Comics, Comix & Graphic Novels is the first ever fully documented study to explore the graphic qualities of the comic book, and the development of the genre into a sophisticated and culturally revealing popular art form.

This book traces the history of the comic from early cartoon-like woodcuts through to the graphic strips of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Organized thematically it explores the various genres of the comic book - including humour, adventure, girls' comics, underground and alternative.

The fascinating careers of the creators of the best-known characters - from Superman and Tintin to Tank Girl - are revealed in depth, as are the stories behind the much-loved comics such as Beano and The Incredible Hulk . The most recent artists are also illustrated and discussed, including Harvey Kurtzman ( Mad ), Chris Donald ( Viz ), Art Spiegelman ( Maus) and Katsuhiro Otomo ( Akira ).