Webcomics

Sean Kleefeld is an independent scholar based in the USA. He is the author of Comic Book Fanthropology (2009) and is a regular columnist and blogger.

Sean Kleefeld’s Webcomics, an entry in the Bloomsbury Comics Studies series, is essential because it remedies the lack of a high-level account of webcomics. It allows the reader to survey the entire field and to see the common threads that link seemingly disparate genres together ... I hope that other future scholarly works, by Kleefeld or others, will complement Kleefeld’s perspective by offering more critical and theoretically informed analyses of webcomics. For such works, however, Kleefeld’s Webcomics represents an essential starting point.

• IntroductionHistorical OverviewSocial and Cultural ImpactUbiquityTechnologyConflicts with Newspaper StripsAudience ParticipationEducation/Social CausesFormats FinancingKey TextsGirl Genius by Phil and Kaja FoglioPenny Arcade by Mike Krahulik and Jerry HolkinsQuestionable Content by Jeph JacquesStand Still. Stay Silent. by Minna SundbergThe Adventures of Gyno-Star by Rebecca CohenDumbing of Age by David M. WillisEmpathize This by Tak Shiota et al.Critical Uses Discussing WebcomicsWebcomics as a Genre?Genres in WebcomicsDefining SuccessSuccess: Easier or More Difficult?The Negative Side of Creator Access Permanence vs. EtherialnessParatextsAppendixSolution Squad Lesson PlanGlossaryResources