By Zack Quaintance — The NBA Finals will in all likelihood conclude tomorrow, with The Los Angeles Lakers securing a championship at the end of what has been the longest season in the history of the association. It is, on account of this, a season that speaks to the long history of the league and of the game. It is unique in that outside factors made it a scheduling aberration, yet it is traditional in that the playoffs were played in full, and when the dust cleared, the best player in the world was standing atop the heap wearing one of the two winningest uniforms in the history of the NBA — the Lakers purple and gold. This is all a long-winded way of pointing out that reading the new graphic novel, The Comic Book Story of Basketball, this week felt timely and fitting to me, a timely and well-executed bit of normalcy and learning amid what has been an absurd and trying year.

Indeed, The Comic Book Story of Basketball is exactly what it sounds like. It is written by Fred Van Lente, illustrated by Joe Cooper, and colored by Dave Swartz, and it tells the history of the sport from its early inception right up to the present day (omitting this odd season, of course). It’s all non-fiction and it’s all very educational, yet rendered in an entertaining way that keeps the pages turning, even when the material becomes complicated or dense.

The main way that the creators accomplish this is by rightly deciding to make the comic book story of basketball largely a story of the sports stars, be they modern NBA superstar players or the folks who invented and swayed the earliest days of the game. This is a great narrative approach, grounding a complex and long history in entertaining anecdotes, and it’s also a fitting approach for basketball, which with its smaller rosters and players whose likenesses are easy to spot (no helmets, no hats) has long been a personality driven league, and remains so more than any other major sport in North America.

The other creative decision that really struck me in The Comic Book Story of Basketball was the wide scope of the book, versus making this a history of the NBA, which is surely the most familiar touchpoint for the vast majority of folks who pick up this graphic novel. It is, of course, the right choice, this being the history of the entire game, and not the league that did the best job of monetizing and popularizing said game. And the book sticks to it throughout. For example, following the chapter about (the very interesting) NBA-ABA merger, the book gives us a bit about the history of the women’s game in colleges and Title IX, and it’s in moments like this that I found myself learning the most. I’d never heard of the Mighty Macs of Immaculata College. Hell, I’d never heard of Immaculata College, but the dominant womens team from the school won multiple college championships earned its way into the Naismith Hall of Fame. The book doesn’t get heavy-handed about this, but it’s such a necessary chapter when it comes to tracing the lineage of women’s basketball, and I really appreciated the creators dedicating the knowledge, energy, and space in between flashier research about Magic vs. Bird, or the dunk contest and Dr. J.

But no matter what facet of basketball the book is taking on, Van Lente and Cooper approach it with a tremendous amount of heart, making the stories about the people within the game, about he circumstances that brought them to arguably the most egalitarian sport in the country, and hinting at why they loved it so much. The entire book is underscored with a deep and quiet love of a game that stays with you throughout your life, a game you can practice entirely by yourself for hours on end, finding a quiet solace that you may or may not translate into group pursuits.

I’ve been a basketball fan basically my entire life, growing up outside Chicago during the run of the ‘90s Bulls, and it was an incredible experience for me to see so much of the heart I project onto basketball reflected back at me through the stories of the people in this book. Ultimately, I think all fans of the sport will feel the same way, and I think more casual observers will learn a lot and maybe come to understand the deep appreciation for the game on new levels. There’s also a lot of material in this book that can help readers understand why NBA and WNBA stars in the modern era often build activism and social responsibility into their roles. The court is a place where poor kids like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird can thrive, and wouldn’t it be amazing if society felt the same way?

Graphic Novel Review - The Comic Book Story of Basketball

The Comic Book Story of Basketball
Writer: Fred Van Lente
Artist: Joe Cooper
Colorist: Dave Swartz
Letterer: Fred Van Lente
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Price: $19.99
Whether it's millionaire pros facing off in an indoor arena full of screaming fans or a lone kid shooting hoops on an outdoor court, basketball is one of the most popular and widely played sports in the world. The Comic Book Story of Basketball gives you courtside seats to the history of hoops. It chronicles the sport from its beginnings in a YMCA in Massachusetts to its current status as a beloved international game for men and women of all ages. Learn the true stories behind the college game, the street game, the women's game, and the international game, with legendary players and coaches like Dr. J, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Steph Curry profiled throughout.
Release Date: September 2020

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Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.