Reading Comics: Language, Culture, and the Concept of the Superhero in Comic Books

253 Pages·2000·10.572 MB·

by  Mila Bongco

READING COMICS
LANGUAGE, CULTURE, AND THE
CONCEPT OF THE SUPERHERO IN
COMIC BOOKS
MILABONGCO
First published 2000 by
Garland Publishing Inc.
Published 2013 byRoutledge
2Park Square,Milton Park,Abingdon,Oxon ÜX14 4RN
7111bird Avenue, NewYork,NY 10017,USA
RoulkdgeisanimpnnloftheTt!.Y1or& FrandsGroup,aninjormabesiness
Copyright © 2000 by Mila Bongco.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthis book maybe reprintedorrepro
duced or urilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or
other means, now known or hereafrer invented, induding photo
copying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, wirheut permission in wriring from rhe publishers.
Library of Congress Caraloging-in-Publication Dara
Bongco, Mila.
Reading Comics : language, culrure, and rheconcept of rhe
superhero in eomie books I Mila Bongeo.
p.em.
Includes Index.
ISBN 0-8153-3344-7 (alk. paper]
ISBN978-0-815-33344-9(hbk)
1. Comic books, strips, ete-History and criticism. 2. Herces.
I. Tide.
PN6714.B66 1999
741.5·09-<1c21
99-046175
Contents
Acknowledgments Vll
Introduction IX
Chapter 1: Comics and Cultural Studies: Sitesfor Struggle 1
Chapter 2: Responses to Comicbooks and the
Concept of the "Popular" 19
Chaper 3: On the Language of Comics and the
Reading Process 45
Chapter 4: Superhero Comicbooks 85
Chapter 5: Factors that Changed Superhero Comicbooks 125
Chapter 6: Frank Miller's The Dark Knight
Returns (1986) 151
Chapter 7: A Glimpse at the Comics Sceneafter 1986 177
Index 231
v
Thispageintentionallyleftblank
List of Figures
Figure 1
Influences of the underground comix.
Dirty Plotte #1 byJuliet Doucet (1990) 5
Figure 2
Rate #23 by Peter Bagge(1996) 7
Figure 3
Panel without text. Bane Val. One: Out [rom Boneville
byJeff Smith (1996) 47
Figure 4
"La Sorpresa" from Luba #1
by Gilbert Hernandez (1998) 48
Figure 5
Definition of comics in Understanding Comics
byScott McCloud (1993) 52
Figure 6
The central role of sequence in comics.
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud (1993) 53
Figure 7
Soulwind #3 by C. Scott Morse (1997) 55
Figure 8
Bleeding Heart #5 by Peter Kuper (1993) 56
Figure 9
Daisho byPatrick Debruin (1993) 57
Figure 10
The angle in relation to the reader. Daisho
byPatrick Debruin (1993) 60
vm List ofFigures
Figure 11
Another angle, a different response.
Daisho by Patrick Debruin (1993) 60
Figure 12
The overlapping of frames signal speed of
action. The TaleofOne Bad Rat byBryan Talbot (1995) 61
Figure 13
Falling frames mimic action. The Maxx
by Sam Kieth (1993) 62
Figure 14
Avisual dialogue between artists and readers exist.
Comics and Sequential Art byWill Eisner (1985) 64
Figure 15
Sixkinds of transition in comics narrative. Understanding
Comics byScott McCloud (1993) 66
Figure 16
Proportion of transition states. Understanding Comics
byScott McCloud (1993) 67
Figure 17
Reading the "empty space."
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud (1993) 68
Figure 18
Playing with the gutter. . Comics and Sequential Art byWill
Eisner (1985) 69
Figure 19
Narrator space instead of balloons. Pallokaville #4 bySeth
(1993) 71
Figure 20
Images in thought balloons. Madman Comics, Yearbook '95
by Mike Allred (1995) 72
Figure 21
Images tell a story. Bleeding Hear #5 by Peter Kuper. 73
Figure 22
Texts used as images. Soulwind #4
by C. Scott Morse (1997) 74
List ofFigures IX
Figure 23
Whoa, Nellie! #1 by Xaime Hernandez (1996) 76
Figure 24
Daisho by Patrick Debruin (1993) 77
Figure 25
Zotf Book One by Scott McCloud (1990) 80
Figure 26
Time and timing. Comics and Sequential Art
byWill Eisner (1985) 81
Figure 27
Good girl art. Lady Death: The Reckoningwritten
byBrian Pulido and illustrated byStevenHughes (1995) 109
Figure 28
Naughty Bits #26 byRoberta Gregory (1998) 112
Figure 29
Apage from Love and Rockets #50
byXaime Hernandez (1996) 133
Figure 30
An aging Batman killsJoker in The Dark Knight Returns
by Frank Miller (1986) 159
Figure 31
Concrete #4 by Paul Chadwick (1987) 180
Figure 32
Eightball #2 byDan Clowes (1990) 187
Figure 33
Humourous and entertaining scenesabound in Rate
byPeter Bagge(1993) 189
Figure 34
Peepshow #1 byJoe Matt (1993) 198
Figure 35
Palookaville #4 by Seth (1993) 199
Figure 36
Yummy Furby Chester Brown (1992) 201
x List o{Figures
Figure 37
Nowhere postcard by Debbie Drechsler (1997) 202
Figure 38
Cover of Optic Nerve #4 by Adrian Tomine (1997) 203
Figure 39
Optic Nerve #3 by Adrian Tomine (1997) 204
Figure 40
Apage from Acme Novelty Library #1
by Chris Ware (1993) 206
Figure 41
An advertising page reminiscent of the 1950s. Acme Novelty
Library #1 by Chris Ware (1993) 207
Figure 42
Naughty Bits #26 by Roberta Gregory (1998) 208
Figure 43
Desert Peach #16 byDonna Barr (1991) 209
Figure 44
Cover page of Action Girl Comics #1
by Sarah Dyer (1994) 210
Figure 45
The Maxx #1 by Sam Kieth (1993) 212
Figure 46
Bonemeets Thorn in Bone Val. One: Out[rom Boneville
byJeff Smith (1996) 214
Figure 47
Astra City: Li{ein the Big City byKurt Busiek (1999) 215
Figure 48
Madman Comics, Yearbook '95 by Mike Allred (1995) 218
Figure 49
Madman Comics, Yearbook '95 byMike Allred (1995) 219
Figure 50
The Taleo{One Bad Rat byBryan Talbot (1995) 220
Acknowledgments
Many people assisted me in various ways in the course of putting
this book tagether. The most important is Jan Philipzig, for his
patience and unswerving beliefinthis book. He also wrote mostof
the materialItranslatedfor Chapters Sevenand Eight. Ialso thank
Milan Dimic who supervised my dissertation and encouraged me
to have it published.
Other individuals who helped me directly include Mike Chow
who lent me his comicbooks and gave feedback on some of the
chapters, Gunnar Blodgett who also provided some comments,
and Brent Simon and Lorne Tkachuk for technical help with scan
ners, CD burners, and the Macintosh. I want to acknowledge Pre
Print Inc. for letting me use their equipment in scanning the
Images.
I gratefully acknowledge the permission given by the artists
and publishers for the images in this book, without which reading
this book will definitely be lessinteresting.
Most importantly, I wish to thank those who motivated and
encouraged me during many moments of doubt: my family and
friends from Manila, Bacolod, Munich, Dresden, Edmonton,
Beaumont, New York, and California.
I regret the absence of illustrations from Marve1,and more illustrations
from DC. I never got any response from Marve1, and DC would only
allow one. Ir is unfortunate that bureaucratic policies prevailed over the
value the illustrationswould have had for readers.
xi