Drawing on comic strip characters such as Buster Brown, Winnie Winkle, and Superman, Ian Gordon shows how, in addition to embellishing a wide array of goods with personalities, comic strips themselves increasingly promoted consumerist values and upward mobility.

    Taking readers behind the scenes and between the panels, this book will appeal to everyone who has ever read a comic strip or comic book. Via alphabetical entries, the authors take an irreverent, idiosyncratic look at creators, characters, companies, conventions, and collectors - why, everything including Kitchen Sink! Don't expect dry reference book reading - Duin and Richardson pull no punches in expressing opinions, from citing their favorite covers and costumes to exposing some of the darker sides of comics creation and publishing. In the course of researching the book, Steve Duin (the Portland Oregonian) interviewed more than 150 comics industry veterans. Their reminiscences provide first-person insights into the early days of comics in the 1930s, the studio days of the 1940s, the crisis in the 1950s, and the resurgence in the 1960s. The book also offers plenty of behind-the-scenes info about the eccentric personalities who have brought comics to the edge of the millennium.

    Aimed at both specialists and general readers, the book contains thirteen essays on individual biblical characters, chosen for the rich diversity of traditions that have grown up around them. Each essay is written by a specialist in the field. In addition to offering a general treatment of how the figure is portrayed in a given tradition or traditions, each essay includes a comprehensive, annotated bibliography, making this work a valuable reference tool.