Manuscript in Print: The Materiality of Alternative Comics

Abstract

AbstractThis paper forms part of a Literature Compass cluster on Modern Book History. The full cluster is made up of the following articles:‘Between Then and Now: Modern Book History’, Kate Longworth, Literature Compass 4 (2007), 10.1111/j.1741‐4113.2007.00474.x.‘Ezra Pound's Cantos: A Compact History of Twentieth‐Century Authorship, Publishing and Editing’, Mark Byron, Literature Compass 4 (2007), 10.1111/j.1741‐4113.2007.00475.x.‘ “The Making of the Book”: Roy Fisher, the Circle Press and the Poetics of Book Art’, Matthew Sperling, Literature Compass 4 (2007), 10.1111/j.1741‐4113.2007.00476.x.‘Bakhtinian “Journalization” and the Mid‐Victorian Literary Marketplace’, Dallas Liddle, Literature Compass 4 (2007), 10.1111/j.1741‐4113.2007.00477.x.‘Manuscript in Print: The Materiality of Alternative Comics’, Emma Tinker, Literature Compass 4 (2007), 10.1111/j.1741‐4113.2007.00478.x.‘Lost in a World of Books: Reading and Identity in Pre‐War Japan’, Susan C. Townsend, Literature Compass 4 (2007), 10.1111/j.1741‐4113.2007.00479.x.***This article argues that the writers and illustrators of alternative comics show a particular interest in the material form of their work, and that this preoccupation is linked to the publication history of these texts. It begins by discussing the changes in publication of alternative comics over the past thirty years, including the shift from single issue to trade paperback or ‘graphic novel’ format, the decline of specialist retailers, and the growth in production of small press comics and fanzines. It then considers some implications of this shift, and examines two texts in which authors have directly addressed the materiality of their comics in the books themselves: Craig Thompson's Blankets and Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan. It argues that comic book authors, who are also readers and collectors, have a strong personal investment in the physical form of comics, and that this interest is also manifest in the content of these texts.