Brings together nearly two dozen essays by major writers and intellectuals who analyzed, embraced, and even attacked comic strips and comic books in the period between the turn of the century and the 1960s. From e. e. cummings to Irving Howe, this volume shows that comics have provided a key battleground in the culture wars for over a century. Introduction vii Part One: Early Twentieth-Century Voices 1(36) From ``The Tyranny of the Pictorial'' 4(3) Sidney Fairfield From ``The Reign of the Spectacular'' 7(2) Annie Russell Marble From ``The Humor of the Colored Supplement'' 9(4) Ralph Bergengren Introduction to Frans Masereel, Passionate Journey: A Novel Told in 165 Woodcuts 13(9) Thomas Mann ``The Krazy Kat That Walks by Himself'' 22(8) Gilbert Seldes ``A Foreword to Krazy'' 30(5) E. E. Cummings ``A Mash Note to Crockett Johnson'' 35(2) Dorothy Parker Part Two: The New York Intellectuals 37(48) ``Steig's Cartoons: Review of All Embarrassed by William Steig'' 40(1) Clement Greenberg ``Limits of Common Sense: Review of Years of Wrath: A Cartoon History, 1931--1945 by David Low'' 41(2) Clement Greenberg ``Notes on Mass Culture'' 43(9) Irving Howe ``Masterpieces as Cartoons'' 52(11) Delmore Schwartz ``Woofed with Dreams'' 63(4) Robert Warshow ``Paul, the Horror Comics, and Dr. Wertham'' 67(14) Robert Warshow ``The Labyrinth of Saul Steinberg'' 81(4) Harold Rosenberg Part Three: The Postwar Mavericks 85(80) ``Comic Strips'' 88(3) Manny Farber ``Comic Strips'' 91(3) Manny Farber ``Mickey Mouse and Americanism'' 94(5) Walter J. Ong ``Bogey Sticks for Pogo Men'' 99(3) Walter J. Ong From The Mechanical Bride: Folklore of Industrial Man 102(5) Marshall McLuhan ``Comics: Mad Vestibule to TV'' 107(5) Marshall McLuhan From Love and Death: A Study in Censorship 112(10) Gershon Legman ``The Middle Against Both Ends'' 122(12) Leslie Fiedler ``Over the Cliff'' 134(4) Donald Phelps ``Reprise: `Love and Death''' 138(4) Donald Phelps ``C. L. R. James on Comic Strips'' 142(2) C. L. R. James ``Letter to Daniel Bell'' 144(2) C. L. R. James ``The Myth of Superman'' 146(19) Umberto Eco Essayists 165(6) Index 171