Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics - 1977 {WebComixFan}

"THE SMITHSONIAN COLLECTION OF NEWSPAPER COMICS"

"The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics," edited by Bill Blackbeard and Martin Williams and published in 1977, provides an overview of the history of newspaper comic strips from their beginnings in the 1890s through the 1970s. There's plenty of information in the editors' discussions of the various periods of comic strip development and of the strips themselves, but the real gem in this volume is the huge variety of comic strip samples. Blackbeard and Williams obviously understood that while reading about comics can be interesting, reading the comics themselves is far more fun. "Hogan's Alley" (from whence came "The Yellow Kid"), "Buster Brown," "Katzenjammer Kids," "Little Nemo in Slumberland," "Mutt and Jeff," "Polly and her Pals," "Moon Mullins," "Gasoline Alley," "Krazy Kat," "Thimble Theatre" (featuring Popeye), and many more are all represented herein, often in full color.

I should note that I didn't scan the volume; it was originally torrented in PDF form by KAT user StevanBG66. However, I did convert the PDF document to CBR format, and "brightened" the pages a bit in the process, as the original scan seemed rather dark.