Comics Beyond Text and Image: On the Substance of Visual Narration [Hardcover]

This book?conceptualises comics as bodies, exploring the substance and the many movements and expressions of comics first and foremost in terms of corporeality. It?will appeal to students and scholars of comics studies, as well as to those thinking about visual narrative more broadly, and to scholars of Spinoza and Deleuze.

This book uses philosophical and formalist approaches in new ways, to create detailed close readings that are sensitive to the affects and social significances of the comics under analysis. A beautiful, worthwhile approach that can serve as a model for any comics scholar.?

-- Dr. Barbara Postema, University of Groningen, The Netherlands

Who would have thought a 17^th-century European philosopher would have so much to say about modern comics? Benjamin Fraser applies insights from Spinoza and other thinkers for a holistic re-envisioning of what graphic narrative is and what it does, all brought to life by meticulous commentaries on pages drawn from comics works spanning the globe. This book does it all! Frasers marvelously learned text shows us that comics can indeed be and do?anything.?I will certainly never look at them the same way again.?

-- Jos? Alaniz, University of Washington, USA

In?Comics Beyond Text and Image,?Benjamin Fraser employs an expansive array of new and classic texts to encourage readers to re-think and re-see the way bodies shape and define narrative in comics. A fascinating and rewarding read for fans and scholars alike.

-- Professor Jessica Baldanzi, Goshen College, USA

Introduction. What Comics Can Do: Visual Narration and Philosophy

Part I. Theory&lã<