Philosophy of Comics
What exactly are comics? Can they be art, literature, or even pornography? How should we understand the characters, stories, and genres that shape them?
Thinking about comics raises a bewildering range of questions about representation, narrative, and value. Philosophy of Comics is an introduction to these philosophical questions. In exploring the history and variety of the comics medium, Sam Cowling and Wesley D. Cray chart a path through the emerging field of the philosophy of comics.
Drawing from a diverse range of forms and genres and informed by case studies of classic comics such as Watchmen, Tales from the Crypt, and Fun Home, Cowling and Cray explore ethical, aesthetic, and ontological puzzles, including:
- What does it take to create—or destroy—a fictional character like Superman?
- Can all comics be adapted into films, or are some comics impossible to adapt?
- Is there really a genre of “superhero comics”?
- When are comics obscene, pornographic, and why does it matter?
At a time of rapidly growing interest in graphic storytelling, this is an ideal introduction to the philosophy of comics and some of its most central and puzzling questions.
Sam Cowling is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Denison University, USA.
Wesley D. Cray is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Texas Christian University, USA.