Reading Comics: Language, Culture, and the Concept of the Superhero in Comic Books

by Mila Bongco

Overview

This study explores how the definition of the medium, as well as its language, readership, genre conventions, and marketing and distribution strategies, have kept comic books within the realm of popular culture. Since comics have been studied mostly in relation to mass media and its influence on society, there is a void in the analysis of the critical issues related to comics as a distinct genre and art form. By focusing on comics as narratives and investigating their formal and structural aspects, as well as the unique reading process they demand, this study presents a unique contribution to the current literature on comics, and helps clarify concepts and definitions useful in studying the medium. (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Alberta, 1995; revised with new preface, bibliography, and index)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780815333449
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	05/17/2000
Series:	Studies in American Popular History and Culture
Pages:	252
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments; Introduction; Chapter 1: Comics and Cultural Studies: Sites for Struggle; Chapter 2: Responses to Comicbooks and the Concept of the Popular; Chapter 3: On the Language of Comics and the Reading Process; Chapter 4: Superhero Comicbooks; Chapter 5: Factors that Changed Superhero Comicbooks; Chapter 6: Frank Miller's The Dark Knights Returns (1986); Chapter 7: A Glimpse at the Comics Scene after 1986; Index