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Slide 01
Comics.
- Vol. XI · Deck 12 · The Deck Catalog
- From Töpffer's albums to Spiegelman's Maus and Bechdel's Fun Home. The 200-year history of sequential art and its rise into the literary mainstream.
- First album-form comicTöpffer, 1830s
- Maus wins Pulitzer1992
- Pages30
Slide 02
OpeningSequential art.
- Lede02
- Comics — sequential art with text and image working together — is among the youngest narrative forms (200 years vs. millennia for novels) and among the most expansive in technique. The medium ranges from Sunday-paper strips to literary graphic novels in the Pulitzer-and-MacArthur firmament.
- It is also the form whose critical respect has shifted the most dramatically in the past 40 years. Until the 1980s, comics were 'low' culture in mainstream criticism. Spiegelman's Maus (1986/1991), Moore's Watchmen (1986/87), and the rise of the literary graphic novel in the 1990s changed that.
- This deck covers the form's history, the major traditions (American comic book, European bande dessinée, Japanese manga), the great works, the contemporary literary scene, and the critical vocabulary the form has developed for itself.
- Vol. XI— ii —
Slide 03
Chapter IThe first comics.
- Töpffer03
- ['Rodolphe Töpffer (Geneva, 1799-1846) created the first sequential-art albums in the 1830s. Histoire de M. Vieux Bois (1837), Monsieur Cryptogame — picture stories with handwritten text, published as books.', "Töpffer was a literary critic who took the form seriously and theorised it. Goethe wrote a celebratory preface. The form's 'first artist' status is genuine and underrated."]
- Comics— i —
Slide 04
Chapter IIOutcault to Herriman.
- Newspaper era04
- ["Richard Outcault's Yellow Kid (1895) is conventionally dated as the first American newspaper comic. Buster Brown, the Katzenjammer Kids followed.", "George Herriman's Krazy Kat (1913-1944) is widely considered the first masterpiece of American comics. Surreal, lyrical, pre-figured the formal experimentation of later decades."]
- Comics— ii —
Slide 05
Chapter IIIThe 1930s emergence.
- Comic books05
- ['The American comic book emerged 1933-38. Funnies on Parade (1933), Famous Funnies (1934), Detective Comics (1937), Action Comics #1 (1938) introducing Superman.', 'The Golden Age (1938-1956) produced Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Captain America, the major superhero line. Created largely by first- and second-generation Jewish immigrants (Siegel, Shuster, Kane, Finger, Eisner, Kirby, Lee).']
- Comics— iii —
Slide 06
Chapter IVPre-Code horror.
- EC06
- ['EC Comics (Entertaining Comics, William Gaines) produced 1950s horror, science-fiction, and crime titles (Tales from the Crypt, Weird Science, Crime SuspenStories). Visceral, intelligent, adult.', "The 1954 Comics Code Authority — driven by Frederic Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent — effectively destroyed EC's catalog and shaped American comics toward children's content for decades."]
- Comics— iv —
Slide 07
Chapter VThe graphic novel concept.
- Will Eisner07
- ['Will Eisner (1917-2005) ran The Spirit newspaper section through the 1940s — formally inventive, sophisticated, an obvious precursor to later literary comics.', "His A Contract with God (1978) is conventionally dated as the first 'graphic novel' (the term was Eisner's marketing). The medium's claim to literary seriousness begins here."]
- Comics— v —
Slide 08
Chapter VIR. Crumb and the 1960s.
- Underground08
- ["The underground comix movement (note the 'x' to distinguish from mainstream comics): Robert Crumb (Zap, Mr. Natural), Gilbert Shelton (Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers), Trina Robbins, Aline Kominsky-Crumb.", 'Adult, drug-centric, sexually frank, politically charged. Created the alternative-comics ecosystem that would later produce Daniel Clowes, Chris Ware, Charles Burns.']
- Comics— vi —
Slide 09
Chapter VIIMoore and Gibbons, 1986.
- Watchmen09
- ["Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's Watchmen (1986-87, DC) deconstructed the superhero genre. Time-displaced narrative, formal experimentation, mature thematic content (Cold War nuclear anxiety, vigilantism, ageing).", "Watchmen's commercial and critical success is the moment when the American comic book demonstrably entered the literary conversation. Moore's other major works (From Hell, V for Vendetta, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) confirmed the trend."]
- Comics— vii —
Slide 10
Chapter VIIISpiegelman's masterpiece.
- Maus10
- ["Art Spiegelman's Maus (serialised Raw 1980-1991, collected 1986+1991) is the single most-celebrated graphic novel. The Jews-as-mice, Nazis-as-cats device tells Spiegelman's father's Holocaust story.", "The 1992 special Pulitzer Prize for Maus II was the first major institutional recognition of the form's literary status. Maus remains in print and on syllabi worldwide. The 2022 Tennessee school-board ban produced a sales surge."]
- Comics— viii —
Slide 11
Chapter IXGaiman's mythology.
- Sandman11
- ["Neil Gaiman's The Sandman (1989-1996, DC's Vertigo imprint) was a 75-issue mythological-fantasy comic that drew literary-fiction readers to the medium.", "Gaiman drew on Greek myth, Shakespeare, Borges, Milton. The series effectively established the contemporary 'literary comic' as a viable commercial category and helped found the Vertigo imprint."]
- Comics— ix —
Slide 12
Chapter XJapanese sequential art.
- Manga12
- ["Manga has been a major commercial and artistic tradition in Japan since the 1950s. Tezuka Osamu (Astro Boy, Phoenix, Black Jack), Tezuka's contemporaries (Ishinomori, Akatsuka), the Year 24 group (Hagio Moto, Takemiya Keiko).", "The contemporary canon: Otomo's Akira (1982-90), Miyazaki's Nausicaä (1982-94), Inoue's Vagabond, Urasawa's Monster and 20th Century Boys, Asano Inio's Solanin. Manga sales in Japan dwarf US comic sales."]
- Comics— x —
Slide 13
Chapter XIThe Franco-Belgian tradition.
- Bande dessinée13
- ["French and Belgian comics (bande dessinée, BD) have been culturally prestigious for decades. Hergé's Tintin (1929-1976), Goscinny and Uderzo's Astérix (1959-2009).", "Adult bande dessinée: Moebius (Jean Giraud)'s science-fiction work (Arzach, The Incal), Enki Bilal, Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis, 2000-03 — Iranian-French biographical), Joann Sfar (The Rabbi's Cat)."]
- Comics— xi —
Slide 14
Chapter XIISatrapi's autobiography.
- Persepolis14
- ["Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis (4 volumes, 2000-2003) brought the autobiographical-political graphic novel to wide audiences. Satrapi's account of her childhood in revolutionary Iran, drawn in stark black-and-white, was internationally celebrated.", "The 2007 animated film (co-directed by Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, Cannes Jury Prize) extended the work's reach. The form's potential for political-personal narrative was decisively demonstrated."]
- Comics— xii —
Slide 15
Chapter XIIIFun Home.
- Bechdel15
- ["Alison Bechdel's Fun Home (2006) is among the great American memoirs, in any form. Her childhood in a Pennsylvania funeral-home family, her father's closeted gay life and probable suicide, her own coming-out. Literary, formally inventive, emotionally devastating.", "The 2015 Tony-winning Broadway musical adaptation extended the work's reach. Bechdel's earlier strip Dykes to Watch Out For (1983-2008) and the 'Bechdel test' (1985 strip) are independent cultural touchstones."]
- Comics— xiii —
Slide 16
Chapter XIVJimmy Corrigan.
- Ware16
- ["Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth (collected 2000) won the Guardian First Book Award — the first time a graphic novel won a major non-genre literary prize.", "Ware's extraordinary precision, his architectural panel layouts, his emotional weight. Subsequent Building Stories (2012) is structurally a box of separate booklets that can be read in any order."]
- Comics— xiv —
Slide 17
Chapter XVAdrian Tomine.
- Tomine17
- ["Adrian Tomine's Optic Nerve series (since 1991) and graphic novels (Shortcomings 2007, Killing and Dying 2015, The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist 2020) work in the alt-comics realist mode.", "Tomine has crossed into mainstream literary recognition. New Yorker covers, MacArthur consideration. Among the form's most-respected current practitioners."]
- Comics— xv —
Slide 18
Chapter XVIThe internet decade.
- Webcomics18
- ['The 2000s and 2010s saw webcomics rise as a major commercial form. Penny Arcade (gaming), Achewood, Dinosaur Comics, xkcd (Munroe), Hark a Vagrant (Beaton), Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, the Oatmeal.', "Some webcomics monetised heavily (xkcd, Penny Arcade); others built audiences and crossed to print (Beaton's Hark a Vagrant, Ducks). The barrier to publication has been fundamentally lowered."]
- Comics— xvi —
Slide 19
Chapter XVIIThe 2010s expansion.
- Manga global19
- ['Manga sales in the West exploded in the 2010s. Naruto, One Piece, Attack on Titan, Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen reached audiences far beyond the manga subculture. Print manga sales in the US doubled 2019-2021.', "Manhwa (Korean comics) and webtoon (vertically-scrolling digital format) followed similar trajectories. The form's global cultural weight has shifted east."]
- Comics— xvii —
Slide 20
Chapter XVIIIMarvel Cinematic Universe.
- MCM20
- ["The Marvel Cinematic Universe (2008-onward, anchored in Iron Man) substantially shifted Hollywood toward comic-book IP. The form's commercial weight is now substantially in screen adaptations.", "DC Extended Universe, Sony's Spider-Man films, Image and Vertigo properties. Film and TV revenue from comic IP dwarfs print sales for major characters."]
- Comics— xviii —
Slide 21
Chapter XIXEisners, Hugos, Pulitzers.
- Awards21
- ['The Eisner Awards (founded 1988, named for Will Eisner) are the major US comics awards. Major MacArthur fellows from comics: Spiegelman (1992), Bechdel (2014), Ware, Sacco.', "Joe Sacco's comics journalism (Palestine, Footnotes in Gaza, Paying the Land) has won major journalism awards. The form's institutional respect has expanded across categories."]
- Comics— xix —
Slide 22
Chapter XXMcCloud and beyond.
- Theory22
- ["Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics (1993) is the foundational theory text. Drawn entirely as a comic, McCloud's exposition of the form's grammar (gutter, panel, transitions) shaped subsequent academic work.", 'Subsequent: Thierry Groensteen, Hannah Miodrag, the journal ImageText. Comics studies as an academic discipline now produces substantial work.']
- Comics— xx —
Slide 23
Chapter XXIThe 2010s shift.
- Diversity23
- ["The 2010s saw substantial diversification of comics creators and characters. Marvel's revival of Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan, Pakistani-American), Black Panther's Coates-era prominence, Riri Williams (Ironheart), increased women and LGBTQ creators across the industry.", "Indie and literary comics had broader diversity earlier (Bechdel, Satrapi, Lila Quintero Weaver, Mira Jacob, Thi Bui's The Best We Could Do). The mainstream caught up unevenly."]
- Comics— xxi —
Slide 24
Chapter XXIICensorship and protests.
- Politics24
- ["Comics have been targets of censorship repeatedly. The Comics Code Authority (1954-2011 effectively). The Maus 2022 Tennessee school-board ban. Various 'parental rights' campaigns of the 2020s have targeted graphic memoirs (Maia Kobabe's Gender Queer, Bechdel's Fun Home).", "The American Library Association's 'most challenged' lists consistently feature graphic novels disproportionately. The form's visual content makes selective excerpts particularly available for political deployment."]
- Comics— xxii —
Slide 25
Chapter XXIIITwenty-five works.
- Reading list25
- 1837Histoire de M. Vieux BoisTöpffer
- 1913Krazy Kat beginsHerriman
- 1938Action Comics #1Siegel & Shuster
- 1978A Contract with GodEisner
- 1986Maus ISpiegelman
- 1986Watchmen beginsMoore & Gibbons
- 1989Sandman beginsGaiman et al.
- 1991Maus IISpiegelman
- 1993Understanding ComicsMcCloud
- 2000Jimmy CorriganWare
- 2000PersepolisSatrapi
- 2003From HellMoore & Campbell
- 2003Persepolis 2Satrapi
- 2006Fun HomeBechdel
- 2009Asterios PolypMazzucchelli
- 2012Building StoriesWare
- 2012Are You My Mother?Bechdel
- 2015Killing and DyingTomine
- 2017My Favorite Thing Is MonstersFerris
- 2017The Best We Could DoBui
- 2018SabrinaDrnaso
- 2019BerlinLutes
- 2020The Loneliness of the Long-Distance CartoonistTomine
- 2022DucksBeaton
- 2024Recent Eisner winnersVarious
- Comics— xxiii —
Slide 26
Chapter XXIVWatch & read.
- Watch & Read26
- ↑ 1992: Art Spiegelman on the creation of Maus
- More on YouTube
- Watch · Persepolis — Marjane Satrapi
- Watch · Watchmen explained — the original comic
- Comics— xxiv —
Slide 27
Chapter XXVIf you want to learn it.
- How to start27
- For starting. Read Maus, Persepolis, Fun Home, and Watchmen. These four cover the major contemporary literary-graphic-novel registers (Holocaust memoir, autobiographical politics, family memoir, deconstructive superhero) and are widely available.
- For history. Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics (the form's grammar). Paul Karasik and Mark Newgarden's How to Read Nancy. Roger Sabin's Comics, Comix & Graphic Novels.
- For collecting. Local comic shops still exist in most cities. Online: comiXology (Amazon), Image Comics direct, the bookstore graphic-novel sections. Library access has been transformative.
- For making. Lynda Barry's What It Is and Syllabus are the great works on creative-comic process. The Center for Cartoon Studies (Vermont) and the Sequential Artists Workshop (Florida) are major MFA programs.
- Comics— xxv —
Slide 28
Chapter XXVIWhy it matters.
- Argument28
- Comics is now a literary form. The graphic-novel canon — Maus, Persepolis, Fun Home, Watchmen, Jimmy Corrigan, Building Stories — is taken seriously by literary critics, academic readers, and prize committees. The form has earned its institutional recognition.
- It does things prose cannot. The visual layer carries information prose has to translate. Spiegelman's mice/cats device, Bechdel's panel-layered family scenes, Ware's architectural pages — these are art-of-the-medium achievements.
- The audience has globalised. Manga sales in the West, the Marvel cinematic dominance, the literary graphic novel's prize success — comics is now a major component of global popular and literary culture.
- Comics— xxvi —
Slide 29
Chapter XXVIIThe next decade.
- Where it goes29
- Manga and webtoon expansion. Korean manhwa, vertical-scroll webtoons, mobile-first comics — the digital-native East Asian forms are reshaping the global market.
- Streaming adaptation. Films and TV continue to derive heavily from comic IP. The financial model of major comics publishers depends substantially on screen rights.
- Diversity continued. The opening of comics creation to wider voices (women, BIPOC, LGBTQ+ creators) is genuine and ongoing. The most-celebrated graphic novels of the late 2020s are likely to come from outside the historical centers.
- The political fight. School-board challenges to graphic memoirs will continue. The form's visibility makes it a recurring target for censorship campaigns.
- Comics— xxvii —
Slide 30
The end of the deck.
- Colophon30
- Comics & Graphic Novels — Volume XI, Deck 12 of The Deck Catalog. Set in Inter with Source Serif Pro. Newsprint-cream #fff5e1 with primary-red, primary-blue, and yellow accents.
- FINIS
- ↑ Vol. XI · Comics · Deck 12
