THE RISE OF THE AMERICAN COMICS ARTIST This page intentionally left blank The Rise of the American Comics Artist CREATORS AND CONTEXTS Edited by PAUL WILLIAMS and JAMES LYONS UNIVERSITY PRESS OF MISSISSIPPI / JACKSON www.upress.state.ms.us The University Press of Mississippi is a member of the Association of American University Presses. Copyright © 2010 by University Press of Mississippi All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America First printing 2010 ∞ Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The rise of the American comics artist : creators and contexts / edited by Paul Williams and James Lyons. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-1-60473-791-2 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-160473-792-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Comic books, strips, etc.— United States—History—20th century. 2. Cartoonists—United States—Biography. I. Williams, Paul, 1979– II. Lyons, James, 1972– III. Title: Creators and contexts. NC1426.R57 2011 741.5’97309048—dc22 2010016183 British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available Contents ix xi Acknowledgments Introduction: In the Year 3794 —PAUL WILLIAMS AND JAMES LYONS I: Marketing Creators 3 1. How the Graphic Novel Changed American Comics —STEPHEN WEINER 14 2. “Is this a book?” DC Vertigo and the Redefinition of Comics in the 1990s —JULIA ROUND 31 3. Signals from Airstrip One: The British Invasion of Mainstream American Comics —CHRIS MURRAY 46 Interview: Jeff Smith II: Demo-Graphics: Comics and Politics 57 68 4. State of the Nation and the Freedom Fighters Arc —GRAHAM J. MURPHY 5. Critique, Caricature, and Compulsion in Joe Sacco’s Comics Journalism —ADAM ROSENBLATT AND ANDREA A. LUNSFORD vi CONTENTS III: Artists or Employees? 90 6. Too Much Commerce Man? Shannon Wheeler and the Ironies of the “Rebel Cell” —JAMES LYONS 103 124 7. Comics Against Themselves: Chris Ware’s Graphic Narratives as Literature —DAVID M. BALL Interview: Jim Woodring IV: Creative Difference: Comics Creators and Identity Politics 135 8. Questions of “Contemporary Women’s Comics” —PAUL WILLIAMS 150 164 9. Theorizing Sexuality in Comics —JOE SUTLIFF SANDERS 10. Feminine Latin/o American Identities on the American Alternative Landscape: From the Women of Love and Rockets to La Perdida —ANA MERINO V: Authorizing Comics: How Creators Frame the Reception of Comic Texts 179 11. Making Comics Respectable: How Maus Helped Redefine a Medium —IAN GORDON 194 12. “A Purely American Tale”: The Tragedy of Racism and Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth as Great American Novel —PAUL WILLIAMS CONTENTS 210 13. “That Mouse’s Shadow”: The Canonization of Spiegelman’s Maus —ANDREW LOMAN 235 Interview: Scott McCloud 243 247 Contributors Index vii This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments We would like to express our gratitude to Seetha Srinivasan and Walter Biggins at the University Press of Mississippi for their enthusiasm, encouragement, and support—and our anonymous readers for helping to guide and hone our ideas for the book. Thanks also to Max Stites for taking the time to read the manuscript. It has benefited greatly from the generosity of Joe Sacco and Chris Ware, who have allowed us permission to reproduce their work, and from the invaluable insights of Jeff Smith, Jim Woodring, and Scott McCloud. Thanks to them, and the numerous other comics creators who continue to entertain, educate, and inspire us. ix