An illustrated history of the most important and exceptional comics of the past 150 years.

This comprehensive history of the world’s best comics art includes masterpieces by cartoonists from Richard Felton Outcault in 1896 to Chris Ware today. These comics—populated by meta-humans, hybrids, and superheroes—present imagined fantastical worlds that have attracted generations of devoted fans.

A critical reference, this book is also a celebration of the characters who have accompanied readers from their first forays into reading through adolescence, and on into adulthood—from Tarzan to Tintin, Little Nemo to Betty Boop, the Fantastic Four to Batman, the Silver Surfer to Sin City, or the underground comics of Robert Crumb.

A motley crew of characters—spandex-wrapped heroes with impossible muscles, hard-boiled detectives in soft hats, emancipated vamps, space-opera acrobats in chain-mail underpants, zombies, and scrawny underground freaks—span all genres of this international art form. Featuring important American and European artists, this broad retrospective decodes the symbolism and artistry of a richly creative form of reading pleasure.