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Hottest Books about Comics
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Newest Titles in This Section
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From 1985 to 1995, the syndicated comic strip Calvin and Hobbes followed the antics of a precocious six-year-old boy and his sardonic stuffed tiger. At the height of its popularity, the strip ran in more than 2,400 newspapers and generated a fan base that continues to run in the millions.
This critical analysis of Calvin and Hobbes explores Calvin's world and its deep reservoir of meanings. Close... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$9.99
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Premiering in September of 2006, the weekly NBC television series Heroes was an immediate commercial and critical hit, lasting four successful seasons. Heroes follows a group of interrelated characters who discover they have superhuman powers, with each successive episode exploring how these people react to and utilize their powers for good or for evil.
This collection of essays explores a variety... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$17.99
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Superman is the original superhero, an American icon, and arguably the most famous character in the world--and he's Jewish!
Introduced in June 1938, the Man of Steel was created by two Jewish teens, Jerry Siegel, the son of immigrants from Eastern Europe, and Joe Shuster, an immigrant. They based their hero's origin story on Moses, his strength on Samson, his mission on the golem, and his nebbish... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$45.00 $21.99
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Ethnographic Essays on a Pop Culture Phenomenon
This collection of 13 new essays employs ethnographic methods to investigate San Diego's Comic-Con International, the largest annual celebration of the popular arts in North America. Working from a common grounding in fan studies, these individual explorations examine a range of cultural practices at an event drawing crowds of nearly... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$15.99
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Essays on Gender, Trauma and Addiction in the Netflix Series
Jessica Jones barged onto our screens in November 2015, courtesy of Marvel and Netflix, presenting a hard-drinking protagonist who wrestles with her own inner (and outer) demons. Gaining enhanced abilities as a teenager, she eschews the "super costume" and is far more concerned with the problems of daily life. But when Jessica falls under... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$18.99
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Big Business Critiqued in the Films and Television Programs
Screenwriter, director, producer and comic book author Joss Whedon is best known for his television series and films featuring villainous vampires, angry gods and even bloggers who wish to rule the world. Within these works is a prevalent yet commonly overlooked theme—the corporate antagonist.
This book examines the effects of this... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$9.99
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Essays on The Punisher in Print and on Screen
Since the Punisher's first appearance in the pages of Spider-Man #129, the character has become one of the most popular and controversial figures in Marvel's vast universe.
The Punisher represents one of the most recognizable types of anti-heroes. His iconic skull insignia stands for a unique type of justice: protecting the innocent while violently eliminating... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$39.95 $23.99
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Critical Perspectives on Jim Henson's Muppets
By the end of its five-year run on television, The Muppet Show had transformed its motley cast from fistfuls of felt to multi-media celebrities. Sophisticated and highly individuated, each of the Muppets embodied a conventional character type from classic television comedy. Kermit functioned as straight man to the majority of the show's... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$17.99
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Comic books have presented fictional and fact-based stories of the Korean War, as it was being fought and afterward. Comparing these comics with events that inspired them offers a deeper understanding of the comics industry, America's "forgotten war," and the anti-comics movement, championed by psychiatrist Fredric Wertham, who criticized their brutalization of the imagination. Comics--both newsstand... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$49.95 $29.99
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Kyoto Animation, a studio with very humble beginnings, has gained recognition the world over as a uniquely inspired and inventive enterprise.
This book examines Kyoto Animation's philosophy and creative vision with close reference to its anime. It focuses on the studio's choice of genres, themes and imagery while exploring its maintenance of high production values.
The analysis highlights the studio's... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$17.99
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Essays on Disney's Edutainment Films
Throughout its long and colorful history, Walt Disney Studios has produced scores of films designed to educate moviegoers as well as entertain them. These productions range from the True-Life Adventures nature documentaries and such depictions of cutting-edge technology as Man in Space and Our Friend the Atom, to wartime propaganda shorts (Education... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$17.99
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Leiji Matsumoto is one of Japan's most influential myth creators. Yet the huge scope of his work, spanning past, present and future in a constantly connecting multiverse, is largely unknown outside Japan.
Matsumoto was the major creative force on Star Blazers, America's gateway drug for TV anime, and created Captain Harlock, a TV phenomenon in Europe. As well as space operas, he made manga on musicians... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$45.00 $20.99
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This is the first book devoted entirely to the rarely studied world of romance comics.
The text includes information on several types of romance comics and their creators, plus the history, numbers, and publishing frequency of dozens of romance titles.
The author examines several significant periods in the development of the romance genre, including the origins of Archie Comics... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$14.99
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Since its inception as an art form, anime has engaged with themes, symbols and narrative strategies drawn from the realm of magic. In recent years, the medium has increasingly turned to magic specifically as a metaphor for a wide range of cultural, philosophical and psychological concerns.
This book first examines a range of Eastern and Western approaches to magic in anime, addressing magical thinking... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$17.99
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From 1985 to 1995, Mark Gruenwald was the head writer for Captain America. During this decade, Gruenwald wrote some of the most essential stories in Captain America's history and guided the comic through an eventful period of both world history and comic book history.
This book dissects the influence of the world at large on Gruenwald's stories and the subsequent influence of Gruenwald's work on... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$39.95 $17.99
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Marvel Studios’ approach to its Cinematic Universe—beginning with the release of Iron Man (2008)—has become the template for successful management of blockbuster film properties. Yet films featuring Marvel characters can be traced back to the 1940s, when the Captain America serial first appeared on the screen.
This collection of new essays is the first to explore the historical,... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$18.99
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Critical Essays on the Comic Saga
Marvel Comics has an established tradition of addressing relevant real-life issues facing the American public. With the publication of Civil War (2006-2007), a seven-issue crossover storyline spanning the Marvel universe, they focused on contemporary anxieties such as terrorism and threats to privacy and other civil liberties.
This collection of new essays explores... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$19.99
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An Annotated Guide to Comics, Prose Novels, Children's Books, Articles, Criticism and Reference Works, 1965-2005
This work provides an extensive guide for students, fans, and collectors of Marvel Comics. Focusing on Marvel's mainstream comics, the author provides a detailed description of each comic along with a bibliographic citation listing the publication's title, writers/artists,... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$19.99
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First appearing in Marvel Comics in the 1960s, Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a. Black Widow, was introduced to movie audiences in Iron Man 2 (2010).
Her character has grown in popularity with subsequent Marvel films, and fans have been vocal about wanting to see Black Widow in a titular role. Romanoff has potent appeal: a strong female character who is not defined by her looks or her romantic relationships,... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$9.99
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Peter David, award-winning writer of comic books, novels, television, films and video games, has boatloads of stories to tell about his 30-year career. Whether it was attending George Takei's wedding, being described as Will Smith's bodyguard, or wandering around on the set of Babylon 5, David has been telling anecdotes of his life for years. Here they are all in one place, along with the story of... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$29.95 $17.99
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This work takes an in-depth look at the world of comic books through the eyes of a Native American reader and offers frank commentary on the medium's cultural representation of the Native American people.
It addresses a range of portrayals, from the bloodthirsty barbarians and noble savages of dime novels, to formulaic secondary characters and sidekicks, and, occasionally, protagonists sans paternal... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$19.99
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Essays on the Novels, Children's Stories, Online Writings, Comics and Other Works
Neil Gaiman has emerged as one of the most influential literary figures of the 21st century. To borrow a phrase from his viral 2012 University of the Arts commencement speech, Gaiman "makes good art," from his graphic novels to his social media collaborations, award-winning fantasy fiction... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$15.99
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It's a rare comic character who can make audiences laugh for well over half a century--but then again, it's a pretty rare cartoon hero who can boast of forearms thicker than his waist, who can down a can of spinach in a single gulp, or who generally faces the world with one eye squinted completely shut.
When E.C. Segar's gruff but lovable sailor man first tooted his pipe to the public on January... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$19.99
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Breaking box office records, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has achieved an unparalleled level of success with fans across the world, raising the films to a higher level of narrative: myth.
This is the first book to analyze the Marvel output as modern myth, comparing it to epics, symbols, rituals, and stories from world religious traditions.
This book places the exploits of Iron Man, Captain America,... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$39.95 $17.99
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From his first comic-book appearance in 1939 through his many incarnations on the big screen, the archetypal superhero known as The Batman has never been far from the American consciousness. The character shaped the way we read comics and graphic novels, view motion pictures, and analyze the motifs of the Hero, the Anti-Hero and the Villain. He has also captured the scholarly imagination, telling us... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$14.99
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Critical Essays on the Graphic Novels
Alan Moore, the idiosyncratic, controversial and often shocking writer of such works as Watchmen, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and V for Vendetta, remains a benchmark for readers of comics and graphic novels.
This collection investigates the political, social, cultural, and sexual ideologies that emerge from his seminal work, Lost... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$17.99
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This is a book about the comics genre and language, how these were used to create Batman, and how that character's longevity is largely due to the medium's unique formal qualities.
It argues that Batman's core appeal is his mythic nature which allows him to transcend changes in reader tastes, the vicissitudes of the comics industry, and the changing media landscape.
While including some historical... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$19.99 $9.99
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This is the first overview of cartoon art in this important cultural nexus of Asia. The eight essays provide historical and contemporary examinations of cartoons and comics in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam, and sociocultural and political analyses of cartooning in Singapore, Myanmar, and Malaysia.
The collection benefits from hundreds of interviews with Southeast Asia's... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$18.99
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What comes to mind when you think about superheroes?
Strength, bravery, and heroism are common answers.
However, superheroes do not only have physical strength, but they also have mental strengths and skills. Superheroes tend to have intelligence and detection skills which allow them to develop other skills.
In this analysis of superhero literacy aimed at students, the connection between superhero... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$45.00 $27.99
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1938 to the Present
In the less than eight decades since Superman's debut in 1938, comic book superheroes have become an indispensable part of American society and the nation's dominant mythology. They represent America's hopes, dreams, fears, and needs. As a form of popular literature, superhero narratives have closely mirrored trends and events in the nation.
This study views... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$19.99
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The work provides a unique study of superheroes and gods in literature, popular culture, and ancient myth.
The author selects a number of mythological figures (e.g., Babylonia's Gilgamesh and Enkidu), ancient gods (e.g., Greece's Eros and Tartarus), and modern superheroes (e.g., the United States' Superman and Captain Marvel) and identifies the often striking similarities between each unique category... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$17.99
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Persia had Rostam. Babylonia had Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Egypt had Horus and Isis. Greece had Odysseus and Achilles.
Israel had its heroes, too—Moses, David, Esther and Samson. While Israel’s heroes did not wear capes or spandex, they did meet cultural needs.
In times of crisis, heroes emerge to model virtues that inspire a sense of commitment and worth. Identity concerns were especially... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$19.99
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Few scholars nursed on the literary canon would dispute that knowledge of Western literature benefits readers and writers of the superhero genre. This analysis of superhero comics as Romance literature shows that the reverse is true--knowledge of the superhero romance has something to teach critics of traditional literature.
Establishing the comic genre as a cousin to Arthurian myth, Spenser, and... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$19.99
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The heroine's journey echoes throughout ancient legend. Each young woman combats her dark side and emerges stronger. This quest is also a staple of American comic books. Wonder Woman with semi-divine powers gives us a new female-centered creation story. Batgirl, Batwoman and Black Widow discover their enemy is the dark mother or shadow twin, with the savagery they've rejected in themselves. Supergirl... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$7.99
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First introduced in a 1938 comic book, Superman has since become an iconic character in American entertainment.
This complete history covers Superman's appearances in film and television, from the 1941 introduction of the first Superman cartoon to the 2006 live-action film Superman Returns.
The book includes several rarely seen photographs of the actors who have brought Superman to life for over... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$19.99
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Critical Essays on Television's Shocking Cartoon Series
No American television show of the past decade has been vilified as has Comedy Central's South Park. This is the show that has featured, in turn, a nine-year-old boy enmeshed in an affair with Ben Affleck, a maniacal Mel Gibson smearing feces everywhere, and the misadventures of Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo, a talking, bouncing,... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$14.99
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Essays on Theory, Strategy and Practice
The essays in this collection discuss how comics and graphic narratives can be useful primary texts and learning tools in college and university classes across different disciplines.
There are six sections:
American Studies
Ethnic Studies
Women's and Gender Studies
Cultural Studies
Genre Studies
Composition, Rhetoric and Communication
With a combination... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$19.99
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Superhero films are one of the most enduring genres of cinema, and their popularity is only increasing in the 21st century.
These ten critical essays explore the phenomenon through the lenses of numerous academic disciplines, and cover topics such as the role of globalization in the formation of superhero narratives, the shifting nature of masculinity and femininity in the superhero world and the... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$17.99
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Billionaire industrialist, cold warrior, weapons designer, alcoholic, philanthropist, Avenger--Tony Stark, alter-ego of Marvel Comics' Iron Man, has played many roles in his five decades as a superhero.
From his 1963 comics debut in Tales of Suspense to the recent film adaptations--The Avengers(2012), Iron Man 3(2013)--hundreds of creators have had a hand in writing the character... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$19.99
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Since Superman first appeared on the cover of Action Comics #1 in 1938, the superhero has changed with the times to remain a relevant icon of American popular culture. This collection explores the evolution of the Superman character and demonstrates how his alterations mirror historical changes in American society.
Beginning with the original comic book and ending with the 2011 Grounded storyline,... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$15.99 $11.99
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Comic book audience expectations have fluctuated dramatically through the years, and comic book creators have had to adapt to shifting hopes, fears and concerns among readers.
One of Marvel Comic's most popular franchises for five decades, The Avengers have always been reflective of their times, and have adapted to an evolving readership to remain relevant.
This collection of fresh essays by popular... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$15.99
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The Incredible Hulk is one of the earliest Marvel Comics superheroes. Through the decades, the character and his narrative elements--the causes of Bruce Banner's transformations, the Hulk's strength, intelligence and skin color, the stories' tone, theme and sources of conflict--have been continually reinvented to remain relevant.
This collection of new essays explores Marvel's more than five decades... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$19.99
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The first superhero team from the Silver Age of comics, DC's Justice League has seen many iterations since its first appearance in 1960. As the original comic book continued and spin-off titles proliferated, talented writers, artists and editors adapted the team to appeal to changing audience tastes.
This collection of new essays examines more than five decades of Justice League comics and related... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$9.99
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The X-Men comic book franchise is one of the most popular of all time and one of the most intriguing for critical analysis. With storylines that often contain overt social messages within its "mutant metaphor," X-Men is often credited with having more depth than the average superhero property.
In this collection, each essay examines a specific era of the X-Men franchise in relationship... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$19.99
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Created in 1941 by the psychologist William Marston, Wonder Woman would go on to have one of the longest continuous runs of published comic book adventures in the history of the industry. More than 70 years after her debut, Wonder Woman remains a popular culture icon. Throughout the intervening years many comic book creators have had a hand in guiding her story, resulting in different interpretations... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$15.99
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This collection of essays analyzes the many ways in which comic book and film superheroes have been revised or rewritten in response to changes in real-world politics, social mores, and popular culture.
Among many topics covered are the jingoistic origin of Captain America in the wake of the McCarthy hearings, the post-World War II fantasy-feminist role of Wonder Woman, and the Nietzschean influences... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$17.99
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The thought-provoking, aesthetically pleasing animated films of Hayao Miyazaki attract audiences well beyond the director's native Japan.
Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away were critically acclaimed upon U.S. release, and the earlier My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service have found popularity with Americans on DVD.
This critical study of Miyazaki's work begins with an analysis of the... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$13.99
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Since her first appearance in 1992, Harley Quinn—eccentric sidekick to the Joker—has captured the attention of readers like few new characters have in eight decades of Batman comics. Her bubbly yet malicious persona has earned her a loyal and growing fan base as she has crossed over into television, theater, video games, and film.
In this collection of new essays, contributors explore... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$9.99
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For decades, Marvel Comics' superhero group the Avengers have captured the imagination of millions, whether in comics, multi-billion dollar grossing films or video games.
Similar to the chronology of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Avengers video games first started with titles driven by single characters, like Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor and Captain America. Over time, the games grew to include... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$39.95 $17.99
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This is a complete reference work to the history of Batman big screen works, from the 1940s serials through the campy 1960s TV show and film, and up through the series of Warner Bros. summer blockbusters that climaxed with Christopher Nolan's 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises.
Chapters on each Batman feature include extensive film and production credits, a production history, and a critical analysis... [click here for more] |
McFarland |
$19.99
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