LOAC ESSENTIALS HC (2025)

"Introducing a new series that will reprint early daily newspaper strips that are essential to the history of comics. Each volume will contain a full year of dailies. By reproducing the strips one per page in an oblong format, it allows us to have the experience of reading the comics one day at a time. The inaugural volume of Library of American Comics Essentials features Baron Bean by one of the greatest of all comic strip stars: George Herriman. The creator of Krazy Kat drew Baron Bean for three years, beginning in 1916. Included in this volume is the first year. Two additional books will complete the series. Future LOAC Essentials titles include The Gumps and Polly and Her Pals."

"In the late 1910s, Sidney Smith developed a formula of the daily strip that would make The Gumps one of the most popular comics of the 1920s and himself one of the richest cartoonists of his day. By the end of the decade Sidney Smith's The Gumps had secured a huge and loyal audience with a decade of melodrama, adventure, mystery, and comedy. So devoted were his readers, in fact, that they regularly wrote in to offer advice for his characters' love lives and business decisions and they generally treated the characters as friends and family members. In 1928-29, with the launching of what would be his most famous story, 'The Saga of Mary Gold,' Smith's relationship to his readers would be tested as never before. Its heartbreaking conclusion would change comics forever. Here for the first time since the story made headlines across America in the spring of 1929 we reprint the saga that Hogan's Alley magazine called 'One of the Ten Biggest Events in Comics History'-a tale that has lost none of its power to captivate readers in the 21st Century."

"By the early 1930s Cliff Sterrett had transformed Polly and Her Pals into the world's premier surrealistic comic strip. Sterrett's Sunday pages (also being published by The Library of American Comics) have long been hailed as individual masterpieces, but his daily strips-due to their rarity-have eluded archivists for the past ninety years. The strips reprinted here-the complete year of 1933 dailies-show Sterrett at his most inventive. "

"In 1939, Vincent Trout Hamlin had been writing and drawing the successful Alley Oop for more than five years. In Alley Oop, Hamlin created a unique concept, marrying his fascination with dinosaurs and prehistoric times to a rollicking style of storytelling and drawing that was simultaneously serious, fantastic, and loaded with slapstick. The series was set in the kingdom of Moo and starred Alley Oop, the club-wielding caveman, his girlfriend Ooola, friends Dinny the dinosaur and Foozy, and more! This volume features Oop's final Moo adventure, followed by his trips to the 20th Century and ancient Greece. Hamlin would send his characters everywhere and everywhen - but the classic Alley Oop begins with the stories contained in this volume. "

"Art Spiegelman called The Bungle Family 'the most underrated comic strip in our history.' Bill Blackbeard wrote, 'There has been nothing like it in comic strips since.' Hogan's Alley magazine proclaimed, 'The Bungle Family was about as wholly an adult comic strip as the field has ever known.' Yet only sporadic examples of Harry J. Tuthill's masterpiece have been available to modern readers. Until now! This volume-collecting the complete 1930 dailies-remedies that situation. "

"The New York Journal of Books says that the first volume of LOAC Essentials (Baron Bean 1916) 'sets the standard for archival and reprint quality.' The Washington Times writes that it's 'beautiful. It showcases Mr. Herriman's developing style and his move toward a combination of absurdity, surrealism, and art deco.' Volume Six presents the second year of George Herriman's much-lauded pre-Krazy Kat masterpiece. "

"The first 300 daily Tarzan comics ever produced, all in one place! LOAC Essentials brings you all of Hal Foster's first comics work, reproduced from ERB's syndicate proofs. In addition, this book includes 'The Return of Tarzan,' 'Beasts of Tarzan,' and 'Son of Tarzan,' each drawn by Rex Maxon. "

"Considered the first comic book with original material ever produced, 1933's 'Detective Dan, Secret Op. 48' was a landmark. It only lasted one issue before morphing into the Dan Dunn newspaper strip. A blatant copy of Chester Gould's Dick Tracy (Norman Marsh had been an art assistant to Gould), Dan Dunn was a rough and tumble Secret Service agent who exacted violent retribution on any criminal who dared cross his path. This book reprints the entire first year of daily comics."

"Collecting the works of one of the most important female cartoonists of all time, Tippie will appeal to comics readers, students of women's studies, and dog lovers. Edwina Dumm was the country's first female full-time editorial cartoonist, and one of its first female syndicated comic strip creators. Tippie is truly a Library of American Comics Essential, providing a crucial reading experience and offering perspective on the early work of women in the field. LOAC Essentials reprints, one year at a time, the daily newspaper strips that are essential to comics history, in a format that preserves, as closely as possible, the original reader experience."

"Reprinted for the very first time, these century-old strips comprise a key early work from the creator of Krazy Kat, perhaps the most lauded cartoonist of all time. This book concludes a three-volume LOAC Essentials sub-series by presenting the final year of Baron Bean, one of Herriman's richest and funniest creations, second only to Krazy Kat, whose citizens occasionally grace these panels. Advance solicited for November release! The New York Journal of Books said that the first volume of LOAC Essentials (Baron Bean) 'sets the standard for archival and reprint quality.'"

"As a famed hero of the mystery novels by Earl Derr Biggers, Inspector Charlie Chan reached even greater heights in a series of popular movies. As actor Sidney Toler was preparing to replace Warner Oland as the wily police detective in 1938, Alfred Andriola was tapped to create a newspaper strip version of the character. The pride of the Honolulu Police Department uses his intellect more than his fists to solve cases of international intrigue, and the syndicate's initial promotion called Charlie Chan 'a new mystery strip, totally devoid of guns and gangsters' to separate it from Dick Tracy and his many hard-boiled imitators. Featuring the first complete year of daily strips, from October 1938 to November 1939, this volume offers readers exciting adventures, snappy dialogue, and arresting art. Advance solicited for August release! A key early work from the creator of the long-running detective series Kerry Drake presented in a format that is as close as one can get to experiencing it as a daily comic."

"Reprinting four classic Barney Google stories that define the strip! Barney and his horse Spark Plug get involved in all sorts of hijinks and schemes when they enter the Million-Dollar Cross-Country Marathon, decide to swim the English Channel, and when Barney joins the Secret and Mysterious Order of the Brotherhood of Billy Goats (in DeBeck's send-up of secret societies and fraternal lodges), culminating in Barney Google's historic run for President of the United States in 1928! Library of American Comics (LOAC) Essentials reprints, in yearly volumes, the daily newspaper strips that are essential to comics history, strips that are unique creations in their own right, while also contributing to the advancement of the medium. Available in December."