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Comics as Philosophy
Contributions by Jeremy Barris, Laura Canis and Paul Canis, Stanford W. Carpenter, Kevin de Laplante, Robert C. Harvey, Terry Kading, Jeff McLaughlin, Amy Kiste Nyberg, Aldo Regalado, Pierre Skilling, and Iain Thomson
Through the combination of text and images, comic books offer a unique opportunity to explore deep questions about aesthetics, ethics, and epistemology in nontraditional ways. The essays in this collection focus on a wide variety of genres, from mainstream superhero comics, to graphic novels of social realism, to European adventure classics.
Included among the contributions are essays on existentialism in Daniel Clowes's graphic novel Ghost World, ecocriticism in Paul Chadwick's long-running Concrete series, and political philosophies in Herg�'s perennially popular The Adventures of Tintin. Modern political concerns inform Terry Kading's discussion of how superhero comics have responded to 9/11 and how the genre reflects the anxieties of the contemporary world.
Essayists also explore the issues surrounding the development and appreciation of comics. Amy Kiste Nyberg examines the rise of the Comics Code, using it as a springboard for discussing the ethics of censorship and child protection in America. Stanford W. Carpenter uses interviews to analyze how a team of Marvel artists and writers reimagined the origin of one of Marvel's most iconic superheroes, Captain America. Throughout, essayists in Comics as Philosophy show how well the form can be used by its artists and its interpreters as a means of philosophical inquiry.
Through the combination of text and images, comic books offer a unique opportunity to explore deep questions about aesthetics, ethics, and epistemology in nontraditional ways. The essays in this collection focus on a wide variety of genres, from mainstream superhero comics, to graphic novels of social realism, to European adventure classics.
Included among the contributions are essays on existentialism in Daniel Clowes's graphic novel Ghost World, ecocriticism in Paul Chadwick's long-running Concrete series, and political philosophies in Herg�'s perennially popular The Adventures of Tintin. Modern political concerns inform Terry Kading's discussion of how superhero comics have responded to 9/11 and how the genre reflects the anxieties of the contemporary world.
Essayists also explore the issues surrounding the development and appreciation of comics. Amy Kiste Nyberg examines the rise of the Comics Code, using it as a springboard for discussing the ethics of censorship and child protection in America. Stanford W. Carpenter uses interviews to analyze how a team of Marvel artists and writers reimagined the origin of one of Marvel's most iconic superheroes, Captain America. Throughout, essayists in Comics as Philosophy show how well the form can be used by its artists and its interpreters as a means of philosophical inquiry.
270 pages, Paperback
First published November 30, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 23, 2020
An interesting collection of essays discussing the philospoical aspects of comics and comic heroes as they relate to society and how they can be used to understand the tenats of philosophy. My favorite essay relates the superhearo to Kierkegaard's notions of the fallen hero and the knight of faith. A good read for someone who wants a different slant on the classic format
July 4, 2011
Worthless. Less of a book looking at comics as espousing certain philosophical beliefs or using comics to explore certain philosophical ideals, it's more an enthographic look at comics and than anything else and it doesn't even do that well.
never-finished
January 8, 2016Got through about 2-3 essays but too bored to continue.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews