Whether they're called manga, bandes dessinees, fumetti, tebeos or historietas, comics are an essential part of the universal human desire to tell stories with pictures. This groundbreaking history is the first to integrate the story of comics in Europe, Asia and the Americas ib a Comprehensive account, told from a global perspective. It begins in 1968, a key year in comics' shift from an endeavour driven by commercial potential into a means of self-expression respected not just as entertainment but also as art. The book traces comics' evolution over five decades and across five continents, up to the emergence of the global, digital scene that is prevalent today and that is the medium's likely future. The broad reach of Comics extends to a range of artists, styles and movements, spanning Marvel and DC Superheroes; Robert Crumb, The Underground movement and manga powerhouse Osamu Tezuka; politically charge Italian fumetti and sexually chaerge ladies' manga (or josei), the Francophone technique of ligne claire; sci-fi; Metal Hurlant; the pioneering Japanese alternative journal Garo; the graphic memoir and the graphic novel; and finally the moment comics made the jump from page to web page. Around 290 image, reproduced in original colour and with expensive captions, are integrated into the decades-by-decade narative.//yeni
