Super Bodies

Comic Book Illustration, Artistic Styles, and Narrative Impact

Jeffrey A Brown author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:University of Texas Press

Published:1st Aug '23

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Super Bodies cover

Finalist — San Diego Comic-Con International 2024 Eisner Award in Best Academic/Scholarly Work

An examination of the art in superhero comics and how style influences comic narratives.

For many, the idea of comic book art implies simplistic four-color renderings of stiff characters slugging it out. In fact, modern superhero comic books showcase a range of complex artistic styles, with diverse connotations. Leading comics scholar Jeffrey A. Brown assesses six distinct approaches to superhero illustration—idealism, realism, cute, retro, grotesque, and noir—examining how each visually represents the superhero as a symbolic construct freighted with meaning.

Whereas comic book studies tend to focus on text and narrative, Super Bodies gives overdue credit to the artwork, which is not only a principal source of the appeal of comic books but also central to the values these works embody. Brown argues that superheroes are to be taken not as representations of people but as iconic types, and the art conveys this. Even the most realistic comic illustrations are designed to suggest not persons but ideas—ideas about bodies and societies. Thus the appearance of superheroes both directly and indirectly influences the story being told as well as the opinions readers form concerning justice, authority, gender, puberty, sexuality, ethnicity, violence, and other concepts central to political and cultural life.

Not surprisingly, this is exceptionally well illustrated for an academic book. It is an important contribution to comics scholarship and will help anyone appreciate the medium more deeply. * CHOICE *
Comics Studies needs to apply a more holistic approach in the study of comic book illustration, one that recognizes art as formally equal to text in the construction of narrative. Brown’s argument feels almost tacit, like a thing known all along that just needed a push to be recollected. Much of this effect can be attributed to Brown’s comfort with navigating the field. Brown dialogically contextualizes his claims with an impressive reach of scholarly voices from across multiple disciplines, weaving familiar and unfamiliar ideas into exciting new possibilities for Comics Studies. . . . Brown’s Super Bodies is an invitation for comics scholars to look at the field anew. * INKS *
A valuable look at a corner of Comics Studies that does not get the attention it deserves. * The Comics Grid *

ISBN: 9781477327364

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 680g

256 pages