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Uncomics – reconsidering the comics form through the prism of its experimental periphery

Haverholm, Allan LU (2018) KOVM12 20181
Division of Art History and Visual Studies
Abstract
The interdisciplinary field of Comics Studies has developed since the late 20th Century, in response to the increasing, popular reach of comics as a mass phenomenon capable of addressing a wide range of subject matter and approaches, including journalism, (auto)biography, and academical papers. Still, these apparent innovations and, in turn, their scholarly dissemination are predicated upon genre conventions and commercial dictates dating back to the period between World Wars I and II. In a word, as popular comics has thrived, its form has congealed around it. In the periphery of the comics field, however, experimenting practitioners have extended the boundaries of comics away from traditional, linear narrative, towards abstract visuals... (More)
The interdisciplinary field of Comics Studies has developed since the late 20th Century, in response to the increasing, popular reach of comics as a mass phenomenon capable of addressing a wide range of subject matter and approaches, including journalism, (auto)biography, and academical papers. Still, these apparent innovations and, in turn, their scholarly dissemination are predicated upon genre conventions and commercial dictates dating back to the period between World Wars I and II. In a word, as popular comics has thrived, its form has congealed around it. In the periphery of the comics field, however, experimenting practitioners have extended the boundaries of comics away from traditional, linear narrative, towards abstract visuals and poetic textual modes, essentially pushing comics into modernism a century later than other arts.
Challenging sequential narrative, text-image integration, and even representational art, these peripheral expressions are so deliberately contrary to the general perception of comics that they are herein considered ‘uncomics’, requiring a reassessment of the way comics are conceptualized as a phenomenon. In examining formal definitions of the art form formerly known as comics; selected works of this outlier comics avant garde; and the related visual phenomena they converge upon, this thesis proposes an expansion of those definitions, and of the analytical tools available to the scholarly study of the form. (Less)
Popular Abstract
The interdisciplinary field of Comics Studies has developed since the late 20th Century, in response to the increasing, popular reach of comics as a mass phenomenon capable of addressing a wide range of subject matter and approaches, including journalism, (auto)biography, and academical papers. Still, these apparent innovations and, in turn, their scholarly dissemination are predicated upon genre conventions and commercial dictates dating back to the period between World Wars I and II. In a word, as popular comics has thrived, its form has congealed around it. In the periphery of the comics field, however, experimenting practitioners have extended the boundaries of comics away from traditional, linear narrative, towards abstract visuals... (More)
The interdisciplinary field of Comics Studies has developed since the late 20th Century, in response to the increasing, popular reach of comics as a mass phenomenon capable of addressing a wide range of subject matter and approaches, including journalism, (auto)biography, and academical papers. Still, these apparent innovations and, in turn, their scholarly dissemination are predicated upon genre conventions and commercial dictates dating back to the period between World Wars I and II. In a word, as popular comics has thrived, its form has congealed around it. In the periphery of the comics field, however, experimenting practitioners have extended the boundaries of comics away from traditional, linear narrative, towards abstract visuals and poetic textual modes, essentially pushing comics into modernism a century later than other arts.
Challenging sequential narrative, text-image integration, and even representational art, these peripheral expressions are so deliberately contrary to the general perception of comics that they are herein considered ‘uncomics’, requiring a reassessment of the way comics are conceptualized as a phenomenon. In examining formal definitions of the art form formerly known as comics; selected works of this outlier comics avant garde; and the related visual phenomena they converge upon, this thesis proposes an expansion of those definitions, and of the analytical tools available to the scholarly study of the form. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Haverholm, Allan LU
supervisor
organization
course
KOVM12 20181
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
comics studies, comics theory, abstract comics, reading schema, poetry comics
language
English
id
8958101
date added to LUP
2018-10-01 13:46:47
date last changed
2018-10-01 13:46:47
@misc{8958101,
  abstract     = {{The interdisciplinary field of Comics Studies has developed since the late 20th Century, in response to the increasing, popular reach of comics as a mass phenomenon capable of addressing a wide range of subject matter and approaches, including journalism, (auto)biography, and academical papers. Still, these apparent innovations and, in turn, their scholarly dissemination are predicated upon genre conventions and commercial dictates dating back to the period between World Wars I and II. In a word, as popular comics has thrived, its form has congealed around it. In the periphery of the comics field, however, experimenting practitioners have extended the boundaries of comics away from traditional, linear narrative, towards abstract visuals and poetic textual modes, essentially pushing comics into modernism a century later than other arts. 
Challenging sequential narrative, text-image integration, and even representational art, these peripheral expressions are so deliberately contrary to the general perception of comics that they are herein considered ‘uncomics’, requiring a reassessment of the way comics are conceptualized as a phenomenon. In examining formal definitions of the art form formerly known as comics; selected works of this outlier comics avant garde; and the related visual phenomena they converge upon, this thesis proposes an expansion of those definitions, and of the analytical tools available to the scholarly study of the form.}},
  author       = {{Haverholm, Allan}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Uncomics – reconsidering the comics form through the prism of its experimental periphery}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}