Why Comics?

October 1, 2017
A comprehensive, critically incisive survey of comics in contemporary culture.Rather than a professor who happened to latch on to comics as a promising field for research, Chute (English, Art and Design; Northeastern Univ.; Disaster Drawn: Visual Witness, Comics, and Documentary Form, 2016, etc.) clearly has a deep understanding of, experience with, and affinity for comics culture. Best of all, though she analyzes with an academic's rigor and supports her themes with extensive research, she doesn't write like a professor. Tackling a tricky subject like Robert Crumb's objectification and caricature of black female sexuality, she writes, "Crumb isn't mocking black women, but rather he's mocking a public discourse that either implicitly or explicitly mocks black women. And yet Crumb always makes tricky or unclear the line between the act of satirizing something and embodying it." Rather than argue about the cultural legitimacy that comics have achieved, Chute simply treats this as a matter of fact--a fact with which she, as a fan, is very pleased. The result is a study, rife with full-page panels illustrating points she makes in the text, that will enrich the understanding of readers who know and care a lot about comics, from punk zines to graphic novels, as well as initiates who seek an understanding of how this cultural shift came about and what it means to academics who wish to research this fertile field. The cartoonists have even infiltrated the academy, as the author writes in her appreciation of Lynda Barry: "It is telling that Barry is currently a tenured professor, at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, of what is called Interdisciplinary Creativity (the best job title perhaps ever!)" Chute also goes deep into the lives and work of Art Spiegelman (with whom she worked on MetaMaus), Alison Bechdel (whose Fun Home made the leap from graphic novel to Broadway), Matt Groening, Chris Ware, Charles Burns, and so many others.For anyone who wants a crash course in contemporary comics, or wants to teach one, this is your book.

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December 1, 2017

Chute (Graphic Women; Disaster Drawn) analyzes how the mature themes of underground comics have not only influenced mainstream creators but gained widespread popularity. Here, the evolution of comics is placed within a sociohistorical context, and chapters unify several cartoonists and their influential works around a central theme, such as sex, illness and disability, and war. In the chapter, "Why Queer?," Chute explores the gender fluidity of the comic strip character Krazy Kat, the influence of the underground series Gay Comix, and the success of Alison Bechdel's memoir Fun Home. As underground cartoonists chronicled their lives, they delved into subjects and ideas ignored by the mainstream; Art Spiegelman illustrates his parents' traumatic experience in the Holocaust, while Allie Brosh portrays her struggle with depression. Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez's Love and Rockets details the lives of Mexican American youth in Southern California. The author further explains how the DIY ethic and experimentation of the punk movement contributed to the proliferation of zines. Chute elevates comics to literature when dissecting panels, text, and drawing techniques in the more than 100 reprints within the book. VERDICT Highly recommended for academic and public libraries. Beyond comics and pop culture readers, this work will appeal to students of literary criticism and art history.--Chris Wilkes, Tazewell Cty. P.L., VA

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 19, 2018
Chute (Disaster Drawn) serves up an accessible introduction to the major themes and literary achievements of comics. Arranged topically—disaster, sex, queerness, etc.—the survey offers in-depth analysis of famous works including Fun Home, Jimmy Corrigan, Maus, and Persepolis, and also some lesser-known but key works such as Lynda Barry’s One! Hundred! Demons! Chute’s enthusiastic account is accompanied by analysis of the storytelling language of comics (aided by full-color reproduction of the pages in question) and a smattering of biographical analysis. Troubled relations with fathers is a recurring theme, found in the lives of Jerry Siegel, Art Spiegelman, and Chris Ware, among others. Literary comics capture the lion’s share of attention, while superheroes get almost no play—Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns are dispensed with briefly and never returned to, an approach readers will view as either negligent or refreshing. Chute also propagates the narrative of the graphic novel tradition as largely based on white male neuroses, with R. Crumb at the epicenter. Anyone seeking a persuasive and perceptive entryway to the world of comics need look no further. Agent: Zoe Pagnamenta, Zoe Pagnamenta Agency.