Non-fiction works

Mila Bongco, Reading Comics: Language, Culture, and the Concept of the Superhero in Comic Books (New York: Garland Press, 2000). [From Garland: 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.]

Will Brooker, Batman Unmasked: Analysing a Cultural Icon (New York: Continuum, 2000). [From Continuum: Over the sixty years of his existence, Batman has encountered an impressive array of cultural icons and has gradually become one himself. This fascinating book examines what Batman means and has meant to the various audiences, groups and communities who have tried to control and interpret him over the decades. Brooker reveals the struggles over Batman's meaning by shining a light on the cultural issues of the day that impacted on the development of the character. They include: patriotic propaganda of the Second World War; the accusation that Batman was corrupting the youth of America by appearing to promote a homosexual lifestyle to the fans of his comics; Batman becoming a camp, pop culture icon through the ABC TV series of the sixties; fans' interpretation of Batman in response to the comics and the Warner Bros. franchise of films.]

Jeffrey A. Brown, Black Superheroes, Milestone Comics, and Their Fans (Jackson, MI: University Press of Mississippi, 2001). [From UPM: What do the comic book figures Static, Hardware, and Icon all have in common? Black Superheroes, Milestone Comics, and Their Fans gives an answer that goes far beyond "tights and capes," an answer that lies within the mission Milestone Media, Inc., assumed in comic book culture. Milestone was the brainchild of four young black creators who wanted to part from the mainstream and do their stories their own way. This history of Milestone, a "creator-owned" publishing company, tells how success came to these mavericks in the 1990s and how comics culture was expanded and enriched as fans were captivated by this new genre. Milestone focused on the African American heroes in a town called Dakota. Quite soon these black action comics took a firm position in the controversies of race, gender, and corporate identity in contemporary America. Characters battled supervillains and sometimes even clashed with more widely known superheroes. Front covers of Milestone comics often bore confrontational slogans like "Hardware: A Cog in the Corporate Machine is About to Strip Some Gears." Milestone's creators aimed for exceptional stories that addressed racial issues without alienating readers. Some competitors, however, accused their comics of not being black enough or of merely marketing Superman in black face. Some felt that the stories were too black, but a large cluster of readers applauded these new superheroes for fostering African American pride and identity. Milestone came to represent an alternative model of black heroism and, for a host of admirers, the ideal of masculinity. Black Superheroes gives details about the founding of Milestone and reports on the secure niche its work and its image achieved in the marketplace. Tracing the company's history and discussing its creators, their works, and the fans, this book gauges Milestone alongside other black comic book publishers, mainstream publishers, and the history of costumed characters.]

Scott Bukatman, Matters of Gravity: Special Effects and Supermen in the 20th Century (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2003). [From Duke University Press: The headlong rush, the rapid montage, the soaring superhero, the plunging roller coaster—Matters of Gravity focuses on the experience of technological spectacle in American popular culture over the past century. In these essays, leading media and cultural theorist Scott Bukatman reveals how popular culture tames the threats posed by technology and urban modernity by immersing people in delirious kinetic environments like those traversed by Plastic Man, Superman, and the careening astronauts of 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Right Stuff. He argues that as advanced technologies have proliferated, popular culture has turned the attendant fear of instability into the thrill of topsy-turvydom, often by presenting images and experiences of weightless escape from controlled space. Considering theme parks, cyberspace, cinematic special effects, superhero comics, and musical films, Matters of Gravity highlights phenomena that make technology spectacular, permit unfettered flights of fantasy, and free us momentarily from the weight of gravity and history, of past and present. Bukatman delves into the dynamic ways pop culture imagines that apotheosis of modernity: the urban metropolis. He points to two genres, musical films and superhero comics, that turn the city into a unique site of transformative power. Leaping in single bounds from lively descriptions to sharp theoretical insights, Matters of Gravity is a deft, exhilarating celebration of the liberatory effects of popular culture.]

David Carrier, The Aesthetics of Comics (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000). [From Penn State Press: From Gary Larson's The Far Side to George Herriman's Krazy Kat, comic strips have two obvious defining features. They are visual narratives, using both words and pictures to tell stories, and they use word balloons to represent the speech and thought of depicted characters. Art historians have studied visual artifacts from every culture; cultural historians have recently paid close attention to movies. Yet the comic strip, an art form known to everyone, has not yet been much studied by aestheticians or art historians. This is the first full-length philosophical account of the comic strip. Distinguished philosopher David Carrier looks at popular American and Japanese comic strips to identify and solve the aesthetic problems posed by comic strips and to explain the relationship of this artistic genre to other forms of visual art. He traces the use of speech and thought balloons to early Renaissance art and claims that the speech balloon defines comics as neither a purely visual nor a strictly verbal art form, but as something radically new. Comics, he claims, are essentially a composite art that, when successful, seamlessly combine verbal and visual elements. Carrier looks at the way an audience interprets comics and contrasts the interpretation of comics and other mass-culture images to that of Old Master visual art. The meaning behind the comic can be immediately grasped by the average reader, whereas a piece of museum art can only be fully interpreted by scholars familiar with the history and the background behind the painting. Finally, Carrier relates comics to art history. Ultimately, Carrier's analysis of comics shows why this popular art is worthy of philosophical study and proves that a better understanding of comics will help us better understand the history of art.]

Suzan Colón, Catwoman: The Life and Times of a Feline Fatale (San Francisco: Chronicle Books). [From Amazon.com: Learn how to crack a whip with feline ferocity! Uncover the secrets of the all-leather wardrobe! Study the sizzling one-liners that keep Batman aching for more! Chock-full of insightful feline fatale tips, this illustrated tell-all delivers the searing details of Catwoman’s kitschy career. Sleek and sexy, the greatest cat burglar of all time sank her claws into the Caped Crusader back in 1940 and hasn’t let go since. Part homage, part how-to, this handsome treatise divulges Catwoman’s stellar techniques at everything from scaling walls to tickling a gentleman’s fancy without mercy. With a brief history of her many incarnations over the years, loads of terrific vintage illustrations, sections on fashion and romance, and personal tips on getting ahead, this spunky vinyl-covered volume (oooh! purple PVC!) will attract both new fans of the slinky girl kitty and time-tested aficionados. It’s the purr-fect ode to The Feline Felon, The Mistress of Malevolence, The Princess of Plunder . . . a.k.a. Catwoman. ]

Peter Coogan, Superhero: The Secret Origin of a Genre (Austin, TX: Monkey Brain Books, 2006). [From Amazon.com: An entertaining and exhaustive history, tracing the superhero's roots in mythology, science fiction, and pulps, which follows the genre's development to its current renaissance in film, literature, and graphic novels.]

Peter David, But I Digress (Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 1994). [From Krause: "'But I Digress' has for three years been comic fandom's most popular, most irreverent and—to some—most irritationg weekly column. Collected here for the first time are the best and most outrageous entries, which have amused and infuriated everyone from John Byrne to entire comic-book companies. If you have a shred of decency, buy this volume. And you—like John Byrne—will have the last laugh."]

Warren Ellis, Bad Signal (Urbana, IL: Avatar Press, 2003). [From Avatar Press: Collected for the first time, this graphic novel features the Bad Signal columns profusely illustrated with dozens of stunning new illustrations by celebrated artist Jacen Burrows. Warren Ellis' e-mail column shows that he is a modern master of the short form essay as his biting wit makes even the most esoteric of topics must reads. Ellis describes the work as "Bad Signal is me on the move, emptying my head of thoughts and shoving them into a handheld computer with a wireless modem plugged into it, so that I can instantly bug four thousand people with useless email from public toilets all over the world."]

Warren Ellis, Bad Signal 2 (Urbana, IL: Avatar Press, 2003). [From Avatar Press: Continuing the series, this graphic novel features the latest Bad Signal columns profusely illustrated with dozens of stunning new illustrations by celebrated artist Jacen Burrows. Warren Ellis's e-mail column shows that he is a modern master of the short form essay as his biting wit makes even the most esoteric of topics must reads. Ellis describes the work as "Bad Signal is me on the move, emptying my head of thoughts and shoving them into a handheld computer with a wireless modem plugged into it, so that I can instantly bug four thousand people with useless email from public toilets all over the world."]

Warren Ellis, Come In Alone (AiT/Planet Lar, 2001). [From AiT/Planet Lar: "They want me to entertain you bastards," Warren Ellis began his series of columns for the comic book Internet destination website Comic Book Resources. Part social commentary, part sitting at-the-feet-of-Socrates, part kick in the ass, COME IN ALONE was the column that would zig when you thought it would zag. This collection of all fifty-two columns includes Ellis' unique take on the comic book industry, features first-class interviews with top-flight comic book professionals, and even includes the legendary Old Bastard's Manifesto. Wrap this all up in an evocative and spooky cover by Brian Wood, and you've got a collection of commentary that midwifed the birth of the comic book industry into the 21st century.]

Warren Ellis, From the Desk of Warren Ellis: Words About Words and Pictures, Volume 1 (1995-1998) (Urbana, IL: Avatar Press, 2000). [From Avatar: Peer into the twisted brain of the madman by seeing what arrived From the Desk of Warren Ellis! A collection of essays, columns, journals, lectures, travelogues and fragments written for an Internet audience by Warren Ellis, the creator and author of Transmetropolitan, Planetary, and Strange Kiss. From the Desk of Warren Ellis Vol 1 contains writing from 1995 to 1998 on a variety of subjects, including the eating of sheep faces, Sin City, the ugliness of comics, the parallel world where Stan Lee dies in a horrific plumbing accident, how to write for comics, and why Michael Moorcock scares the hell out of him. From the Desk of Warren Ellis: cheaper than buying a computer.]

Warren Ellis, From the Desk of Warren Ellis: Words About Words and Pictures, Volume 2 (1998-1999) (Urbana, IL: Avatar Press, 2000). [From Avatar: More rants from the mad genius! Peer into the twisted brain of the madman by seeing what arrived From the Desk of Warren Ellis. A collection of essays, columns, journals, lectures, travelogues and fragments written for an Internet audience by Warren Ellis, the creator and author of Dark Blue and Strange Kiss. From the Desk of Warren Ellis Vol 2 contains writing from 1998 to 1999 on a variety of subjects, including his leaving Hellblazer and how he will save the industry all by himself. This expansive tome also features over twenty new illustrations by Jacen Burrows! From the Desk of Warren Ellis: better written than your diary.]

Greg Garrett, Holy Superheroes: Exploring Faith And Spirituality In Comic Books (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2005). [From NavPress: Marvel at the deeper meaning of comic books. Since the beginning of time, humans have created stories to help them better understand the world around them. Thousands of years ago it was Zeus and Hercules. Now it's Superman, Batman, X-Men, and the Fantastic Four. Discover how comic books—and the Hollywood adaptations they inspire—influence our understanding of: -Good versus Evil -Personal Sacrifice -Duty and Faith. Comic books have become a twenty-first-century mythology. Pulitzer Prize-nominated author Greg Garrett explores this mythology and extracts profound truths belied by glossy art, superhuman characters, and fast-paced action. Find out the surprising spiritual depth of comic books.]

Deborah R. Geis, ed., Considering Maus: Approaches to Art Spiegelman's "Survivor's Tale" of the Holocaust (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2003). [From UAP: In 1992, Art Spiegelman's two-volume illustrated work Maus: A Survivor's Tale was awarded a special-category Pulitzer Prize. In a comic book form, Spiegelman tells the gripping, heart-rending story of his father's experiences in the Holocaust. The book renders in stark clarity the trials Spiegelman's father endured as a Jewish refugee in the ghettos and concentration camps of Poland during World War II, his American life following his immigration to New York, and the author's own troubled sense of self as he grapples with his father's history. Mixing autobiography, biography, and oral history in the comic form, Maus has been hailed as a daring work of postmodern narration and as a vivid example of the power of the graphic narrative. Now, for the first time in one collection, prominent scholars in a variety of fields take on Spiegelman's text and offer it the critical and artistic scrutiny it deserves. They explore many aspects of the work, including Spiegelman's use of animal characters, the influence of other 'comix' artists, the role of the mother and its relation to gender issues, the use of repeating images such as smoke and blood, Maus's position among Holocaust testimonials, its appropriation of cinematic technique, its use of language and styles of dialect, and the implications of the work's critical and commercial success. Informed readers in many areas of study, from popular culture and graphic arts to psychoanalysis and oral history, will value this first substantial collection of criticism on a revered work of literature.]

Paul Gravet, Graphic Novels: Everything You Need to Know (New York: Harper Collins, 2005). [From Harper Collins: The modern renaissance of comics has produced a library of substantial works, whose subjects are as varied and sophisticated as the best films and literature. Here is an accessible, entertaining, extensively illustrated guide to the diversity of contemporary graphic novels. With striking graphics and explanatory extracts from a wide range of work, the book examines the specific language of the comics medium; the history and pioneers of the form; recent masterpieces from Art Spiegelman's Maus to Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan; the impact of Japanese manga and European albums translated into English; how artists have overcome prejudices towards the genre; and the ambitious range of themes and issues artists are addressing.]

Charles Hatfield, Alternative Comics: An Emerging Literature (Jackson, MI: University Press of Mississippi, 2005). [From UPM: In the 1980s, a sea change occurred in comics. Fueled by Art Spiegel- man and Françoise Mouly's avant-garde anthology Raw and the launch of the Love & Rockets series by Gilbert, Jaime, and Mario Hernandez, the decade saw a deluge of comics that were more autobiographical, emotionally realistic, and experimental than anything seen before. These alternative comics were not the scatological satires of the 1960s underground, nor were they brightly colored newspaper strips or superhero comic books. In Alternative Comics: An Emerging Literature, Charles Hatfield establishes the parameters of alternative comics by closely examining long-form comics, in particular the graphic novel. He argues that these are fundamentally a literary form and offers an extensive critical study of them both as a literary genre and as a cultural phenomenon. Combining sharp-eyed readings and illustrations from particular texts with a larger understanding of the comics as an art form, this book discusses the development of specific genres, such as autobiography and history. Alternative Comics analyzes such seminal works as Spiegelman's Maus, Gilbert Hernandez's Palomar: The Heartbreak Soup Stories, and Justin Green's Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary. Hatfield explores how issues outside of cartooning-the marketplace, production demands, work schedules-can affect the final work. Using Hernandez's Palomar as an example, he shows how serialization may determine the way a cartoonist structures a narrative. In a close look at Maus, Binky Brown, and Harvey Pekar's American Splendor, Hatfield teases out the complications of creating biography and autobiography in a substantially visual medium, and shows how creators approach these issues in radically different ways.]

Sean Howe, ed., Give our Regards to the Atomsmashers! Writers on Comics (New York: Pantheon, 2004). [From Pantheon: In Give Our Regards to the Atom-smashers!, some of our most intriguing and creative contemporary writers weigh in on the world of comics: the ones they love versus the ones they hate, the comics they devoured as kids and still can't live without, and the comics that have influenced them in their work and their lives. Here is Jonathan Lethem on childhood friendships, comic books, and the genius of artist Jack Kirby . . . Brad Meltzer on spending a summer vacation with the New Teen Titans. . . Glen David Gold on the obsessive nature of collecting . . . Myla Goldberg writing about the disturbed visions of Chris Ware and Renée French . . . Steve Erickson riffing on the perverse patriotism of American Flagg. Here, too, are Luc Sante on Tintin, Aimee Bender on Yummy Fur, Greil Marcus on Uncle Sam, Lydia Millet on Little Nemo in Slumberland, and many others. Give Our Regards to the Atomsmashers! is a quirky, thrilling, and compulsively readable celebration of the unique alchemy of words and drawings that forms the language of comic books. It is a book that will delight the seasoned comics reader and invite everyone else into a whole new world.]

Robert Jewett and John Shelton Lawrence, Captain America and the Crusade against Evil: The Dilemma of Zealous Nationalism (Grand Rapids MI: Eerdmans, 2003). [From Eerdmans: "As immediate and relevant as today’s headlines, this book sets forth a bold argument with direct implications for political life in America and around the world. Combining incisive cultural analysis and keen religious insight, Robert Jewett and John Shelton Lawrence maintain that American crusading — so powerfully embodied in popular entertainments — has striking parallels with Islamic jihad and Israeli militancy. According to Jewett and Lawrence, American civil religion has both a humane, constitutional tradition and a violent strand that is now coming to the fore. The crusade to rid the world of evil and “evildoers” derives from the same biblical tradition of zealous warfare and nationalism that spawns Islamic and Israeli radicalism. In America, where this tradition has been popularized by superheroic entertainments, the idea of zealous war is infused with a distinctive sense of mission that draws on secular and religious images. These crusading ideals are visible in such events as the settling of the western frontier, the World Wars, the Cold War, the Gulf War, and America’s present war on terrorism. In exploring the tradition of zealous nationalism, which seeks to redeem the world by destroying enemies, the authors provide a fascinating access to the inner workings of the American psyche. They analyze the phenomenon of zeal — the term itself is the biblical and cultural counterpart of the Islamic concept of jihad — and address such consequential topics as the conspiracy theory of evil, the problem of stereotyping enemies, the mystique of violence, the obsession with victory, and the worship of national symbols such as flags. This critical book, however, is also immensely constructive. As Jewett and Lawrence point out, the same biblical tradition that allows for crusading mentalities also contains a critique of zealous warfare and a profound vision of impartial justice. This tradition of prophetic realism derives from the humane side of the biblical heritage, and the authors trace its manifestations within the American experience, including its supreme embodiment in Abraham Lincoln. Isaiah’s “swords into plowshares” image is carved on the walls of the United Nations building, thus standing at the center of a globally focused civil religion. Grasping this vision honored by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam alike includes recognizing the dangers of zealous violence, the illusions of current crusading, and the promise of peaceful coexistence under international law. Instructive, relevant, and urgent, Captain America and the Crusade against Evil is sure to provoke much soul-searching and wide debate.]

Robert Jewett and John Shelton Lawrence, The Myth of the American Superhero (Grand Rapids MI: Eerdmans, 2002). [From Eerdmans: "From the Superman of comic books to Hollywood's big-screen action stars, Americans have long enjoyed a love affair with the “superhero.” In this engaging volume John Shelton Lawrence and Robert Jewett explore the historical and spiritual roots of the superhero myth and its deleterious effect on America’s democratic vision. Arguing that the superhero is the antidemocratic counterpart of the classical “monomyth” described by Joseph Campbell, the authors show that the American version of the monomyth derives from tales of redemption. In settings where institutions and elected leaders always fail, the American monomyth offers heroes who combine elements of the selfless servant with the lone, zealous crusader who destroys evil. Taking the law into their own hands, these unelected figures assume total power to rid the community of its enemies, thus comprising a distinctively American form of pop fascism. Drawing widely from books, films, TV programs, video games, and places of superhero worship on the World Wide Web, the authors trace the development of the American superhero during the twentieth century and expose the mythic patterns behind the most successful elements of pop culture. Lawrence and Jewett challenge readers to reconsider the relationship of this myth to traditional religious and social values, and they show how, ultimately, these antidemocratic narratives gain the spiritual loyalties of their audiences, in the process inviting them to join in crusades against evil. Finally, the authors pose this provocative question: Can we take a holiday from democracy in our lives of fantasy and entertainment while preserving our commitment to democratic institutions and ways of life?]

Gerard Jones, Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book (New York: Basic Books, 2004). [From Basic Books: By the author of The Comic Book Heroes, Killing Monsters, and scores of successful comic books and screenplays, Men of Tomorrow is the first book to tell the surprising story of the young Jewish misfits, hustlers and nerds who invented the superhero and the comic book industry. Among the characters in this vibrant panorama: · Jerry Seigel and Joe Shuster, the goofy myopic creators of Superman, who sold the rights to the Man of Tomorrow for $130 to… · Harry Donenfield, former pornographer and con-man, and his partner, Jack Liebowitz, founder of DC Comics, who went on to help build Steve Ross's legendary Warner Communications · Batman's Bob Kane, who rose to fame and fortune in a career based entirely on lies and self-promotion · Mort Weisinger, the ruthless editor of Superman, who suffered a nervous breakdown when he tried to be a superhero himself · Plus Stan Lee, founder of a new kind of hero, including Spiderman, at Marvel Comics; Will Eisner, whose creation "The Spirit" has become a cult classic, and many, many more. Springing unheralded out of working-class Jewish immigrant neighborhoods in the depths of the Depression, these young men transformed an odd mix of geekdom, science fiction, and outsider yearnings into blue-eyed chisel-nosed crime-fighters and adventurers who quickly captured the mainstream imagination. Within a few years their inventions were being read by 90% of American children and had spawned a new genre in movies, radio and TV that still dominates youth entertainment seventy years later. Drawing on exhaustive research, including interviews with friends and relatives of the creators, Jones reveals how the immigrant experience and the collision of Yiddish and American culture-forged in the crucible of two world wars-shaped the vision of the make-believe hero. He chronicles how the comics sparked a frightened counterattack that nearly destroyed the industry in the 1950's and how later they surged back at an underground level, to inspire a new generation to transmute those long-ago fantasies into art, literature, blockbuster movies and graphic novels. Animated by the stories of some of the last century's most charismatic and conniving artists, writers and businessmen, Men of Tomorrow brilliantly demonstrates how the creators of the superheroes gained their cultural power and established a crucial place in the modern imagination.]

Arie Kaplan, Masters of the Comic Book Universe Revealed (Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2006). [From Continuum: Superhero comic books are traditionally thought to have two distinct periods, two major waves of creativity: the Golden Age and the Silver Age. In simple terms, the Golden Age was the birth of the superhero proper out of the pulp novel characters of the early 1930s, and was primarily associated with the DC Comics Group. Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman are the most famous creations of this period. In the early 1960s, Marvel Comics launched a completely new line of heroes, the primary figures of the Silver Age: the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, the X-Men, the Avengers, Iron Man, and Daredevil. In this book, Geoff Klock presents a study of the Third Movement of superhero comic books. He avoids, at all costs, the temptation to refer to this movement as "Postmodern," "Deconstructionist," or something equally tedious. Analyzing the works of Frank Miller, Alan Moore, Warren Ellis, and Grant Morrison among others, and taking his cue from Harold Bloom, Klock unearths the birth of self-consciousness in the superhero narrative and guides us through an intricate world of traditions, influences, nostalgia and innovations - a world where comic books do indeed become literature.]

Jeffrey Klaehn, ed., Inside the World of Comic Books (Montreal: Black Rose Books, 2007). [From Amazon.com: With the popularity of comic book properties at an all-time high, the time is right for a collection of essays and original interviews devoted to all things comic book. As well as essays on contemporary issues and trends associated with comic books and comic book culture, this diverse collection also features original interviews with top comic industry professionals. From visionary writers and artists, to award-winning editors and publishers, interviewees include: Joe Quesada, artist, writer, and Marvel Comics editor-in-chief; Victor Lucas, creator, producer, and co-host of the award-winning Electric Playground; Steve Englehart, acclaimed writer for Marvel Comics and DC Comics; John Romita Sr, legendary Amazing Spiderman artist and Marvel Comics art director; Steve Niles, writer of 30 Days of Night, Dark Days, and Wake the Dead; Eric Searleman, Viz Media editor; Chris Warner, Dark Horse Comics senior editor; Scott Allie, writer and Dark Horse Comics Conan editor; Norm Breyfogle, acclaimed Batman artist. Addressing the role comic books play in reflecting the mood of popular culture, essay topics include: comic book fan communities; comics in relation to cinema and video games; the issue of censorship, in particular, of horror comics; comic book content and social attitudes of the 1950s and 1960s; detective comics of the 1970s; and women collectors and the image of women in comic books, in general.]

Geoff Klock, How to Read Superhero Comics and Why (New York: Continuum, 2002). [From Booklist: Kaplan's set of interview-based profiles of 11 creators aims to be an informal history of the comic-book industry, but the medium is now far too diverse to be effectively covered by highlighting so few figures. Kaplan's subjects range from 1940s pioneer Will Eisner to Iranian-French autobiographical graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi. Many are key figures in their niches, indisputably worthy of the coverage: Marvel Comics impresario Stan Lee, who spearheaded the 1960s superhero revival; Art Spiegelman, whose Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus (1986) helped legitimize the comics medium; Neil Gaiman, whose Sandman is outstanding among recent mainstream comics. Others are questionable. Why represent underground comics with a marginal figure like Trina Robbins rather than R. Crumb or another member of the Zap Comix gang? Dwayne McDuffie's claim to fame seems to be founding a failed line of 1990s African American superheroes. Ah, well, significant if not monumental creators such as early Batman artist Jerry Robinson, Love and Rockets' Gilbert Hernandez, and iconoclastic cartoonist Kyle Baker offer insightful observations on comics as industry and art.]

George Koury, Image Comics: The Road to Independence (Raleigh, NC: TwoMorrows, 2007). [From TwoMorrows: In 1992, seven artists shook the comic book industry when they left their top-selling Marvel Comic titles to jointly form a new company named Image Comics. With no certainty of success, they formed a home that would allow themselves and other artists the opportunity to tell stories without any censorship or editorial restraints. Even more importantly, Image would finally give creators full ownership of their properties. Out of the gate, millions of readers flocked to the energetic adventures by these creators, as together they ushered in the Image Age, where comics would sell in the millions, and a comic book artist could become a mass media celebrity. Image Comics: The Road to Independence is an unprecedented look at the history of this important comic book company, featuring interviews and art from popular Image founders Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, Whilce Portacio, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino. Also featured are many of finest creators who over the last fifteen years have been a part of the Image family, offering behind-the-scenes details of the company’s successes and failures. There’s plenty of rare and unseen art, helping make this the most honest exploration ever taken of the controversial company whose success, influence and high production values changed the landscape of comics forever.]

George Koury, Kimota! The Miracleman Companion (Raleigh, NC: TwoMorrows, 2001). [From TwoMorrows: Alan Moore’s Miracleman predated Watchmen and Dark Knight as the first of the grim, ultra-realistic strips that changed super-hero comics forever. But whatever happened to Miracleman? For the first time, this trade paperback tells all the behind-the-scenes secrets, from the character’s start as the British strip Marvelman, to the legal and creative hurdles during its 24-issue run at Eclipse Comics, and why you never saw the final Neil Gaiman-scripted issue! Sporting a Mark Buckingham cover and an introduction and back cover by Alex Ross, this book features in-depth interviews with Alan Moore, John Totleben, Neil Gaiman, Mark Buckingham, Barry Windsor-Smith, Beau Smith, Cat Yronwode, Rick Veitch, and others! Plus there’s an amazing assortment of unpublished art, uninked pencils, sketches, and concept drawings (including unseen art from the never-published issue #25) by Totleben, Windsor-Smith, Buckingham, Mike Deodato, Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, and more! Special Bonus: a never-published 8-page Moore/Totleben story, "Lux Brevis", and an unused Moore script!]

John A. Lent, ed., Pulp Demons: International Dimensions of the Postwar Anti-Comics Campaign (Madison NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1999). [From Fairleigh Dickinson University Press: The campaign in the United States during the 1940s and 1950s to rid comic books of their violent content, and often-times to obliterate the medium itself, had far-reaching and deeply felt reverberations. Spearheaded by moralists, educators, politicians, and psychiatrist Dr. Fredric Wertham, anti-comics crusades led to book burnings, town meetings, periodical discourses, and the draconian Comics Code, recognized as the most oppressive act of self-censorship in this country's history. At issue was the possible link between comic books and juvenile delinquency, although then-current concerns about communist infiltration, lowered educational levels, and moral decay also crept into the arguments. Pulp Demons is the first systematic study of the fallout of the American controversy abroad. Eight distinguished scholars survey the historical roots, chief players, and sociocultural/political implications of anti-comics campaigns in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Australia, the Philippines, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Using primary data gathered through interviews, content analyses, and searches of private papers and public documents, they fashion a fascinating account overall of one of the most prolonged, wide-ranging, and vicious attacks ever leveled at a mass medium, enveloping a mix of odd bedfellows that included the Communist Party, anticommunist groups, religious denominations, the cartoonists, and others.]

Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics (Northhampton: Kitchen Sink, 1993). [From the publisher: Praised throughout the cartoon industry by such luminaries as Art Spiegelman, Matt Groening, and Will Eisner, this innovative comic book provides a detailed look at the history, meaning, and art of comics and cartooning.]

Scott McCloud, Reinventing Comics (New York: Paradox, 2000). [From the publisher: In 1993, Scott McCloud tore down the wall between high and low culture with the acclaimed international hit Understanding Comics, a massive comic book that explored the inner workings of the worlds most misunderstood art form. Now, McCloud takes comics to te next leavle, charting twelve different revolutions in how comics are created, read, and preceived today, and how they're poised to conquer the new millennium.]

Scott McCloud, Making Comics (New York: Harper Collins, 2006). [From the author: If you’ve ever felt there must be something more to making comics than just copying drawing styles then this is the book for you. In Making Comics, I’ll do my best to cover the storytelling secrets I don’t see any other books talking about, including:

Choosing the right moments to make into panels; what to include, what to leave out.
Framing actions and guiding the reader’s eyes.
Choosing words and images that communicate together.
Creating varied and compelling characters with inner lives and unforgettable appearances.
Understanding body language and facial expressions.
Creating rich, believable worlds for your readers to explore.
Picking the tools that are right for you, and understanding how those tools evolved.
Navigating the vast world of comics styles and genres.

Whether you want to draw graphic novels, superheroes, neo-manga, comic strips or webcomics, you’re going to be putting one picture after another to tell a story. This is the book where I'll do my best to show you how.]

Amy Kiste Nyberg, Seal of Approval: The History of the Comics Code (Jackson, MI: University Press of Mississippi, 1998). [From UPM: For the past forty years the content of comic books has been governed by an industry self-regulatory code adopted by publishers in 1954 in response to public and governmental pressure. This book examines why comic books were the subject of controversy, beginning with objections that surfaced shortly after the introduction of modern comic books in the mid-1930s, when parents and teachers accused comic books of contaminating children's culture and luring children away from more appropriate reading material. It traces how, in the years following World War II, the criticism of comic books shifted to their content, and the reading of comic books became linked with the rise of juvenile delinquency. This resulted in attempts at the local, state, and national level to ban or license comic book sales. A major figure in the crusade against comic books was the psychiatrist Dr. Fredric Wertham. While he played a significant role in the postwar attack on comics, his accusations against the comic book industry have been misunderstood by comic book fans and media scholars alike. They have accused him of being a naive social scientist who saw direct causal links between the reading of comic books and delinquency. In fact, Seal of Approval shows that Wertham's work is much better understood in the intellectual tradition of media criticism of the Frankfurt school and their critique of mass culture. The negative publicity aroused by the controversy, coupled with fears that the government would pass censorship legislation, led publishers to adopt the self-regulatory code. It has been changed only twice, once in 1971 and again in 1989. The legacy of the comics code is that it continues to define the comic book medium as essentially juvenile literature. While the code offers protection against those who attack the media (and not just comic books), it also reaffirms the public perception of comic books as children's fare. As a result, the comic book has yet to achieve legitimation as a unique form of expression that blends words and pictures in a way that no other medium can duplicate. In tracing the evolution of the controversy and the resulting code Seal of Approval examines important issues about children, media effects, and censorship. It is the first booklength scholarly study of this period of comic book history.]

B. J. Oropeza, ed., The Gospel According to Superheroes: Religion And Popular Culture (New York: Peter Lang, 2005). [The Gospel According to Superheroes: Religion and Popular Culture offers an intriguing look at superheroes in light of the spiritual and mythological roles they play in our lives. B. J. Oropeza takes you through the adventuresome quest of three comic book eras as you read about the popular narratives of superheroes such as Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, X-Men, Hulk, Wonder Woman, the Fantastic Four, sci-fi film heroes, pulp heroes, antiheroes, and more. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in viewing the superheroes as both sinners and saints instead of mere good guys taking on the forces of evil.] 12/05

Roberta E. Pearson and William Uricchio, The Many Lives of the Batman: Critical Approaches to a Superhero and his Media (London: Routledge, 1991).

Matthew Pustz, Comic Book Culture: Fanboys and True Believers (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1999). [From UPM: What are super-devoted fans of comic books really like? What draws them together and energizes their zeal? What do the denizens of this pop-culture world have in common? This book provides good answers as it scrutinizes the fans whose profiles can be traced at their conventions, in pages of fanzines, on websites, in chat-rooms, on electronic bulletin boards, and before the racks in comic-book stores. They are a singular breed, and an absorbing interest in comic books (sometimes life-consuming) unites them. Studies have shows that the clustering, die-hard disciples of Star Trek have produced a unique culture. The same can be said of American enthusiasts of comic books. These aficionados range from the stereotypical "fanboy" who revels in the minute details of mainstream superhero titles like X-Men to the more discriminating (and downright snobbish) reader of idiosyncratic alternative comics like Eightball. Literate comics like Watchman, Radioactive Man, and Peepshow demand a knowledgeable audience and reward members of the culture for their expertise while tending to allienate those outside. This book shows how the degree of "comics literacy" determines a fan's place in the culture and how the most sophisticated share the nuanced history of the format. Although their interaction is filled with conflicts, all groups share an intense love for the medium. But whether one is a Fanboy or a True Believer, the preferred hangout is the specialty store. Here, as they talk shop, the culture proliferates. They debate among themselves, spread news about the industry, arrange trades, discuss collectibles, and attach themselves to their particular mainstream. With history, interviews, and textual analysis Comic Book Culture: Fanboys and True Believers examines the varied reading communities absorbed by the veneration of the comics and demonstrates how each functions in the ever-broadening culture. Matthew J. Pustz is an adjunct professor of American studies at the University of Iowa.]

Dan Raviv, Comic Wars: How Two Tycoons Battled Over the Marvel Comics Empire, and Both Lost (New York: Broadway Books, 2002). [From Broadway Books: Embarrassed billionaires tried to keep a lid on this story, but it cried out to be told: how America's greatest comic-book company was driven to the brink of insolvency by warring tycoons and rescued from the abyss by two obscure but wily entrepreneurs. In the late 1980s, financier Ronald Perelman, worth billions and riding high after his hostile takeover of the cosmetics firm Revlon, bought Marvel Entertainment–legendary creator of Captain America, the Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man, the X-Men, and other superheroes–and he had big plans. He not only began churning out more comic books, he also acquired sports cards and other subsidiaries, impressing Wall Street so much that after he took the company public, Marvel’s market value ballooned to over $3 billion. Perelman took advantage of the company’s inflated valuation by selling junk bonds, and personally pocketing nearly $500 million. Meanwhile, Marvel’s bank debt rose to more than $600 million. And then came the collapse of the comic-book and trading-card markets. Enter rival corporate raider, Carl Icahn, who sank a fortune into Marvel’s bonds in an effort to wrest away control of Marvel–and to beat Perelman at his own game. As the competing tycoons went head-to-head, Ike Perlmutter and Avi Arad, two entrepreneurs who ran Toy Biz, a company that depended on Marvel superheroes, realized that their fate hung in the balance. They soon put in motion plans to take control themselves. Bunkered in The Townhouse, his high-security Manhattan corporate headquarters, Perelman had Marvel declare bankruptcy. Icahn, an avid poker player, had to figure out if his foe was bluffing; the Toy Biz entrepreneurs needed to find a way to save the company they loved from ruin; and a team of killer lawyers representing the banks was faced with recouping their colossal debt. Thus, in United States Bankruptcy Court, began the comic war–as ferocious and outlandish as any of Marvel’s tales of good vs. evil. Combining meticulous investigative reporting with entertaining storytelling, Comic Wars exposes the actions and motives of two Goliath-style corporate raiders, two innovative Davids, and some of the world’s most prominent banks. It is the rollicking true tale of a unique Wall Street showdown, of Marvel’s surprising emergence from the ashes of bankruptcy, and of its triumphant reinvention as the producer of such hit Hollywood movies as X-Men and Spider-Man.]

Richard Reynolds, Super Heroes: A Modern Mythology (Jackson, MI: University Press of Mississippi, 1994).

Ronin Ro, Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and the American Comic Book Revolution (New York: Bloomsbury USA, 2004). [From Bloomsbury: For fifty years, Jack Kirby drew more pages than any other comic book artist. As talented as he was prolific, Kirby was responsible for many of the most well-known and beloved superheroes in popular culture. With his first writing partner Joe Simon, he created Captain America, DC Comics’s Sandman, and the lucrative genre of the romance comic. In the 1960s, Kirby paired with Stan Lee to develop a pantheon of heroes that included, among others, the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, the X-Men, Thor, Iron Man, the Avengers, the Silver Surfer, and the Inhumans. Together with Lee, this artist and writer forever changed the American comic book by introducing angst-ridden heroes, sympathetic villains, and a dynamic visual style that has influenced every artist who followed. The inspiration behind The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Jack Kirby has been hailed by Wizard magazine as “Without any doubt…the single most important creator in the History of American Comic Books.” In Tales to Astonish, Ronin Ro chronicles Kirby’s poverty-stricken origins in the Lower East Side, his early commercial triumphs and failures, his renowned partnership with Stan Lee, his continuing artistic innovations (the production department hated him for pasting photographs into his pages), and his lengthy legal battles with Marvel comics over the ownership of his original art. An insightful portrait of one of its most enduring—and overlooked—artists, Tales to Astonish is also a lively, novelistic account of the comic book industry, from its inauspicious origins to its sensational successes.]

Trina Robbins, From Girls to Grrlz: A History of Women's Comics from Teens to Zines (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1999).

Lillian S. Robinson, Wonder Women: Feminisms and Superheroes (London: Routledge, 2004). [From Routledge: Drawing upon her long career as a formidable feminist critic yet wearing her knowledge lightly, Lillian Robinson finds the essence of wonder women in our non-animated three-dimensional world. This book will delight and provoke anyone interested in the history of feminism or the importance of comics in contemporary life.]

Roger Sabin, Comics, Comix & Graphic Novels: A History Of Comic Art (Phaidon Press, 1996). [From Phaidon: Comics, Comix & Graphic Novels is the first fully documented study to explore the graphic qualities of the comic book, and the development of the genre into a sophisticated and culturally revealing popular art form. The book traces the history of the comic from early cartoon-like woodcuts through to the graphic strips of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Organized thematically, it explores the various genres of the comic book, including humour, adventure, girls’ comics, underground and alternative. The careers of the creators of the best-known characters – from Superman and Tintin to Tank Girl – are revealed, as are the stories behind much-loved comics such as The Beano and The Incredible Hulk. The most recent artists are also illustrated and discussed, including Harvey Kurtzman (Mad), Chris Donald (Viz), Art Spiegelman (Maus) and Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira).]

Steven Shaviro, Doom Patrols: A Theoretical Fiction About Postmodernism (London: Serpent's Tail, 1997). [From Serpent's Tail: Doom Patrols is a madcap rollercoaster ride through the bizarre landscapes of late 20th century culture. Considering topics as diverse Elvis worship, the erotics of cyberspace, fantasies of the millennium, multiple personality syndrome, and the molecular logic of insect DNA and ranging from William Burroughs to Dean Martin, from Michel Foucault to My Bloody Valentine, from Andy Warhol to Bill Gates, the essays in this collection take an idiosyncratic look at the forces transforming world culture.]

Art Spiegelman & Chip Kidd, Jack Cole and Plastic Man (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2000). [From Chronicle Books: For years Jack Cole labored dutifully as a cartoonist, comic book illustrator, and Playboy's premier artist. He was, on the outside, a mild-mannered and easygoing guy. But one look at his most famous creation - the manic, surreal Plastic Man - and there is no question that much more lurked in the mind of this tragic artist than anyone suspected. Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and cartoonist Art Spiegelman and renowned graphic designer Chip Kidd pay homage to Plastic Man and his creator Jack Cole. With exuberant energy, extraordinary flexibility, and bizarre plot twists, Jack Cole strected Plastic Man beyond the traditional limits of the comic book form.]

Fredrik Strömberg, Black Images in Comics: A Visual History (Seattle: Fantagraphics, 2003). [From Fantagraphics: This wide-ranging little book spotlights over 100 comics strips, comic books, and graphic novels to feature black characters from all over the world over the last century, and the result is a fascinating journey to, if not enlightenment, then at least away from the horrendous caricatures of yore. The book begins with the habitually appalling images of blacks as ignorant "coons" in the earliest syndicated strips (Happy Hooligan, Moon Mullins, and The Katzenjammer Kids); continues with the almost-quaint colonialist images of the suppressed Tintin album Tintin in the Congo and such ambiguous figures as Mandrake the Magician's "noble savage" assistant Lothar in the '30s (not to mention Torchy Brown, the first syndicated black character), moving on to such oddities as the offensive Ebony character in Will Eisner's otherwise classic The Spirit from the '40s and '50s. We then continue into the often earnest attempts at '60s integration in such strips as Peanuts (and comic books such as the Fantastic Four), as well as the first wave of "black strips" like Wee Pals, juxtaposed with the shocking satire of underground comics such as R. Crumb's incendiary Angefood McSpade. Also investigated is the increased use of blacks in super-hero comic books such as Uncanny X-Men and Luke Cage, Hero for Hire, as well as syndicated strips like Friday Foster and Quincy in the '70s (to say nothing of Beetle Bailey's controversial Lt. Flap). From Cartoon Coons to the Boondocks wraps up from the '80s to now, with the increased visibility of blacks, often in works actually produced by blacks, all the way to the South African strip Madam & Eve, Aaron McGruder's pointed daily The Boondocks, and Ho Che Anderson's Martin Luther King biography King. Each strip, comic, or graphic novel is spotlighted via a compact but instructive 200-word essay and a representative illustration. The book is augmented by a context-setting introduction, an extensive source list and bibliography, and a foreword by Charles R. Johnson, the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation fellowship and winner of the National Book Award for his 1990 novel Middle Passage (and a published cartoonist to boot!).]

Stephen Weiner, Faster Than a Speeding Bullet: The Rise of the Graphic Novel (New York: NBM, 2003). [From NBM: It took a few years of false starts but now it’s official: the graphic novel form is the fastest growing new category of publishing, rising like a meteor. Stephen (The 101 Best Graphic Novels) Weiner takes us on a historical tour of this format with a bit of background on comics as a whole.]

Bradford W. Wright, Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001). [From Johns Hopkins: As American as jazz or rock and roll, comic books have been central in the nation's popular culture since Superman's 1938 debut in Action Comics #1. Selling in the millions each year for the past six decades, comic books have figured prominently in the childhoods of most Americans alive today. In Comic Book Nation, Bradford W. Wright offers an engaging, illuminating, and often provocative history of the comic book industry within the context of twentieth-century American society. From Batman's Depression-era battles against corrupt local politicians and Captain America's one-man war against Nazi Germany to Iron Man's Cold War exploits in Vietnam and Spider-Man's confrontations with student protestors and drug use in the early 1970s, comic books have continually reflected the national mood, as Wright's imaginative reading of thousands of titles from the 1930s to the 1980s makes clear. In every genre—superhero, war, romance, crime, and horror comic books—Wright finds that writers and illustrators used the medium to address a variety of serious issues, including racism, economic injustice, fascism, the threat of nuclear war, drug abuse, and teenage alienation. At the same time, xenophobic wartime series proved that comic books could be as reactionary as any medium. Wright's lively study also focuses on the role comic books played in transforming children and adolescents into consumers; the industry's ingenious efforts to market their products to legions of young but savvy fans; the efforts of parents, politicians, religious organizations, civic groups, and child psychologists like Dr. Fredric Wertham (whose 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent, a salacious exposé of the medium's violence and sexual content, led to U.S. Senate hearings) to link juvenile delinquency to comic books and impose censorship on the industry; and the changing economics of comic book publishing over the course of the century. For the paperback edition, Wright has written a new postscript that details industry developments in the late 1990s and the response of comic artists to the tragedy of 9/11. Comic Book Nation is at once a serious study of popular culture and an entertaining look at an enduring American art form. ]