The Routledge Companion to Comics

This cutting-edge handbook brings together an international roster of scholars to examine all facets of comics and graphic novels. Contributor essays provide authoritative, up-to-date overviewsof the major topics and questions within comic studies, offering readers a truly global approach to understanding the field.

Essays examine:

• the history of the temporal, geographical, and formal development of comics, including topics like avant garde comics, manga, comix, and the comics code;
• issues such as authorship, aesthetics, adaptation, and reading comics;
• connections between comics and other artistic media (drawing, caricature, printmaking) as well as the linkages between comics and other academic fields like linguistics and philosophy;
• new perspectives on comics genres, from funny animal comics to war comics to romance comics and beyond.

The Routledge Companion to Comics and GraphicNovels expertly organizes representative work from a range of disciplines, including media and cultural studies, literature, philosophy, and linguistics. More than an introduction to the study of comics, this book will serve as a crucial reference for anyone interested in pursuing research in the area, guiding students, scholars, and comics fans alike.