TOON Treasury of Classic Children's Comics

By: Spiegeiman, Art

The TOON Treasury of Classic Children's Comics is an unprecedented collection of the greatest comics for children, artfully compiled by two of the best-known creators in publishing and the field of comics--Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly. This treasury created for young readers focuses on comic books, not strips, and contains humorous stories that range from a single-page to eight or even twenty-two pages, each complete and self-contained. The comics have been culled from the Golden Age of comic books, roughly the 1940s through the early 1960s, and feature the best examples of works by such renowned artists and writers as Carl Barks, John Stanley, Sheldon Mayer, Walt Kelly, Basil Wolverton, and George Carlson, among many, many others. Organizing the book into five categories (Hey, Kids ; Funny Animals; Fantasyland; Story Time ; and Wacky & Weird), Spiegelman and Mouly use their expertise in the area of comics to frame each category with an introductory essay, and provide brief biographies of the artists. The TOON Treasury of Classic Children's Comics is essential reading for kids of all ages. . F&P level: T

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0810957302
• ISBN13: 9780810957305
• Release Date: August 1970
• Publisher: Abrams, Inc.
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 0.0" x 0.1"
• Age Range: 13 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 8 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Amazing Book--worth every penny.

This book is a treasure. The title fits. I'm sure my grandson will love it--I peeked and had lovely memories!

Excellent!!!

There's nothing I can substantively add to the three other 5-star reviews that have preceded mine. This is a wonderful volume on every level, it's beautifully put together, terrifically entertaining, and a must for all comics fans.

It's clear that this book has mass appeal

This redoubtable collection is a celebration of everything that makes comics worth celebrating: the sheer joy and innocence of discovering what happens when you mix lively art with more than a dab of color and throw it together sequentially to tell an exciting narrative. That the book is edited by two of the true luminaries of the field speaks to the quality of the work contained within. Neither needs an introduction, but it would be a disservice to not mention that Art Spiegelman is the Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of Maus and his wife, Françoise Mouly, is the art editor of The New Yorker. Together, they run Toon Books, which has the delightful mission of creating comics that are suited and age-appropriate for kids. The expansive treasury covers a wide gamut of the Golden Age of comics publishing and represents just about every genre conceivable within that time. There are superheroes, funny animals, pure fantasy, swashbuckling adventure, and some very familiar faces (Sugar and Spike, Dennis the Menace, Little Lulu, Uncle Scrooge, among others). The stories in the book are grouped into five sections ("Hey, Kids!," "Funny Animals," "Fantasyland," "Storytime," and "Weird and Wacky"), so it's easy to go right to the type of tale you're in the mood for. Some kids might skip past the insightful introduction by author Jon Scieszka and the much longer foreword from the two editors, but adults will enjoy the commentary. The foreword in particular is a veritable treasure trove of information about the history of what's contained in the rest of the book, as well as charming explanations from the editors about why they included what they did and why they left other things out. At $40, this is a pricy kids' book, of course, and is perhaps more of an adult one. Wherever it ends up in the library or home, it's clear that it has mass appeal. There was a time when comics weren't so edgy or controversial but instead just had a distinct charm that kids could easily relate to. Kids nowadays will still feel it, and no doubt adults will want to relive it as well. -- John Hogan

Vintage "Comic" Comics

This is an awesome collecton of some of the nicest comics that one would have read and relished as a little kid. First of all the book is very well put together physically. * The size simply stuns you!... humongous book * Stacked with page after...page after..page of full color comics * Printed in an amazingly thick matt (non-glossy, non-shiny) paper * Brings out the vividness of the pen/brush art and the true colors * The soft off-white page color makes them as they appeared in the originals * The binding is perfect, nice to grab and handle. * There is enough margin space, and the author/story name is printed along Other publishers should take a note from this book. The glossy/shiny papers that we have suddenly become fixated with, ruins the art. This lovely collection includes comics from the 40/50s of * Unca Scrooge * Donald Duck * Dennis the menace * Little Archie * Little Lulu * Pogo * Fox and Crow * Captain Marvel to name a few. Each character is present in one,two or three stories max, and hence makes a nice mix of all the nice stories. There are 67 stories in total grouped into five categories, * Hey, Kids * Funny Animals * Fantasyland * Story Time * Wacky & Weird This is a must for the oldtimers who want to get back in time to catch up on some of their best times, and this is awesome for newcomer kids(as well as adults ofcourse) to get introduced to some of the nice stories and comics of a simple, innocent and happy era. Kudos to the editors and the publisher. we want to see more of these. You can't go wrong with this one, that too with the steep discounted price!