Perspectives on Digital Comics

This collection of new essays explores various ways of reading, interpreting and using digital comics. Contributors discuss comics made specifically for web consumption, and also digital reproductions of print-comics. Written for those who may not be familiar with digital comics or digital comic scholarship, the essays cover perspectives on reading, criticism and analysis of specific titles, the global reach of digital comics, and how they can be used in educational settings.

Jeffrey SJ Kirchoff is the associate dean of English at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. His writing has appeared in Studies in Comics, Technoculture, the Journal of College Literacy and Learning, Language and Literacy and Sequential Art Narrative in Education.

Mike P. Cook is an assistant professor at Auburn University, where he teaches within the English education program. His writing has appeared in The ALAN Review, Sequential Art Narrative in Education, the Journal of Language and Literacy Education, Literacy Research & Instruction and the Journal of College Literacy and Learning.

Edited by Jeffrey SJ Kirchoff and Mike P. Cook
Afterword by Drew Morton
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 257
Bibliographic Info: 20 photos, bibliographies, index
Copyright Date: 2019
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7188-8
eISBN: 978-1-4766-3515-6
Imprint: McFarland

Introduction: Digital Comics—Savior or Destroyer of a Medium? (Jeffrey SJ Kirchoff and Mike P. Cook) 1
•  Theory  •
Experiencing the Infinite: An Introduction to Digital Comics ­Phenomenology Through Marvel Infinite Comics (Jayson Quearry) 9
Considering ComiXology’s Guided View (Jeffrey SJ Kirchoff) 30
Re-Theorizing the Infinite Canvas: A Space for Comics
and Rhetorical Theories (Rich Shivener) 46
Documentary Webcomics: Mediality and Contexts (Johannes C.P. Schmid) 63
•  Criticism  •
It Came from the Woods (Most Strange Things Do):
Emily Carroll’s Through the Woods and Interactive
Internet Reading (Eden Lee Lackner) 89
Death’s “Friend Hug”: Analyzing the Personification
of Death in Three Webcomics (Karis Jones) 109
MAUS (W)HOLES: Reflections on (and in) the Digitization
of Art Spiegelman’s MAUS (John Logie) 138
•  Global  •
When Funding Is the Issue That Prevents an Issue: Are Digital Comics the Logical Platform of Production in a South African Context? (Ray Whitcher) 157
Digital Comics in Francophone Countries: Never Too Late
to Be Creative (Chris ­Reyns-Chikuma and Jean Sébastien) 178
•  Education  •
Upwards and Backwards: Blurred Perspectives on Digital
Comics as Mentor Texts (Teri Holbrook, Melanie Hundley and Bill Holbrook) 201
Using Digital Comics to Support Information Literacy:
21st Century Research Skills and Authentic Composing (Mike P. Cook and Luke Rodesiler) 221
Afterword: Losing My Edge (Drew Morton) 236
About the Contributors 243
Index 247