Critical Approaches to Comics: Theories and Methods

329 Pages·2011·6.753 MB·English

by  Matthew J. Smith, Randy Duncan

Critical Approaches
to Comics
Theories and Methods
Edited by Matthew J. Smith & Randy Duncan
Critical Approaches
to Comics
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. Contributors 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 include:
David Beronä; Jeffrey A. Brown, Stanford W. Carpenter, Peter Coogan, Randy Duncan,
Mel Gibson, Ian Gordon, Pascal Lefèvre, Jeff McLaughlin, Ana Merino, Andrei Molotiu,
Christopher Murray, Amy Kiste Nyberg, Brad J. Ricca, Leonard Rifas, Mark Rogers,
Marc Singer, Matthew J. Smith, Jennifer K. Stuller, Brian Swafford, Joseph Witek.
Featuring an introduction by Henry Jenkins.
Matthew J. Smith is Professor of Communication at Wittenberg University. He
regularly teaches “Graphic Storytelling” and leads an annual field study at Comic-Con
International. Recent books include The Power of Comics: History, Form and Culture
(with Randy Duncan) and Online Communication: Linking Technology, Culture, and
Identity (with Andrew F. Wood).
Randy Duncan is Professor of Communication at Henderson State University. He is
co-author of The Power of Comics: History, Form and Culture (with Matthew J. Smith).
Duncan is a co-founder (with Peter Coogan) of the Comics Arts Conference, and serves
on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Comic Art and the Board of
Directors of the Institute for Comics Studies.

Critical Approaches
to Comics
Theories and Methods
Edited by Matthew J. Smith and Randy Duncan
First published 2012
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2012 Taylor & Francis
The right of the editors to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual
chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Front cover image courtesy of Denis Kitchen Archives, originally appearing in the Reading Comics Postcard Book.
© 2006 Denis Kitchen Publishing Co., LLC.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Critical approaches to comics : theories and methods / edited by Matthew J. Smith and Randy Duncan.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Comic books, strips, etc.–History and criticism. I. Smith, Matthew J., 1971– II. Duncan, Randy, 1958–
PN6710.C75 2011
741.59–dc23
2011034441
ISBN: 978-0-415-88554-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-88555-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-83945-4 (ebk)
Typeset in Minion
by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear
Printed and bound in the United States of America on acid-free paper by Edwards Brothers, Inc
To our contributors
for their willingness
to share their
insight and passion
for comics.

Contents
List of Figures x
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xv
List of Contributors xvi
Introduction: Should We Discipline the Reading of Comics? 1
HENRY JENKINS
Part I FORM 15
Chapter 1 Wordless Comics: The Imaginative Appeal of Peter Kuper’s
The System 17
DAvID BERONä
Chapter 2 Comics Modes: Caricature and Illustration in the Crumb
Family’s Dirty Laundry 27
JOSEPH WITEK
Chapter 3 Image Functions: Shape and Color as Hermeneutic Images
in Asterios Polyp 43
RANDY DUNCAN
Chapter 4 Time and Narrative: Unity and Discontinuity in The Invisibles 55
MARC SINgER
Chapter 5 Mise en scène and Framing: visual Storytelling in
Lone Wolf and Cub 71
PASCAL LEFèvRE
viii • Contents
Chapter 6 Abstract Form: Sequential Dynamism and Iconostasis in
Abstract Comics and Steve Ditko’s Amazing Spider- Man 84
ANDREI MOLOTIU
Part II CONTENT 101
Chapter 7 Philosophy: “The Triumph of the Human Spirit” in X- Men 103
JEFF M cLAUgHLIN
Chapter 8 Comics Journalism: Drawing on Words to Picture the Past in
Safe Area Goražde 116
AMY KISTE NYBER g
Chapter 9 Propaganda: The Pleasures of Persuasion in Captain America 129
CHRISTOPHER MURRAY
Part III PRODUCTION 143
Chapter 10 Political Economy: Manipulating Demand and “The Death
of Superman” 145
MARK R OgERS
Chapter 11 Culture of Consumption: Commodification through Superman:
Return to Krypton 157
IAN gORDON
Chapter 12 Ethnography of Production: Editor Axel Alonso and the
Sale of Ideas 167
STANFORD W. CARPENTER
Chapter 13 Auteur Criticism: The Re- visionary Works of Alan Moore 178
MATTHEW J. SMITH
Chapter 14 History: Discovering the Story of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster 189
BRAD J. RICCA
Part IV CONTEXT 201
Chapter 15 genre: Reconstructing the Superhero in All Star Superman 203
PETER COO gAN
Chapter 16 Ideology: The Construction of Race and History in
Tintin in the Congo 221
LEONARD RIFAS
Contents • ix
Chapter 17 Feminism: Second-w ave Feminism in the Pages of Lois Lane 235
JENNIFER K. STULLER
Chapter 18 Intertextuality: Superrealist Intertextualities in Max’s Bardín 252
ANA MERINO , TRANSLATED BY ELIz ABETH POLLI
Part V RECEPTION 265
Chapter 19 Cultural Studies: British girls’ Comics, Readers and Memories 267
MEL gIBSON
Chapter 20 Ethnography: Wearing One’s Fandom 280
JEFFREY A. BROWN
Chapter 21 Critical Ethnography: The Comics Shop as Cultural Clubhouse 291
BRIAN SWAFFORD
Index 303