Larry Gonick used to publish his Cartoon History of the Universe as a periodical comic, but in 1990 he began to publish in the trade paperback format. Although some conscientious comic retailers have made it a point to stock the Cartoon History series, the presence of Gonick's work in comic shops has declined precipitously from the late 1980s, when just about every store that carried alternatives and undergrounds stocked Cartoon History comics. Gonick's latest trade paperback volume, The Cartoon History of the Universe, Book 3: From the Rise of Arabia to the Renaissance has just arrived in regular bookstores from the prestigious W.W. Norton (the same company that distributes Fantagraphics Books to bookstores), but neither Diamond Comic Distributors or FM International, the only two comic distributors who take pre-orders, listed the book in their catalogs.
Apparently the comic shops' loss is the regular bookstores' gain, since Gonick has sold over 750,000 copies of his ten comic trade paperback titles. Certainly Gonick's cheeky, irreverent take on the 'progress' of mankind is not for everyone; Islamic groups are already carping about portions of his latest book, just as others took offense at earlier volumes. But stores who have an alternative section, locations in college towns, or have considerable 'civilian' traffic should consider putting the latest volume of the Cartoon History in their window and see who it attracts. Comic shops helped sustain Gonick when he was starting out with his iconoclastic series, but now that he is enjoying some mainstream success retailers shouldn't miss out on what is a very creative use of the comics medium to provide a well-researched and surprisingly humorous take on history.
