The Cambridge Companion to Comics by
This volume provides readers with the histories and theories necessary for studying comics. Individual chapters explore comics through several key aspects, including drawing, serialities, adaptations, and transmedia storytelling. It offers close, interdisciplinary readings of vital works, covering more than a century of comics production.
The Cambridge Companion to the American Graphic Novel by
The Cambridge Companion to the American Graphic Novel explores the important role of the graphic novel in reflecting American society and in the shaping of the American imagination. Using key examples, this volume reviews the historical development of various subgenres within the graphic novel tradition and examines how graphic novelists have created multiple and different accounts of the American experience, including that of African American, Asian American, Jewish, Latinx, and LGBTQ+ communities. Reading the American graphic novel opens a debate on how major works have changed the idea of America from that once found in the quintessential action or superhero comics to show new, different, intimate accounts of historical change as well as social and individual, personal experience. It guides readers through the theoretical text-image scholarship to explain the meaning of the complex borderlines between graphic novels, comics, newspaper strips, caricature, literature, and art.
Key terms in comics studies by
Key Terms in Comics Studies is a glossary of over 300 terms and critical concepts currently used in the Anglophone academic study of comics, including those from other languages that are currently adopted and used in English. Written by nearly 100 international and contemporary experts from the field, the entries are succinctly defined, exemplified, and referenced. The entries are 250 words or fewer, placed in alphabetical order, and explicitly cross-referenced to others in the book.
Key Terms in Comics Studies is an invaluable tool for both students and established researchers alike.
Philosophy of Comics: An Introduction by
What exactly are comics? Can they be art, literature, or even pornography? How should we understand the characters, stories, and genres that shape them? Thinking about comics raises a bewildering range of questions about representation, narrative, and value. Philosophy of Comics is an introduction to these philosophical questions. In exploring the history and variety of the comics medium, Sam Cowling and Wesley D. Cray chart a path through the emerging field of the philosophy of comics. Drawing from a diverse range of forms and genres and informed by case studies of classic comics such as Watchmen, Tales from the Crypt, and Fun Home, Cowling and Cray explore ethical, aesthetic, and ontological puzzles, including: - What does it take to create--or destroy--a fictional character like Superman? - Can all comics be adapted into films, or are some comics impossible to adapt? - Is there really a genre of "superhero comics"? - When are comics obscene, pornographic, and why does it matter? At a time of rapidly growing interest in graphic storytelling, this is an ideal introduction to the philosophy of comics and some of its most central and puzzling questions.
Comics Studies: A Guidebook by
In the twenty-first century, the field of comics studies has exploded. Scholarship on graphic novels, comic books, comic strips, webcomics, manga, and all forms of comic art has grown at a dizzying pace, with new publications, institutions, and courses springing up everywhere. The field crosses disciplinary and cultural borders and brings together myriad traditions. Comics Studies: A Guidebook offers a rich but concise introduction to this multifaceted field, authored by leading experts in multiple disciplines. It opens diverse entryways to comics studies, including history, form, audiences, genre, and cultural, industrial, and economic contexts. An invaluable one-stop resource for veteran and new comics scholars alike, this Guidebook represents the state of the art in contemporary comics scholarship
The Routledge Introduction to American Comics by
this accessible, up-to-date textbook covers the history of comics as it developed in the U.S. in all of its forms: political cartoons and newspaper comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, minicomics, and webcomics. Over the course of its five chapters, this introductory textbook addresses the artistic, cultural, social, economic, and technological impacts and innovations that comics has had in American history. Readers will be immersed in the history of American comics - from its origins in 18th century political cartoons and late 19th century newspaper strips to the rise of the wildly popular comic book, the radical, grassroots collectives that grew out of the underground comix movement of the 1960s and 70s, all the way through contemporary longform graphic novels, the vibrant self-publishing scene, and groundbreaking webcomics. the Routledge Introduction to American Comics guides students, researchers, archivists, and even fans of the medium through a contemporary history of comics, attending to how a diverse range of creators and researchers have advanced the art form in key ways since its inception as a foundational art of American popular culture. in this way, it is uniquely suited for readers engaged in the study of comics as well as those interested in the creation of comics and graphic narratives
Uncanny Bodies : Superhero Comics and Disability by
Superhero comics reckon with issues of corporeal control. And while they commonly deal in characters of exceptional or superhuman ability, they have also shown an increasing attention and sensitivity to diverse forms of disability, both physical and cognitive. The essays in this collection reveal how the superhero genre, in fusing fantasy with realism, provides a visual forum for engaging with issues of disability and intersectional identity (race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality) and helps to imagine different ways of being in the world.Working from the premise that the theoretical mode of the uncanny, with its interest in what is simultaneously known and unknown, ordinary and extraordinary, opens new ways to think about categories and markers of identity, Uncanny Bodies explores how continuums of ability in superhero comics can reflect, resist, or reevaluate broader cultural conceptions about disability. The chapters focus on lesser-known characters—such as Echo, Omega the Unknown, and the Silver Scorpion—as well as the famous Barbara Gordon and the protagonist of the acclaimed series Hawkeye, whose superheroic uncanniness provides a counterpoint to constructs of normalcy. Several essays explore how superhero comics can provide a vocabulary and discourse for conceptualizing disability more broadly. Thoughtful and challenging, this eye-opening examination of superhero comics breaks new ground in disability studies and scholarship in popular culture.In addition to the editors, the contributors are Sarah Bowden, Charlie Christie, Sarah Gibbons, Andrew Godfrey-Meers, Marit Hanson, Charles Hatfield, Naja Later, Lauren O’Connor, Daniel J. O'Rourke, Daniel Pinti, Lauranne Poharec, and Deleasa Randall-Griffiths.
Beyond the Icon: Asian American Graphic Narratives by
Winner, 2023 Comics Studies Society Edited Book Prize While most US-based comics studies anthologies tend to neglect race, Beyond the Icon brings it to the foreground through an analysis of the vibrant and growing body of graphic narratives by Asian North American creators in the twenty-first century. By demonstrating how the forms and styles of the comics genre help depict Asian Americans as nuanced individuals in ways that words alone may not, Beyond the Icon makes the case for comics as a crucial artistic form in Asian American cultural production--one used to counter misrepresentations and myths, rewrite official history, and de-exoticize the Asian American experience. An interdisciplinary team of contributors offers exciting new readings of key texts, including Ms. Marvel, George Takei's They Called Us Enemy, Thi Bui's The Best We Could Do, Gene Luen Yang and Sonny Liew's The Shadow Hero, works by Adrian Tomine and Jillian Tamaki, and more, to uncover the ways in which Asian American comics authors employ graphic narratives to provide full and complex depictions of Asian diasporic subjects and intervene in the wider North American consciousness. Beyond the Icon initiates vital conversations between Asian American studies, ethnic studies, and comics. Contributors: Monica Chiu, Shilpa Davé, Melinda Luisa de Jesús, Lan Dong, Jin Lee, erin Khuê Ninh, Stella Oh, Jeanette Roan, Eleanor Ty
Art history for comics : past, present and potential futures by
Why Does Comics Studies Need Art History (and Vice Versa)? -- Disciplinary and Methodological Concerns -- Part I: The History of Art History and Comics Studies -- Part II: Possibilities for Comics Art History Now -- References -- Part I The History of Art History and Comics Studies -- Establishing Canons, Styles and Schools at the Dawn of Comics Studies -- Creating Classical Canons -- Defining Styles and Schools -- References -- Iconography and Cultural History in Comics Studies -- Iconography as Method and Methodology -- Cultural History as a Critical Framework -- References -- Art History Turned Upside Down: David Kunzle and the Social History of Art -- Volume 1: Exeorcising Gombrich -- New Left Art History -- How Karl Marx Prevailed over Carl Barks -- Volume 2: The Social History of Comics -- References -- Variations of Formalism, Modernism, Abstraction -- Claude Moliterni: A Formalism of Narrative Technique -- Gerald Gassiot-Talabot: Comics Against Formalism and Abstraction? -- Comics (and the) Modernist Avant-Garde -- Andrei Molotiu: Abstract Comics Formalism -- Abstraction Beyond Modernist Formalism -- References -- Part II Possibilities for Comics Art History Now -- Challenging Canons and the Challenge of Style: Visualising the Baroque Storyworld of Judge Dredds "The Cursed Earth" -- Contesting Canons in Comics Studies -- The Challenge of Style for Comics Studies -- Styles and Schools as Canonical Markers -- Picturing a Baroque Storyworld: Seeing "The Cursed Earth" Through Wolfflins Comparative Methodology -- The Limits and Potential of Wolfflins Analysis of Style for Comics Studies -- References -- Iconography for Comics Studies Reconsidered: Interpreting Visual Transformations in Jack Kirbys The Mighty Thor -- From Iconography to Iconology -- The Semiotic Turn in Art History (and Comics Studies) -- Thump, Karrrack! The Iconology of Transformation in Thor -- The Challenge of Iconography and Iconology for Comic Studies (and Art History) -- References -- Cultural History for Comics Studies: Reinterpreting the Eagle and "Dan Dare - Pilot of the Future" -- From Iconology to Cultural History -- The Discourse of Cultural Studies Within Comics Studies -- Recontextualising the Eagle and "Dan Dare - Pilot of the Future" -- Daring to Use Cultural History in Comics Studies -- References -- A Social History of Comics Art: Looking at Writers and Readers Capitalism for Beginners -- Marxist Art History and Comics -- Style, Ideology and Class -- Ideology and Autonomy -- Affect, Materiality and Ways of Reading and Seeing -- Writers and Readers ... for Beginners Comic Books -- Relations of Production, Distribution and Consumption -- Style, Materiality and the Politics of Form -- Ways of Reading and Looking -- References -- Re-framing the Avant-Garde: Different Ways of Seeing Escape -- Positioning the Avant-Garde in Comics Studies -- Unpopular Culture and Postmodern Modernism -- Framing the Avant-Garde in Art History -- Advancing Towards the Picture Plane -- Advancing Against Art and into Life -- Advancing as Reaction and Repetition -- Advancing Beyond the Frame -- Escape Artistry -- Reading Escape as Unpopular Culture -- Small Press and Alternative Avant-Gardes -- A Mainstream Alternative -- Putting Comics Studies in the Frame -- References -- Modernism and Comics Revisited: Form and Fragmentation in Alan Moores "I Can Hear the Grass Grow" -- Comics and Modernism -- Modernism in Art History -- The Significance of Form -- The Specificity of Medium -- The Defence of Autonomy -- The Occlusions of Modernist Criticism -- Reframing Modernism and Comics -- I Can Hear the Grass Grow -- Form: The Abstract Underscore, Medium and Modernism -- A Medium of Fragments: Modernity, Montage and the Politics of Form -- References -- Conclusion: Future Directions -- References -- Index.
Transnationalism in East and Southeast Asian comics art by
Intro -- Preface -- History and Development of the Project -- Framework of Project -- Contents -- Notes on Contributors -- List of Figures -- 1 Introduction -- Historical Context -- Conceptualization of Transnationalism -- Contemporary Scene: Transnational Ownership -- Transnationalism: Inter-country Flows -- A Tiny Country with Transnational Aspirations -- Transnationalism and Creativity -- Other Aspects of Transnationalism and Comics -- Scope of Transnationalism in East and Southeast Asian Comic Art -- Production and Creativity -- Influences on and Circulation of Forms and Styles
Transnational Representations in Comics -- Immigration/Diaspora -- Notes -- References -- Part I East Asian -- 2 On Transnationality: A History of Negotiations of Self-Identity in Selected Works by Women Comic Artists in Hong Kong -- Introduction -- Transnationalism, Transnationality, and the History of Hong Kong Comics -- An Invisible Transnational History of Comics by Women Artists in Hong Kong -- Realization of Self as a Woman with Gender Politics -- Assertions of the Unrepresented Self -- Localization and Internationalization of Self -- Conclusion -- Note -- References
3 Transnationalism via Political Exile: Chinese Political Cartoonists in Japan -- Introduction -- The Rise and Fall of Political Cartooning in Communist China -- Japan as a Haven for Chinese Cartoonists -- Rebel Pepper and His Political Cartoons in Japan -- Sun Xiangwen and His Political Cartoons in Japan -- Concluding Remarks -- Notes -- References -- 4 Representational and Symbolic Dimensions in the Inter-Asian Developments: Taiwanese Cartoonist Chen Uen's Comic Aesthetics and Legacy in East Asia -- Introduction -- Representational and Symbolic Dimensions of Chen's Work
6 The Transnationalization of Chinese Comic Books: A Case Study -- Introduction -- The Case Study: Total Vision -- Notes -- References -- 7 The Embryonic Stage of the Transnationalizing of Mongolian Comics -- References -- Part II Southeast Asian -- 8 Cambodia's Emerging Digital Hybrids -- Introduction -- FRANCOPHONE COMICS AND BANDES DESSINÉES -- American Genre Invocations -- Manga on Mobile -- Digital Hybrids -- Notes -- References -- 9 Indonesian Comics: Zig-Zagging Between Indigenousness and Transnationalism -- Comics Under Colonialism -- American Comic Books -- Indonesian Clones -- The Manga Invasion
Burning down the House: Latin American Comics in the 21st Century by
Burning Down the House explores the political, economic and cultural landscape of 21st-century Latin America through comics. It examines works from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Uruguay, Perú, Colombia, México and Spain, and the resurgence of comics in recent decades spurred by the ubiquity of the Internet and reminiscent of the complex political experiences and realities of the region. The volume analyses experimentations in themes and formats and how Latin American comics have become deeply plural in its inspirations, subjects, drawing styles and political concerns while also underlining the hybrid and diverse cultures they represent. It examines the representative and historical images in a state of emergency and political upheaval; decolonial perspectives and social struggles linked to ethnic and sexual minorities. It looks at how Latin American comics are made right now - from a diverse and autochthonous Latin American perspective. With a wide array of illustrations, this book in the Global Perspectives in Comics Studies series will be an important resource for scholars and researchers of comic studies, Latin American studies, cultural studies, English literature, political history and post-colonial studies.
Female Cartoonists in the United States: Bad Girls and Invisible Women by
This book provides an introduction to women cartoonists in the US, reading their work from a feminist, literary and stylistic perspective, which shines a light on their innovative and unique narratives and graphic languages. From rabid feminists to blundering teenagers to dyke avengers and pregnant butches, from political satire to memoirs to troubling sexual tales, from caricature to the clear line, from realism to minimalism and abstraction - they have done it all. This book looks at the work of over thirty authors who have challenged the boys' club of comics in the US and whose stories shed a revealing light on contemporary society, through countercultural ripostes to the patriarchy, raw or humorous confessions, deconstruction of femininity, stories of vulnerability that offer powerful counterpoints to the "super bodies" of mainstream comics, non-white and queer cartoonists "drawing back" and more. This is a key title for students and scholars in the fields of Comics Studies, Literature and Women and Gender Studies.
Intersectional Feminist Readings of Comics: Interpreting Gender in Graphic Narratives by
Intersectional Feminist Readings of Comics collects several theoretically informed close reading of comics and graphic literature that apply an intersectional feminist lens to the interpretation of several contemporary North American graphic narratives. The essays examine use a range of interpretive lenses drawn from theoretical models used in contemporary aesthetics, media studies, and literary criticism to analyze mainstream figures like DC's Catwoman and Marvel's Miss America and Doctor Strange, to contextualize historical and speculative comics by Indigenous American illustrators, and to explicate autography by critically lauded Jewish, queer and female cartoonists. In the first half of the book, the chapters examine ways in which superhero comics and the cinematic and televisual adaptations thereof, reify, revise and reject gender parity, systemic misogyny and heteropatriarchy through visual and textual rhetorics of representation. In the second part of the volume, the chapters look at the ways that feminist interpretive practices illuminate the radical work undertaken by cartoonists from historically marginalized communities in the U.S. and Canada. Across both halves, readers will find applications of longstanding feminist critical traditions, like ecofeminism, as well as new intersectional extrapolations of narratology, autobiographical studies, and visual rhetoric, which have been applied to the selected comics in insightful and innovative ways. This is a lively and varied collection suitable for students and scholars in gender studies, cultural studies, media studies and literary studies.
Comics, Activism, Feminism by
Comics, Activism, Feminisms explores how comic art, activism, and feminisms are intertwined from both historical and contemporary perspectives and how comic art in itself can be a form of activism. Feminist comic art emerged with the second-wave feminist movements; today, in the 2020s, there are comics connected to social activist movements working for change in a variety of areas. Comics artists often react quickly to political events and make comics on topical issues, assuming a critical or satirical stance and highlighting the need for change. Comic art can point to problems, present alternatives, and give hope. Issues pertaining to feminisms and LGBTQIA+ issues, war and political conflict, climate crisis, the global migrant and refugee situation, and other societal problems engage comics artists from all parts of the world. the chapters illuminate aesthetic and thematic aspects of comics, activism, and feminisms globally. the founding of comics collectives, where Do-it-Ourselves is a strategy among activism-oriented artists, shows the use of a great variety of media such as fanzines, albums, webcomics, and exhibitions to communicate and disseminate activist comic art. Comics, Activism, Feminisms is an essential collection for scholars and students of comics, literary, art, and media studies, and gender studies
Indigenous Comics and Graphic Novels: Studies in Genre by
How Indigenous creators impact the landscape of superhero, science fiction, historical, and experimental comics.
In Indigenous Comics and Graphic Novels: Studies in Genre, James J. Donahue aims to interrogate and unravel the disparities of representation in the fields of comics studies and comics publishing. Donahue documents and analyzes the works of several Indigenous artists, including Theo Tso, Todd Houseman, and Arigon Starr. Through topically arranged chapters, the author explores a wide array of content produced by Indigenous creators, from superhero and science fiction comics to graphic novels and experimental narratives. While noting the importance of examining how Indigenous works are analyzed,Donahue emphasizes that the creation of artistic and critical spaces for Indigenous comics and graphic novels should be an essential concern for the comics studies field.
The Rise of the Graphic Novel: Computational Criticism and the Evolution of Literary Style by
Bringing digital humanities methods to the study of comics, this monograph traces the emergence of the graphic novel at the intersection of popular and literary culture. Based on a representative corpus of over 250 graphic novels from the United States, Canada, and Great Britain, it shows how the genre has built on the visual style of comics while adopting selected features of the contemporary novel. This argument positions the graphic novel as a crucial case study for our understanding of twenty-first-century culture. More than simply a niche format, graphic novels demonstrate how contemporary literature reworks elements of genre narrative, reconfiguring rather than abolishing distinctions between high and low. The book also puts forward a new historical periodization for the graphic novel, centered on integration into the literary marketplace and leading to an explosive growth in page length and a diversification of aesthetic styles.
Comics and Migration: Representation and Other Practicies by
Comics and human mobility have a long history of connections. This volume explores these entanglements with a focus on both how comics represent migration and what applied uses comics have in relation to migration. The volume examines both individual works of comic art and examples of practical applications of comics from across the world. Comics are well-suited to create understanding, highlight truthful information, and engender empathy in their audiences, but are also an art form that is preconditioned or even limited by its representational and practical conventions. Through analyses of various practices and representations, this book questions the uncritical belief in the capacity of comics, assesses their potential to represent stories of exile and immigration with compassion, and discusses how xenophobia and nationalism are both reinforced and questioned in comics. The book includes essays by both researchers and practitioners such as activists and journalists whose work has combined a focus on comics and migration. It predominantly scrutinises comics and activities from more peripheral areas such as the Nordic region, the German-language countries, Latin America, and southern Asia to analyse the treatment and visual representation of migration in these regions. This topical and engaging volume in the Global Perspectives in Comics Studies series will be of interest to researchers and students of comics studies, literary studies, visual art studies, cultural studies, migration, and sociology. It will also be useful reading for a wider academic audience interested in discourses around global migration and comics traditions.
Latin American Comics in the Twenty-First Century : Transgressing the Frame by
Comics in Latin America have been most often been studied on a country-by-country basis, say as Mexican comics or Argentine or Brazilian. In this book, James Scorer instead is examining them across the region, writing the first comprehensive study of 21st-century Latin American comics. Contemporary comics creators, who are increasingly women, trans, or non-binary, have been organizing around transnational networks and so, despite occasional push-back, are moving beyond nationalistic boundaries to explore new aspects of the medium and new subjects and themes that transgress the political, social, spatial, and cultural borders that often define the region. Using examples primarily from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Uruguay, Scorer organizes his study around this notion of border crossings and focuses on topics of transnationalism, transgender feminisms, transgressive punk bodies, contagious bodies (in regards to both zombies and pandemics), and the neoliberal city
Litcomix by
Critical studies of the graphic novel have often employed methodologies taken from film theory and art criticism. Yet, as graphic novels from Maus to Watchmen have entered the literary canon, perhaps the time has come to develop theories for interpreting and evaluating graphic novels that are drawn from classic models of literary theory and criticism. Using the methodology of Georg Lukács and his detailed defense of literary realism as a socially embedded practice, Litcomix tackles difficult questions about reading graphic novels as literature. What critical standards should we use to measure the quality of a graphic novel? How does the genre contribute to our understanding of ourselves and the world? What qualities distinguish it from other forms of literature? LitComix hones its theoretical approach through case studies taken from across the diverse world of comics, from Yoshihiro Tatsumi's groundbreaking manga to the Hernandez Brothers' influential alt-comix. Whether looking at graphic novel adaptations of Proust or considering how Jack Kirby's use of intertextuality makes him the Balzac of comics, this study offers fresh perspectives on how we might appreciate graphic novels as literature.
Super Bodies : Comic Book Illustration, Artistic Styles, and Narrative Impact by
For many, the idea of comic book art implies simplistic four-color renderings of stiff characters slugging it out. In fact, modern superhero comic books showcase a range of complex artistic styles, with diverse connotations. Leading comics scholar Jeffrey A. Brown assesses six distinctive approaches to superhero illustration--idealism, realism, cute, retro, grotesque, and noir--examining how each visually represents the superhero as a symbolic construct freighted with meaning. Whereas comic book studies tend to focus on text and narrative, Drawing Superheroes gives overdue credit to the artwork, which is not only a principal source of the appeal of comic books but also central to the values these works embody. Brown argues that superheroes are not to be taken as representations of people but as iconic types, and the art conveys this. Even the most realistic comic illustrations are designed to suggest not persons but ideas--ideas about bodies and societies. Thus the appearance of superheroes both directly and indirectly influences the story being told as well as the opinions readers form concerning justice, authority, gender, puberty, sexuality, ethnicity, violence, and other concepts central to political and cultural life
Graphic Indigeneity: Comics in the Americas and Australasia by
Honorable Mention Recipient for the Comics Studies Society Prize for Edited Book Collection Contributions by Joshua T. Anderson, Chad A. Barbour, Susan Bernardin, Mike Borkent, Jeremy M. Carnes, Philip Cass, Jordan Clapper, James J. Donahue, Dennin Ellis, Jessica Fontaine, Jonathan Ford, Lee Francis IV, Enrique García, Javier García Liendo, Brenna Clarke Gray, Brian Montes, Arij Ouweneel, Kevin Patrick, Candida Rifkind, Jessica Rutherford, and Jorge Santos Cultural works by and about Indigenous identities, histories, and experiences circulate far and wide. However, not all films, animation, television shows, and comic books lead to a nuanced understanding of Indigenous realities. Acclaimed comics scholar Frederick Luis Aldama shines light on how mainstream comics have clumsily distilled and reconstructed Indigenous identities and experiences. He and contributors emphasize how Indigenous comic artists are themselves clearing new visual-verbal narrative spaces for articulating more complex histories, cultures, experiences, and narratives of self. To that end, Aldama brings together scholarship that explores both the representation and misrepresentation of Indigenous subjects and experiences as well as research that analyzes and highlights the extraordinary work of Indigenous comic artists. Among others, the book examines Daniel Parada's Zotz, Puerto Rican comics Turey el Taíno and La Borinqueña, and Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection. This volume's wide-armed embrace of comics by and about Indigenous peoples of the Americas and Australasia is a first step to understanding how the histories of colonial and imperial domination connect the violent wounds that still haunt across continents. Aldama and contributors resound this message: Indigeneity in comics is an important, powerful force within our visual-verbal narrative arts writ large.
