The History of Comics 1930 to 2030 is a massive undertaking and the content is coming together.

As perfect bound books that stand alone and as a collectible partwork they follow the same format.

Each edition begins with a cultural overview of the featured year, significant comic milestones and industry news from John McShane.

There is a top 10 of comics you must own and a review section featuring comics and related comic books and how to get your copies from Richard Bruton.

Unusual comic memorabilia, memories and fandom items are headed up by our very own museum curator Richard Sheaf.

The History of Comics is huge. The books feature a summary of Comic Facts/significant events before 1930 but anything we can’t include will be online in a password protected area of our website. We will add year by year links to other sources of information relevant to that year, going beyond the books. Being a member of the Comic Club allows access (and you get your History of Comics in digital for £5 a month or in print for £10 a month (£20 outwith the UK) plus a membership card).

Other sections of the books focus on UK Comics, Humour Comics, Newspaper strips, US Comics, Indie comics, Girl comics, European and World titles.

Barrie Tomlinson talks about his time on Scream, Ian Gibson on his work on Halo Jones and we have additional features on Transformers, Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Supergirl movie in the 1984 book.

In the 1977 book John Wagner talks anything but Dredd and we look at Cheeky/Plug comics, the launch of 2000AD, Heavy Metal, John Byrne’s X Men, Star Wars and Cerebus.

Back to 1950 we check out Eagle and Dan Dare, Strange Adventures, the launch of Peanuts, the origins of Lana Lang, Marvel Boy and the Comics Code Authority.

Then it’s back to the 80’s for 1986 with Oink, Diceman, Meltalzoic, ‘Mazing Man, The Nam, and Daredevil / Elektra Assassin. We may even feature Maus, Watchmen, Dark Knight and Man of Steel if there is space!

Writers include creators, bloggers, journalist, academics and fans with more to be approached for future books.

This is a major project that I don’t think has been tried before. The support of the comics community is vital. We hope this series and the website will guide people through the rich history of comics, introduce them to current works and perhaps make them investigate new material too. It will make a great collection for any library, school or comic fans bookcase! On top of all this we will be maintaining and sharing our Comic Creators Directory too so libraries, schools and community groups can easily access comic creators for comic talks and workshops.

Thanks to everyone who supported the kickstarter. and who have already joined the club from all corners of the globe! If you are not on board yet I hope you can join soon. Membership and Books will be limited to 3000 worldwide, so perfect for comic collectors. October 2020 is the month to join! There are a number of options with some additional goodies but please do join today from as little as £5. The first set of four History of Comics books are out in November to ‘binge read’.

Thanks,
Tony Foster

https://comicscene.org/subscribe-to-the-history-of-comics/