Dieter Roth’s Solo Scenes and the Comics Art World

Dieter Roth’s Solo Scenes and the Comics Art World

Damon Herd offers a discussion of Dieter Roth’s Solo Scenes, a multimedia presentation that echoes the form of a comic. In his discussion, Herd compares Roth’s work to autobiographical comics, raising the evocative question of whether a work created outside of the comics world can still be considered a comic.

Satirising a Prince, or Making Light of a Culture of Errors

Satirising a Prince, or Making Light of a Culture of Errors

Here, James Baker focuses error as a form of satire. Baker focuses on “The Royal Jersey” (1797), one of George Cruikshank’s etchings of Prince George Augustus Frederick and one that presents a unique form of graphical mishap.

Nostalgia and Strange Tales #180

Nostalgia and Strange Tales #180

Brian Cremins examines the relationship between nostalgia and comics scholarship as well as his memories of Strange Tales #180 (June 1975).

Neil Gaiman’s “Façade” and Patronal Feminism

Neil Gaiman’s “Façade” and Patronal Feminism

Robert Loss looks at Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman: Dream Country (1991, 1995) as a meditation on femininity, power and imagination that nevertheless is subjected to a “patronal feminism” as system of authority.

Palimpsests and Intertexts: The Unwritten

Palimpsests and Intertexts: The Unwritten

David Large examines fixed and fluid locations and characters in the congenitally intertextual series The Unwritten (DC Vertigo Comics 2009–).

Captain Marvel, The Master, and the Feminine Embrace

Captain Marvel, The Master, and the Feminine Embrace

Brian Cremins explores gender issues in Captain Marvel Adventures #19 (January 1, 1943) and Paul Thomas Anderson’s film The Master (2012).

Wolverine’s Fearful Symmetry

Wolverine’s Fearful Symmetry

Chase Pielak explores a sequence in Wolverine Origin (2009) as a space for boundary confrontation and collapse between the character, the animal and the reader.

Superlópez and the Myth of Superman

Superlópez and the Myth of Superman

Julio Souto contrasts the evolution of Superlópez, a Spanish comic book character, with “the myth of Superman” as described by Umberto Eco.

Superman: Action Comics #1 and Gender Politics

Superman: Action Comics #1 and Gender Politics

Darren R. Reid engages with the gender politics of Superman’s first comic book appearance.

Pictureless Comics: the Feinte Trinité Challenge

Pictureless Comics: the Feinte Trinité Challenge

Jordi Canyissà discusses Feinte Trinité by François Ayroles as a work that undermines the vast majority of definitions of the comics medium.

Irony in The Dark Knight Returns

Irony in The Dark Knight Returns

Employing a modular format as a way to include footnote disgressions without relegating them to a marginal space, Nicolas Labarre reflects on the possibly ironical depiction of President Reagan in Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns.

Wonder Woman: Hero Cycles and Mythic Algebra

Wonder Woman: Hero Cycles and Mythic Algebra

Michael Griffin uses an algebra derived from mythology used to model stories to discuss Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia (2002). He illustrates the mythic archetype of nemesis, which is a key part of a complete hero cycle.

James Joyce, Intertextuality and Memoir

James Joyce, Intertextuality and Memoir

Janine Utell examines James Joyce, intertextuality, and the transgressive figure of the daughter in two recent graphic memoirs: Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home (2006) and Dotter of Her Father’s Eyes by Mary and Bryan Talbot (2012).

Interpretation and Translation in Guy Delisle’s Shenzhen

Interpretation and Translation in Guy Delisle’s Shenzhen

Jonathan Evans discusses the representation of translation and interpreting in Guy Delisle’s Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China (2006), focusing on scenes in the text when the process is highlighted by being questioned.

WildC.A.T.S./Aliens: A Meaningful Death

WildC.A.T.S./Aliens: A Meaningful Death

Nicolas Labarre takes a look at a page of the 1998 crossover between Aliens and WildC.A.T.S. In light of previous crossovers, he examines the transgressive potential of the creature in terms of genre and adaptation.

The Carew Murder Case – Focalisation in comics

The Carew Murder Case – Focalisation in comics

In this article Jesse Prevoo discuses focalisation in the murder of Sir Danvers Carew, a pivotal moment in John K. Snyder’s Classics Illustrated version of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Autobiography in Yukiko’s Spinach

Autobiography in Yukiko’s Spinach

Tiágo Canario offers an autobiographical reading of Frédéric Boilet’s Yukiko’s Spinach, employing theories by Philippe Lejeune and Jan Baetens.

Son of Jor-El: The Visual Rhetorics of Obama-Superman

Son of Jor-El: The Visual Rhetorics of Obama-Superman

In this article Zach Welhouse employs theories of visual rhetoric for examining Barack Obama’s identification with the iconic body language of the superhero.

Doctor Syntax: A Physical Object Analysis

Doctor Syntax: A Physical Object Analysis

In this article James Baker explores the British Cartoon Archive’s new Rowlandson collection, and examines the role physical object analysis can play in helping us better understand the Georgian print consumer.

Adapting Coppola’s Dracula

Adapting Coppola’s Dracula

Nicolas Labarre examines the strategies used by Roy Thomas and Mike Mignola to adapt Francis Ford Coppola’s 1991 Dracula. Reflecting on the logic of adaptation as part of a multi-media cross-promotional effort, he highlights the tension between imitation and originality.

Do or Die, Baby! The Neal Adams X-Men Run

Do or Die, Baby! The Neal Adams X-Men Run

Michael Hill pays a formal and historical visit to Neal Adams’ X-Men run in the late 1960s, looking closely at two pages of diagonal panels from X-Men #59, August 1969.

Ben Katchor and What’s Left Behind

Ben Katchor and What’s Left Behind

Kathleen Dunley continues her exploration of Ben Katchor’s work, this time looking at an example from the Cheap Novelties collection. Dunley zooms in to show how Katchor’s work can offer complex notions of memory and narrative.

Shade: Raccord as Media-Specific Reverb

Shade: Raccord as Media-Specific Reverb

Ernesto Priego looks at the last and first pages of issues 1 and 2 of Shade the Changing Man (1990) discussing raccord as a narrative strategy based on the conditions of production and distribution of comic books.