Frank Johnson, Secret Pioneer of American Comics Vol. 1

Name: Frank Johnson, Secret Pioneer of American Comics Vol. 1
Brand: Unknown
SKU: 9781683968993
Price: 94.99 NZD
Availability: InStock

Wally's Gang Early Years (1928-1949) and The Bowser Boys (1946-1950)

By Frank Johnson

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Brief Description

When Frank Johnson, an itinerant musician and shipping clerk, died in 1979, he left behind a startling discovery: more than 2,300 notebook pages of comics and 131 unbound drawings. Among them was a massive, continuous storyline beginning in the earliest surviving notebook dated 1928—before the existence... Read More

Format: Paperback / softback

$94⁹⁹

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Frank Johnson, Secret Pioneer of American Comics Vol. 1

$94⁹⁹

An astonishing historical and artistic discovery: a 2300 page proto-graphic novel begun by a "weekend cartoonist" in 1928 and continuing over the next 50 years!

Description

During this lifelong project, Johnson invented in private many of the conventions and tropes that define comics storytelling, effectively enacting an alternative secret history of the comics medium.

This debut publication of Johnson's work is the first of two 600+ page volumes that will collect the best 1,200 pages of his comics, including Wally's Gang, his 50-year magnum opus chronicling the humorous, cliff-hanging adventures of a group of bachelor friends. Also featured is The Bowser Boys, a seamy, darkly slapstick depiction of bohemian street life that could be considered the first underground comic series. Coming in Volume 2 is Juke Boys, an absurd, self-reflexive graphic experimentation.

Curator and historian Chris Byrne and fine artist and graphic novelist Keith Mayerson have brought this astounding work into the light of day and provide historical background and analysis.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781683968993

Publisher: Fantagraphics

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 06 February 2024

Country: United States

Imprint: Fantagraphics

Illustration: 634 Illustrations

Contributors:

Edited by Chris Byrne
Edited by Keith Mayerson

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 176.0mm

Height: 227.0mm

Weight: 300g

Pages: 634

Collections

Adult Graphic Novels Fiction Frank Johnson Graphic Novels

About the Author

Frank Johnson was born in Chicago on November 7, 1912. During the 1940s, he worked as a shipping clerk. Johnson married in 1968 after meeting his future wife, Kay, at the Paragon Ballroom on Lawrence Avenue. They lived on the North Side of Chicago until his death in 1979. Chris Byrne is the author of the graphic novel The Magician (Marquand Books, 2013), included in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Byrne is the owner and founder of the Elaine de Kooning House in East Hampton, NY, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. He was the former chair of the American Visionary Art Museum. Keith Mayerson (b. 1966, Cincinnati, OH) has professionally exhibited his art in galleries and museums since 1993. His exhibitions are often installations of images that create larger narratives. His long running non-linear narrative "My American Dream" has been presented in separate exhibitions as "chapters" and the ongoing series continues through today and has recently been published as a 428 page "wordless novel" and monograph by Karma. His graphic novel Horror Hospital Unplugged, a collaboration with the writer Dennis Cooper, is well known among graphic artists and the queer community. A graphic-novel biography of James Dean is forthcoming, to be published by Fantagraphics.