From Comic Strips to Graphic Novels: Contributions to the Theory and History of Graphic Narrative (Narratologia, 37)

This essay collection examines the theory and history of graphic narrative as one of the most interesting and versatile forms of narrative beyond traditional literary texts. Analyzing a wide range of texts, genres, and narrative strategies from both theoretical and historical perspectives, its various contributors offer state-of-the-art research on graphic narrative in the context of an increasingly postclassical and transmedial narratology. Introduction: From Comic Strips to Graphic Novels 8 Part I. Graphic Narrative and Narratological Concepts 32 Zooming In and Out: Panels, Frames, Sequences, and the Building of Graphic Storyworlds 34 Space, Time, and Causality in Graphic Narratives: An Embodied Approach 56 Who’s Telling the Tale? Authors and Narrators in Graphic Narrative 74 Subjectivity and Style in Graphic Narratives 108 Part II. Graphic Narrative beyond the ‘Single Work’ 132 Graphic Memoir: Neither Fact Nor Fiction 134 Superhero Comics and the Authorizing Functions of the Comic Book Paratext 162 Intermediality, Transmediality, and Graphic Narrative 198 Comics in the intersecting Histories of the Window, the Frame, and the Panel 226 Part III. Genre and Format Histories of Graphic Narrative 246 A History of the Narrative Comic Strip 248 Narration in the Flemish Dual Publication System: The Crossover Genre of the Humoristic Adventure 262 Un/Taming the Beast, or Graphic Novels (Re)Considered 278 Archival, Ephemeral, and Residual: The Functions of Early Comics in Art Spiegelman’s In the Shadow of No Towers 308 Part IV. Graphic Narrative across Cultures 330 Anglo-American Graphic Narrative 332 European Graphic Narratives: Toward a Cultural and Mediological History 354 Ghostly: ‘Asian Graphic Narratives,’ Nonnonba, and Manga 370 Graphic Narrative as World Literature 392 Index (Persons) 414 Index (Works) 420 This essay collection examines the theory and history of graphic narrative as one of the most interesting and versatile forms of storytelling in contemporary media culture. Its contributions test the applicability of narratological concepts to graphic narrative, examine aspects of graphic narrative beyond the ‘single work', consider the development of particular narrative strategies within individual genres, and trace the forms and functions of graphic narrative across cultures. Analyzing a wide range of texts, genres, and narrative strategies from both theoretical and historical perspectives, the international group of scholars gathered here offers state-of-the-art research on graphic narrative in the context of an increasingly postclassical and transmedial narratology.This is the revised second edition of From Comic Strips to Graphic Novels, which was originally published in the Narratologia series.