Research Catalog

Title

Of comics and men : a cultural history of American comic books / Jean-Paul Gabilliet ; translated by Bart Beaty and Nick Nguyen.

Author

Gabilliet, Jean-Paul.

Publication

Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, c2010.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Beaty, Bart.
• Nguyen, Nick.

Description

xx, 390 p. : ill.; 25 cm

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 preface by translators and comics scholars Bart Beaty and Nick Nguyen brings the book up to date. 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"--Back cover.

Uniform Title

Des Comics et des hommes. English

Alternative Title

• Des Comics et des hommes.
• Cultural history of American comic books

Subject

• Comic books, strips, etc > United States > History and criticism

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 323-364) and index.

Language (note)

• Translated from the French.

Contents

Seventy years' worth of images: 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- ) -- Producers and consumers: Production ; The business of comic books ; The creators ; The readers -- A difficult consecration: Calls for censorship ; Internal consecration ; External consecration ; Conclusion -- Appendix: Self-regulating codes of the comic book industry.

Call Number

JFE 14-3310

ISBN

• 9781604732672 (cloth : alk. paper)
• 1604732679 (cloth : alk. paper)

LCCN

2009025381

OCLC

276816625

Author

Gabilliet, Jean-Paul.

Title

Of comics and men : a cultural history of American comic books / Jean-Paul Gabilliet ; translated by Bart Beaty and Nick Nguyen.

Imprint

Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, c2010.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (p. 323-364) and index.

Language

Translated from the French.

Added Author

Beaty, Bart.

Nguyen, Nick.

Research Call Number

JFE 14-3310