By placing comics in a lively dialogue with contemporary narrative theory, The Narratology of Comic Art builds a systematic theory of narrative comics, going beyond the typical focus on the Anglophone tradition. This involves not just the exploration of those properties in comics that can be meaningfully investigated with existing narrative theory, but an interpretive study of the potential in narratological concepts and analytical procedures that has hitherto been overlooked. This research monograph is, then, not an application of narratology in the medium and art of comics, but a revision of narratological concepts and approaches through the study of narrative comics. Thus, while narratology is brought to bear on comics, equally comics are brought to bear on narratology.

Hollywood's live-action superhero films currently dominate the worldwide box-office, with the characters enjoying more notoriety through their feature film and television depictions than they have ever before. This book argues that this immense popularity reveals deep cultural concerns about politics, gender, ethnicity, patriotism and consumerism after the events of 9/11. Superheroes have long been agents of hegemony, fighting for abstract ideals of justice while overall perpetuating the American status quo. Yet at the same time, the book explores how the genre has also been utilized to question and critique these dominant cultural assumptions.

The horror of the Holocaust lies not only in its brutality but in its scale and logistics; it depended upon the machinery and logic of a rational, industrialised, and empirically organised modern society. The central thesis of this book is that Art Spiegelman's comics all identify deeply-rooted madness in post-Enlightenment society. Spiegelman maintains, in other words, that the Holocaust was not an aberration, but an inevitable consequence of modernisation. In service of this argument, Smith offers a reading of Spiegelman's comics, with a particular focus on his three main collections: Breakdowns (1977 and 2008), Maus (1980 and 1991), and In the Shadow of No Towers (2004). He draws upon a taxonomy of terms from comic book scholarship, attempts to theorize madness (including literary portrayals of trauma), and critical works on Holocaust literature.

Critical Approaches to Comics offers students a deeper understanding of the artistic and cultural significance of comic books and graphic novels by introducing key theories and critical methods for analyzing comics. Each chapter explains and then demonstrates a critical method or approach, which students can then apply to interrogate and critique the meanings and forms of comic books, graphic novels, and other sequential art. The authors introduce a wide range of critical perspectives on comics, including fandom, genre, intertextuality, adaptation, gender, narrative, formalism, visual culture, and much more.

As the first comprehensive introduction to critical methods for studying comics, Critical Approaches to Comics is the ideal textbook for a variety of courses in comics studies.

Contributors: Henry Jenkins, David Berona, Joseph Witek, Randy Duncan, Marc Singer, Pascal Lefevre, Andrei Molotiu, Jeff McLaughlin, Amy Kiste Nyberg, Christopher Murray, Mark Rogers, Ian Gordon, Stanford Carpenter, Matthew J. Smith, Brad J. Ricca, Peter Coogan, Leonard Rifas, Jennifer K. Stuller, Ana Merino, Mel Gibson, Jeffrey A. Brown, Brian Swafford

In The Secret Origins of Comics Studies, today's leading comics scholars turn back a page to reveal the founding figures dedicated to understanding comics art. Edited by comics scholars Matthew J. Smith and Randy Duncan, this collection provides an in-depth study of the individuals and institutions that have created and shaped the field of Comics Studies over the past 75 years. From Coulton Waugh to Wolfgang Fuchs, these influential historians, educators, and theorists produced the foundational work and built the institutions that inspired the recent surge in scholarly work in this dynamic, interdisciplinary field. Sometimes scorned, often underappreciated, these visionaries established a path followed by subsequent generations of scholars in literary studies, communication, art history, the social sciences, and more. Giving not only credit where credit is due, this volume both offers an authoritative account of the history of Comics Studies and also helps move the field forward by being a valuable resource for creating graduate student reading lists and the first stop for anyone writing a comics-related literature review.

The horror of the Holocaust lies not only in its brutality but in its scale and logistics; it depended upon the machinery and logic of a rational, industrialised, and empirically organised modern society. The central thesis of this book is that Art Spiegelman's comics all identify deeply-rooted madness in post-Enlightenment society. Spiegelman maintains, in other words, that the Holocaust was not an aberration, but an inevitable consequence of modernisation. In service of this argument, Smith offers a reading of Spiegelman's comics, with a particular focus on his three main collections: Breakdowns (1977 and 2008), Maus (1980 and 1991), and In the Shadow of No Towers (2004). He draws upon a taxonomy of terms from comic book scholarship, attempts to theorize madness (including literary portrayals of trauma), and critical works on Holocaust literature.

By placing comics in a lively dialogue with contemporary narrative theory, The Narratology of Comic Art builds a systematic theory of narrative comics, going beyond the typical focus on the Anglophone tradition. This involves not just the exploration of those properties in comics that can be meaningfully investigated with existing narrative theory, but an interpretive study of the potential in narratological concepts and analytical procedures that has hitherto been overlooked. This research monograph is, then, not an application of narratology in the medium and art of comics, but a revision of narratological concepts and approaches through the study of narrative comics. Thus, while narratology is brought to bear on comics, equally comics are brought to bear on narratology.

After the successful and innovative first two editions, now in a new, restructured 3rd edition, this remains the most authoritative introduction for studying comic books and graphic novels, covering their place in contemporary culture, the manifestations and techniques of the art form, the evolution of the medium and how to analyze and write about them. The new edition includes: - A completely reworked introduction explores the comics community in the US and globally, its history, and the role of different communities in advancing the medium and its study - Chapters reframed to get students thinking about themselves as consumers and makers of comics - Reorganized chapters on form help to unpack encapsulation, composition and layout - Completely new chapters on comics and how they can be used to report, document, and persuade, as well as a new Preface by Karen Green Illustrated throughout, with discussion questions and activities for every chapter and an extensive glossary of key terms, The Power of Comics and Graphic Novels also includes further updated resources available online including additional essays, weblinks and sample syllabi.

In this comprehensive textbook, editors Matthew J. Brown, Randy Duncan, and Matthew J. Smith offer students a deeper understanding of the artistic and cultural significance of comic books and graphic novels by introducing key theories and critical methods for analyzing comics. Each chapter explains and then demonstrates a critical method or approach, which students can then apply to interrogate and critique the meanings and forms of comic books, graphic novels, and other sequential art. Contributors introduce a wide range of critical perspectives on comics, including disability studies, parasocial relationships, scientific humanities, queer theory, linguistics, critical geography, philosophical aesthetics, historiography, and much more. As a companion to the acclaimed Critical Approaches to Comics: Theories and Methods, this second volume features 19 fresh perspectives and serves as a stand-alone textbook in its own right. More Critical Approaches to Comics is a compelling classroom or research text for students and scholars interested in Comics Studies, Critical Theory, the Humanities, and beyond.

Hollywood's live-action superhero films currently dominate the worldwide box-office, with the characters enjoying more notoriety through their feature film and television depictions than they have ever before. This book argues that this immense popularity reveals deep cultural concerns about politics, gender, ethnicity, patriotism and consumerism after the events of 9/11. Superheroes have long been agents of hegemony, fighting for abstract ideals of justice while overall perpetuating the American status quo. Yet at the same time, the book explores how the genre has also been utilized to question and critique these dominant cultural assumptions.

As major universities and professional organizations like the Poynter Institute have begun to examine graphic nonfiction from a critical perspective, new courses are emerging that give student writers and artists the tools to tell their own nonfiction stories in comics form. Nonfiction Comics is the first textbook to bring these tools and techniques together in a single volume. Most novices who first attempt the form arrive at it from a background of journalism or art, meaning they arrive with at least one deficit in the required skill set. Journalists, for example, typically have had little training in illustration. Artists and designers may not know how to conduct interviews or to avoid the potential legal pitfalls of telling the personal stories of real people. This book aims to fill in the gaps providing student journalists, artists, designers, creative writers, web producers and others the tools they need to tell stories visually and graphically.

Based on the authors' popular team-taught nonfiction comics course, Nonfiction Comics teaches readers how to create a graphic nonfiction story from start to finish, providing guidance on:

• how to find the story and how to find and utilize appropriate facts and visuals;
• nonfiction narrative techniques
• artist's tools and techniques
• print, digital, and multimedia production
• legal and ethical considerations

Interviews with well-known nonfiction comics creators--showcased in the book and on the book's companion website--will discuss best practice and offer readers inspiration to begin creating their own work.

In The Secret Origins of Comics Studies, today's leading comics scholars turn back a page to reveal the founding figures dedicated to understanding comics art. Edited by comics scholars Matthew J. Smith and Randy Duncan, this collection provides an in-depth study of the individuals and institutions that have created and shaped the field of Comics Studies over the past 75 years. From Coulton Waugh to Wolfgang Fuchs, these influential historians, educators, and theorists produced the foundational work and built the institutions that inspired the recent surge in scholarly work in this dynamic, interdisciplinary field. Sometimes scorned, often underappreciated, these visionaries established a path followed by subsequent generations of scholars in literary studies, communication, art history, the social sciences, and more. Giving not only credit where credit is due, this volume both offers an authoritative account of the history of Comics Studies and also helps move the field forward by being a valuable resource for creating graduate student reading lists and the first stop for anyone writing a comics-related literature review.

In this comprehensive textbook, editors Matthew J. Brown, Randy Duncan, and Matthew J. Smith offer students a deeper understanding of the artistic and cultural significance of comic books and graphic novels by introducing key theories and critical methods for analyzing comics. Each chapter explains and then demonstrates a critical method or approach, which students can then apply to interrogate and critique the meanings and forms of comic books, graphic novels, and other sequential art. Contributors introduce a wide range of critical perspectives on comics, including disability studies, parasocial relationships, scientific humanities, queer theory, linguistics, critical geography, philosophical aesthetics, historiography, and much more. As a companion to the acclaimed Critical Approaches to Comics: Theories and Methods, this second volume features 19 fresh perspectives and serves as a stand-alone textbook in its own right. More Critical Approaches to Comics is a compelling classroom or research text for students and scholars interested in Comics Studies, Critical Theory, the Humanities, and beyond.

Critical Approaches to Comics offers students a deeper understanding of the artistic and cultural significance of comic books and graphic novels by introducing key theories and critical methods for analyzing comics. Each chapter explains and then demonstrates a critical method or approach, which students can then apply to interrogate and critique the meanings and forms of comic books, graphic novels, and other sequential art. The authors introduce a wide range of critical perspectives on comics, including fandom, genre, intertextuality, adaptation, gender, narrative, formalism, visual culture, and much more.

As the first comprehensive introduction to critical methods for studying comics, Critical Approaches to Comics is the ideal textbook for a variety of courses in comics studies.

Contributors: Henry Jenkins, David Berona, Joseph Witek, Randy Duncan, Marc Singer, Pascal Lefevre, Andrei Molotiu, Jeff McLaughlin, Amy Kiste Nyberg, Christopher Murray, Mark Rogers, Ian Gordon, Stanford Carpenter, Matthew J. Smith, Brad J. Ricca, Peter Coogan, Leonard Rifas, Jennifer K. Stuller, Ana Merino, Mel Gibson, Jeffrey A. Brown, Brian Swafford

As major universities and professional organizations like the Poynter Institute have begun to examine graphic nonfiction from a critical perspective, new courses are emerging that give student writers and artists the tools to tell their own nonfiction stories in comics form. Nonfiction Comics is the first textbook to bring these tools and techniques together in a single volume. Most novices who first attempt the form arrive at it from a background of journalism or art, meaning they arrive with at least one deficit in the required skill set. Journalists, for example, typically have had little training in illustration. Artists and designers may not know how to conduct interviews or to avoid the potential legal pitfalls of telling the personal stories of real people. This book aims to fill in the gaps providing student journalists, artists, designers, creative writers, web producers and others the tools they need to tell stories visually and graphically.

Based on the authors' popular team-taught nonfiction comics course, Nonfiction Comics teaches readers how to create a graphic nonfiction story from start to finish, providing guidance on:

• how to find the story and how to find and utilize appropriate facts and visuals;
• nonfiction narrative techniques
• artist's tools and techniques
• print, digital, and multimedia production
• legal and ethical considerations

Interviews with well-known nonfiction comics creators--showcased in the book and on the book's companion website--will discuss best practice and offer readers inspiration to begin creating their own work.

Do you have a child who is nervous about starting school? If so, sit down with them and share the story of Miranda and her Panda. Scared and nervous about starting school, Miranda soon discovers all of the fun activities in which she will participate. Let your child join Miranda and her Panda in drawing, reading, playing, music, and much more. Miranda and her Panda are sure to help your child feel better about starting school.

After the successful and innovative first two editions, now in a new, restructured 3rd edition, this remains the most authoritative introduction for studying comic books and graphic novels, covering their place in contemporary culture, the manifestations and techniques of the art form, the evolution of the medium and how to analyze and write about them. The new edition includes: - A completely reworked introduction explores the comics community in the US and globally, its history, and the role of different communities in advancing the medium and its study - Chapters reframed to get students thinking about themselves as consumers and makers of comics - Reorganized chapters on form help to unpack encapsulation, composition and layout - Completely new chapters on comics and how they can be used to report, document, and persuade, as well as a new Preface by Karen Green Illustrated throughout, with discussion questions and activities for every chapter and an extensive glossary of key terms, The Power of Comics and Graphic Novels also includes further updated resources available online including additional essays, weblinks and sample syllabi.

This book explores how the heroes and villains of popular comic books-and the creators of these icons of our culture-reflect the American experience out of which they sprang, and how they have achieved relevance by adapting to, and perhaps influencing, the evolving American character. Multiple generations have thrilled to the exploits of the heroes and villains of American comic books. These imaginary characters permeate our culture-even Americans who have never read a comic book grasp what the most well-known examples represent. But these comic book characters, and their creators, do more than simply thrill: they make us consider who we are and who we aspire to be. Icons of the American Comic Book: From Captain America to Wonder Woman contains 100 entries that provide historical background, explore the impact of the comic-book character on American culture, and summarize what is iconic about the subject of the entry. Each entry also lists essential works, suggests further readings, and contains at least one sidebar that provides entertaining and often quirky insight not covered in the main entry. This two-volume work examines fascinating subjects, such as how the superhero concept embodied the essence of American culture in the 1930s; and the ways in which comic book icons have evolved to reflect changing circumstances, values, and attitudes regarding cultural diversity. The book's coverage extends beyond just characters, as it also includes entries devoted to creators, publishers, titles, and even comic book related phenomena that have had enduring significance. Includes contributions from 70 expert contributors and leading scholars in the field, with some of the entries written with the aid of popular comic book creators themselves Provides sidebars within each entry that extend readers' understanding of the subject Offers "Essential Works" and "Further Reading" recommendations Includes a comprehensive bibliography