History of the Comic Strip

This short-lived but ambitious series from University of California Press (1973–1990) offered a scholarly survey of the comic strip's origins, spanning just two issues. The project drew heavily on the foundational work of satirists James Gillray and Wilhelm Busch, whose 18th- and 19th-century caricatures and picture stories are presented as key precursors to the modern form. Its academic focus and high-quality reproductions made it a distinctive, if niche, contribution to comics historiography.