Here I sing the praises of Larry Gonick and his Cartoon History... comic books

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These things are the best. I think I learned more from the first two compendiums than from several history-related college courses that weren't all that bad themselves. I just found out that the supposedly apocryphal third collection (pretty much a vapor-book when I looked for it a couple years ago) is indeed out, as well as a history of the USA. I'm getting them both as quickly as I can.

Probably my greatest book-related disaster is accidentally tearing most of the way through the page where he's describing the many faces of jesus (where he calls him a "commie" and has him going "mm!" w/r/t the edibleness of his own flesh).

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Thursday, 12 August 2004 08:45 (twenty-one years ago)

That's not a dramatic pause after "cartoon history", I was trying to give the implication of several books with that prefix. Damn my own eyes.

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Thursday, 12 August 2004 09:27 (twenty-one years ago)

two years pass...

Wow, surprised there isn't some other thread about Gonick - I LOVED these things as a kid and still constantly lean on my memories of them to keep history in basic sorted-out order. The "...Universe" series is by far the best; he certainly seemed to lavish research and drawing time on those, as opposed to US History, Environment, Physics, Computer, etc... all of which got kind of sketchy. This happens in the History of the Universe too, in that one chapter dealing with Classical Greece. It looks like he either discovered drugs that year or had a hand injury or something, there's a certain freaky, ink-soaked charm to it but it REALLY leaps out of place. But for the most part he's fun, his linework is tight, and a thorough reading makes you more well-versed on world history than most everyone you know.

How's the "Modern World" one that came out recently? I assume that it's basically Volume IV of the existing series but haven't found a chance to check it out yet.

― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 20:48 (eighteen years ago)

History of the Universe volume one is completely brilliant, Volume 2 less so, I need to get some new pressings though as I abused the hell out of these as an adolescent

― TOMBOT, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 16:29 (eighteen years ago)

the FOOTNOTES

― TOMBOT, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 16:29 (eighteen years ago)

I always liked Volume Two better - mainly just because it covered a lot more unfamiliar ground for me. China and India seemed a lot fresher than dinosaurs and Egypt.

― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 23:20 (eighteen years ago)

two years pass...

i guess the last one is out?

http://www.larrygonick.com/html/pub/books/his6.html

moder world 1 is totally great, btw!

― goole, Tuesday, 2 March 2010 21:26 (sixteen years ago)

I am a massive fan of this guy; love all the universe/modern world/US histories and his statistics and genetics books.
Learned more than i did in K-12!

― forksclovetofu, Tuesday, 2 March 2010 23:21 (sixteen years ago)

I actually contacted Larry Gonick about the weird art in Vol. 7 on the Greeks a few years ago!

Here's his response, which I doubt he'd mind me posting publicly:

I should post something about vol 7 on the web site, I get so many inquiries. You are not hallucinating. It does look different. The reason is that vol 7 was mostly drawn with a pen, whereas everything else in CHU was drawn with a brush. I had several reasons for trying a pen, probably all misguided, but anyway I regarded vol 7 as an experiment to see if I could use a pen effectively. I consider the experiment 100% successful: it proved beyond all doubt that the answer is NO!

So--thanks for the good words, and congratulations on your sharp eyes and mental balance.

best,
Larry Gonick

― Dan I., Wednesday, 3 March 2010 02:31 (sixteen years ago)

I'd wondered about that for years; thanks for posting!

― forksclovetofu, Wednesday, 3 March 2010 05:20 (sixteen years ago)

i always guessed that he was under some kind of deadline pressure and cranked out ch 7 in a huge hurry. the rest of the first book is very highly detailed and precise; all the other books are much looser and sketch-y looking -- as if he learned his lesson to not be so anal or you'll run out of time?

but his explanation is not that, is it. cool that you reached out to him, dan! cool that he replied too.

― goole, Wednesday, 3 March 2010 15:36 (sixteen years ago)

Wow! Thanks for that, Dan I. Something I've been wondering about since 7th grade!

― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 9 March 2010 00:32 (sixteen years ago)

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