This trailblazing survey of an art form preferred by the masses was the pioneer study of the subject. It shows the evolution and subgenres of the comics from The Yellow Kid in 1895 through the first decade of the modern comic book in the 1940s.

First published in 1947 and long out of print, this is considered by diehard aficionados of the comics as the best book ever written on the subject, and not just because it was the first. In this far-reaching study Coulton Waugh set down information that is now common lore, that the comics are revealing reflectors of society. For general readers and scholars alike, this new edition has a comprehensive index and an introduction by M. Thomas Inge, the notable scholar of popular culture and author of Comics as Culture.