Teaching Comics Through Multiple Lenses : Critical Perspectives

Drawing from range of current scholarship demonstrating that comics are an expressive medium whose moves (structural and aesthetic) may be shared by literature, the visual arts, and film, possessing qualities these other mediums do not, this volume, written by teachers and scholars of comics for instructors, bridges research and pedagogy, providing models of critical readings around a variety of comic works.

Building off the argument that comics succeed as literature—rich, complex narratives filled with compelling characters interrogating the thought-provoking issues of our time—this book argues that comics are an expressive medium whose moves (structural and aesthetic) may be shared by literature, the visual arts, and film, but beyond this are a unique art form possessing qualities these other mediums do not. Drawing from a range of current comics scholarship demonstrating this point, this book explores the unique intelligence/s of comics and how they expand the ways readers engage with the world in ways different than prose, or film, or other visual arts. Written by teachers and scholars of comics for instructors, this book bridges research and pedagogy, providing instructors with models of critical readings around a variety of comics.