Forging a new medium

Specialists give an overview of the comic strip production in their country and present some other finest cartoonists of that era: Paul Gravett about Great Britain, David Kunzle about the USA, Antonio Martin about Spain, Nop Maas and Vansummeren about the Low Countries. There are also two more detailed discussions - Thierry Groensteen on Töpffer and Hans Ries on Busch - which offer new insights into two major cartoonists. The editors discuss the controversy over the definition of the comic strip and explain how the comic strip developed in the 19th century as a mass entertainment. There is also a timeline which gives an overview of rhe most important facts and names from 1800 till 1914.