history of comic books for older readers is traced from the end of the 19th century to the present, taking in the pioneering titles pre-Great War, the underground titles of the 1960s, "fan"-dom in the 1970s and 1980s, and today's boom (including "graphic novels" and "Viz"). An international section, covering comics in the US, Europe and Japan, and a thematic discussion, including the role of women, the graphic novel in context, and cultural overspill is included. By taking a broad sweep, Sabin demonstrates that the widely-held notion that comics "grew up" in the late 1980s is a mistaken one, largely invented by the media.

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