The complete history of this popular format is explained, from the first modern, urban autobiographical graphic novel, Will Eisner’s A Contract with God, to the dark mysteries of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, the postmodern superheroics of Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight, and breakout books such as Alison Bechdel's Fun Home and R.

From the agonizing Holocaust vision of Art Spiegelman’s Maus to the teenage angst of Dan Clowes’s Ghost World, this study enters the heart of the graphic novel revolution. Analyzing examples from a variety of genres, this book provides a thorough landmark overview of American comic books that sheds new light on this versatile art form.įaster Than a Speeding Bullet by Stephen Weiner Graphic novels have exploded off bookstore shelves into movies, college courses, and the New York Times book review, and comics historian and children’s literature specialist Stephen Weiner explains the phenomenon in this groundbreaking book-the first history of graphic novels. Viewing comic books from a variety of theoretical lenses, Gabilliet shows how seemingly disparate issues-creation, production, and reception-are in fact connected in ways that are not necessarily true of other art forms. The book is organized into three sections: a concise history of the evolution of the comic book form in America an overview of the distribution and consumption of American comic books, detailing specific controversies such as the creation of the Comics Code in the mid-1950s and the problematic legitimization of the form that has occurred recently within the academy and in popular discourse. A thorough introduction by translators and comics scholars Bart Beaty and Nick Nguyen brings the book up to date with explorations of the latest innovations, particularly the graphic novel.

The book intertwines aesthetic issues and critical biographies with the concerns of production, distribution, and audience reception, making it one of the few interdisciplinary studies of the art form.

Of Comics and Men by Jean-Paul Gabilliet Originally published in France and long sought in English translation, Jean-Paul Gabilliet's Of Comics and Men: A Cultural History of American Comic Books documents the rise and development of the American comic book industry from the 1930s to the present.

Mamo graphic novel