Comics Studies: A Guidebook

Published by Rutgers University Press 2020

Comics Studies

A Guidebook

Edited by: Charles Hatfield and Bart Beaty

https://doi.org/10.36019/9780813591452

Overview
Contents

About this book

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.

Author information

CHARLES HATFIELD is the author of Alternative Comics and Hand of Fire, and curated the exhibition Comic Book Apocalypse: The Graphic World of Jack Kirby. He has chaired the International Comic Arts Forum and theMLA Forum on Comics and Graphic Narratives, and cofounded the Comics Studies Society.

BART BEATY is the author, editor, and translator of more than twenty books in the field of comics studies, including Twelve Cent Archie and Comics versus Art. He is the general editor of the Critical Survey of Graphic Novels and is the lead researcher on the What Were Comics? project.

Reviews

"With Comic Studies: A Guidebook, Charles Hatfield and Bart Beaty (both top of their game) bring together a dream team of top researchers to produce a foundational collection that is going to be a cornerstone for all future research in this field. Each essay is not only encyclopedic in its synthesis of existing research but expands our knowledge of comics history and our conceptual understanding of how comics operates as an industry, as a set of social practices, as a confluence of genres, as a readership, and as an array of formal practices."

— Henry Jenkins, author of Comics and Stuff

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction Bart Beaty and Charles Hatfield Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part I. Histories
1. Comic Strips Ian Gordon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	13
2. Comic Books Charles Hatfield Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	25
3. Underground and Alternative Comics Roger Sabin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	40
4. European Traditions Bart Beaty Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	53
5. Manga Frenchy Lunning Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	66
6. The Graphic Novel Isaac Cates Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	82
Part II. Cultures
7. Comics Industries Matthew P. Mcallister and Brian Macauley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
8. Readers, Audiences, and Fans Benjamin Woo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
9. Children and Comics Philip Nel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	126
10. Difference Theresa Tensuan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	138
Part III. Forms
11. Cartooning Andrei Molotiu Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	153
12. Design in Comics: Panels and Pages Martha Kuhlman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	172
13. Words and Images Jan Baetens Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
Part IV. Genres
14. Superheroes Marc Singer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	213
15. Autographics Gillian Whitlock Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	227
16. Girls, Women, and Comics Mel Gibson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	241
17. Digital Comics Darren Wershler, Kalervo Sinervo and Shannon Tien Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	253
Time Line of Selected Events Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	267
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	283
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	285
Notes on the Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	305
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	311