Many fans and insiders alike have never heard of Bill Hume, Bailin' Wire Bill, Abe Martin, AWOL Wally, the Texas History Movies, or the Weatherbird at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. And many insiders do not know why we call comic books “comics” even though lots of them are not at all funny. Robert C. Harvey, cartoonist and a veteran comics critic, author of several histories of comics and biographies of cartoonists, tells forgotten stories of a dozen now obscure but once famous cartoonists and their creations. He also includes accounts of the cartooning careers of a groundbreaking African American and a woman who broke into an industry once dominated by white men. Many of the better-known stories in some of the book's fourteen chapters are wrapped around fugitive scraps of information that are almost unknown. Which of Bill Mauldin's famous duo is Willie? Which is Joe? What was the big secret about E. Simms Campbell? Who was Funnyman? And why? And some of the pictures are rare, too. Hugh Hefner's cartoons, Kin Hubbard's illustrations for Short Furrows, Betty Swords’s pictures for the Male Chauvinist Pig Calendar of 1974, the Far East pin-up cartoon character Babysan, illustrations for Popo and Fifina, and Red Ryder's last bow.

From a cartoonist and a veteran writer on the history of comics, a joyous reclamation of cartooning geniuses

Provides lessons on the art of cartooning along with information on terminology, tools, techniques, and theory.

"Can you draw simple things like trees, fish, and candy? Then you can be a cartoonist!!! This book will help show you how"--Cover.

Foreword by Seth MacFarlane On the twentieth anniversary of the seven-time Emmy Award-winning Fox animated television series comes Inside Family Guy: An Illustrated History, a fully illustrated, full-color visual guide honoring its reign—from storyboards to character sketches to script excerpts to cast and crew interviews—and giving fans exclusive access behind the scenes. This comprehensive guide is an essential collector’s item for the millions and millions of Family Guy fans around the world. Featuring 240 pages of concept art, exclusive interviews with crew and cast members—including Seth MacFarlane, Seth Green, Mila Kunis, Alex Borstein, and Mike Henry—script excerpts, production notes, and countless insights on the making of the episodes as well as fan favorite characters Meg Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Glenn Quagmire, Brian Griffin, Lois Griffin, and Cleveland Brown, this is the ultimate guide to one of the most popular animated shows ever created. Commentary from the crew will walk fans through every step of production, from conception meetings to the final print, detailing not only the artistic process but the history of its creation as well. Featuring storyboards, costume designs, reference photographs, immaculate background paintings and much more, the world of Family Guy and its memorable characters has never been revealed in such gorgeous detail before.

A history of the comic book, in which a noted cartoonist demonstrates the aesthetics and power of the medium

No one asks for the childhood they get, and no child ever deserved to go to Chartwell Manor. For Glenn Head, his two years spent at the now-defunct Mendham, NJ, boarding school ― run by a serial sexual and emotional abuser of young boys in the early 1970s ― left emotional scars in ways that he continues to process. This graphic memoir ― a book almost 50 years in the making ― tells the story of that experience, and then delves with even greater detail into the reverberations of that experience in adulthood, including addiction and other self-destructive behavior. Head tells his story with unsparing honesty, depicting himself as a deeply flawed human struggling to make sense of the childhood he was given.