Review: The Comic Book Story of Video Games

Title: The Comic Book Story of Video Games
Author: Jonathan Hennessey, Jack McGowan
Genre: Graphic Novel
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Source: NetGalley
Release Date: October 3, 2017
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

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.

Review:

I liked this comic book history of video games.

It gives a thorough history of video games, right from the invention of TVs. It’s fascinating to see how far back the idea of video games goes.

I liked the way that classic video game characters, such as Mario and Sonic, appear throughout the history. It reinforces the video game theme.

Some points in the book were a little dry. There were a lot of details about the World Wars that were boring at times. But the story was always brought back to video games, even if it took a while.

I recommend this book for video game players, especially children, because it teaches about history from a video game perspective.

Author: jilljemmett

Jill lives in Toronto, Canada. She has studied English, Creative Writing, and Publishing. Jill is the creator and content producer of Jill’s Book Blog, where she has published a blog post every day for the last four years, including 5-7 book reviews a week. She can usually be found with her nose in a book. View all posts by jilljemmett