New book: American Newspaper Comics

University of Michigan Press is publishing “American Newspaper Comics, An Encyclopedic Reference Guide” by comic strip historian Allan Holtz. The book will be 624 pages with over 3,100 color and B&W comic strips.

The description:

From its earliest appearance in the 1890s, the newspaper comic strip has told the story of America, from the Irish ghetto of the Yellow Kid to flappers, war heroes, hippies, and today’s office drones and soccer moms. American Newspaper Comics is the first comprehensive, authoritative reference work to document this fascinating history, listing over 7,000 different comic strip and cartoon features from American newspapers. While previous books have typically concentrated on the most popular comic strips and panel cartoon series, American Newspaper Comics is designed to be all-inclusive, providing detailed information on important but previously overlooked artists and features. The result of more than twenty years of meticulous research, American Newspaper Comics provides the most complete picture to date of the evolution of newspaper cartoon features and corrects misinformation that has circulated for years in other references.

American Newspaper Comics offers a wealth of information, including the start and end dates of features, their format, frequency, creators, and distribution companies. The book also includes handy cross-indexes and a guide to book-length compilations of newspaper cartoons and comics. In addition, the book includes a CD with samples of more than 2,000 cartoon features, including some that may be new to even the most ardent fan or collector.

Allan runs the Strippers Guide, a fantastic blog with a lot of comic gems. I could see this book as being a definitive go to source for comic strip history.