Rating: 4/5
Disclaimer: I received a free ecopy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I'll admit that this book wasn't my favorite. It is very academic, which makes it a bit dry to read. As a result, I took a long time to finish it because I could only read it in small chunks.
There are two major sections of this book: history and analysis. The history portion is quite in depth. It begins by examining adventure books that are a precursor to superhero comics. I've read a couple other books that delve into the history of comics this way and I felt like this one did a good job of not just rehashing what I had read before.
Once it gets into the appearance of comics, it starts to get better. There are a few distinct eras that Gavaler covers. Each one has its own defining characteristics that help to identify them. I think I enjoyed this portion more than the earlier history because I was more familiar with the characters discussed, if not the specific series'. It seemed like there was a diverse choice of characters used, which is nice to show off that this genre of comics can provide readers with more than just white, male heroes.
The best part of the book has to be what I've referred to as analysis. Again, some of what is discussed here has been covered in other books I've read, but the coverage on different artistic techniques that are used and the effects they have is great. I think this book is worth picking up for that alone because it is presented so well. It wraps up with an application of this artistic knowledge to an actual comic, followed by a list of important or influential comics for each era. The book can be a bit heavy at times, but I feel like it has a lot to offer serious comics readers.
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