BOBC

WIKINDX Resources  

Gabilliet, Jean-Paul. Of Comics and Men: A Cultural History of American Comic Books. Jackson: Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2010. 
Added by: joachim (06/09/2009, 14:41)   Last edited by: joachim (16/12/2011, 15:02)
Resource type: Book
Language: en: English
ID no. (ISBN etc.): 978-1-60473-267-2
BibTeX citation key: Gabilliet2010b
Email resource to friend
View all bibliographic details
Categories: General
Keywords: Bourdieu. Pierre, Comic book industry, Historical account, Paratext, Reception, USA
Creators: Gabilliet
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi (Jackson)
Views: 7/843
Attachments  
Abstract
Originally published in France and long sought in English translation, Jean-Paul Gabilliet's Of Comics and Men: A Cultural History of American Comic Books documents the rise and development of the American comic book industry from the 1930s to the present. The book intertwines aesthetic issues and critical biographies with the concerns of production, distribution, and audience reception, making it one of the few interdisciplinary studies of the art form. A thorough introduction by translators and comics scholars Bart Beaty and Nick Nguyen brings the book up to date with explorations of the latest innovations, particularly the graphic novel.
The book is organized into three sections: a concise history of the evolution of the comic book form in America; an overview of the distribution and consumption of American comic books, detailing specific controversies such as the creation of the Comics Code in the mid-1950s; and the problematic legitimization of the form that has occurred recently within the academy and in popular discourse.
Viewing comic books from a variety of theoretical lenses, Gabilliet shows how seemingly disparate issues—creation, production, and reception—are in fact connected in ways that are not necessarily true of other art forms. Analyzing examples from a variety of genres, this book provides a thorough landmark overview of American comic books that sheds new light on this versatile art form.

Table of Contents

Translators’ Preface (vii)
Introduction (ix)

I. Seventy Years’ Worth of Images
1. From Comics to Comic Books (1842–1936) (3)
2. The Beginnings of an Industry: Comics Magazines
(1936–1940) (13)
3. Comic Books at War (1940–1945) (20)
4. Ever More—The Apogee and the Fall (1945–1954) (29)
5. Decline and Rebirth (1955–1962) (41)
6. The Age of Innovation (1963–1969) (56)
7. Research and Development by Trial and Error
(1969–1979) (71)
8. The Recovery of the 1980s (1980–1993) (85)
9. The End of a Century and the Beginning of a
New Century (1993– ) (98)

II. Producers and Consumers
10. Production (111)
11. The Business of Comic Books (134)
12. The Creators (159)
13. The Readers (191)

III. A Difficult Consecration
14. Calls for Censorship (215)
15. Internal Consecration (244)
16. External Consecration (277)
17. Conclusion (307)

Appendix: Self-Regulating Codes of the Comic Book Industry (313)
Notes (323)
Bibliographic Essay (355)
Acknowledgments (365)
Index (367)
Added by: joachim  Last edited by: joachim
WIKINDX 6.8.2 | Total resources: 14513 | Username: -- | Bibliography: WIKINDX Master Bibliography | Style: Modern Language Association (MLA)