Reading comics : how graphic novels work and what they mean

This is the first serious, readable, provocative, canon-smashing book of comic criticism by the leading critic in the field.Suddenly, comics are everywhere: a newly matured art form, filling bookshelves with brilliant, innovative work and shaping the ideas and images of the rest of contemporary culture. In "Reading Comics", critic Douglas Wolk shows us why this is and how it came to be.Wolk illuminates the most dazzling creators of modern comics and introduces a critical theory that explains where each fits into the pantheon of art. "Reading Comics" is accessible to the hardcore fan and the curious newcomer; it is the first book for people who want to know not just what comics are worth reading, but also the ways to think and talk and argue about them.Illustrators included in "Reading Comics" include: David B; Chester Brown; Steve Ditko; Will Eisner; Frank Miller; Gilbert Hernandez; Jaime Hernandez; Craig Thompson; James Kochalka; Hope Larson; Carla Speed McNeil; Alan Moore; Grant Morrison; Dave Sim; Jim Starlin; Kevin Huizenga; Charles Burns; Art Spiegelman; Chris Ware; and, Alison Bechdel.