This collection is intended to serve as a widely representative, but not exhaustive, introduction to the different ways in which comics are studied across academic disciplines. The 21 chapters presented by Smith (communication, Wittenberg U.) and Duncan (Henderson State U.) address "the formal techniques of comics storytelling, the content of their messages, the industrial practices that produce them, the social contexts that inform their meanings, and the ways audiences receive, interpret, and respond to them." In addition to describing methodologies, the contributions also demonstrate their application to specific subjects, with the chapter on the political economy of production approach, just to cite one example, discussing the manipulation of consumer demand in relation to "The Death of Superman." Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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
