Comic Insights

The popular American comic book is considered in this volume of Critical Insights. From their creation in the 1930s to the widespread popularity of comic book heroes today, this literary form continues to delight and entertain readers. This volume offers a collection of original essays that will establish for students and their teachers an exemplary representation of American comics as a field of study within American literature.

Celebrate the 75th anniversary of Marvel Comics with this action packed poster book featuring Marvel’s most iconic comic book covers. For over seventy-five years, Marvel Comics has been thrilling fans with iconic comic book covers that perfectly capture the dynamic characters and explosive situations that make the Marvel universe so compelling. This poster book brings together forty covers from Marvel’s most memorable issues, from Spider-Man’s striking debut in Amazing Fantasy #15 to the first installment of Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars. Each poster is easy to remove and perfect for displaying.

The author's goal is to help you learn to think funny every day.

If you want to build a stand-up comedy career, this book is a must read. If you want to write comedy, this book is a must-read. If you simply enjoy comedy ... this book is a must read. Part One offers essential advice about understanding the fundamentals of stand-up, studying other comedians, finding your own style, writing your material, working the live performance, and appearing on television. Fascinating, candid, insightful interviews with today's top comedians, who discuss at length why and how they do what they do, comprise Part Two, the bulk of the book. The third and last part of the book addresses your stand-up career through interviews with noted comedy club owners, an agent, a personal manager, and a television talent co-ordinator. Literally crammed with the wisdom of today's finest stand-up comics, in terms of quality, quantity, and timeliness information, this book is without peer.

The Comic Event approaches comedy as dynamic phenomenon that involves the gathering of elements of performance, signifiers, timings, tones, gestures, previous comic bits, and other self-conscious structures into an “event” that triggers, by virtue of a “cut,” an expected/unexpected resolution. Using examples from mainstream comedy, The Comic Event progresses from the smallest comic moment-jokes, bits-to the more complex-caricatures, sketches, sit-coms, parody films, and stand-up routines. Judith Roof builds on side comments from Henri Bergson's short treatise “Laughter,” Sigmund Freud's Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious, and various observations from Aristotle to establish comedy as a complex, multifaceted practice. In seeing comedy as a gathering event that resolves with a “cut,” Roof characterizes comedy not only by a predictable unpredictability occasioned by a sudden expected/unexpected insight, but also by repetition, seriality, self-consciousness, self-referentiality, and an ourobouric return to a previous cut. This theory of comedy offers a way to understand the operation of a broad array of distinct comic occasions and aspects of performance in multiple contexts.

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The fundamental rule of humor is that it’s not about you. When people make fun of you, they’re not laughing at you. They’re laughing with you. That’s right. When someone makes a joke at your expense, it’s always someone else who’s getting the last laugh. It’s never you. It was a moment that taught me a lot about life and about comedy. And, just possibly, about love. -> The fundamental rule of humor is that it’s not about you. When people make fun of you, they’re not laughing at you; they’re laughing with you. It’s always someone else who’s getting the last laugh. #2 The fundamental rule of humor is that it’s not about you. When people make fun of you, it’s not about hurting you, it’s about laughing with you. #3 The fundamental rule of humor is that it’s not about you. When people make fun of you, they’re not laughing at you; they’re laughing with you. It’s always someone else who’s getting the last laugh. #4 The fundamental rule of humor is that it’s not about you. When people make fun of you, they’re not laughing at you; they’re laughing with you. It’s always someone else who’s getting the last laugh.

The comic book universe is adventurous, mystifying, and filled with heroes, villains, and cosplaying Comic-Con attendees. This book by one of Wired magazine's art directors traverses the graphic world through a collection of pie charts, bar graphs, timelines, scatter plots, and more. Super Graphic offers readers a unique look at the intricate and sometimes contradictory storylines that weave their way through comic books, and shares advice for navigating the pages of some of the most popular, longest-running, and best-loved comics and graphic novels out there. From a colorful breakdown of the DC Comics reader demographic to a witty Venn diagram of superhero comic tropes and a Chris Ware sadness scale, this book charts the most arbitrary and monumental characters, moments, and equipment of the wide world of comics. Plus, this is the fixed format version, which includes high-resolution images.

Explore the mysteries of Batman's Gotham City in this miniature art book. Throughout Batman's rich comic book history his home of Gotham City has been a minefield of dangerous foes and exciting adventures. Now, fans can hold the details of this sprawling metropolis in the palm of their hand with DC Comics: Field Guide to Gotham City. Featuring intriguing secrets and fascinating details, this colorful illustrated mini book exposes the underbelly of Gotham City and all the characters that dwell within. Part of Insight Editions' new collectible series of mini books, this is the perfect gift for any DC Comics fan.