Frank Johnson, Secret Pioneer of American Comics Vol. 1: Wally's Gang Early Years (1928-1949) and The Bowser Boys (1946-1950) [Paperback]

When Frank Johnson, an itinerant musician and shipping clerk, died in 1979, he left behind a startling discovery: more than 2,300 notebook pages of comics and 131 unbound drawings, among them a massive, continuous story line beginning in the earliest surviving notebook dated 1928  before the existence of comic books!  and following the exploits of his own cast of characters across 50 years until Johnson passed away. During this lifelong project, Johnson invented in private many of the conventions and tropes that define comics storytelling, effectively enacting an alternative secret history of the comics medium.An astonishing historical and artistic discovery: a 2300 page proto-graphic novel begun by a weekend cartoonist in 1928 and continuing over the next 50 years! This eccentric archival collection introduces outsider artist Johnson (19121979), a shipping clerk who secretly produced more than 2,000 pages of original cartoons in composition books dating back as far as 1928.?Classic comics aficionados wont want to miss this gem. [Johnsons work is] distinguished by robust penciling and a cumulative air of obsession. ... That obsessiveness made him a fascinatingly dutiful chronicler of mid-20th-century life; in this hefty omnibus, tidbits of a bygone way of life accumulate into something sad and strange and huge. Utilizing a voice and talent all his own, Frank Johnson is an American original, a folk cartoonist hero for the century that birthed American comics. Frank Johnson was a working stiff with a drinking problem who secretly created a decades-long comic strip better than almost anything that ran in a daily paper in the 20th century. It's a fascinating project ...?a sprawling graphic novel, of surprising skill. A fascinating look at an unknown cartoonist and a great celebration of the medium.