Understanding Genres in Comics

“The notion of comic book genres, such as superheroes and funny animals, has been a mainstay of comics scholarship before the field of study saw itself as such. Labarre’s Understanding Genres in Comics shows the limitations of fixed notions of genre and will require scholars of genre and comics to re-examine their approach.”

--Ian Gordon, National University of Singapore

This book offers a theoretical framework and numerous cases studies – from early comic books to contemporary graphic novels – to understand the uses of genres in comics. It begins with the assumption that genre is both frequently used and undertheorized in the medium. Drawing from existing genre theories, particularly in film studies, the book pays close attention to the cultural, commercial, and technological specificities of comics in order to ground its account of the dynamics of genre in the medium. While chronicling historical developments, including the way public discourses shaped the horror genre in comics in the 1950s and the genre-defining function of crossovers, the book also examines contemporary practices, such as the use of hashtags and their relations to genres in self-published online comics.
Nicolas Labarre is an assistant lecturer at University Bordeaux Montaigne, France, where he teaches American society and culture. He is the author of Heavy Metal, l’autre Métal Hurlant (2017), a cultural history of Heavy Metal magazine, and of numerous articles on genres and intermediality in comics.