The Comics: An Illustrated History of Comic Strip Art #[nn]

Jerry Robinson's The Comics: An Illustrated History of Comic Strip Art, published by Berkley Books in 1976, is a sweeping survey of the art form that spans centuries of visual storytelling. The cover itself makes the promise vivid, presenting a collage of reproduced strip panels — a chaotic slapstick feast scene, a masked adventure hero looming over figures at a bedside, and a sprawling outdoor gathering of wildly costumed characters among the trees — sampling the remarkable range of work inside. Hal Foster, creator of Prince Valiant, called it "Wonderful," and with contributors ranging across generations of artists, this illustrated history earns that enthusiasm.