Understanding the Funnies

edited by Gail W. Pieper with Kenneth D. Nordin and Joseph Ursitti

provides--for the first time--critical essays that offer alternative approaches for making sense of newspaper comics and establish a solid theoretical foundation for evaluating this important genre . The book is international in coverage and includes indexes for convenient use as a reference.

Audience for the book

  • students and teachers in popular culture classes
  • classes studying comics as literature
  • persons interested in cross-cultural and comparative literature courses
  • anyone who wishes to better understand and enjoy this uniquely American invention
  • Ordering the book

    The book is published by Procopian Press,
    Benedictine University
    5700 College Rd.
    Lisle, IL 60532
    1997

    To order the book, send a check for $14.95, payable to Procopian Press, to
    Dr. Gail W. Pieper, Managing Editor
    Literature and Communications
    Benedictine University
    Lisle, IL 60532

    or contact Gail Pieper at (630) 852-6258 or (630) 252-7222
    E-mail: [email protected]

    Special features of the book

  • Applies Jungian archetypes to comic superheroes
  • Shows how the cold war affected comics, both directly and indirectly, in the 1950s
  • Compares comic strip heroes with the great protagonists of classical literature
  • Provides a comprehensive survey of comic art in Italy and Asia
  • Analyzes the factors that ensure strip continuity, even when the artists change
  • Explores the underlying causes of troubled male-female relationships in the comics
  • Contents

  • A New Approach to Newspaper Comics
    Gail W. Pieper
  • The Art of Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes
    Kenneth D. Nordin and William Scarlato
  • Commies, H-Bombs, and the National Security State
    Anthony A. Harkins
  • Male and Female Relationships in Comic Strips
    Kenneth D. Nordin
  • Dick Tracy and His Creators
    Mary Kane and Gail W. Pieper
  • Jungian Archetypes in American Comic Strips
    James F. Iaccino
  • Tess Truehart (Tracy): Then and Now
    Arthur T. Broes and Gail W. Pieper
  • Cosmo's Cosmos
    Gail W. Pieper and Marie Clear
  • One Hundred Years of Comics in Italy
    Antonio Sassu; trans. William Worden
  • Sanmao, Kenkoy, Tokai: The Comic Strip in Asia
    John A. Lent
  • Subject Index
  • Index of Comic Strips