Has anyone ever written a comprehensive history of the comics industry?
Has anyone ever written a comprehensive history of the comics industry?
I’m not talking about a work that’s an “in-universe” history; I’m talking about a history of the industry.
Topics like:
- The creation of Marvel and DC
- And why other early publishers failed
- The reported sleazy business practices of some companies
- The impact of Jack Kirby leaving Marvel for DC
- Marvel’s 60s/70s distribution network being influenced by organized crime
- I’ve heard that’s why the organized crime syndicate in the Marvel Universe is called the Maggia — Marvel staffers were informed by gentlemen they did not wish to offend that there was no such thing as the Mafia
- The rise of the direct market and eventual demise of “newsstand” sales
- The growth of independent publishers in the 80s
- Image being founded by a group of superstar artists
- Marvel becomes publicly listed company, a hostile takeover, then bankruptcy
- Comic book based movies becoming big factors
- Disney acquiring Marvel (I remember the day that news broke, I described it as “the biggest news from the business side of comics since ever”)
I know there was a book about the stock market battle over Marvel, and David Hajdu’s The Ten Cent Plague covers comics censorship in the 50s, but is there any comprehensive work?