This book offers a theoretical framework and numerous cases studies – from early comic books to contemporary graphic novels – to understand the uses of genres in comics. It begins with the assumption that genre is both frequently used and undertheorized in the medium. Drawing from existing genre theories, particularly in film studies, the book pays close attention to the cultural, commercial, and technological specificities of comics in order to ground its account of the dynamics of genre in the medium. While chronicling historical developments, including the way public discourses shaped the horror genre in comics in the 1950s and the genre-defining function of crossovers, the book also examines contemporary practices, such as the use of hashtags and their relations to genres in self-published online comics.
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1 Introduction: Genres as Formula, Genres Beyond Formula |
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1 | (16) |
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2 | (3) |
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Cluster, Resemblances, and Exemplars |
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5 | (2) |
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Genres in Use, Genres as Uses |
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7 | (3) |
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10 | (7) |
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2 Are Genres Media Specific? |
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17 | (12) |
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The Case for Medium-Specificity |
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19 | (4) |
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Cultural and Industrial Convergence |
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23 | (2) |
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25 | (4) |
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3 Where Are Genres in Comics? |
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29 | (16) |
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30 | (6) |
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Funny Animals, Genre in the Texts |
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36 | (5) |
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41 | (4) |
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4 How Genres Emerge: Horror Comics |
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45 | (18) |
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Horrific Comics Without a Genre |
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47 | (1) |
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The Institutionalization of Horror Through Intermedial Alignment |
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48 | (4) |
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A Bifurcated Genre, Horror and Weird |
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52 | (6) |
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58 | (5) |
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5 How Genres Are Maintained: The Case of Genre Curation in Crossovers |
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63 | (16) |
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64 | (2) |
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66 | (2) |
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68 | (7) |
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75 | (4) |
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6 The Uses of Genre: Productivity, Cultural Distinction and Shared Culture |
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79 | (20) |
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80 | (3) |
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Genres as Intertextual Building Blocks |
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83 | (6) |
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89 | (3) |
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92 | (1) |
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93 | (6) |
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7 The Uses of Genre: Generic Discourses Among Producing Fans |
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99 | (12) |
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100 | (2) |
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102 | (2) |
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104 | (4) |
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108 | (3) |
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8 The Uses of Genres: Asserting Authority |
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111 | (18) |
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Readers and Fans as Critics |
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112 | (2) |
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114 | (1) |
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The Amazing Spider-Man After 9/11 |
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115 | (5) |
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Comicsgate, Genre and Interpretive Power |
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120 | (4) |
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124 | (5) |
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9 Invisible Genres and Other Architexts |
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129 | (18) |
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Literary Adaptation as Genre |
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130 | (5) |
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135 | (3) |
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Mignola Comics and "Personal Genres" |
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138 | (4) |
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142 | (5) |
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10 Conclusion: Beyond Genre? |
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147 | (6) |
| Index |
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153 | |
Nicolas Labarre is an assistant lecturer at University Bordeaux Montaigne, France, where he teaches American society and culture. He is the author of Heavy Metal, lautre Métal Hurlant (2017), a cultural history of Heavy Metal magazine, and of numerous articles on genres and intermediality in comics.
