Comics as philosophy / edited by Jeff McLaughlin.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

McLaughlin, Jeff, 1962-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Comic books, strips, etc--Moral and ethical aspects.

Comic books, strips, etc.

Comic books, strips, etc--History and criticism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (266 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, 2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Through the combination of text and images, comic books offer a unique opportunity to explore deep questions about aesthetics, ethics, and epistemology in nontraditional ways. The essays in this collection focus on a wide variety of genres, from mainstream superhero comics, to graphic novels of social realism, to European adventure classics. Included among the contributions are essays on existentialism in Daniel Clowes's graphic novel "Ghost World," ecocriticism in Paul Chadwick's long-running "Concrete" series, and political philosophies in Herge's perennially popular "The Adventures of Tintin." Modern political concerns inform Terry Kading's discussion of how superhero comics have responded to 9/11 and how the genre reflects the anxieties of the contemporary world. Essayists also explore the issues surrounding the development and appreciation of comics. Amy Kiste Nyberg examines the rise of the Comics Code, using it as a springboard for discussing the ethics of censorship and child protection in America. Stanford W. Carpenter uses interviews to analyze how a team of Marvel artists and writers reimagined the origin of one of Marvel's most iconic superheroes, Captain America. Throughout, essayists in Comics as Philosophy show how well the form can be used by its artists and its interpreters as a means of philosophical inquiry. Jeff McLaughlin is assistant professor of philosophy at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia."

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

What If? DC's Crisis and Leibnizian Possible Worlds

Describing and Discarding " Comics" as an Impotent Act of Philosophical Rigor

"No Harm in Horror"

Truth Be Told

Plato, Spider-Man and the Meaning of Life

Modernity, Race, and the American Superhero

Deconstructing the Hero

Jean-Paul Sartre Meets Enid Coleslaw

Making the Abstract Concrete

The Good Government According to Tintin

Drawn into 9/11, But Where Have All the Superheroes Gone?

Contributors

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 228-235) and index.

ISBN:

1-60473-066-8

1-4294-6054-7

OCLC:

191949083