Why Comics? From Underground to Everywhere

Chute (Disaster Drawn) serves up an accessible introduction to the major themes and literary achievements of comics. Arranged topically—disaster, sex, queerness, etc.—the survey offers in-depth analysis of famous works including Fun Home, Jimmy Corrigan, Maus, and Persepolis, and also some lesser-known but key works such as Lynda Barry’s One! Hundred! Demons! Chute’s enthusiastic account is accompanied by analysis of the storytelling language of comics (aided by full-color reproduction of the pages in question) and a smattering of biographical analysis. Troubled relations with fathers is a recurring theme, found in the lives of Jerry Siegel, Art Spiegelman, and Chris Ware, among others. Literary comics capture the lion’s share of attention, while superheroes get almost no play—Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns are dispensed with briefly and never returned to, an approach readers will view as either negligent or refreshing. Chute also propagates the narrative of the graphic novel tradition as largely based on white male neuroses, with R. Crumb at the epicenter. Anyone seeking a persuasive and perceptive entryway to the world of comics need look no further. Agent: Zoe Pagnamenta, Zoe Pagnamenta Agency. (Dec.)