02/19/2018 Chute (Disaster Drawn) serves up an accessible introduction to the major themes and literary achievements of comics. Arranged topically—disaster, sex, queerness, etc.—the survey offers in-depth analysis of famous works including Fun Home, Jimmy Corrigan, Maus, and Persepolis, and also some lesser-known but key works such as Lynda Barry’s One! Hundred! Demons! Chute’s enthusiastic account is accompanied by analysis of the storytelling language of comics (aided by full-color reproduction of the pages in question) and a smattering of biographical analysis. Troubled relations with fathers is a recurring theme, found in the lives of Jerry Siegel, Art Spiegelman, and Chris Ware, among others. Literary comics capture the lion’s share of attention, while superheroes get almost no play—Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns are dispensed with briefly and never returned to, an approach readers will view as either negligent or refreshing. Chute also propagates the narrative of the graphic novel tradition as largely based on white male neuroses, with R. Crumb at the epicenter. Anyone seeking a persuasive and perceptive entryway to the world of comics need look no further. Agent: Zoe Pagnamenta, Zoe Pagnamenta Agency. (Dec.)
As charmingly illustrated and approachable as the works it considers.
Why Comics? is a must-read, filling in a significant portion of the vast jigsaw puzzle of understanding comics.
Hillary Chute is the scholar comics has been waiting for—passionate, eloquent, encyclopedically knowledgeable, and profoundly in sync with the medium.
Now that Art Spiegelman’s Maus and Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home have found both commercial and critical success, at last there is a brilliant investigation into the unique powers of the medium.”
[Chute’s] writing is not just effortlessly accessible, it’s also invitingly engaging to anyone curious about the medium, from casual fan to seasoned pro.
When it comes to comics, Hillary Chute asks all the right questions.
Why Comics? is a must-read, filling in a significant portion of the vast jigsaw puzzle of understanding comics.
[Chute] has been leading the charge with some of the most sophisticated comics criticism to date… From Chute’s spectacular close readings it becomes clear that comics is, unquestionably, literature.
The Times Literary Supplement
Hillary Chute, who may be to comics studies what Art Spiegelman is to comics, brings her academic rigor to an examination of this oft-underappreciated art form. Her supple, nuanced understanding of how to read comics—not only why—begins with an emphasis on the difference between simply reading comics and knowing how to read comics, and continues with a deep dive into genres and themes.
Why Comics? is a riveting compendium of history, humor, politics, punk, sex, violence, and the occasional superhero. Hillary Chute has given us the stories behind some of the most subversive literature of our time. You want to read this book.
Why Comics? is as entertaining as it is revelatory, and Hillary Chute is one of the most engaging thinkers afoot in criticism today. Ideas tumble from these pages.
★ 2017-09-17 A comprehensive, critically incisive survey of comics in contemporary culture.Rather than a professor who happened to latch on to comics as a promising field for research, Chute (English, Art and Design; Northeastern Univ.; Disaster Drawn: Visual Witness, Comics, and Documentary Form, 2016, etc.) clearly has a deep understanding of, experience with, and affinity for comics culture. Best of all, though she analyzes with an academic's rigor and supports her themes with extensive research, she doesn't write like a professor. Tackling a tricky subject like Robert Crumb's objectification and caricature of black female sexuality, she writes, "Crumb isn't mocking black women, but rather he's mocking a public discourse that either implicitly or explicitly mocks black women. And yet Crumb always makes tricky or unclear the line between the act of satirizing something and embodying it." Rather than argue about the cultural legitimacy that comics have achieved, Chute simply treats this as a matter of fact—a fact with which she, as a fan, is very pleased. The result is a study, rife with full-page panels illustrating points she makes in the text, that will enrich the understanding of readers who know and care a lot about comics, from punk zines to graphic novels, as well as initiates who seek an understanding of how this cultural shift came about and what it means to academics who wish to research this fertile field. The cartoonists have even infiltrated the academy, as the author writes in her appreciation of Lynda Barry: "It is telling that Barry is currently a tenured professor, at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, of what is called Interdisciplinary Creativity (the best job title perhaps ever!)" Chute also goes deep into the lives and work of Art Spiegelman (with whom she worked on MetaMaus), Alison Bechdel (whose Fun Home made the leap from graphic novel to Broadway), Matt Groening, Chris Ware, Charles Burns, and so many others.For anyone who wants a crash course in contemporary comics, or wants to teach one, this is your book.
[Chute] has been leading the charge with some of the most sophisticated comics criticism to date… From Chute’s spectacular close readings it becomes clear that comics is, unquestionably, literature.” — Times Literary Supplement
“Now that Art Spiegelman’s Maus and Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home have found both commercial and critical success, at last there is a brilliant investigation into the unique powers of the medium.” — National Book Review
“As accessible as it is engaging, Why Comics? reaffirms Chute’s place as a leading voice in comics criticism while providing casual readers with valuable insights into the contemporary world of graphic storytelling.” — Los Angeles Review of Books
“Why Comics? is a must-read, filling in a significant portion of the vast jigsaw puzzle of understanding comics.” — Comics Journal
“Why Comics? is a riveting compendium of history, humor, politics, punk, sex, violence, and the occasional superhero. Hillary Chute has given us the stories behind some of the most subversive literature of our time. You want to read this book.” — Lauren Redniss, MacArthur Fellow and Author of Radioactive and Thunder & Lightning
“Hillary Chute is the scholar comics has been waiting for—passionate, eloquent, encyclopedically knowledgeable, and profoundly in sync with the medium.” — Lev Grossman, New York Times bestselling author of The Magicians
“In her wonderful book, Hillary L. Chute suggests that we’re in a blooming, expanding era of the art… Chute’s often lovely, sensitive discussions of individual expression in independent comics seem so right and true.” — New York Times Book Review
“Anyone seeking a persuasive and perceptive entryway to the world of comics need look no further.” — Publishers Weekly
“Chute elevates comics to literature when dissecting panels, text, and drawing techniques in the more than 100 reprints within the book.” — Library Journal (starred review)
“As charmingly illustrated and approachable as the works it considers.” — Chicago Tribune
“[Chute’s] writing is not just effortlessly accessible, it’s also invitingly engaging to anyone curious about the medium, from casual fan to seasoned pro.” — PRINT
“9.5 out of 10” — Comic Book Bin
“Chute writes from an unassailable position of expertise. . . . [and] she has a gift for peppering poetic language into information-dense prose, striking a tone that’s at once breezy and authoritative.” — PopMatters
“When it comes to comics, Hillary Chute asks all the right questions.” — Scott McCloud, Author of Understanding Comics and The Sculptor
“Why Comics? is as entertaining as it is revelatory, and Hillary Chute is one of the most engaging thinkers afoot in criticism today. Ideas tumble from these pages.” — Michael Tisserand, author of Krazy: George Herriman, A Life in Black and White
“Hillary Chute, who may be to comics studies what Art Spiegelman is to comics, brings her academic rigor to an examination of this oft-underappreciated art form. Her supple, nuanced understanding of how to read comics—not only why—begins with an emphasis on the difference between simply reading comics and knowing how to read comics, and continues with a deep dive into genres and themes.” — Karen Green, Curator for Comics and Cartoons, Columbia University
In her wonderful book, Hillary L. Chute suggests that we’re in a blooming, expanding era of the art… Chute’s often lovely, sensitive discussions of individual expression in independent comics seem so right and true.
New York Times Book Review
[Chute] has been leading the charge with some of the most sophisticated comics criticism to date… From Chute’s spectacular close readings it becomes clear that comics is, unquestionably, literature.”
Times Literary Supplement
As accessible as it is engaging, Why Comics? reaffirms Chute’s place as a leading voice in comics criticism while providing casual readers with valuable insights into the contemporary world of graphic storytelling.
Los Angeles Review of Books
As charmingly illustrated and approachable as the works it considers.
9.5 out of 10
Chute writes from an unassailable position of expertise. . . . [and] she has a gift for peppering poetic language into information-dense prose, striking a tone that’s at once breezy and authoritative.