Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean

Douglas Wolk has done a great job of delivering a timely, opinionated, and well-realized survey of the world of comics. He does not attempt to be comprehensive (doing so would be difficult indeed) and is forthcoming about what he has excluded, even where some of his intentional omissions are acknowledged by the author to be crucial documents in the evolving history of one of the twenty-first century's most important art forms. I don't agree with all of Wolk's assessments, and feel that in general he gives too much credit to the producers of dreary and juvenile superhero comics. That said, Wolk makes no bones about awarding the best of that tired genre accolades similar to those be bestows upon choice entries from the world of art show more comics, and if I can't really make that aesthetic connection myself, I still admire Wolk for stating his case with conviction and establishing a worthy basis for the further consideration of comics as a significant art form. show less

Billed as the first book of comics criticism, which is such a bold statement that one has to wonder if it's actually true ... but that's entirely academic and entirely beside the point, which is this: The book is Amazing. A discussion on the basics of comics, how they work, why we read them, etc; followed by chapter-long reviews of specific authors and works, so compelling and well-reviewed that it makes you want to go out and read every one of them. (This book was responsible for kicking me in the ass and finally reading [book:Jimmy Corrigan], for instance.) Highly recommended

This is one of those books that isn't really at its best when it's dealing with the subject of its title. Its first third is about the theory and history of comics in general, and is a bit weak. The rest is made up of criticism of the works of particular creators, and is a good deal better.

This works really well as Comics Crit 101, which is what I was looking for. Many people who already read a lot about comics were underwhelmed by this book, but I needed a starting point and this was very accessible. I've been reading comics for years but never feel qualified to participate in the in-depth discussions that my friends have, and this will help. I've read about 2/3 of what he covers. For the stuff I haven't already read, I appreciated that it wasn't all browbeating into how a title was brilliant and I absolutely had to read and appreciate it. Some essays reinforced my impression that a title was well done but not for me.

Good overview of the medium, from mainstream superhero books to art comics. Wolk is an accessible, engaging writer and I learned a lot...and added a bunch of titles to my reading list.

very interesting and informative, but i found wolk's tone to be annoying at times.

The first half on comics theory was very insightful.