Treasure Chests

From 1999 to 2002, Fantagraphics published Treasure Chests, an eight-issue comic series that collects and celebrates classic, often forgotten newspaper comic strips from the early to mid-20th century. The series is most associated with the deep archival work of editor and historian Bill Blackbeard, who curated each volume to spotlight a different master of the form, from George Herriman to E. C. Segar. It matters as a lovingly produced, pre-digital-era anthology that preserved and contextualized foundational American cartooning for a new generation of readers.