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Kidder, Orion Ussner. "Telling Stories About Storytelling: The metacomics of alan moore, neil gaiman, and warren ellis." PhD Thesis. University of Alberta, 2010. 
Added by: joachim (28/03/2011, 16:50)   Last edited by: joachim (21/08/2017, 16:25)
Resource type: Thesis/Dissertation
Language: en: English
DOI: 10.7939/R3NM5V
BibTeX citation key: Kidder2010
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 Categories: General
Keywords: "Crisis on Infinite Earths", "Promethea", "Squadron Supreme", "The Sandman", "Transmetropolitan", Ellis. Warren, Gaiman. Neil, Metaisierung, Moore. Alan, Superhero, United Kingdom, USA, Williams III. J.H.
Creators: Kidder
Publisher: University of Alberta (Edmonton)		 Views: 9/1134
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Abstract
The Revisionist comics of the 1980s to present represent an effort to literally revise the existing conventions of mainstream comics. The most prominent and common device employed by the Revisionists was self-reflexivity; thus, they created metacomics. The Revisionists make a spectacle of critically interrogating the conventions of mainstream comics, but do so using those same conventions: formal, generic, stylistic, etc. At their most practical level, Revisionist metacomics denaturalise the dominant genres of the American mainstream and therefore also denaturalise the ideological underpinnings of those genres. At their most abstract level, they destabilise the concepts of “fiction,” “reality,” “realism,” and “fantasy,” and even collapse them into each other.
Chapter 1 explains my methodological approach to metacomics: formal (sequence and hybridity), self-reflexive (metafiction, metapictures, metacomics), and finally denaturalising (articulation and myth). Chapter 2 analyses two metacomic cycles in the mainstream (the Crisis and Squadron Supreme cycles) and surveys the self-reflexive elements of Underground comix (specifically with regard to gender and feminist concerns). Chapter 3 presents three motifs in Revisionist comics by which they denaturalise the superhero: the dictator-hero, postmodern historiography, and fantasy genres. Finally, Chapter 4 analyses three major Revisionist comic-book series— Transmetropolitan, Promethea, and Sandman—all of which comment on contemporary culture and the nature of representation using the dominant genres of American comics (science fiction, superhero, and fantasy, respectively).

Table of Contents

Introduction (1)

Chapter 1: Theory (8)
1.1 Comics and Close “Reading” (8)
1.1.a Sequence (12)
1.1.b Hybridity (22)
1.2 Meta- (27)
1.2.a Suspension of Belief (29)
1.2.b Metafiction (30)
1.2.c Metapictures (37)
1.2.d Metacomics (41)
1.3 Naturalisation/Denaturalisation (45)
1.3.a Comics as Myths (46)
1.3.b Comics as Articulations (48)
1.4 Conclusion (51)

Chapter 2: History (53)
2.1 Silver Age (63)
2.1.a Crises (65)
2.1.b Squadron Supreme (71)
2.1.c Variations on Verisimilitude (77)
2.2 Underground (78)
2.2.a Tales That Drove Them Mad (79)
2.2.b Enter the Comix (82)
2.2.c The Underground is Revolting (88)
2.3 Conclusion (89)

Chapter 3: Genre (92)
3.1 Dysfunctional Realities (94)
3.1.a Analogues (95)
3.1.b Formal Self-Reflection (99)
3.1.c Benevolent Dictators (106)
3.2 Postmodern Silver Age (112)
3.2.a Denaturalising the Superhero (114)
3.2.b Historicising the Superhero (118)
3.3 Revisionist Fantasy (126)
3.3.a Ecological Morality (126)
3.3.b Superheroes and Myth (130)
3.4 Conclusion (134)

Chapter 4: Culture (137)
4.1 Revisionist Fluidity (139)
4.2 Gonzo Cyberpunk (143)
4.2.a Hunter/Spider (144)
4.2.b New Scum (149)
4.3 Magic (157)
4.3.a Sex and Self-Reflection (159)
4.3.b Apocalyptic Metacomic (165)
4.4 Dreaming (170)
4.4.a Rejecting Fluidity (170)
4.4.b Accepting Fluidity (173)
4.5 Conclusion (180)

Conclusion (182)

Works Cited (185)


  
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