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Resource type: Journal Article Language: en: English Peer reviewed DOI: 10.1080/21504857.2013.860378 BibTeX citation key: Clarke2014 Email resource to friend View all bibliographic details |
Categories: General Keywords: Comic book industry, Format, Marvel, Paratext, Production, Publishing, USA Creators: Clarke Collection: Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics |
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Attachments | URLs https://www.academ ... arly_direct_market |
Abstract |
In the 1970s and 1980s, American mainstream comic-book publishers actively sought out new markets to exploit their content. This paper examines a pivotal series in this transition, Marvel Comics’ initial graphic novels, and demonstrates the many overlapping contexts that encouraged and enabled this particular move from newsprint pamphlet-bound monthlies to glossy, spine-bound original novels, a move that weighed heavy on the art and business of the comic-book industry. Borrowing from the production of culture approach, this paper holistically accounts for the many facets involved in the manufacturing of comic books and how they were altered in this important series, investigating the distribution system of the books; the organization of creative workers; the rights accorded to and esteem held for comic artists; the mechanical reproduction of printed colour; and the content norms for mainstream comic books.
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