Animal Comics
Multispecies Storyworlds in Graphic Narratives
Published on 14. December 2017
Book
Hardback
280 pages
978-1-350-01531-9 (ISBN)
Description
Animal characters abound in graphic narratives ranging from Krazy Kat and Maus to WE3 and Terra Formars. Exploring these and other multispecies storyworlds presented in words and images, Animal Comics draws together work in comics studies, narrative theory, and cross-disciplinary research on animal environments and human-animal relationships to shed new light on comics and graphic novels in which animal agents play a significant role. At the same time, the volume's international team of contributors show how the distinctive structures and affordances of graphic narratives foreground key questions about trans-species entanglements in a more-than-human world. The writers/artists covered in the book include: Nick Abadzis, Adolpho Avril, Jeffrey Brown, Sue Coe, Matt Dembicki, Olivier Deprez, J. J. Grandville, George Herriman, Adam Hines, William Hogarth, Grant Morrison, Osamu Tezuka, Frank Quitely, Yu Sasuga, Charles M. Schultz, Art Spiegelman, Fiona Staples, Ken'ichi Tachibana, Brian K. Vaughan, and others.
Reviews / Votes
With its international and interdisciplinary sweep, this ground-breaking volume examines the ways that comics activate animals as icons and symbols in ways that no other art form possibly can. * Bart Beaty, Professor of English, University of Calgary, Canada * If animals cannot speak, they have found in the authors of this fascinating volume the best advocates and interpreters. Animal comics are not a genre but a continent, of which the cartography is delivered here for the first time, in a truly cross-disciplinary perspective. * Thierry Groensteen, Cite internationale de la bande dessinee et de l'image, Angouleme, France * The essays offer a variety of critical frameworks for examining these comics; e.g., one essay provides a historical overview, with plenty of illustrative examples. Other contributors use a variety of theoretical lenses as they analyze these comics and even discuss animals in nonfiction comics. The final section (of four) should prove extremely helpful for teachers and future teachers: it offers strategies for using animal comics in various classroom settings, from a general education course to a young adult literature class. The variety of topics and texts represented here makes this collection useful across disciplines and interests ... The collection is a worthy complement to other books about graphic novels. Summing Up: Recommended. * CHOICE *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
24 bw illus
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Weight
556 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-01531-9 (9781350015319)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
12/2017
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Academic
€38.49
Available for download
Person
David Herman has taught at several institutions in the US and, most recently, at Durham University, UK. Growing out of his recent studies on animal narratives across media, his monograph Narratology beyond the Human will be published in 2018.
Content
List of Figures
Acknowledgments
Notes on Contributors
Introduction: More-than-Human Worlds in Graphic Storytelling
David Herman
Part I. Animal Agency in the History and Theory of Comics
1. Lions and Tigers and Fears: A Natural History of the Sequential Animal
Daniel F. Yezbick, St Louis Community College, USA
2. The Animalized Character and Style
Glenn Willmott, Queen's University, Canada
Part II. Species of Difference: Functions of Animal Alterity in Graphic Narratives
3. The Politics and Poetics of Alterity in Adam Hines's Duncan the Wonder Dog
Alex Link, Alberta College of Art & Design, Canada
4. The Saga of the Animal as Visual Metaphor for Mixed-Race Identity in Comics
Michael A. Chaney, Dartmouth College, USA
5. Curly Tails and Flying Dogs: Structures of Affect in Nick Abadzi's Laika
Carrie Rohman, Lafayette College, USA
6. Invasive Species: Manga's Insect-Human Worlds
Mary A. Knighton, Aoyama Gakuin University, Japan
Part III. Critical Frameworks for Multispecies Comics
7. Resituating the Animal Comic: Environmentalist Aesthetics in Matt Dembicki's Xoc: The Journey of a Great White
Laura Pearson, University of Leeds, UK
8. Interspecies Relationships in Graphic Micronarratives: From Olivier Deprez to Avril-Deprez
Jan Baetens, University of Leuven, Belgium
9. Animal Minds in Nonfiction Comics
David Herman
Part IV. Graphic Animality in the Classroom and Beyond
10. Can We Be Part of the Pride? Reading Animals through Comics in the Undergraduate Classroom
Andrew Smyth and Charles E. Baraw, Southern Connecticut State University, USA
11. This is Home
Bridget Brewer and Thalia Field, Brown University, USA
Index
Acknowledgments
Notes on Contributors
Introduction: More-than-Human Worlds in Graphic Storytelling
David Herman
Part I. Animal Agency in the History and Theory of Comics
1. Lions and Tigers and Fears: A Natural History of the Sequential Animal
Daniel F. Yezbick, St Louis Community College, USA
2. The Animalized Character and Style
Glenn Willmott, Queen's University, Canada
Part II. Species of Difference: Functions of Animal Alterity in Graphic Narratives
3. The Politics and Poetics of Alterity in Adam Hines's Duncan the Wonder Dog
Alex Link, Alberta College of Art & Design, Canada
4. The Saga of the Animal as Visual Metaphor for Mixed-Race Identity in Comics
Michael A. Chaney, Dartmouth College, USA
5. Curly Tails and Flying Dogs: Structures of Affect in Nick Abadzi's Laika
Carrie Rohman, Lafayette College, USA
6. Invasive Species: Manga's Insect-Human Worlds
Mary A. Knighton, Aoyama Gakuin University, Japan
Part III. Critical Frameworks for Multispecies Comics
7. Resituating the Animal Comic: Environmentalist Aesthetics in Matt Dembicki's Xoc: The Journey of a Great White
Laura Pearson, University of Leeds, UK
8. Interspecies Relationships in Graphic Micronarratives: From Olivier Deprez to Avril-Deprez
Jan Baetens, University of Leuven, Belgium
9. Animal Minds in Nonfiction Comics
David Herman
Part IV. Graphic Animality in the Classroom and Beyond
10. Can We Be Part of the Pride? Reading Animals through Comics in the Undergraduate Classroom
Andrew Smyth and Charles E. Baraw, Southern Connecticut State University, USA
11. This is Home
Bridget Brewer and Thalia Field, Brown University, USA
Index