BOOM! SPLAT!: Comics and Violence

The culture, distribution, and content of comics were forever changed in 1954 when they were perceived to be lascivious, insidious, and morally corrosive. BOOM! SPLAT! Comics and Violence examines violence in all its iterations, including physical, formal, structural, historical, and political and social violence. The book is composed of fifteen essays from renowned comics scholars and is organized thematically into four sections. It serves as a resource for scholars and comics enthusiasts who wish to contemplate and confront the permutations, forms, structures, and discourses of violence that have always animated cartoons.

Format: Hardback
Length: 277 pages
Publication date: 15 March 2024
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi

In 1954, a seismic shift occurred in the culture, distribution, and content of comics, forever altering the landscape of American reading habits. Long considered a staple of the American literary diet, comic books suddenly found themselves under the scrutiny of parent groups, church leaders, and politicians. The vibrant colors and low-quality pulp pages that once offered an escape were now perceived as harboring something lascivious, insidious, and morally corrosive. While concerns about representations of violence in comics had largely faded away following the moral panic of the 1950s, thematic and symbolic visual depictions of violence remained central to the comics form.

Comics and Violence delves into the multifaceted nature of violence, encompassing physical violence enacted between individuals and their surroundings, formal and structural violence inherent in the comics language, representations of historical violence, and various ways of reading and interpreting violence. Comprising fifteen essays from esteemed comics scholars, this book is organized thematically into four sections: an exploration of histories of violence, forms of violence, modes and systems of violence, and political and social violence. Each chapter focuses on well-known comics and comics creators, such as Steve Ditko, Hulk, X-Men, and the Marvel universe, as well as newspaper cartoon strips, postwar graphic novels, revolutions, civil rights movements, trauma, #BlackLivesMatter, and more.

Comics and Violence serves as a valuable resource for scholars and comics enthusiasts alike, inviting them to contemplate and engage with the complex and often controversial topic of violence in the medium. By examining the historical, cultural, and societal contexts in which comics have been produced and consumed, this book offers a deeper understanding of the role that comics play in shaping our perceptions of violence and the impact they have on our society.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781496850034