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Grant Morrison
Combining the Worlds of Contemporary Comics
By Marc Singer
University Press of Mississippi
ISBN 978-1-61703-136-6, paperback, $25
ISBN 978-1-6170-135-9, hardback, $65
For Immediate Release
A critical study of a postmodern comics writer who flaunts superhero conventions
One of the most eclectic and distinctive writers currently working in comics, Grant Morrison (b. 1960) brings the auteurist sensibility of alternative comics and graphic novels to the popular genres—superhero, science fiction, and fantasy—that dominate the American and British comics industries. His comics range from best-sellers featuring the most universally recognized superhero franchises (such as All-Star Superman, Seven Soldiers) to more independent, creator-owned work (The Invisibles, The Filth, Animal Man, Vimanarama) that defies any generic classification.
In Grant Morrison: Combining the Worlds of Contemporary Comics (University Press of Mississippi), author Marc Singer examines how Morrison uses this fusion of styles to intervene in major political, aesthetic, and intellectual challenges of our time. His comics blur the boundaries between fantasy and realism, mixing autobiographical representation and cultural critique with heroic adventure. They offer self-reflexive appraisals of their own genres while they experiment with the formal elements of comics. Perhaps most ambitiously, they challenge contemporary themes of language and signification, seeking to develop new modes of representation grounded in comics' capacity for visual narrative and the fantasy genres' ability to make figurative meanings more literal.
This is the first book to focus on Morrison's entire career, offering a survey of all his works from Near Myths to present. Singer's study analyzes the ways in which Morrison's comics are married both to pop convention and to literary experimentation. As such, Grant Morrison: Combining the World of Contemporary Comics establishes him as an exemplar of postmodernism in contemporary comics.
Grant Morrison: Combining the Worlds of Contemporary Comics is the first scholarly study of Grant Morrison's work. Although the book is aimed primarily at an academic audience it is more than accessible by a general readership. Morrison fans will delight in the 50 illustrations that are also included in this volume.
Marc Singer, Hyattsville, Maryland, is assistant professor of English at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He is the coeditor of Detective Fiction in a Postcolonial and Transnational World.
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Read more about Grant Morrison: Combining the Worlds of Contemporary Comics at http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1426
Mark Ruffin, DC Comic Books Examiner
January 2, 2012
http://www.examiner.com/comic-books-in-washington-dc/in-memoriam
UPDATE: Mark's list had nine people that I don't have below!
As I noted in my new edition of the Comics Research Bibliography, deaths in 2011 included editorial cartoonist Bob Artley, Uruguayan cartoonist Eduardo Barretto, Croatian cartoonist Ivica Bednjanec, Italian comic-book publisher Sergio Bonelli, avant-garde animator Robert Breer, Charles Brooks, Archie Comics artist John "Jon" D'agostino, Spanish artist Victor de la Fuente, sports cartoonist Bill Gallo, Belgian cartoonist Andre Geerts, French artist Paul Gillon, Belgian comics writer Francine Graton, Jeffrey Jones, Family Circus creator Bil Keane, British cartoonist David Langdon, German cartoonist Loriot, Spirou editor Thierry Martens, Indian cartoonist Mario Miranda, caricaturist Sam Norkin, Slovenian artist Jelko Peternelj, Serbian inker Branko http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifPlavsic, Jerry Robinson, Albany Times Union editorial cartoonist Hy Rosen, DC Comics http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifwriter Alvin Schwartz, Captain America co-creator Joe Simon, French cartoonist Jean Tabary, Argentinian comics writer Carlos Trillo, Belgian cartoonist Albert Weinberg, Irish editorial cartoonist Terry Willers, and Ziggy creator Tom Wilson.
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DC Anime Club
Presents
Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3
Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 Tournament will take place January 14, 2012 in room A5
on the A Level of the Library from 2pm-5pm at Martin Luthur King,Jr Memorial Library
901 G St NW
Washington, DC 20001.
For more Information please contact:
president@dcanimeclub.org. (202) 262-2083 (phone)
Please follow us on facebook (https://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/groups/DCAnimeClub/) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/#!/DCAnimeClub).
About DC Anime Club:
DC Anime Club was established in 2003 to introduce and educate people in the Washington, DCarea about East Asian culture, through viewing and discussion of Japanese animation (also known as anime) and Japanese comics (manga).
We also work to provide a positive, alternative activity to the youth in the area by exposing them to foreign culture, encouraging artistic expression and creativity, and providing opportunities for participation in community activities and leadership.
DC Anime Club is a 501(c)(3) not for profit organization. Contributions to DC Anime Club are tax deductible to the extent allowable under the law.
DC Anime Club has been featured in many newspapers and publications .
In addition to our bi-weekly meetings, the club holds an Art Show, a Cosplay Party fundraising event, and anime lectures at local schools . Our club works with the Japan Information and Culture Center, Embassy of Japan, Smithsonian Freer Gallery and DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival on their anime screenings. Our Marketing Team has helped promote performances for several Japanese bands such as Puffy Ami Yumi, Pine am, The Slants, The Captains and Ayabie.
DC Anime Club was founded by Chris Wanamaker (President), Jules Chang (former Vice President) and Craig Vaughn (Vice President) on Saturday June 5, 2003. We have a strong membership that continues to grow.
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Washington Post Comic Riffs blog January 3 2012