Projections Comics and the History of Twenty-First-Century Storytelling [Hardcover]

When Art Spiegelman'sMauswon the Pulitzer Prize in 1992, it marked a new era for comics. Comics are now taken seriously by the same academic and cultural institutions that long dismissed the form. And the visibility of comics continues to increase, with alternative cartoonists now published by major presses and more comics-based films arriving on the screen each year.

Projectionsargues that the seemingly sudden visibility of comics is no accident. Beginning with the parallel development of narrative comics at the turn of the 20th century, comics have long been a form that invitesindeed requiresreaders to help shape the stories being told. Today, with the rise of interactive media, the creative techniques and the reading practices comics have been experimenting with for a century are now in universal demand. Recounting the history of comics from the nineteenth-century rise of sequential comics to the newspaper strip, through comic books and underground comix, to the graphic novel and webcomics, Gardner shows why they offer the best models for rethinking storytelling in the twenty-first century. In the process, he reminds us of some beloved characters from our past and present, including Happy Hooligan, Krazy Kat, Crypt Keeper, and Mr. Natural.

A history of the modern sequential comic form from the late nineteenth century through today, focusing on the unique ways in which it tells stories and interacts with readers. Gardner's study may prove to be crucial in understanding how the trends and conventions of the past influence the way this distinctive art form tells stories.Projectionsis a valuable addition to comics studies that can also be useful for scholars and historians of film, literature, and cultural studies in its wide historical scope and interdisciplinary analysis. A succinct and savvy cultural history of American comics in the long twentieth century,Projectionsis attentive to reading publics and the actual experienlsì