond Briggs's loving tribute to his parents has an emotional power that far exceeds its deceptively simple technique. Graphic in format, the book combines vigorous but sensitive illustrations with dialogue that cogently elucidates its characters' personalities. Milkman Ernest meets lady's maid Ethel in 1928. In short order they are married, holders of a mortgage, and parents of a boy--solid members of the English working class, aspiring to more for their son. As they experience the Depression, World War II, postwar prosperity and cultural upheaval, readers come to know them intimately. Ernest is left-wing, unashamedly proletarian, and perennially enthusiastic about the great changes modernity is bringing, from unemployment insurance to highways. Ethel is a Tory, a bit of a snob, and far more realistic about how much actual improvement they can expect and what it will cost. They worry about their adored child constantly, especially after he goes to art school. She gets sick and grows senile in 1970; he dies shortly after her in 1971. It's hard to imagine a reader who won't weep when their son looks at the pear tree in the yard of the house the couple inhabited for 41 years and says, "I grew it from a pip." Plain words and plain people strike a universal chord in this touching memoir. --Wendy Smith

Book Description

Poignant, funny, and utterly original, Ethel & Ernest is Raymond Briggs's loving depiction of his parents' lives from their chance first encounter in the 1920s until their deaths in the 1970s.

Ethel and Ernest were solid members of the English working class, part of the generation that lived through the most tumultuous years of the twentieth century. They met during the Depression--she working as a maid, he as a milkman--and we follow them as they court and marry, make a home, raise their son, and cope with the dark days of World War II. Briggs's portrayal of how his parents succeeded, or failed, in coming to terms with the events of their rapidly shifting world--the advent of radio, television, and telephones; the development of the atomic bomb; the moon landing; the social and political turmoil of the sixties--is irresistibly engaging, full of sympathy and affection, yet clear-eyed and unsentimental.

Briggs's illustrations are small masterpieces; coupled with the wonderfully candid dialogue, they evoke the exhilaration and sorrow, excitement and bewilderment, of experiencing such enormous changes. As much a social history as a personal account, Ethel & Ernest is a moving tribute to ordinary people living in an extraordinary time.

Customer Reviews:

A touching and moving true story.......2005-08-16

It is now a truism that comics are no longer just for children, and we could add here that picture books are no longer just for children either. For over 20 years now, Raymond Briggs has been the master of writing picture or comic style books with the simplicity of a children's book, but that deal with complex, adult issues like nuclear holocaust (When the Wind Blows) or social exclusion and class differences (Gentleman Jim).

Ethel and Ernest is a true story - the biography of Briggs' parents. It follows their story from their first meeting during the depression era through to their deaths in the early 1970s. Unlike a typical written biography, this books doesn't just relate in cold, hard facts the story off their life but presents vignettes - little captured moments that illustrate important aspects of their life together, or its context against the background events of the day: World War 2, the invention of the atomic and nuclear bombs, political changes in England, even the introduction of the motor car. Briggs has also invested himself emotionally in the book - you see his parents joy at his birth, their disappointment ass he ants to be an artist, and you even get a glimpse of a very sad, poignant moment in the last panel as the author looks back on his parents life.

This is the only book I can think of that I have ever shed a tear after reading, but it was so good that I bought a copy for my father and have since given away as gifts a number of other copies. I can safely say that I consider this one of the best books that I own.

Beautiful way to tell a beautiful story.......2001-09-02

The story told in this book is a half-generation ahead of my life and half a world away, but it is one I recognize and feel deeply. The author tells his parents' life story, difficulties and all, with words and especially with wonderful drawings. It is in the style of a comic book, but it is told seriously, with deep emotion and great honesty.

It is a treasure and if you have sympathy for working-class folks or have any desire to develop an emotional connection to them, then this books is for you. This wonderful telling of their lives shows them struggling to build a place for themselves in a very harsh world during the Great Depression and WWII and on through the cultural upheavals of the sixties. They live their lives with courage, pluck, and love.

The story has its heartbreaks and there is deep sadness at times, but these were lives admirably lived and the son should be praised for the way he honored his parents with this book. This book feels like a gift when I read it.

Bravo!

Wonderful!.......2001-06-16

A little treasure! There's not much more a person can say about a little book like this. It's worth buying and having in your possession-read it on occasion to realize what life is all about.

Spot On!.......2001-05-16

Forget A.J.P. Taylor! Nevermind Arnold Toynbee! "Ethel & Ernest" tells the story of 20th-Century Britain through the eyes of a working-class couple. When we study events in world history, we often forget the perspective of ordinary people like Mr. & Mrs. Briggs. I've learned more about modern British history from Raymond Briggs parents than from any established historian to date. Mr. Briggs should get a knighthood for E&E!

Hello ... can I have my copy back ...?.......2000-06-14

Actually, its a pleasure knowing that since I have bought this illustrated book, it has been passed on to friends of friends of friends! I havn't even seen it for a month. No one can resist this book, which is an affectionate yet honest look by the author/illustrator Raymond Briggs, who tells the story of the courtship and life of his mother Ethel and father Ernest, set squarely in a historical period of Britian. The historical detail is amazing - from the comic antagonism of the political attitudes displayed by his mother and father, to the harsh reality of facing World War II on families. But the story is told with such humour and insight, and with such a powerful undercurrent of sadness and love, that it is uplifting rather than depressing.

Book Description

A uniquely comprehensive private collection of Wellington caricatures. A fascinating insight into the political and historical issues of the day.

Gillray Observed: The Earliest Account of his Caricatures in London und Paris (Art Patrons & Public)

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Gillray Observed: The Earliest Account of his Caricatures in London und Paris (Art Patrons & Public)
Christiane Banerji , and Diana Donald
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

James Gillray, one of England's best loved caricaturists, was an immensely successful and popular artist, yet there were no accounts of his work published in England during his lifetime. The single contemporary source on Gillray is a series of commentaries published in the German journal London und Paris between 1798 and 1806. Christiane Banerji and Diana Donald have now translated and edited selected commentaries, with accompanying illustrations. The edition offers a unique insight into the role of satire in British politics during the Napoleonic era.

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