Comics Unmasked: Art and Anarchy in the UK - Softcover

Dunning, John Harris; Gravett, Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0712357351 ISBN 13: 9780712357357

Publisher: British Library, 2014

Synopsis

It’s simple comics are fun. Whether fifteen or fifty, we love sitting down with a comic book, losing ourselves in a universe filled with wonder and excitement. But comics offer much more than meets the eye, and in Comics Unmasked, Paul Gravett and John Harris Dunning look beyond the notion of comics as pleasure reading to focus on their inherently anarchic nature.
           
Gravett and Dunning have combed the British Library’s extensive comic collection not only to explore the full potential of the medium but also to single out the critical points in history in which the art form challenged the status quo. Featuring newly discovered Victorian comics alongside some of the biggest names in comics today, including Alan Moore (Watchmen, V for Vendetta), Neil Gaiman (Sandman), Mark Millar (Kick-Ass), and Grant Morrison (Batman: Arkham Asylum), Comics Unmasked explores the political and social issues raised by British comics and their creators over the last century, from violence and drugs to class and sexuality.
           
Published to accompany a British Library exhibition that will be the United Kingdom’s largest exhibit of British comics to date, Comics Unmasked will delight comics enthusiasts around the world, offering them the chance to discover a different perhaps darker side of the medium.

About this title

About the Author:

Paul Gravett has written numerous books on comics, including Comics Art and 1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die. John Harris Dunning is coauthor of the acclaimed graphic novel Salem Brownstone: All Along the Watchtowers.

Review:

"The authors of this work are journalists well pedigreed in the comics studies field. Here they bring to print a significant volume stemming from their co-curation of a 2014 British Library exhibition of the same name. Their erudite yet readable examination of British comics (and those made by British creators) spans nearly 200 years. Refreshingly, the volume is not simply chronological but is arranged in six chapters on distinct thematic elements (violence, cultural identity, politics, sexuality, heroes, and experimental). Most of the page count consists of lavish, often full-color illustrations, fully sourced and contextualized. The book’s relatively large size and high quality of reproduction allow readers to truly study the artwork. Unlike many books about comics, this volume is illustrated with interior pages of actual sequential art and narrative. . . . Accessible to readers at all levels yet meaty enough for advanced scholars." (CHOICE)

About this edition

• Publisher: British Library
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0712357351
• ISBN 13: 9780712357357
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208