Of comics and men : a cultural history of American comic books

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Title:

Of comics and men : a cultural history of American comic books

Author:

Gabilliet, Jean-Paul.

ISBN:

9781604732672

Personal Author:

Gabilliet, Jean-Paul.

Publication Information:

Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, c2010.

Physical Description:

xx, 390 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.

Contents:

From comics to comic books (1842 1936) -- The beginnings of an industry: comics magazines -- (1936 1940) -- Comic books at war (1940 1945) -- Ever more the apogee and the fall (1945 1954) -- Decline and rebirth (1955 1962) -- The age of innovation (1963 1969) -- Research and development by trial and error -- (1969 1979) -- The recovery of the 1980s (1980 1993) -- The end of a century and the beginning of a new century (1993- ) production -- The business of comic books -- The creators -- The readers -- Calls for censorship -- Internal consecration -- External consecration -- Conclusion -- Self-regulating codes of the comic book industry.

Subject Term:

Comic books, strips, etc. -- United States -- History and criticism.

Added Author:

Beaty, Bart.

Nguyen, Nick.

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
Searching... Sugar Grove - Todd Library	Book	PN6725 .G33 2010	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

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Summary

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.

Reviews (1)

Choice Review

Originally published in French in 2005, here newly translated and updated, this substantial book exceeds all of its peers, significantly raising the bar for scholarship on comics history and cultural studies of the format. Gabilliet (American studies, Univ. of Bordeaux, France) divides his tome into three sections. The first not only details the history of American comics, from their European antecedents in the early 19th century to the present, but also questions established histories and myths of the development of comics. The chapters in part 2 analyze each step of comics creation, production, distribution, and consumption in historical and socio-economic context. The final section argues a fresh way of understanding comics' evolving cultural legitimatization. Gabilliet is unafraid of data, research, or thorough documentation, and this book exhibits levels of rigor and theoretical grounding atypical of the field. Unlike most other comics histories, this book includes only graphics (black-and-white tables, charts, graphs) that are actually illustrative of key points. The highly useful back matter includes texts of historic industry codes and an indispensable bibliographic essay on primary and secondary sources and resources for comics research. Summing Up: Essential. All readers. D. Orcutt North Carolina State University