Concise Dictionary of Comics
Concise Dictionary of Comics
Written in straightforward, jargon-free language, A Concise Dictionary of Comics guides students, researchers, readers, and educators of all ages and at all levels of comics expertise. It provides them with a dictionary that doubles as a compendium of comics scholarship.
A Concise Dictionary of Comics provides clear and informative definitions for each term. It includes twenty-five witty illustrations and pairs most defined terms with references to books, articles, book chapters, and other relevant critical sources. All references are dated and listed in an extensive, up-to-date bibliography of comics scholarship. Each term is also categorized according to type in an index of thematic groupings. This organization serves as a pedagogical aid for teachers and students learning about a specific facet of comics studies and as a research tool for scholars who are unfamiliar with a particular term but know what category it falls into. These features make A Concise Dictionary of Comics especially useful for critics, students, teachers, and researchers, and a vital reference to anyone else who wants to learn more about comics.
There has been an undeniable rise in the popularity of graphic novels and superhero movies for a few decades. This increase in awareness has seen a surge in academic studies of, and pedagogical books devoted to, comics. Pedri found a gap in the related literature—a dearth of reference resources dedicated to terms commonly utilized in the study of comic books and its culture. . . . This reference is useful and recommended for most libraries so that they can support the growing interest in comic books within many user groups.
Though concise, as the title states, this reference is comprehensive and offers more than a dictionary of comics terms. Consisting of more than a thousand entries and definitions relevant to comics history, design, production, distribution, collecting, and scholarship, the dictionary is also an excellent source for anyone who wants to know more about any aspect of comics creation and culture. Highly recommended.
In the burgeoning world of comics studies, a book like this is indispensable. . . . Dictionaries are not designed to be read cover to cover, but this one is entertaining enough that it could be. More practically, though, it serves as a valuable resource for those needing a quick definition, wanting more information to develop an argument or fill in gaps, or seeking a scholarly reference for a term.
Nancy Pedri’s wonderful A Concise Dictionary of Comics provides useful references in a variety of texts for key concepts in comics studies that allows for ready comparison.
Nancy Pedri is professor of English at Memorial University of Newfoundland (Canada). She edited “Mixing Visual Media in Comics” for ImageText and “The Narrative Functions of Photography in Comics” for Image [&] Narrative; she coedited “Sexuality and Mental Illness in Comics” for the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics. Chuck Howitt is a proofreader, assistant editor, and illustrator with a certificate in comics studies from Portland State University.
