
Over the centuries comic books & their offshoots such as graphic novels & bandes dessinees have evolved into a phenomenally popular influential & unique art form with which we can express our opinions our fantasies our nightmares & our dreams. In short: comics are emphatically no longer just for kids. This diverse constantly evolving medium is truly coming into its own in the 21st century from Hollywoods blockbuster adaptations of super-powered caped crusaders to the global spread of Japans manga & its spinoffs & from award-winning graphic novels such as Maus & Persepolis to new forms such as online webcomix. But comics also have a long & rich history dating back at least to the Swiss teacher Rodolphe Topffer in the early 19th century & far earlier in China. 1001 Comic Books You Must Read Before You Die is the perfect introduction to this dynamic & globally popular medium. There have been other guides to the best comic books but none has embraced every genre & scoured the globe to glean the very greatest works of sequential art graphic literature bandes dessinees tebeos fumetti manga manhwa komiks strips historietas quadrinhos beeldverhalen & plain old comics. This authoritative guide is organized according to the year of first publication in the country of origin. An opening section acknowledges pioneering pre-1900 masterpieces followed by sections divided by decade creating a fascinating year-by-year chronicle of the comics medium worldwide.