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E-book
Author Ahmed, Maaheen, author.

Title Monstrous imaginaries : the legacy of romanticism in comics / Maaheen Ahmed
Published Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, [2020]

Copies

Description 1 online resource (viii, 227 pages, 18 unnumbered pages of plates) : illustrations
Series Mississippi scholarship online
Mississippi scholarship online
Contents Introduction : Charting monstrous territory -- Romantic monsters : a brief history -- Swamp Thing : patchworks and panoramas in monster comics -- Monstre : monstrous fluidity -- Hellboy : nostalgia and the doomed quest -- The Crow : spectacularity and emotionality -- Conclusion: Comics monsters : par monstra ad astra
Summary "Monsters seem inevitably linked to humans and not always as mere opposites. Maaheen Ahmed examines good monsters in comics to show how Romantic themes from the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries persist in today's popular culture. Comics monsters, questioning the distinction between human and monster, self and other, are valuable conduits of Romantic inclinations. Engaging with Romanticism and the many monsters created by Romantic writers and artists such as Mary Shelley, Victor Hugo, and Goya, Ahmed maps the heritage, functions, and effects of monsters in contemporary comics and graphic novels. She highlights the persistence of recurrent Romantic features through monstrous protagonists in English- and French-language comics and draws out their implications. Aspects covered include the dark Romantic predilection for ruins and the sordid, the solitary protagonist, his quest, nostalgia, the prominence of the spectacle as well as excessive emotions, and above all, the monster's ambiguity and rebelliousness. Ahmed highlights each Romantic theme through close readings of well-known but often overlooked comics, including Enki Bilal's Monstre tetralogy, Jim O'Barr's The Crow, and Emil Ferris's My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, as well as the iconic comics series Alan Moore's Swamp Thing and Mike Mignola's Hellboy. In blurring the otherness of the monster, these protagonists retain the exaggeration and uncontrollability of all monsters while incorporating Romantic characteristics"-- Provided by publisher
"The first book to explore the lasting influence of Romanticism on contemporary comics monsters"-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references
Notes Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on June 11, 2020)
Subject Comic books, strips, etc. -- History and criticism
Comic books, strips, etc. -- Psychological aspects.
Monsters in comics.
Monsters in popular culture.
Romanticism in comics.
LITERARY CRITICISM -- Comics & Graphic Novels.
Comic books, strips, etc.
Comic books, strips, etc. -- Psychological aspects.
Monsters in popular culture.
Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Comics criticism.
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2019980607
ISBN 9781496825315
1496825314
9781496825308
1496825306
9781496825292
1496825292
9781496825285
1496825284