History, Jackie O and Comix
by Calvin Reid -- Publishers Weekly, 9/16/2002
In 1987, cartoonist Larry Gonick visited the offices of Doubleday to meet the editor who had acquired his unlikely historical comics series. The book was Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of the Universe, a hilarious yet scholarly and comprehensive history of world civilization, done in funny pictures. Doubleday went on to publish and sell more than 170,000 copies of the first two volumes.
The editor was Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Gonick went to meet his new editor on November 22, 1987, the 25th anniversary of the assassination of JFK, and "she was at work in her office," Gonick said. Now, the third volume in the series will be published by W.W. Norton in October. Aline Mason, Gonick's current editor, told PW there's another volume still to come.
This monumental work does just what it claims. It tells the history of human civilization, beginning with our climb from the primordial ooze right on through the highlights of human development. The latest volume runs from rise of the great Arab civilizations to Columbus's arrival in North America in 1492. Gonick said the process of research, writing and drawing for the book is overwhelming. "This volume took a year just to ink! he said.
Gonick said he's "trying to tell a world history and include everything that needs to be in it." And he's quick to praise his readers ("I have a cult of well-educated fans") and his first editor for its success: "She was a great champion of my book."
