A Comics Studies Reader

While such critically acclaimed graphic novels as Art Spiegelman’s Maus (1986, 1991), Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan (2000), and Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home (2006) established the artistic legitimacy of comics, academic comics scholarship has thriven apace. The 28 essays Heer and Worcester collect reflect the various approaches to writing about comics taken by writers in the burgeoning discipline. Those include the historical in pieces on nineteenth-century graphic storyteller Rodolphe Töpffer and other progenitors of the medium; the formal in esoteric pieces on the craft and art of comics, covering such aspects as the “verbal-visual blend” of words and pictures, the ways artists indicate panel sequencing, and sound representation in Japanese manga; and the critical-analytic in considerations of seminal works by Ware, Spiegelman, and others. Most of the essays focus on American comics, but several examine works from Japan, Mexico, and France, where scholars have deemed comics ‘the ninth art.’ The contributions range in readability from totally accessible to highly rarefied and borderline pedantic. Still, altogether they attest to the artistic importance of a long-neglected medium.–Gordon Flagg “Booklist”

Since academics have helped legitimize comics as an art form to be taken seriously, it only makes sense that an entire book of scholarly essays put illustrated fiction under the microscope. It very well could serve as the required reading for that course I never had the opportunity to ace.–Rod Lott “Oklahoma Gazette”

The editorial work accomplished by Heer and Worcester is simply impressive. Not only have they managed to gather material that is challenging, well-written, well-thought and that should enable a big leap forward in comics theory and criticism, but the two editors have also succeeded in giving each text the necessary space and context.–Jan Baetens “Image & Narrative”