Art out of time : unknown comics visionaries, 1900-1969

Before there was Robert Crumb, there was Herbert Crowley. If you don't recognize that name, you're not alone. Crowley is one of nearly 30 American cartoonists featured in this eclectic anthology, artists whose work-created between 1900 and 1969-was overshadowed by more successful contemporaries. Art Out of Time at last gives these pioneers the showcase they deserve, reprinting-in most cases for the first time since their initial publication-complete comic books and strips by such visionaries as Raymond Ewer, Howard Nostrand, Ogden Whitney, and Dick Briefer. These under-recognized artists often deviated from the thematic and graphic conventions of the comics medium-and influenced Crumb, Art Spiegelman, and others-making this superb anthology a true "counter history," the untold story of an underground that wasn't. Publishers Weekly There are lots of anthologies of the work of the past century's famous cartoonists, but Nadel has done a real service in putting together this collection of 29 marvelous nearly unknown comic strip and comic book artists. Many are reprinted from yellowing newsprint-in a few cases, like Walter Quermann's late-'30s newspaper strip Hickory Hollow Folks, from the only copies of their work still extant. Only a few, like Ogden Whitney's poker-faced '60s comic book Herbie, have ever been reprinted before. Nadel's five categories, "Exercises in Exploration," "Slapstick," "Acts of Drawing," "Words in Pictures" and "Form and Style," sometimes seem arbitrary; the biographical notes at the back are informative but all too brief. Still, it's hard to argue with the comics themselves. Charles Forbell's 1913 newspaper strip Naughty Pete looks like it had a huge influence on Chris Ware; Gustave Verbeek's bonkers formal experiment The Upside-Downs of Little Lady Lovekins and Old Man Muffaroo, from 1904, is still hilarious and sui generis; Rory Hayes's crude but meticulous horror stories from 1969's Bogeyman Comics, the most recent pieces here, were decades ahead of their time. Contemporary cartoonists-and their fans-have a lot to learn from the freewheeling, witty, try-anything-twice artistic attitude of the pieces Nadel's assembled. (June) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information. INTRODUCTION EXERCISES IN EXPLORATION - Harry Grant Dart - Howard Nostrand - Herbert Crowley - Ogden Whitney - Raymond Crawford Ewer - Stanley Armstrong - Bob Powell - Walter Quermann SLAPSTICK - Milt Gross - Stan MacGovern - Dick Briefer - Jack Mendelsohn ACTS OF DRAWING - Charles M. Payne - Fletcher Hanks - Garrett Price - A. E. Hayward - Jefferson Machamer - Rory Hayes WORDS IN PICTURES - Harry Hershfield - Cecil Jensen - Boody Rogers - Harry J. Tuthill - C. W. Kahles FORM AND STYLE - Charles Forbell - T. E. Powers - Gustave Verbeek - Gene Deitch - George Carlson - Norman E. Jennett BIOGRAPHIES SOURCE In five thematic sections, this anthology is a counter history of comics, containing nearly 30 undiscovered visionary American cartoonists from 1900-1969. These artists, including Harry Grant Dart, Milt Gross, Charles M. Payne, Harry Hershfield and Charles Forbell, foreshadowed and influenced the comics medium of today. In five thematic sections, this anthology is a counter history of comics, containing nearly thirty undiscovered visionary American cartoonists from 1900 to 1969. These artists, including Robert Crumb, Art Spiegelman, Chris Ware, Dan Clowes, Charles Burns, and Ben Katchor, foreshadowed and influenced the comics medium. Reprints complete comic strip stories by thirty often-unknown visionary American cartoonists from 1900 to 1969