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Kovacs, George and C. W. Marshall, eds. Classics and Comics. Classical Presences. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2011. 
Added by: joachim (9/28/11, 9:38 AM)   
Resource type: Book
Language: en: English
ID no. (ISBN etc.): 0199734186
BibTeX citation key: Kovacs2011
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Categories: General
Keywords: Classical antiquity, Collection of essays
Creators: Kovacs, Marshall
Publisher: Oxford Univ. Press (New York)
Views: 13/1039
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Abstract
Since at least 1939, when daily-strip caveman Alley Oop time-traveled to the Trojan War, comics have been drawing (on) material from Greek and Roman myth, literature and history. At times the connection is cosmetic-as perhaps with Wonder Woman’s Amazonian heritage—and at times it is almost irrelevant—as with Hercules’ starfaring adventures in the 1982 Marvel miniseries. But all of these make implicit or explicit claims about the place of classics in modern literary culture.
Classics and Comics is the first book to explore the engagement of classics with the epitome of modern popular literature, the comic book. The volume collects sixteen articles, all specially commissioned for this volume, that look at how classical content is deployed in comics and reconfigured for a modern audience. It opens with a detailed historical introduction surveying the role of classical material in comics since the 1930s. Subsequent chapters cover a broad range of topics, including the incorporation of modern theories of myth into the creation and interpretation of comic books, the appropriation of characters from classical literature and myth, and the reconfiguration of motif into a modern literary medium. Among the well-known comics considered in the collection are Frank Miller’s 300 and Sin City, DC Comics’ Wonder Woman, Jack Kirby’s The Eternals, Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, and examples of Japanese manga. The volume also includes an original 12-page “comics-essay,” drawn and written by Eisner Award-winning Eric Shanower, creator of the graphic novel series Age of Bronze.

Table of Contents

C.W. Marshall and George Kovacs: Introduction (vii)

1. George Kovacs: Comics and Classics: Establishing a Critical Frame (3)

Seeing the Past through Sequential Art
2. Gideon Nisbet: An Ancient Greek Graphic Novel (P. Oxy. XXII 2331) (27)
3. Kyle P. Johnson: Sequential Narrative and the Shield of Achilles (43)
4. Nicholas A. Theisen: Declassicizing the Classical in Japanese Comics: Ozamu Tezuka’s Apollo’s Song (59)
5. Brett M. Rogers: Heroes UnLimited: The Theory of the Hero’s Journey and the Limitation of the Superhero Myth (73)

Gods and Superheroes
6. C. W. Marshall: The Furies, Wonder Woman, and Dream: Myth Making in DC Comics (89)
7. Craig Dethloff: Coming up to Code: Ancient Divinities Revisited (103)
8. R. Clinton Simms: The Burden of War: From Homer to Oeming (115)
9. Benjamin Stevens: “Seven Thunders Utter Their Voices”. Morality and Comics’ History in Kingdom Come (129)

Drawing (on) History
10. Vincent Tomasso: Hard-Boiled Hot Gates. Making the Classical Past Other in Frank Miller’s Sin City (145)
11. Emily Fairey: Persians in Frank Miller’s 300 and Greek Vase Painting (159)
12. Anise K. Strong: A Dream of Augustus. Neil Gaiman’s Sandman and Comics Mythology (173)
13. Martin Dinter: Francophone Romes: Antiquity in Les Bandes Dessinées (183)

The Desires of Troy
14. Eric Shanower: Twenty-First Century Troy (195)
15. Chiara Sulprizio: Eros Conquers All: Sex and Love in Eric Shanower’s Age of Bronze (207)
16. Thomas E. Jenkins: Heavy Metal Homer: Countercultural Appropriations of the Odyssey in Graphic Novels (221)

A Reading List of Classics in Comics (237)
Contributors (247)
Bibliography (251)
Index (263)


Added by: joachim  Last edited by: joachim
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