Comic Book Encyclopedia: The Ultimate Guide to Characters, Graphic Novels, Writers, and Artists in the Comic Book Universe
Adult/High School&ndash;This entertaining guide is chock-full of trivia. Starting with the early 1900s, it is organized primarily by character or book title; hordes of heroes, villains, and the indefinable stride through its colorful pages. Although the contents lean heavily toward the superhero, the author includes a few independents like the hallucinogenic work of R. Crumb and Chris Ware'sJimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth(Knopf, 2000). Characters from children's humor make small appearances as well. Not surprisingly, the entries for the more iconic figures like Superman and Spiderman have significantly more detail than the others. Although comic-book trivia encyclopedias are nothing new, this one stands out because of the excellence of the reproductions of the original art. Just casually flipping through the pages gives a startling and overwhelming sense of how much quality work artists and writers produced over the last 100 years. Goulart also includes some entries about the more influential writers, artists, and styles. These sections include interesting pointers for those looking for new or different material. This book will satisfy all lovers of comic books and comic-book history.&ndash;Matthew L. Moffett, Northern Virginia Community College, AnnandaleCopyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.