The Art of Comics: A Philosophical Approach

by Aaron Meskin, Roy T. Cook, Warren Ellis (Foreword by)

Overview

THE ART OF COMICS

The Art of Comics: A Philosophical Introduction is the first-ever collection of essays published in English devoted to the philosophical questions raised by the art of comics. The volume, which includes a preface by the renowned comics author Warren Ellis, contains ten cutting-edge essays on a range of philosophical topics raised by comics and graphic novels. These include the definition of comics, the nature of comics genres, the relationship between comics and other arts such as film and literature, the way words and pictures combine in comics, comics authorship, the “language” of comics, and the metaphysics of comics.

The book also contains an in-depth introduction by the co-editors which provides an overview of both the book and its subject, as well as a brief history of comics and an overview of extant work on the philosophy of comics.

In an area of growing philosophical interest, this volume constitutes a great leap forward in the development of this fast expanding field, and makes a major contribution to the philosophy of art.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781444334647
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	02/27/2012
Series:	New Directions in Aesthetics , #25
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Aaron Meskin is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Leeds. He is the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters on aesthetics and other philosophical subjects. His work on comics has been published in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism and the British Journal of Aesthetics.  He was the first aesthetics editor for the online journal Philosophy Compass, and he co-edited Aesthetics: A Comprehensive Anthology (Wiley-Blackwell, 2007). He is a former Trustee of the American Society for Aesthetics and is Treasurer of the British Society of Aesthetics.

Roy T. Cook is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, a Resident Fellow at the Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science, and an Associate Fellow of the Northern Institute of Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen. He has published numerous articles and book chapters on philosophical logic, mathematical logic, philosophy of mathematics, and more recently on the aesthetics of comics. He previously edited The Arché Papers on the Mathematics of Abstraction (2007), and is the author of A Dictionary of Philosophical Logic (2009).

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Table of Contents

Editors’ Acknowledgments vii

List of Figures viii

Notes on Contributors ix

Foreword xii
Warren Ellis

The Art and Philosophy of Comics: An Introduction xiv
Aaron Meskin and Roy T. Cook

Part One: The Nature and Kinds of Comics 1

1 Redefining Comics 3
John Holbo

2 The Ontology of Comics 31
Aaron Meskin

3 Comics and Collective Authorship 47
Christy Mag Uidhir

4 Comics and Genre 68
Catharine Abell

Part Two: Comics and Representation 85

5 Wordy Pictures: Theorizing the Relationship between Image and Text in Comics 87
Thomas E. Wartenberg

6 What’s So Funny? Comic Content in Depiction 105
Patrick Maynard

7 The Language of Comics 125
Darren Hudson Hick

Part Three: Comics and the Other Arts 145

8 Making Comics into Film 147
Henry John Pratt

9 Why Comics Are Not Films: Metacomics and Medium‐Specific Conventions 165
Roy T. Cook

10 Prouvést’s In Search of Lost Time : The Comics Version 188
David Carrier

Index 203

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“The Art of Comics would make a fine addition to any undergraduate reading list, introducing as it does several important notions in contemporary aesthetics.”  (The Journal of Aesthetics & Art Criticism, 1 November 2013)

"The Art of Comics: A Philosophical Approach is the first-ever anthology on the aesthetics of comics in the analytic tradition.  As such, it is predictably rigorous, but, perhaps more surprisingly, it exhibits a very deep love of comics as well as an intimate and close knowledge of the art form in all its diversity and detail. The book is a splendid addition to the growing body of work on the philosophies of the arts."

—Noël Carroll, The Graduate Philosophy Program, CUNY

"A new, rich topic is always welcome in philosophy. Comics are just such a topic in the philosophy of art, and this excellent collection is a splendid opportunity to explore the subject."

—Ted Cohen, University of Chicago

"This is a groundbreaking collection that sets the agenda for philosophical reflection on the nature of comics and their place among the arts. Readers will find their thought bubbles bursting out on every page, as fresh insights are delineated and new questions are framed."

—Jesse Prinz, The Graduate Philosophy Program, CUNY

Editorial Reviews

Regardless, though, considered as a whole, The Art of Comicsis an excellent collection and one which is likely to provoke spirited debate and serve as a spur to further research within Anglo-American philosophy (and philosophy more generally) into this sadly neglected art form. I, for one, look forward to these future developments immensely. To quote one of the greats in the history of comics—excelsior!.”  (British Journal of Aesthetics, 1 October 2013)

From the Publisher