Secret Origins of Comics Studies

Matthew J. Smith is Professor and Director in the School of Communication at Radford University in Virginia. Along with Randy Duncan, he is co-editor of Routledge’s Advances in Comics Studies series. Previously, the two writing partners teamed with former DC Comics President and Publisher Paul Levitz to produce The Power of Comics: History, Form, and Culture (2nd Edition). Randy Duncan is Professor of Communication and Director of the Comics Studies Minor at Henderson State University. He is co-editor, with Matthew J. Smith, of the Eisner-nominated Critical Approaches to Comics: Theories and Methods. He is a co-founder, with Peter M. Coogan, of the Comics Arts Conference and received the Inkpot Award for contributions to Comics Studies.

"This landmark book makes a compelling and coherent narrative out of the complex and multi-threaded history - and pre-history - of comics studies. Its existence and publication is a powerful testament to just how far comics studies have now progressed." –Richard Reynolds, University of the Arts, London"The emergence of comics studies as a full-blown academic discipline constitutes one of the most exciting and important developments in the contemporary humanities. This valuable book explores the circumstances that made our present moment possible while paying a generous and necessary tribute to many early pioneers of the field." –Ben Saunders, University of Oregon

• Foreword by Charles HatfieldPreface by Matthew J. Smith and Randy DuncanChapter 1- Educating with Comics by Carol L. TilleyChapter 2 - Educating about Comics by Robert G. WeinerChapter 3 - The Historians of Creators by Brad RiccaChapter 4 - The Historians of the Comics Industry by Julie Davis and Robert WesterfelhausChapter 5 - The Historians of the Art Form by Ian HortonChapter 6 - The Librarians and Archivists by Jenny RobbChapter 7 - Literary Theory/Narrative Theory by Barbara PostemaChapter 8 - Semiotics and Linguistics by Gert MeestersChapter 9 - Myths, Archetype, and Religion by Beth Davies-Stofka and David McConehyChapter 10 - Ideological/Sociological by Ian GordonChapter 11 - Formalist Theory: The Cartoonists by Henry JenkinsChapter 12 - Formalist Theory: Academics by Ann MillerChapter 13 - Psychology/Psychiarty by Travis LangleyChapter 14 - Gender Studies and Queer Studies by Kane AndersonChapter 15 - Manga Studies, A History by Nicholas A. TheisenChapter 16 - The Organizations by Jeremy LaranceChapter 17 - The Galleries by Kim MunsonChapter 18 - The Conferences by Julia Round and Chris MurrayChapter 19 - The Journals by Alec R. HostermanChapter 20 - The Presses by Joseph Michael SommersFeaturing additional sidebars from José Alaniz, Jacqueline Berndt, Christina Blanch, Ian Hague, A. David Lewis, and William Proctor along with 'Pioneer Perspectives' from trailblazing scholars James "Bucky" Carter, Peter M. Coogan, Maurice Horn, M. Thomas Inge, David Kunzle, Pascal Lefèvre, John Lent, and Waldomiro Vergueiro.