The Higher Bookshelf: Comic Book History 101
Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey, the team behind the comic book series Action Philosophers!, unveiled this month the first issue of their example of a medium exposing itself in the most self-reflective way possible: Comic Book Comics! is, in fact, a comic book series illuminating the intricate history of the comic book itself. The first issue, out earlier this month, highlights the birth and innovation that led to the invention of the modern comic book; the relationship between comic and animation and the subsequent cartoon war waged between Max Fleischer and Walt Disney; the influence of pulp fiction on early comics' popularity; the early careers of many comic book pioneers, including one Jack Kirby; and the true origin of the Man of Steel as envisioned by his creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster.
The premise of the series is easily imaginable and not an altogether outlandish concept, but the execution is brilliant and the content can be utterly surprising. Van Lente and Dunlavey thoroughly and literally illustrate the origin of the comic strip as an invention not imagined on a whim but rather borne by an intricate balance of visual art, sequential dialogue, and vaudeville-style comedy. The pair also illuminate the often-unnoticed relationship between comics and animation, a relationship that would probably be more obvious if you laid the frames of an animated film side by side and noticed what it happens to look exactly like. The veritable arms race between animation pioneers Disney and Fleischer is laid bare, and the cover illustration of the two battling as famous cartoon mice is at least enough to pique anyone's curiosity, avid comic book historian and bored Barnes & Noble peruser alike.
Perhaps the greatest achievement of Comic Book Comics! #1 is the most descriptive illustration ever of the myriad concepts and ideals behind the creation of the world's first comic-book superhero. Van Lente and Dunlavey successfully tell the tale of how Zorro, Friedrich Nietzsche's "übermensch" ideal, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and even Popeye the Sailor himself joined together in the minds of Cleveland comic-book artists Siegel and Schuster to ultimately yield Superman in the pages of Action Comics #1.
kid_ampersand
Posted to The Higher Bookshelf Book Club on 18 March 2008
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