Contents Acknowledgments Introduction France, The Second Comics Market 1.Antiquity and Bandes Dessinées: Schizophrenic Nationalism Between Atlanticism and Marxism Henri-Simon Blanc-Hoàng 2.Did You Learn Your Strip?: The History of France as Comic Fad in the 1970s Guillaume de Syon 3.“Ils sont fous ces Gaulois!”: Astérix, Lucky Luke, Freedom Fries, and the Love-Hate Relationship Between France and the United States Annick Pellegrin Nation and Revolution 4.Image and Text in Service of the Nation: Historically-themed Comic Books as Civic Education in 1980s Mexico Melanie Huska Images of US Wars 5.Who is Diana Prince?: The Amazon Army Nurse of World War II Peter Lee 6.Wonder Woman as Patriotic Icon: The Amazon Princess for the Nation and Femininity Annessa Ann Babic 7.Comic Containment: No Laughing Matter James C. Lethbridge 8.Graphic/Narrative/History: Defining the Essential Experience(s) of 9/11 Lynda Goldstein Morals, Ethics, and Race 9.Super Gay!: Depictions of Homosexuality in Mainstream Superhero Comics Kara M. Kvaran 10.The Man in the Gray Metal Suit: Dr. Doom, the Fantastic Four, and the Costs of Conformity Micah Rueber 11.Seen City: Frank Miller’s Re-Imaging as a Cinematic “New Real” Christina Dokou Dark Logic 12.The Zombie Apocalypse: A Fictional State of Nature? Faiz Sheikh 13.Logicomix and the Enunciatory Apparatus Beatrice Skordili Works Cited Index About the Contributors

This collection is welcome because it features essays by researchers new to the field, some with novel ideas. The volume provides a sampling of genres, personalities, stories, and issues in the lifeline of comics--bande dessinée, Mexican educational comics, film adaptations, Wonder Woman, Astérix, Lucky Luke, Dr. Doom, the Fantastic Four, Sin City--and also considers comics relative to nationalism, femininity, masculinity, homosexuality, censorship, containment, conformism, and patriotism. Interesting essays on Mexico and France discuss comic books officially sanctioned for educational purposes, pointing to what they left out, downplayed, or emphasized to serve government interests. An essay on Wonder Woman during WW II shows the duplicitous, confusing roles the superwoman played while representing women generally; another on the containment of comics in the 1950s examines the contributing factors of fear and insecurity, which ultimately led to censorship. The book includes some well-thought-out, decipherable theory--best presented in Lynda Goldstein's excellent chapter on issues and challenges of historical discourse concerning an event, here 9/11. . . .Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.