Before there was Robert Crumb, there was Herbert Crowley. If you don't recognize that name, you're not alone. Crowley is one of nearly 30 American cartoonists featured in this eclectic anthology, artists whose work — created between 1900 and 1969 — was overshadowed by more successful contemporaries.

Art Out of Time at last gives these pioneers the showcase they deserve, reprinting — in most cases for the first time since their initial publication — complete comic books and strips by such visionaries as Raymond Crawford Ewer, Howard Nostrand, Ogden Whitney, and Dick Briefer. These under-recognized artists often deviated from the thematic and graphic conventions of the comics medium — and influenced Crumb, Art Spiegelman, and others — making this superb anthology a true "counter history," the untold story of an underground that wasn't.

"[A] big, beautifully designed book [that] rescues some comics from obscurity and claims them as the fascinating, often striking original creations they are....[A] marvelous head-trip of a book. (Grade: A)" Entertainment Weekly

Before there was Robert Crumb, there was Herbert Crowley. If you don't recognize that name, you're not alone. Crowley is one of nearly 30 American cartoonists featured in this eclectic anthology, artists whose work-created between 1900 and 1969-was overshadowed by more successful contemporaries. "Art Out of Time" at last gives these pioneers the showcase they deserve, reprinting-in most cases for the first time since their initial publication-complete comic books and strips by such visionaries as Raymond Ewer, Howard Nostrand, Ogden Whitney, and Dick Briefer. These under-recognized artists often deviated from the thematic and graphic conventions of the comics medium-and influenced Crumb, Art Spiegelman, and others-making this superb anthology a true "counter history," the untold story of an underground that wasn't.

Dan Nadel is an author and the director of the Grammy Award-winning visual culture studio and publishing house PictureBox, which produces The Ganzfeld, an annual book of pictures and prose. Nadel is also a visiting assistant professor at the Parsons School of Design in New York City, where he lives with his wife.