Comics, Graphic Novels and Manga

Detail from Hey, Wait... by Jason (2001).

At present, this guide focuses heavily on comics and graphic novels from the United States and Japanese manga. Obviously, sequential narrative art is a global storytelling convention practiced across every continent and within every culture. In an ideal world this guide would cover Franco-Belgian bandes dessinées, the historietas of Central and South America, the explosion of the medium in contemporary Africa. This guide should be considered a living document, and future work will hopefully address the imbalance in coverage!

In writing this guide we drew heavily on Comics, Comix and Graphic Novels: A History of Comic Art by Roger Sabin, The Comic Book History of Comics by Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey, and Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics by Paul Gravett.

Abate, M. A. (2021). The yellow kid and the yellow peril: R. F. Outcault’s comics series, Asian caricature, and Chinese exclusion. ImageTexT: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies, 13(2), 1–51.

Bouissou, J. (2010). Manga: A historical overview. In T. Johnson-Woods (Eds.), Manga: An anthology of global and cultural perspectives (pp. 17–33). Continuum.

Brophy, P. (2010). Osamu Tezuka’s gekiga: Behind the mask of manga. In T. Johnson-Woods (Ed.), Manga: An anthology of global and cultural perspectives (pp. 128–136). Continuum International Publishing Group.

Burke, L. (2019). An interview with comics artist, writer, and “herstorian” Trina Robbins. In L. Burke, I. Gordon, & A. Ndalianis (Eds.), The superhero symbol: media, culture, and politics (pp. 79–86). Rutgers University Press.

Contrarian fanboy: Frank Miller has always been a sexist, fascist, racist prick. (2013, March 7). Unleash the Fanboy. http://www.unleashthefanboy.com/news/the-dark-knight-returns-fascist-power-fantasy/45802.

Duin, S. & Richardson, M. (1998). Comics: Between the panels. Dark Horse Comics.

Ferguson, C. (2019, April 5). Webcomics: an oral history. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/5/18295369/webcomics-xkcd-questionable-content-dinosaur-comics-90s-internet-social-media.

Gravett, P. (2004). Manga: Sixty years of Japanese comics. Laurence King.

Harth, D. (2022, February 22). 10 ways Image comics changed the industry. CBR. https://www.cbr.com/how-image-comics-changed-the-industry/.

Hideaki, F. (2013). Implicating readers: Tezuka’s early seinen manga. Mechademia, 8, 195–212.

Kavanaugh, B. (2000, October 17). The Alan Moore interview. Blather.net. https://web.archive.org/web/20131224121343/http://blather.net/articles/amoore/northampton.html.

Mahoney, E. An introduction to cult fiction. Cult fiction: Art and comics. (2007). Hayward Publishing.

Murase, M. (1983). Emaki: Narrative scrolls from Japan. Asia Society.

Okudaira, H. (1962). Emaki: Japanese picture scrolls. Charles E. Tuttle Co.

Okudaira, H. (1973). Narrative picture scrolls. Weatherhill.

Rosenbaum, R. (2013). The gekiga tradition: Towards a graphic rendition of history. In R. Iadonisi (Ed.), Graphic history: Essays on graphic novels and/as history (pp. 260–284). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Rousmaniere, N.C. (2019). A manga for everyone. In Rousmaniere, N. C., & Matsuba, R. (Eds.), Manga = マンガ : the Citi exhibition (pp. 20–33). Thames & Hudson.

Sabin, R. (1996). Comics, comix & graphic novels: A history of comic art. Phaidon.

Serchay, D. S. (2010). The librarian’s guide to graphic novels for adults. Neal-Schuman Publishers.

Strömberg, F. (2003). Black images in the comics: A visual history. Fantagraphics.

Suzuki, S. & Stewart, R. (2023). Manga: A critical guide. Bloomsbury Academic.

Theriault, M. J. (2016, March 10). We’re living in the postmodern age of comics. Hub City Review. https://hubcityreview.com/2016/03/10/were-living-in-the-postmodern-age-of-comics/

Van Lente, F. & Dunlavey, R. (2012). The comic book history of comics. IDW.