Recommended Reading List for Comic Book
History & Criticism
Mary Abshire
Comic Books as History: the Narrative Art of Jack Jackson, Art Spiegelman & Harvey
Pekar
By Joseph Witek, 1989
ISBN: 0878054065
In this book, "[One of]Literature's former lightweights...the
comic book...is given full-length study as a serious narrative form." Witek examines
comic book appearances in America from political and military campaigns at Fort Sumter to
the social criticism of Jackson (Jaxon), Spiegelman and Pekar. Witek discusses the comic
book code and the emergence of Underground Comix, which he calls "fact-based"
comics and their role in exposing counterculture.
Witek's explanation of the comic strip aesthetic and the literary
stigma they have endured provide a compelling argument for the fair consideration of
comics as a viable artistic genre.
Week’s arguments conclusively display the strength and flexibility
of comic strip genre, enhanced by panels from diverse comic artists and strengthened by a
highly organized approach to history and the timeline of comic art.
Comics, Comix & Graphic Novels: a History of Comic Art
By Roger Sabin, 1996
ISBN: 0714830089
This 200+ page book is packed with color and action. This is a pictorial history more
than a textual one; art takes precedence as far as distribution of text is concerned.
Sabin has created a huge, glossy-page book, which gives fair coverage to even the most
obscure and rare comic books from vintage to postmodern. The art is grouped thematically,
but a fairly extensive history can be found among the panels. Published by Phaidon Press
in 1996, this is THE book to examine if you want to find one source which adequately
displays the enormous possibilities and actual applications to be found in the comic
genre. You'll laugh! You'll be amazed! Read it!
Comic Book Nation: the Transformation of Youth Culture in America
By Richard Wright, 2001
ISBN: 080186514X
Comic Book Nation was published in April 2001; the most recent full-size book that
treats comic books seriously, Wright neglects even discussion concerning the merits of
comic books as an art form. Instead, his discussion is largely interested in the cultural
changes for which (he argues) comic books are responsible. As a historical and cultural
analysis of 2oth century America, this book is quite interesting. Wright discusses
censorship and the comic book code, and makes further arguments concerning the patriotism
enforced by the comic books code and its affects on American youth.
Fantasy & Mimesis: Responses to Reality in Western Literature
By Kathyrn Hume, 1984
ISBN: 0416380204
While most critics treat fantasy as the "hidden face of fiction" and dismiss
it as a minor genre, Kathryn Hume has appeared on the scene to reject the usual
definitions of fantasy (i.e., a departure from reality) to say that fantasy and mimesis
are not separable, but are "the twin impulses behind literary creation."
With chapters such as, "Literature of Revision,"
"Literature of Disillusion," and "Fantasy as a Function of Form," Hume
uses graphs and arguments of a rather formulaic nature to analyze the differences between
comic, romantic, tragic and ironic. Though Hume's arguments largely concern literature per
se, her analyses are largely applicable to the study of comics.
From Girls to Grrrlz: A History of Women's Comics from Teens to
Zines
By Trina Robbins, 1999
ISBN 0811821994
If male superheroism has ever bothered you, this is the book to check
out. Trina Robbins' work is complete, thorough and fun to read. This book will show
forevermore that comics are not just for boys and never have been. The wondrous characters
of female cartoons are worth careful observation; the history of feminism and its work in
altering culture are on display in this book. This book is both an introduction to a new
cast of superheroes (or superheroines) and a pictorial history of feminism as reflected in
everything from the girls' costumes & hairstyles and to everyday speech. Grrrlz is
also a largely picotral history (i.e. graphics outweigh text as far as page layout is
concerned), but the text is smooth, informative and humorous. By all mean, check it out!
Graphic Storytelling
By Will Eisner, 1995
ISBN: 0961472820
Eisner has created a book which is fairly similar in form to Understanding Comics. It
is a pictorial outline of how to write a graphic story (i.e., cartoon). Eisner goes a step
farther than McCloud's explanation: Eisner's is a "how-to" book, addressed to
those who wish to create their own comic. Since 1972, Eisner has been teaching
"Sequential Art" at the New York School of Visual Arts and Nova University in
Florida. He studied under anatomist George Bridgeman and painter Robert Brachman. He later
created a comic strip which reportedly influenced "a generation of young
cartoonists." His other works include "A Contract with God," "To the
Heart of the Storm," "Comics and Sequential Art," and "Dropsie
Avenue."
The Scum Also Rises: an Anthology of Comic Art by Skip Williamson
By Skip Williamson, 1988
ISBN: 0930193679
Words of Vast Import to the Would-Be Sequential Artists
From the Foreword by Skip Williamson
"...Extremism in the pursuit of cartooning is no vice. The comic
strip artist especially needs the resolve of a capricious point of view in order to seem
to justify his narrow personal reality. A talent, an ability to draw, is a place to start,
but certainly not a necessity.
A quick look at the comics page of any daily newspaper is proof of
that. Likewise, draftsmanship doesn't always equate comic art, a fact verified by any
number of Marvel, DC or similar comic book titles.
A command of the language, the ability to turn a phrase cleverly to
your own ends isn't a bad tool. If you can sarcastically unearth the raw nerve of
abhorrent human nature by the way of nearsighted satire, it's possible to catch the public
eye. In final desperation, the pimply aspirant can poke around in his own dark,
reprehensible self and reveal his most neurotic abominations...if that which oozes from
the most odious recesses of your inkwell is hailed a newfound genius, if the intellectual
liberals rail on and chase their tales in polysyllabic over your plainly irresponsible
anarchist scratches, then, like the wretched rabble before you, you will most certainly
reach for the tantalizing bait of peer recognition...you will be the shame of your
neighborhood and will be left broken and bleeding, the bastard child of the Art Community.
But what the heck, it's a living."
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