Comics as History, Comics as Literature

Roles of the Comic Book in Scholarship, Society, and Entertainment

Contributions by Henri-Simon Blanc-Hoàng, Guillaume de Syon, Christina Dokou, Lynda Goldstein, Melanie Huska, Kara M. Kvaran, Peter W. Lee, James C. Lethbridge, Annick Pellegrin, Micah Rueber, Faiz Sheikh, Beatrice Skordili Edited by Annessa Ann Babic

Publication date:

11 December 2013

Length of book:

272 pages

Publisher

Fairleigh Dickinson University Press

Dimensions:

235x160mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781611475562

This anthology hosts a collection of essays examining the role of comics as portals for historical and academic content, while keeping the approach on an international market versus the American one. Few resources currently exist showing the cross-disciplinary aspects of comics. Some of the chapters examine the use of Wonder Woman during World War II, the development and culture of French comics, and theories of Locke and Hobbs in regards to the state of nature and the bonds of community. More so, the continual use of comics for the retelling of classic tales and current events demonstrates that the genre has long passed the phase of for children’s eyes only. Additionally, this anthology also weaves graphic novels into the dialogue with comics.

Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
France, The Second Comics Market

Antiquity and Bandes Dessinées: Schizophrenic Nationalism Between Atlanticism and Marxism

Henri-Simon Blanc-Hoàng

Did You Learn Your Strip?: The History of France as Comic Fad in the 1970s

Guillaume de Syon

“Ils sont fous ces Gaulois!”: Astérix, Lucky Luke, Freedom Fries, and the Love-Hate Relationship Between France and the United States

Annick Pellegrin

Nation and Revolution

Image and Text in Service of the Nation: Historically-themed Comic Books as Civic Education in 1980s Mexico

Melanie Huska

Images of US Wars

Who is Diana Prince?: The Amazon Army Nurse of World War II

Peter Lee

Wonder Woman as Patriotic Icon: The Amazon Princess for the Nation and Femininity

Annessa Ann Babic

Comic Containment: No Laughing Matter

James C. Lethbridge

Graphic/Narrative/History: Defining the Essential Experience(s) of 9/11

Lynda Goldstein

Morals, Ethics, and Race

Super Gay!: Depictions of Homosexuality in Mainstream Superhero Comics

Kara M. Kvaran

The Man in the Gray Metal Suit: Dr. Doom, the Fantastic Four, and the Costs of Conformity

Micah Rueber

Seen City: Frank Miller’s Re-Imaging as a Cinematic “New Real”

Christina Dokou

Dark Logic

The Zombie Apocalypse: A Fictional State of Nature?

Faiz Sheikh

Logicomix and the Enunciatory Apparatus

Beatrice Skordili

Works Cited
Index
About the Contributors

This collection is welcome because it features essays by researchers new to the field, some with novel ideas. The volume provides a sampling of genres, personalities, stories, and issues in the lifeline of comics--bande dessinée, Mexican educational comics, film adaptations, Wonder Woman, Astérix, Lucky Luke, Dr. Doom, the Fantastic Four, Sin City--and also considers comics relative to nationalism, femininity, masculinity, homosexuality, censorship, containment, conformism, and patriotism. Interesting essays on Mexico and France discuss comic books officially sanctioned for educational purposes, pointing to what they left out, downplayed, or emphasized to serve government interests. An essay on Wonder Woman during WW II shows the duplicitous, confusing roles the superwoman played while representing women generally; another on the containment of comics in the 1950s examines the contributing factors of fear and insecurity, which ultimately led to censorship. The book includes some well-thought-out, decipherable theory--best presented in Lynda Goldstein's excellent chapter on issues and challenges of historical discourse concerning an event, here 9/11. . . .Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.