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List of The Library of American Comics publications

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The Library of American Comics is an American publisher of comic strip reprint collections, as an imprint of Clover Press (with funding from IDW Publishing). Although the publishing of a series was advertised as going to be the "complete collection" of a strip, more than half of all LoAC titles were discontinued long before being complete, sometimes after only one or two volumes.

As of April 2023, there is only a single title still ongoing—For Better or For Worse.

Collections

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Collections
Release date LoAC Title Original title Creator(s) Period Number of vol. Daily strips Sunday strips Reproduction color Book size Status
September 2007 – March 2009 The Complete Terry and the Pirates Terry and the Pirates Milton Caniff 1934–1946 6 Yes Yes Black-and-white (Dailies) & Full color (Sundays) 11 × 8.5 inches

(279 × 216 mm)
Complete
November 2006 – December 2020 The Complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy Dick Tracy Chester Gould 1931–1977 29 Yes Yes Black-and-white (Dailies & Sundays) 9.5 × 7 inches
(241 × 178 mm)
Vol. 1-6

11 × 8.5 inches
(279 × 216 mm)
Vol. 7-onwards
Complete
June 2008 – November 2019 The Complete Little Orphan Annie Little Orphan Annie Harold Gray 1924–1953 16 Yes Yes Black-and-white (Dailies) & Full color (Sundays) 11 × 8.5 inches

(279 × x 216 mm)
Discontinued after 16 volumes
September 2009 – November 2012 Bloom County: The Complete Library Bloom County Berkeley Breathed 1980–1989 5+2 Yes Yes Black-and-white (Dailies) & Full color (Sundays) 11 × 8.5 inches

(279 × x 216 mm)
Complete
October 2009 – July 2010 The Family Circus The Family Circus Bil Keane 1960–1963 2 Yes Yes ? 11 × 7.5 inches

(279 × 191 mm)
Discontinued after two volumes
November 2009 – July 2019 The Complete Rip Kirby Rip Kirby Alex Raymond 1946–1975 11 Yes Yes Black-and-white (Dailies) 11 × 10 inches

(279 × 254 mm)
Discontinued after 11 volumes
January 2010 – March 2013 The Complete King Aroo King Aroo Jack Kent 1950–1954 2 Yes Yes ? 9.5 × 7.5 inches

(241 × 191 mm)
Discontinued after two volumes
January 2010 – April 2013 Bringing Up Father Bringing Up Father George McManus 1937-1940 2 Yes Yes Black-and-white (Dailies) & Full color (Sundays)? 11 × 10 inches

(279 × 254 mm)
Discontinued after two volumes
April 2010 – December 2017 Li'l Abner: The Complete Dailies & Color Sundays Li'l Abner Al Capp 1934–1952 9 Yes Yes Black-and-white (Dailies) & Full color (Sundays) 9.25 × 12

(235 × 305 mm)
Discontinued after nine volumes
September 2010 – July 2014 Archie - The Complete Daily Newspaper Comics Archie Bob Montana 1946–1948
1960-1965
3 Yes Yes Black-and-white (Dailies) & Full color (Sundays) 11 × 8.5 inches

(279 × 216 mm)
Discontinued after three volumes
September 2010 – August 2015 X-9: Secret Agent Corrigan X-9 Al Williamson, Archie Goodwin, George Evans 1969–1982 6 Yes N/A Black-and-white (Dailies) 11 × 10 inches

(279 × 254 mm)
Discontinued after six volumes
October 2010 – January 2012 Blondie : The Complete Daily Comics Blondie Chic Young 1930–1935 2 Yes No Black-and-white (Dailies) 11 × 8.5 inches

(279 × 216 mm)
Discontinued after two volumes
December 2010 – January 2016 Polly and Her Pals Polly and Her Pals Cliff Sterrett 1913–1930 2 No Yes Full color (Sundays) 12 × 16 inches

(305 × 406 mm)
Discontinued after two volumes
July 2011 – October 2013 Miss Fury: Sensational Sundays Miss Fury Tarpé Mills 1944–1949 2 No Yes Full color (Sundays) 9.25 × 12 inches

(235 × 305 mm)
Discontinued after two volumes
December 2011 – May 2014 Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim Flash Gordon, Jungle Jim Alex Raymond 1934–1944 4 No Yes Full color (Sundays) 12 × 16 inches

(305 × 406 mm)
Complete
January 2012 – November 2022 Steve Canyon Steve Canyon Milton Caniff 1947–1970 12 Yes Yes Black-and-white (Dailies) & Full color (Sundays)? 11 × 8.5 inches

(279 × 216 mm)
Discontinued after 12 volumes
October 2012 Gasoline Alley Gasoline Alley Frank King, Dick Moores 1964–1966 1 Yes No Black-and-white (Dailies) 11 × 8.5 inches

(279 × 216 mm)
Discontinued after a single volume
October 2012 – May 2018 Skippy: Complete Dailies Skippy Percy Crosby 1925–1936 4 Yes No Black-and-white (Dailies) 9.5 × 8.5 inches

(241 × 216 mm)
Discontinued after four volumes
December 2012 – October 2013 Star Trek: The Newspaper Strip Star Trek Thomas Warkentin, Sherman DiVono, Ron Harris, Martin Pasko 1979–1983 2 Yes Yes Black-and-white (Dailies) & Full color (Sundays) 8.5 × 11 inches

(216 × 279 mm)
Complete
June 2013 – April 2015 Tarzan: The Complete Russ Manning Newspaper Strips Tarzan Russ Manning 1967–1979 4 Yes Yes Black-and-white 11 × 8.5 inches

(279 × 216 mm)
Complete
August 2013 – December 2014 Superman: The Silver Age Dailies Superman Jerry Siegel, Wayne Boring 1959–1966 3 Yes No Black-and-white (Dailies) 11 × 8.5 inches

(279 × 216 mm)
Complete
February 2014 – November 2014 Superman: Golden Age Sundays Superman Jack Burnley, Wayne Boring 1943–1949 2 No Yes Full color (Sundays) 9.25 × 12 inches

(235 × 305 mm)
Complete
April 2014 – December 2014 Popeye: The Classic Newspaper Comics by Bobby London Popeye Bobby London 1986–1992 2 Yes Yes Black-and-white (Dailies) & Full color (Sundays) 8.5 × 7.5 inches

(216 × 191 mm)
Complete
April 2014 – November 2016 Batman: Silver Age Newspaper Comics Batman Whitney Ellsworth, Sheldon Moldoff, Carmine Infantino, Joe Giella, Al Plastino 1966–1972 3 Yes Yes Black-and-white (Dailies) & Full color (Sundays) 11 × 8.5 inches

(279 × 216 mm)
Complete
October 2014 Ripley's Believe It or Not! - The Original Classic Cartoons Ripley's Believe It or Not! Robert Ripley 1929 1 Yes Yes Black-and-white (Dailies) & Full color (Sundays) 11 × 8.5 inches

(279 × 216 mm)
Discontinued after a single volume
June 2015 – May 2019 The Amazing Spider-Man: The Ultimate Newspaper Comics Collection The Amazing Spider-Man Stan Lee, John Romita Jr. 1977–1986 5 Yes Yes Black-and-white (Dailies) & Full color (Sundays) 11 × 8.5 inches

(279 × 216 mm)
Discontinued after five volumes
July 2015 – December 2017 Superman: Atomic Age Sundays Superman Alvin Schwartz, Wayne Boring, Bill Finger 1949–1959 3 No Yes Full color (Sundays) 9.25 × 12 inches

(235 × 305 mm)
Complete
September 2015 – March 2019 Donald Duck: The Complete Daily Newspaper Comics Donald Duck Al Taliaferro 1938–1950 5 Yes No Black-and-white (Dailies) 11 × 8.5 inches

(279 × 216 mm)
Discontinued after five volumes
April 2016 – December 2016 Donald Duck: The Complete Sunday Newspaper Comics Donald Duck Al Taliaferro 1938–1945 2 No Yes Full color (Sundays) 12 × 8.5 inches

(305 × 216 mm)
Discontinued after two volumes
April 2016 – September 2017 Star Trek: The Classic UK Comics
- The Complete Series
Star Trek Harry Lindfield, Jim Balkie, Mike Noble and others 1969–1979 3 Yes Yes Black-and-white (Dailies) & Full color (Sundays) 8.5 × 11 inches

(216 × 279 mm)
Complete
May 2016 – September 2019 Silly Symphonies: The Complete Disney Classics Silly Symphony Al Taliaferro, Earl Duvall, Hank Porter, Bob Grant 1932–1945 4 No Yes Full color (Sundays) 12 × 8.5 inches

(305 × 216 mm)
Complete
November 2016 Red Barry Red Barry William Gould 1934–1935 1 Yes Yes Black-and-white (Dailies) & Full color (Sundays) 11 × 8.5 inches

(279 × 216 mm)
Discontinued after a single volume
November 2016 – June 2018 Walt Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales Walt Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales Frank A. Reilly 19?–TBA 3 No Yes Full color (Sundays) 12 × 8.5 inches

(305 × 216 mm)
Discontinued after three volumes
April 2017 – May 2019 Superman: The Golden Age Dailies Superman Jerry Siegel, Whitney Ellisworth, Joe Shuster, Wayne Boring 1942–1949 3 Yes No Black-and-white (Dailies) 11 × 8.5 inches

(279 × 216 mm)
Complete
April 2017 – August 2018 Star Hawks Star Hawks Writing:Ron Goulart
Art:Gil Kane
1977–1981 3 Yes Yes Black-and-white (Dailies) & Full color (Sundays) 9.25 × 6.5 inches

(235 × 165 mm)
Complete
May 2017 – September 2018 Star Wars: The Complete Classic Newspaper Comics Star Wars Don R. Christensen 1979–1984 3 Yes Yes Black-and-white (Dailies) & Full color (Sundays) 11 × 8.5 inches

(279 × 216 mm)
Complete
October 2017 – TBA For Better or For Worse - The Complete Library For Better or For Worse Lynn Johnston 1979–TBA 7 Yes Yes Black-and-white (Dailies) & Full color (Sundays) 11 × 8.5 inches

(279 × 216 mm)
Ongoing
October 2018 - November 2019 Superman: The Silver Age Sundays Superman Jerry Siegel, Wayne Boring 1959–1966 2 No Yes Full color(Sundays) 9.25 × 12 inches

(235 × 305 mm)
Complete

Single releases

[edit]
Single releases
Release date LoAC Title Original title Creator(s) Period Number of vol. Daily strips Sunday strips Reproduction color Book size ISBN
October 2014 Wonder Woman: The Complete Newspaper Strips Wonder Woman William Moulton Marston, H. G. Peter 1944-1945 1 Yes Yes Black-and-white (Dailies) & Full color (Sundays) 11 × 8.5 inches

(279 mm × 216 mm)
978-1-63140-435-1
October 2015 From Brooklyn Rock to Beyond Mars: The Complete Series Beyond Mars Jack Williamson, Lee Elias 1952-1955 1 No Yes Full color 9.25 × 12 inches

(235 × 305 mm)
978-1-63140-435-1
September 2017 Disney's Christmas Classics Disney Christmas Story Frank A. Reilly 1960-1997 1 Yes Yes Black-and-white (Dailies) & Black-and-white (Sundays) 11 × 8.5 inches

(279 × 216 mm)
978-1-68405-006-2

LoAC Essentials

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LoAC Essentials or The Library of American Comics - Essentials is a series of books, published between 2012 and 2019, that collected reprints of classic daily newspaper comic strips which are considered as essentials of comic history in different aspects due to their impact on the medium itself, in volumes by strip title and original publication year. LoAC Essentials were published in hardcovers with the odd format of 11.5 inches × 4.25 inches, 292 mm × 108 mm. The comic strips were printed one strip per page in black-and-white together with the original publication date and weekday. Each volume contained one year of a comic strip's run.[1][2][3][4] Extras such as introductions and essays were included in some of the volumes.[5]

LoAC Essentials
Release date Title Year Comic strip Author Page count ISBN
2012-12-04 LOAC Essentials Vol. 1:
Baron Bean Vol. 1
1916 Baron Bean George Herriman 336 978-1613774427
2013-04-09 LOAC Essentials Vol. 2:
The Gumps - The Saga of Mary Gold
1929 The Gumps Sidney Smith 344 978-1613775738
2013-09-10 LOAC Essentials Vol. 3:
Polly and Her Pals
1933 Polly and Her Pals Cliff Sterrett 336 978-1613776988
2014-02-11 LOAC Essentials Vol. 4:
Alley Oop
1939 Alley Oop V.T. Hamlin 344 978-1613778296
2014-07-15 LOAC Essentials Vol. 5:
The Bungle Family
1930 The Bungle Family Harry J. Tuthill 344 978-1613779583
2015-02-24 LOAC Essentials Vol. 6:
Baron Bean Vol. 2
1917 Baron Bean George Herriman 328 978-1631401572
2015-06-30 LOAC Essentials Vol. 7:
Tarzan of the Apes
1929 Tarzan Writer: Edgar Rice Burroughs
Artist(s): Hal Foster, Rex Maxon
336 978-1631402616
2016-08-30 LOAC Essentials Vol. 8
King Features Essentials 1:
Krazy Kat
1934 Krazy Kat George Herriman 336 978-1631404085
2016-10-18 LOAC Essentials Vol. 9
King Features Essentials 2:
Tim Tyler's Luck
1933 Tim Tyler's Luck Lyman Young, Alex Raymond 396 978-1631406973
2017-04-18 LOAC Essentials Vol. 10:
Dan Dunn - Secret Operative 48
1933 Dan Dunn Norman Marsh 344 978-1631408557
2018-03-13 LOAC Essentials Vol. 11:
"Cap" Stubbs and Tippie
1945 Cap Stubbs and Tippie Edwina Dumm 384 978-1684050130
2018-12-11 LOAC Essentials Vol. 12:
Baron Bean Vol. 3
1918 Baron Bean George Herriman 344 978-1684053551
2019-08-13 LOAC Essentials Vol. 13:
Charlie Chan
1938 Charlie Chan Alfred Andriola 344 978-1684055067
2019-12-17 LOAC Essentials Vol. 14:
Barney Google
1928 Barney Google Billy DeBeck 352 978-1684055784

Factual, historical and biographical titles

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Titles
Release date Title Author(s) Subject Period Creator(s) Page count Binding Book size ISBN
2008-08-12 Scorchy Smith and the Art of Noel Sickles Bruce Canwell The complete Scorchy Smith comic strip, Biography & Art 1933-1936 Noel Sickles 392 Hardcover 11 × 11 inches

(279 × 279 mm)
978-1-60010-206-6
2011-05-10 Genius, Isolated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth Dean Mullaney, Bruce Canwell Biography, Art ? Alex Toth 328 Hardcover 9.5 × 13 inches

(241 × 330 mm)
978-1-60010-828-0
2011-08-16 Caniff: A Visual Biography Dean Mullaney Biography ? Milton Caniff 328 Hardcover 11 × 11 inches

(279 × 279 mm)
978-1-60010-920-1
2011-12-27 Chuck Jones: The Dream That Never Was Dean Mullaney, Kurtis Findlay Biography ? Chuck Jones 280 Hardcover 11 × 8.5 inches

(279 × 216 mm)
978-1-61377-030-6
2013-02-26 Genius, Illustrated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth Dean Mullaney, Bruce Canwell Biography, Art 1960s–2006 Alex Toth 288 Hardcover 9.5 × 13 inches

(241 × 330 mm)
978-1-61377-024-5
2014-06-03 Genius, Animated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth Dean Mullaney, Bruce Canwell Biography, Art ? Alex Toth 328 Hardcover 9.5 × 13 inches

(241 × 330 mm)
978-1-61377-950-7
2014-10-14 Puck - What Fools These Mortals Be!: The Story of Puck Michael Alexander Kahn, Richard Samuel West Political caricature, political cartoon satire 1877–1918 various 328 Hardcover 12 × 11 inches

(305 × 279 mm)
978-1-63140-046-9
2015-10-13 King of the Comics: One Hundred Years of King Features Syndicate Bruce Canwell and others Comic strip history 1914–2015 various 288 Hardcover 9.25 × 12 inches

(235 × 305 mm)
978-1-63140-373-6
2018-04-17 The Goat Getters: Jack Johnson, the FIGHT of the CENTURY and How a Bunch of Raucous Cartoonists Reinvented Comics Eddie Campbell Comic strip history Early 20th century? various 320 Hardcover 11.4 × 9 inches

(290 × 229 mm)
978-1-68405-138-0
2019-07-16 Treasures Retold: The Lost Art of Alex Toth Dean Mullaney & Bruce Canwell Comic strips, Art ? Alex Toth 280 Hardcover 9.5 inches × 13 inches

(241 mm × 330 mm)
978-1-68405-412-1
2019-10-08 SCREWBALL! The Cartoonists Who Made the Funnies Funny Paul C. Tumey Comic strip history 20th century various 272 Hardcover 11 inches × 10.5 inches

(279 mm × 267 mm)
978-1-68405-187-8

References

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  1. ^ "The Library of American Comics at 75 Titles (and counting) - The Comics Journal". Tcj.com. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
  2. ^ "BOOK REVIEW: 'The Library of American Comics Essentials, Vols. 1 & 2'". Washingtontimes.com. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
  3. ^ "Library Journal". reviews.libraryjournal.com. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
  4. ^ "'Krazy Kat 1934' is a year's worth of joy". Csmonitor.com. 31 October 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2018 – via Christian Science Monitor.
  5. ^ "Book Review: LOAC Essentials Vol. 8: King Features Essentials 1: Krazy Kat 1934 by George Harriman: Rare Dailies of the Kraziest of Komics - Cinema Sentries". cinemasentries.com. Retrieved 5 October 2018.