Graphic novels, Comic books, Manga, Cartoons

Book SynopsisKey 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.Table of Contents1. Introduction.- 2. Key Terms in Comics Studies.- 3. Abstract Comics – Avant-Garde.- 4. Bande Dessinée – Breakdown.- 5. Canon – Culture Industry.- 6. Dénouement – Drawing.- 7. Ecocriticism – Experimental Comics.- 8. Fable – Funny Animal.- 9. Gag – Gutter.- 10. Head Shop – Hybrid.- 11. Icon – Irony.- 12. Kitsch – Ludology.- 13. Mail Order – Myth.- 14. Narration – Novelisation.- 15. Onomatopoeia – Puzzle Comics.- 16. Queer Comics – Royalty Payment.- 17. Satire – Syuzhet.- 18. Taste Adjudication – Typography.- 19. Underground – Voice.- 20. War – Zine.

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Book SynopsisWith over 20 million hits on YouTube in little over a year, Simon's Cat, is a genuine word-of-mouth phenomenon. Fans from all over the world have fallen for this adorable but anarchic feline who will do just about anything to be fed. Simon Tofield's beautiful drawings and warm humour come alive on the page in the first of a series of irresistible stocking-filler humour books.Trade ReviewI recommend these titles for anyone who has ever been owned by a cat . . . avoid drinking whilst reading: otherwise choking might occur * * Coffee, Cookies and Chili Peppers Blog * *

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Book SynopsisAfter getting accepted into the RADAR training programme, Nathan is on the path to becoming a secret agent, just like his hero Jack Masters. Although, not everything is as it seems at RADAR HQ. Can Nathan and his new classmates save the day when no one else can?

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE 2022 EISNER AWARD FOR BEST COMICS-RELATED BOOK 'Magnificently marvellous' Junot Diaz 'An account of how a motley gang of accidental collaborators created a vernacular mythology out of the dodgiest of commercial occasions ... a revelation' Jonathan Lethem Every schoolchild recognises their protagonists: the Avengers, the X-Men, your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. The superhero comics that Marvel has published since 1961 make up the biggest self-contained work of fiction ever created: over half a million pages and counting. Eighteen of the 100 highest-grossing movies of all time are based on it. And not even the people telling the story have read the whole thing. But Douglas Wolk did. In All Of The Marvels, a critic and superfan takes on the epic to end all epics. What he finds is a magic mirror of the past 60 years, from the atomic terrors of the Cold War to the political divides of our present. The result is an irresistible travel guide to the magic mountain at the heart of popular culture.Trade ReviewBrilliant, eccentric, moving and wholly wonderful ... All of the Marvels is magnificently marvelous. Wolk's work will invite many more alliterative superlatives. It deserves them all -- Junot Díaz * New York Times Book Review *For anyone willing to take [a] step into the inconceivably vast and wonderful world that generations of creators have brought to us, issue by issue, month by month, year by year, All of the Marvels is an indispensable handbook. And for anyone seeking an explanation for the enduring popularity of our modern superhero mythology, Wolk has provided as well-informed and well-argued a thesis as you're likely to find * Forbes *A fascinating pop culture journey ... Wolk is a knowledgeable, generous guide, lighting the potentially more confusing corners of the Marvel Universe with enthusiasm, humour and humility -- Martin Gray * Scotsman *The way Wolk makes sense of, finds beauty in, and connects all the different stories and details is masterful ... A must-read for all Marvel fans, from devotees to newbies, All of the Marvels is a colorful and heartfelt journey through the Marvel Universe, and highlights just what makes this epic feat of storytelling so special * Hypable *[a] love letter to Marvel comics ... Wolk is having fun and it communicates -- Teddy Jamieson * Herald Scotland *Douglas Wolk's naked dive into the Marvel source code is a revelation, a tour both electrifying in its weird charisma, and replenishing in its loving specificity. As an account of how a motley gang of accidental collaborators created a vernacular mythology out of the dodgiest of commercial occasions, it's also a testament, and a tribute -- Jonathan LethemWhat sounds like a madman's quest turns out to be a deeply emotional hero's journey. The best work yet from the best writer about the medium of comics -- Brian K. Vaughan, author * Saga *A generous, freewheeling book ... Wolk is a capable guide, wry, friendly and astute [who] can elucidate not just the chemistry between writers and artists but also the underrated role of colourers and letterers -- Dorian Lynskey * Spectator *Some of us are haunted by the memory of a childhood glimpse of some vast evocative dream; others exasperated by the slick iconography that has taken over our screens, wallets, and eyeballs. If you're like me, it's both. For all of us, Douglas Wolk's naked dive into the Marvel source code is a revelation, a tour both electrifying in its weird charisma, and replenishing in its loving specificity. As an account of how a motley gang of accidental collaborators created a vernacular mythology out of the dodgiest of commercial occasions, it's also a testament, and a tribute. Like Greil Marcus in Mystery Train or Manny Farber in Negative Space, Wolk pushes aside paraphrase to free up an encounter with what's been there all along, homegrown art -- Jonathan Lethem

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Book SynopsisThis book provides everything STEM teachers need to use graphic novels in order to engage students, explain difficult concepts, and enrich learning. Drawing upon the latest educational research and over 60 years of combined teaching experience, the authors describe the multimodal affordances and constraints of each element of the STEM curriculum. Useful for new and seasoned teachers alike, the chapters provide practical guidance for teaching with graphic novels, with a section each for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. An appendix provides nearly 100 short reviews of graphic novels arranged by topic, such as cryptography, evolution, computer coding, skyscraper design, nuclear physics, auto repair, meteorology, and human physiology, allowing the teacher to find multiple graphic novels to enhance almost any unit. These include graphic novel biographies of Stephen Hawking, Jane Goodall, Alan Turing, Rosalind Franklin, as well as popular titles such as T-Minus by JiTrade ReviewNever has there been more interest in teaching STEM or teaching with graphic novels. This book marries the two together in a clear and interesting way. This is a great resource for pre-service and in-service teachers. -- Jung Kim, Professor of Reading & Literacy, Lewis University, USAAn engaging and novel approach to STEM learning, designed to support better science literacy practices in school students. -- Christine Harrison, Professor of Science Education, King’s College London, UKTable of ContentsList of Figures Foreword, Jay Hosler Acknowledgements 1. What Research Tells us about Teaching Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics with Graphic Novels 2. Teaching Life Science and Earth Science with Graphic Novels 3. Teaching Physical Science with Graphic Novels 4. Teaching Technology with Graphic Novels 5. Using Graphic Novels to Teach Engineering 6. Teaching Mathematics with Graphic Novels 7. Unanswered Questions and Concluding Thoughts Appendix: List of STEM Graphic Novels References Notes Index

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Book SynopsisThe Stilts love being tall. In fact, they don't just love it. To the Stilts, being tall is the most important thing in the world. However, when childhood friends Bean and Stubs find themselves falling out over height, they have to wonder Is being tall more important than their friendship?

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Book SynopsisComics are a global phenomenon, and yet it's easy to distinguish the visual styles of comics from Asia, Europe, or the United States. But, do the structures of these visual narratives differ in more subtle ways? Might these comics actually be drawn in different visual languages that vary in their structures across cultures? To address these questions, The Patterns of Comics seeks evidence through a sustained analysis of an annotated corpus of over 36,000 panels from more than 350 comics from Asia, Europe, and the United States. This data-driven approach reveals the cross-cultural variation in symbology, layout, and storytelling between various visual languages, and shows how comics have changed across 80 years. It compares, for example, the subtypes within American comics and Japanese manga, and analyzes the formal properties of Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes across its entire 10-year run. Throughout, it not only uncovers the patterns in and across the panels Trade ReviewIn previous innovative publications, Neil Cohn has provided a framework for understanding the visual language of comics across languages and cultures. In this magisterial volume he provides readers with tools for continued research. In essence, this is a carefully constructed handbook for in-depth exploration of visual narrative. -- Dan I. Slobin, Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Linguistics, UC Berkeley, USATable of ContentsList of Figures and Tables Preface 1. Visual Language 2. Corpus-Driven Comics Research 3. Morphology 4. Page Layout 5. Situational Coherence 6. Framing Structure 7. Narrative Structure 8. Visual Languages across Time 9. Cross-Cultural Visual Languages? 10. The Visual Language of Calvin and Hobbes 11. Towards a Visual Language Typology Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisGourmand Cookbook Award Winner 2020 From Greek broth to grief and loss, fishwives to folklore, pancakes to politics, Gaza to Glasgow. Tomorrow’s Kitchen: A Graphic Novel Cookbook is a unique collection of stories and recipes from novelists, food writers, chefs, playwrights and activists from all over the world. Interpreted into drawings by BAFTA-nominated illustrator Shuangshuang Hao, Tomorrow’s Kitchen invites you to the table to taste some flavours of today’s world and to think about how we might cook things up differently in tomorrow’s.

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Book SynopsisThis book explores what the methodologies of Art History might offer Comics Studies, in terms of addressing overlooked aspects of aesthetics, form, materiality, perception and visual style. As well as considering what Art History proposes of comic scholarship, including the questioning of some of its deep-rooted categories and procedures, it also appraises what comics and Comics Studies afford and ask of Art History. This book draws together the work of international scholars applying art-historical methodologies to the study of a range of comic strips, books, cartoons, graphic novels and manga, who, as well as being researchers, are also educators, artists, designers, curators, producers, librarians, editors, and writers, with some undertaking practice-based research. Many are trained art historians, but others come from, have migrated into, or straddle other disciplines, such as Comparative Literature, American Literature, Cultural Studies, Visual Studies, and a range of subjects within Art & Design practice.Table of ContentsWays of Seeing Comics: Art-Historical Approaches to the Form.Part I Old Skool Art History.The Lives of the Artists.Connoisseurship, Attribution, and Comic Strip Art: The Case of Jack B. Yeats.Reading Comics with Aby Warburg: Collaging Memories.Part II Perception, Reception and Meaning.Psychologies of Perception: Stories of Depiction.Aesthetics of Reception: Uncovering the Modes of Interaction in Comics.Reading Richard Felton Outcault’s “Yellow Kid” Through Perception of the Image.Colour in Comics: Reading Lorenzo Mattotti Through the Lens of Art History.Part III The New and Newer Art Histories.Feminist Art History as an Approach to Research on Comics: Meta Reflections on Studies of Swedish Feminist Comics.Towards Feminist Comics Studies: Feminist Art History and the Study of Women’s Comix in the 1970s in the United States.Real Queer Bodies: Visual Weight and Imagined Gravity in Sport Manga.Part IV Comics for/Beyond Art History.Afrofuturism and Animism as Method: Art History and Decolonisation in Black Panther.What Is an Image? Art History, Visual Culture Studies, and Comics Studies.From Giotto to Drnaso: The Common Well of Pictorial Schema in ‘High’ Art and ‘Low’ Comics.VAST/O Exhibition (De)Construction: Exploring the Potentials of Augmented Abstract Comics and Animation Installations as a Method to Communicate Health Experiences.From Tableau to Sequence: Introducing Comics Theory Within Art History to Study the Photobook.

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Book SynopsisThis book defines a straightforward way to analyse fictional characters through data. It shows how a data-led approach can produce rich analyses of characters, their surrounding storyworlds, and their authors across time and different types of media. It uses the Marvel Comics’ character, Doctor Doom as its main case study, and demonstrates the advantages of this approach by comparing the results to those taken from a survey of fan attitudes. It also uses the methodology to analyse the differences between the American and British characters who share the name "Dennis The Menace". Finally, it offers a range of further uses for the tool. All datasets and tools are made available to download, so that other researchers can use the methodology and compare their own results to those generated in the book.Table of ContentsIntroduction Methodology The corpus and sample Analysis A Tale Of Two Menaces Discussion Bibliography Appendix One: Using the unified model of transmedia character coherence Appendix Two: Doctor Doom Corpus Appendix Three: Example of signifier survey

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsChapter 1: What is the Cloud Visual language: minimalist. Cartoon characters on white background. Images are goofy and memorable, such as a Roomba chasing a cat Content: Covers the ubiquity of the cloud in real life (connected/smart home devices, online services, etc) and sets the tone for why we should care that a book is dedicated to this topic. Asks the big questions that will be answered throughout the text: What is the cloud? How does it work? Why should I care? Now that I know that, what should I do? Chapter 2: Evolution of the Cloud (A Prehistory) Visual language: This section will take place in a prehistoric jungle. Tangled vines, volcanoes, dinosaurs, etc. Content: Covers the background of computing, from mainframes through the client/server era up to virtualization Chapter 3: The Internet: A Series of Tubes Visual language: A steampunk mad scientist’s laboratory, with lots of Rube Goldberg-esque tubes and gears Content: Covers the basics of how data gets from you to the cloud and back again, including remote servers, DNS, IP, etc. Chapter 4: Cloud Architecture Visual language: A construction job site. Bricks and mortar. Think Bob the Builder Content: Covers the core building blocks of cloud architecture. Cloud storage, databases, compute. High availability, scalability, and elasticity. Explains why these things are desirable and, in some cases, revolutionary. Chapter 5: Cloud Security Visual language: Noir (black and white, heavy shadows, stark silhouettes) Content: Covers some of the key risks associated with placing your data in the cloud, both personally and professionally. Uses a fictionalized breach to illustrate what can go wrong Chapter 6: The Internet of Things Visual language: Cubist, non-representational Content: Explains the Internet of Things, including why a smart device isn’t always better (lower security, risk of it not being supported) Chapter 7: Artificial Intelligence Visual language: Used future. Think Blade Runner or Terminator. Red-eyed robots, smog, and neon Content: Covers some basics of how the cloud accelerates AI and machine learning through the centralization of data. Gives examples of when that’s good and when it can be bad (for example, reinforcing conscious or unconscious biases) Chapter 8: What Now? Visual language: Minimalist (same as the opening section; ties everything together) Content: Looks ahead to the future of the cloud, particularly increasing levels of abstraction like serverless, voice programming, and automation. Strikes a hopeful tone and finishes by encouraging the reader to go out and build a better cloud.

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Book Synopsis_____________________________We all know a good boy. He's a 'Feminist’... in his Tinder bio. He ghosts you, but then feels bad. (For a moment.) He’s not mansplaining, just aggressively clarifying. And he's open to being wrong. Theoretically. Ready to call time on rewarding those who clear the low bar of not being outwardly awful? Awards for Good Boys explores why so-called and self-proclaimed good boys are actually not that great, and makes literal our tendency to applaud men for doing the absolute least. It will make you cry-laugh, feel validated, and help you unravel your own assumptions about what makes us good. ______________________________'Shelby and her art are extremely my shit. You need this book.' Samantha Irby, author of We Are Never Meeting in Real Life ‘A short book of one woman’s opinions. It’s funny, but I prefer when men are funny or else my ego feels bruised.’ Ben from TwitterTrade ReviewShelby and her art are extremely my shit. You need this book. * Samantha Irby, author of 'We Are Never Meeting in Real Life' *Nothing captures the stress of modern dating quite so brilliantly as Shelby Lorman’s illustrations. * Stylist *A satirical look at the ways in which these so-called good boys expect to be patted on the back for doing the bare minimum ... We all mess up. The important thing is to find constructive – and ideally funny – ways to talk about it. * Refinery29 *The book is a combination of her signature cartoons and nightmarish tales from her love life. Both will make you laugh and cringe in equal measure; I guarantee it. * The Skinny *Hilarious. * Vice *

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Book SynopsisAn original graphic novel based on the IVF stories of its husband-and-wife authors and the 1-in-50 couples around the world like them. Conrad and Joanne met in their final year of university and have been virtually inseparable since then. For a while, it felt like they had all the time in the world. Yet now, when they are finally ready to have kids, they find that getting pregnant isn’t always so easy. Ahead of them lies a difficult, expensive, and emotional journey into the world of assisted fertility, where each ‘successful’ implantation is followed by a two-week wait to see if the pregnancy takes. Join Joanne and Conrad, their friends, their family, their coworkers, and a stream of expert medical practitioners as they experience the highs and the lows, the tears and the laughter in this sensitive but unflinching portrayal of the hope and heartbreak offered to so many by modern medicine.Trade Review‘The Jacksons, married educators and parents of two, partner with artist Wild to tell a compassionate story about the struggle to conceive based on their own experiences and interviews with other couples who have dealt with fertility issues … Wild’s loose, fluid, warmly coloured pencil art perfectly complements the script; in swooping curves and simple shapes, she draws emotive characters in domestic settings that look lived-in. Gentle and empathetic, this enters a growing trying-to-conceive graphic medicine genre, recalling Sarah Glidden’s and Lucy Knisley’s work, and offers a touchstone for any reader dealing with IVF.’ * Publishers Weekly *‘Full of honesty and vulnerability … Two-Week Wait will appeal to readers of memoir and graphic novels alike.’ -- Adam Ford * Books+Publishing *‘The book demystifies the technical processes of IVF for readers, and tracks the ups and downs … The drawings, by the talented German illustrator Mara Wild, are full of light and air … It is a beautifully drawn, heartfelt, real- feeling examination of the struggle to become parents.’ -- Bernard Caleo * Readings *‘Compelling, harrowing … proof that comics can be much more than superhero stories — they are a dexterous art form that can effectively communicate complex, serious topics.’ -- Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen * The Guardian *‘In this lovely volume, you’ll encounter heartache, hope, humour, and a very true and personal exploration of the physical, emotional, and financial roller-coaster of IVF. You’ll also see the graphic novel form at its finest: where every dot and line has nuance and meaning, and where big ideas and feelings are conveyed with great subtlety through spare, elegant illustrations working hand-in-hand with great dialogue.’ -- Nicki Greenberg‘Readers who have never experienced IVF may find this book educative, while readers who have may be pleased to see their experience reflected with so much empathy.’ -- Kerryn Goldsworthy * Sydney Morning Herald *‘Luke C. Jackson and Kelly Jackson have created a beautiful and gut-wrenching story of infertility, relationships, and hope centred around the two-week period waiting to find out if the implantation resulted in a successful pregnancy … Accompanied with the Jackson’s narrative is Mara Wild’s beautiful illustrations. Wild has drawn in a digital, minimalist style with a simple powder-blue, navy, grey, red, white, and peachy orange colour palette. The simplicity of their illustration style leaves room for emotion to burst off the page. The happiness, pain, love, and dejection that the character’s experience comes across so clearly in Wild’s illustrations; readers will become emotionally invested within the first chapter. Once you pick up Two-Week Wait it’ll be incredibly hard to put it back down again … Two-Week Wait captures many facets of the IVF experience, hence making it an excellent graphic novel to educate people and start a healthy conversation around the highs and lows of IVF. Moreover, the language and illustrations within are very easy to understand and follow, making Two-Week Wait an accessible text which could be used in a high-school-aged educational setting.’ -- Lauren Pratt * Underground Writers *‘The intimate struggles of a husband and wife desperate to become parents might not be universal literary fare, but with millions of couples worldwide attempting conception via IVF, Two-Week Wait will surely, deservedly find sympathetic audiences… an insightful, moving tale.’ -- Terry Hong * Shelf Awareness *‘Readers are taken along their journey through the process, through the anxiety of waiting for answers, and then finding out nope, nothing is clear cut as they thought … I found myself immersed in their story, in their heartache and their joy during the process … I can see just how well the format of a graphic novel can lend itself to all sorts of different stories.’ * pop.edit.lit *‘I really enjoyed Two-Week Wait. I thought it was a well-written book that handled an incredibly sensitive topic very well and did a great job showing how the difficult and expensive process of IVF works … I thought Mara Wild did a great job illustrating the character's emotions and the mental and physical strain that the IVF process puts on them. I liked her use of soft colours and sweeping shapes and lines. She was able to put a lot of emotion into scenes with just the stroke of a pencil. I think this book would be great for couples who are going through IVF or who are considering it.’ -- Marisa Quinn-Haisu * Weekend Notes *‘Anyone looking for the thoughts of someone who has gone through the journey of trying to conceive, infertility testing, of deciding what treatments to pursue, of determining to continue the path, and IVF or is looking for tips on what to do and not to do when talking about infertility and IVF will find a good resource in this book … Mara Wild does a fantastic job at providing context to the story and illustrating the invisible emotions and pain … It gives the reader an empathetic look at the experience. I recommend this to anyone wanting to know more about the infertility and IVF process, especially from a mental health perspective.’ -- Alice Jaggers * Graphic Medicine *‘Two-Week Wait is as much a medical text as it is a depiction of the emotional, corporeal and financial vicissitudes, that are commonplace in patient descriptions of assisted reproductive technologies.’ -- Jennifer Takhar * Graphic Medicine *

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Book SynopsisThis book explores what the methodologies of Art History might offer Comics Studies, in terms of addressing overlooked aspects of aesthetics, form, materiality, perception and visual style. As well as considering what Art History proposes of comic scholarship, including the questioning of some of its deep-rooted categories and procedures, it also appraises what comics and Comics Studies afford and ask of Art History. This book draws together the work of international scholars applying art-historical methodologies to the study of a range of comic strips, books, cartoons, graphic novels and manga, who, as well as being researchers, are also educators, artists, designers, curators, producers, librarians, editors, and writers, with some undertaking practice-based research. Many are trained art historians, but others come from, have migrated into, or straddle other disciplines, such as Comparative Literature, American Literature, Cultural Studies, Visual Studies, and a range of subjects within Art & Design practice.Table of ContentsWays of Seeing Comics: Art-Historical Approaches to the Form.Part I Old Skool Art History.The Lives of the Artists.Connoisseurship, Attribution, and Comic Strip Art: The Case of Jack B. Yeats.Reading Comics with Aby Warburg: Collaging Memories.Part II Perception, Reception and Meaning.Psychologies of Perception: Stories of Depiction.Aesthetics of Reception: Uncovering the Modes of Interaction in Comics.Reading Richard Felton Outcault’s “Yellow Kid” Through Perception of the Image.Colour in Comics: Reading Lorenzo Mattotti Through the Lens of Art History.Part III The New and Newer Art Histories.Feminist Art History as an Approach to Research on Comics: Meta Reflections on Studies of Swedish Feminist Comics.Towards Feminist Comics Studies: Feminist Art History and the Study of Women’s Comix in the 1970s in the United States.Real Queer Bodies: Visual Weight and Imagined Gravity in Sport Manga.Part IV Comics for/Beyond Art History.Afrofuturism and Animism as Method: Art History and Decolonisation in Black Panther.What Is an Image? Art History, Visual Culture Studies, and Comics Studies.From Giotto to Drnaso: The Common Well of Pictorial Schema in ‘High’ Art and ‘Low’ Comics.VAST/O Exhibition (De)Construction: Exploring the Potentials of Augmented Abstract Comics and Animation Installations as a Method to Communicate Health Experiences.From Tableau to Sequence: Introducing Comics Theory Within Art History to Study the Photobook.

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Book SynopsisThis book adds to the scant academic literature investigating how comics transmit knowledge of the past and how this refraction of the past shapes our understanding of society and politics in sometimes damaging ways. The volume comes at these questions from a specifically archaeological perspective, foregrounding the representation and narrative use of material cultures. It fulfils its objectives through three reception studies in the first part of the volume and three chapters by comic creators in the second part. All six chapters aim to grapple with a set of central questions about the power inherent in drawn images of various kinds. Trade Review“A central tenet of the volume is that both comics and archaeology are political. … Being the author and illustrator of numerous archaeology comics, John G. Swogger shows with the aid of strip comic format … archaeologists should promote the community’s feedback and hands-on participation. To prevent community history and preservation from being eclipsed by one-sided portrayals, localized communities should be involved in creating content for comics.” (Johannes H. N. Loubser, AMERICAN ANTIQUITY, June 29, 2023)Table of ContentsIntroduction: Why Comics and Archaeology?.‘The Aliens from 2,000 B.C.!’: Truth, Fiction and Pseudoarchaeology in American Comic Books.Panels from the South Seas: Pacific Colonialism, Archaeology, and Pseudoscience in Francophone Bande Dessinée.Making Sargon Great Again: Reuse and Reappropriation of Ancient Mesopotamian Imagery in Fan-Art of the Online Right.Creating Comics for Public Engagement in Roman Aeclanum: Illustrating Ancient History.“Mix, Mould, Fire!”: Comic Art and Educational Outreach Inspired by Archaeology.“They Do Things Differently There”: Articulating the Unfamiliar Past in Community Heritage Comics.

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Book SynopsisUnderstanding Comics-Based Research focuses on the contribution that comics can make to social research as part of a "Graphic social science" construct. Comics and graphic novels offer a juxtaposition of text and images bringing community-based participatory research multiple opportunities for communication. In this exploratory volume, Veronica Moretti illustrates how the graphic medium can help elicit participant’s narratives and how it supports new guiding principles in research, along with what barriers researchers may encounter using comics, and to what extent comics can be incorporated within traditional social research techniques.Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1. The Comics Jargon Chapter 2. Graphic social sciences Chapter 3. Drafting comics-based research Chapter 4. The Social genres of comics Conclusion

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Book SynopsisThis book looks at comics through the lens of Art History, examining the past influence of art-historical methodologies on comics scholarship to scope how they can be applied to Comics Studies in the present and future. It unearths how early comics scholars deployed art-historical approaches, including stylistic analysis, iconography, Cultural History and the social history of art, and proposes how such methodologies, updated in light of disciplinary developments within Art History, could be usefully adopted in the study of comics today. Through a series of indicative case studies of British and American comics like Eagle, The Mighty Thor, 2000AD, Escape and Heartbreak Hotel, it argues that art-historical methods better address overlooked aspects of visual and material form. Bringing Art History back into the interdisciplinary nexus of comics scholarship raises some fundamental questions about the categories, frameworks and values underlying contemporary Comics Studies.Table of ContentsWhy 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: Exe⁄orcising 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 Dredd’s “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 Wolfflin’s Comparative Methodology. The Limits and Potential of Wolfflin’s Analysis of Style for Comics Studies. References. Iconography for Comics Studies Reconsidered: Interpreting Visual Transformations in Jack Kirby’s 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 Moore’s “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.

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