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Ten Speed Press

The Comic Book Story of Video Games: The Incredible History of the Electronic Gaming Revolution

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Description

A complete, illustrated history of video games--highlighting the machines, games, and people who have made gaming a worldwide, billion-dollar industry/artform--told in a graphic novel format. Author Jonathan Hennessey and illustrator Jack McGowan present the first full-color, chronological origin story for this hugely successful, omnipresent artform and business. Hennessey provides readers with everything they need to know about video games --from their early beginnings during World War II to the emergence of arcade games in the 1970s to the rise of Nintendo to today's app-based games like Angry Birds and Pokemon Go. Hennessey and McGowan also analyze the evolution of gaming as an artform and its impact on society. Each chapter features spotlights on major players in the development of games and gaming that contains everything that gamers and non-gamers alike need to understand and appreciate this incredible phenomenon. Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ten Speed Graphic


Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 3, 2017


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Print length ‏ : ‎ 192 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0399578900


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 08


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.38 pounds


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.11 x 0.55 x 10 inches


Part of series ‏ : ‎ Comic Book Story of


Best Sellers Rank: #86,048 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #113 in Educational & Nonfiction Graphic Novels #174 in Popular Culture in Social Sciences #543 in Sociology Reference


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Top Amazon Reviews

    • Excellent
Format: Kindle
Great artwork, comprehensive history, and engaged me the entire way--highly recommend! The history focuses more on the earlier years of gaming, and breezes much quicker after the year 2000.
Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2024 by djryken
    • Fantastic Read!
Format: Paperback
My husband doesn't read books but he read this one! He actually had a hard time putting it down. Graphic novels are a totally viable way to learn information and enjoy reading and my hubs kept thinking it was "cheating" to read and enjoy this as he hasn't ever enjoyed reading until now (in his 50's). Don't hesitate, this was a great book! ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2023 by Aulos
    • An excellent gift with amazing information and illustration.
Format: Paperback
I am very surprised I hadn't heard of this book before, and I couldn't have given a better gift. In fact, I may buy another for myself! The recipient devoured it in days, but this is the sort you can revisit for years and lend to everyone you know. Full of tons of information from the very start of gaming until now, the text is entertaining and informative. The art style works well with the incorporation of a variety of video game characters, actual figures, and scenery. The book itself is high quality printing and color, and I plan to keep an eye out for what may come next. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2018 by Hayli May
    • I just hoped this comic wouldn't suck. I've only flipped through it so far
Format: Paperback
I bought this book for one of my kids who loves retro video games and video game documentaries. I just hoped this comic wouldn't suck. I've only flipped through it so far, but it looks absolutely fantastic. The art, the layout, everything is top notch. Not to mention, this is a pretty hefty tome. Someone clearly put a lot of love into this project and should be really proud of the end product. I'm certain my son will treasure it. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2018 by Richard Jacobson
    • A great read for a seasoned gamer, but a yawner for kids and teens
Format: Paperback
I have read many books on the history of video games, and THE COMIC BOOK STORY OF VIDEO GAMES does an excellent job of bringing a lot of that history to life with well-sourced graphical depictions of many key moments and a nice synthesis of the bigger evolutionary steps in game development (though the focus is primarily on hardware, not software). You can tell the author and illustrator really love games, because every page is brimming with visual gags and references to games (and related advertisements) both familiar and obscure. It's a real pleasure for a seasoned adult gamer like myself to read, and if you fall in that camp, you'll love this book. For kids and teenagers, however, don't be deceived by the graphic novel format - this book is not going to hold their attention, especially if they're hoping to read about the history of their favorite games. Familiar games are only really featured in the final chapters, and one choice that is a little different about this book compared to other histories is a lengthy focus on the history of computers, which is certainly integral to the history of gaming, but which consumes about half of this book's pages. I suspect most younger gamers aren't going to be interested in the history of radar displays, cathode ray tubes or semiconductors (my own kids sure weren't!), and the lengthy discussion involved in defining what makes a video game and which of the early electronic amusements we should even call games probably could have been handled in a single chapter. The historical narrative also has a lot of notable omissions which are name-checked but not in any way detailed. Most of the games focused on were tied very heavily to specific platforms or industry turning points, and most are also pretty well-trod territory by this point. There's hardly any discussion about influential titles or series that aren't already obvious choices nor about the high-profile failures of many of the high-profile game developers featured for their contributions. There's little to no discussion about platforms beyond the biggest winner from each generation, and there's more detail on the Magnavox Odyssey, home version of Pong! and its various clones than there is about any modern console generation from the 1990s forward. (And as for the PC gaming scene, there's very little beyond quick histories of a few titles like SimCity, Doom and Zork.) The result is a book that definitely feels like reading history (including stretches where it's pretty dry), but which is too focused on retelling the story of a bygone era and isn't terribly relevant to a modern audience. It's great for someone who grew up during the Atari, Nintendo and Sega eras or who played games on a 1980s PC and who wants a nice visual retrospective to enjoy with more thorough histories. I'd love to see a follow-up from the same team that's a little more focused on the software than the hardware. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2020 by S. Jordan
    • My children are thrilled
Format: Paperback
I worked on one of the machines featured in this book. There is a cartoon of me and (the late) Jay Miner. I autographed a copy and gave it to my father on his birthday. My children say "dad, you were cool once".
Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2021 by Joseph Decuir
    • Educational AND Entertaining
Format: Paperback
A wonderful and entertaining look through the evolution and history of computers and video games. There is really a lot of focus (good!) on the actual men who made the machines and the first video games... it's not just a silly encyclopedia of video games.
Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2018 by Jeff & Wendy S
    • I would recommend it to those who love both of those things
Format: Paperback
Thank you to Jonathan Hennessey, Jack Mcgowan, Ten Speed Press, and NetGalley for allowing me the extreme pleasure of access to an advanced reader copy of “The Comic Book Story of Video Games: The Incredible History of the Electronic Gaming Revolution” for an honest review. This was a dense, but well laid out documentary in comics about the history of video games. I would recommend it to those who love both of those things, and would be excited to see them cross, and reflect upon each other from their different media formats, but it did not end up being the sort of thing I liked very much. I found myself losing steam several times, which lead to several accounts of putting it down and picking it up, putting it down and picking it up. I like the idea, but somehow it just didn’t grab me very well. I’m uncertain just who it is written for, and how I’d known what kinds of students in my classroom, or people in my life, to recommend it for. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2018 by Amanda J. Tillman

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