About the Author
Image credit: University of Calgary
Series
Works by Bart H. Beaty
Unpopular Culture: Transforming the European Comic Book in the 1990s (Studies in Book and Print Culture) (1972) 26 copies
The Greatest Comic Book of All Time: Symbolic Capital and the Field of American Comic Books (Palgrave Studies in Comics… (2016) 14 copies, 1 review
History, Theme and Technique (Critical Survey of Graphic Novels) (Critical Surveys of Graphic Novels) (2012) 5 copies
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Beaty, Bart H.
- Other names
- Beaty, Bart
- Gender
- male
Members
Reviews
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Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 17
- Also by
- 3
- Members
- 170
- Popularity
- #125,474
- Rating
- 3.4
- Reviews
- 6
- ISBNs
- 66
- Languages
- 2
Author: Bart Beaty and Stephen Weiner
Publisher: Salem Press / Grey House Publishing
Publishing Date: 2018
Pgs: 409
Dewey: PN 6725.C753 2018 v.1
Disposition: Interlibrary Loan via Northeast College Library, Universal City, TX to Irving Public Library-South Campus, Irving, TX
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REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Summary:
The first title in this series, Critical Survey of Graphic Novels: Heroes and Superheroes, provides in-depth insight into over 130 of the most popular and studied graphic novels. Researchers will be familiar with the characters and stories included in this collection, but will gain a deeper new understanding, as the literary nature of the stories is presented in critical format by leading writers in the field of study.
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Genre:
Comics
Graphic Novels
Trade Paperbacks
Literature
Critical Review
History
Encyclopedia
Why this book:
Case of mistaken identity. Kept reading this mainly to weed through the graphic novels and trade paperbacks that it mentions and see if I want to read any of them.
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The Page 100 Test:
Ω ◄ - struggle to finish this.
? ◄ - Just not sure about this.
The Feel:
This wasn't what I was expecting when I requested this from InterLibrary Loan. It was supposed to be an examination of Kirby's work. And while there may, MAY be some Kirby in here somewhere, this is largely just a review compendium of Graphic Novels and Trade Paperbacks. Comic book publishers have tried so hard to muddy the difference. To the degree that pamphlets are written to the Graphic Novel scale now. Leading to a plethoric tidal wave of filler in many stories that would've been awesome as a two or three pamphlet story but has to be padded out to make it six, eight, or twelve to fill the pages to get what the publisher wants out of the aftermarket.
Cover and Interior Art:
The character on the cover looks very much like a young Sam Elliot in a partial gimp suit. Every time I picked the book up I thought that...had to share.
Hmm Moments:
I forgot how good Astro city was. And I missed a bunch of issues. I'm going to have to find some of those collections.
Calling the Ball:
Spending my review talking about their reviews of other works. Effectively secondhand review of other reviews.
If Moore wasn't so far up his own ass that he couldn't see the dollar signs, we'd have a ton of more League of Extraordinary Gentlemen stories. The motif and genre are rich, deep, and pregnant with promise. Doesn't help that fanboys fan the flames of whatever tangent he's off on next, the same as they do with Miller.
Meh / PFFT Moments:
Batman laughing at the Joker's joke at the end of the Killing Joke considering all that had come before suggests his psychosis or extreme out-of-characterness.
This is a good reminder of some stories that I enjoyed and some that I hated. The collection doesn't really cast a critical eye at anything though. If a reviewer loves everything, how critical are they truly being? It does a disservice to those reading the reviews if that's how they do it—more fanservice than a critical review.
The difference in Frank Miller and Alan Moore, among many, many differences, is that I could, can, and do still read Moore's work. I may need to look back at Miller's Daredevil and see if it stands up for me or if it is more of the same. I haven't read any of that in more than 20 years. His Batman work though, the meh is strong with that one. YMMV, sorry if I offended your cult.
A Path I Can’t Follow:
Still believe that Two-Face's deconstruction in Arkham Asylum wasn't given a proper ending. His ignoring the result of his coin is extremely out of character.
Confirmation bias:
All-Star Batman is exactly what I expected it to be. I fell out of love with Frank Miller's work after Daredevil. I'm not sure if my taste changed or if he changed. A test case would be to go back and reread those Daredevil books and see, but that would mean running the risk of besmirching the way that I remember them. I know it's heresy in some quarters but he's just not my cup of tea.
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Last Page Sound:
I'm disappointed, but this is more a function of the ILL misleading me on what I was getting. Yes, it did have some Kirby stuff in it. But this is not about or involving the Fourth World Omnibus that I've discovered I'll have to read all four parts of to get the complete story...and possibly the Hunger Dogs graphic novel to complete the story. So, hooray.
Conclusions I’ve Drawn:
This did make an excellent primer on getting some more stuff on my to-read list.
Nary a negative word said about any of the works contained here. And I've read more than a few of them and know for a fact that everything wasn't all wine and roses in those books. Some had failings, some severe, some were golden, but not all of them as this portrays.
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