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gabesteller's review
The comics class I wish I’d been able to take!!
As someone who’s only a casual comics fan this was a rlly fantastic primer on classics of the mediums and what it is that comics do best. Particularly enjoyed the chapters Why Disaster, and Why War, and how comics is uniquely good at conveying the unspeakable. Though it’s in a different chapter there’s an image from Persepolis where a man is shown cut to pieces and it’s true what chute says that comics can capture something of the unnatural moral horror of the event that might seem clinical or gratuitous in a photo.
There’s also lots of happy and liberating stuff in here but my main take at From Chute is what a humanistic art form comics is. Emphasizing both the sympathetic nature of everyone, while never shying away, (even reveling!) in our grosser, baser aspects.
4.5
As someone who’s only a casual comics fan this was a rlly fantastic primer on classics of the mediums and what it is that comics do best. Particularly enjoyed the chapters Why Disaster, and Why War, and how comics is uniquely good at conveying the unspeakable. Though it’s in a different chapter there’s an image from Persepolis where a man is shown cut to pieces and it’s true what chute says that comics can capture something of the unnatural moral horror of the event that might seem clinical or gratuitous in a photo.
There’s also lots of happy and liberating stuff in here but my main take at From Chute is what a humanistic art form comics is. Emphasizing both the sympathetic nature of everyone, while never shying away, (even reveling!) in our grosser, baser aspects.
4.5
shea_proulx's review
5.0
This is should be the primary textbook for any serious academic comics class. I am so thankful for the work Chute has done, in organizing these ideas. Though I have already become familiar with most of the seminal texts Chute introduces, I had to feel my way through comics history based on casual conversations, Goodreads recommendations and the indexes of other books. It is refreshing to see these ground-breaking works analyzed with the intellectual rigour they deserve; I feel like I found an oasis in the desert. I am so happy for subsequent generations of afinados who will have this invaluable guide to set them on course to discover the origins of the intellectual traditions that are so alive in comics today. I've already begun to follow up on the tantalizing lists of lesser-known comics artists that Chute describes as having influenced the more well-known authors in "Why Comics" and the ones who picked up where they left off. My excitement about art-theory has never so genuine.
chukg's review
5.0
I really enjoyed this. An academic look at various themes in comics, mostly not the mainstream superhero ones. Lots of well reproduced comic pages and each chapter would focus on a particular theme in comics, then zoom in on 2 or three particular works or creators. There was a big section on Ware's "Building Stories" and another on Allie Brosh's "Hyperbole and a Half", two recent-ish works I really liked, and also sections on R. Crumb and Harvey Pekar. It is closer to a pop culture book than an academic work but still has citations.
jen_n_taylor's review
5.0
An overview of the history landscape of comics that answers a number of questions, but primarily why comics are worth reading and taking seriously. The final chapter on fan culture gave me hope for the future, not just of comics, but also literature and self expression through art (in its many forms).
nerdella_reads's review
5.0
Amazing overview of the history, politics, and artistry of comics. It is broken up into the most common genres of comics but chapters often reference and bleed into each other, which takes it beyond enjoyably academic to having a flowing narrative that makes the book hard to put down.
baileydot's review
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0
I haven't read other books about comic history and I'm just beginning to learn about the many facets of the medium so this book was really useful to me! I got a lot of context and many books to add to my To Read list.
jsjammersmith's review
5.0
Comics is a medium dogged by questions, the most persistent and at the same time the most asinine being, "What could possibly be intelligent or relevant about comics?" Having been taught to read by my mother with the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, and having my favorite childhood book being Captain Underpants, I admit that I'm a little biased this category and believe wholeheartedly that comics are not only a legitimate artistic medium, but that they are also a medium defined by it's unending quality of potential.
There is literally no space, ground, or territory of human society in which comics cannot address, and Chute demonstrates this in Why Comics? masterfully. The book is not an ungodly academic affair, anyone could read this book and gleam something from it. Whether it's her analysis of MAUS, a book which has permanently altered the medium by its respectability, her exploration of the lasting relevance of superhero comics, her insights into the eccentric works of R.Crumb, or her lengthy treatment of Alison Bechdel's memoir Fun Home, every page of this book is an love-song and a real defense of the medium of comics. Chute arranges this book as a series of questions anticipating the now outdated perception that comics has no merit in dealing with material like genocide, sexism, race, queer existence, politics, sexuality, and personal development. Chute answers the question why would comics handle the lives of queer people. Why would comics have relevance when dealing with the Serbian genocide? These questions over time become pressingly important to the reader, and as they read the book they will see that Chute is not only a skilled writer and defender of the medium, she succeeds in making the reader want to read more comics.
Like I wrote at the start, I am terribly biased and I believe comics are something important to the culture for the way they can combine words and images to address common, eccentric, unusual, or complicated issues of human existence. Comics is a medium where the artist is not so bound by limitations. Because of it's structure of using image and word together the artists and writers who make and draft comics can create moments that are simply unlike anything which has existed before in any medium. Comics are pure potential, and Chute reminds me in every page why I love reading them.
There is literally no space, ground, or territory of human society in which comics cannot address, and Chute demonstrates this in Why Comics? masterfully. The book is not an ungodly academic affair, anyone could read this book and gleam something from it. Whether it's her analysis of MAUS, a book which has permanently altered the medium by its respectability, her exploration of the lasting relevance of superhero comics, her insights into the eccentric works of R.Crumb, or her lengthy treatment of Alison Bechdel's memoir Fun Home, every page of this book is an love-song and a real defense of the medium of comics. Chute arranges this book as a series of questions anticipating the now outdated perception that comics has no merit in dealing with material like genocide, sexism, race, queer existence, politics, sexuality, and personal development. Chute answers the question why would comics handle the lives of queer people. Why would comics have relevance when dealing with the Serbian genocide? These questions over time become pressingly important to the reader, and as they read the book they will see that Chute is not only a skilled writer and defender of the medium, she succeeds in making the reader want to read more comics.
Like I wrote at the start, I am terribly biased and I believe comics are something important to the culture for the way they can combine words and images to address common, eccentric, unusual, or complicated issues of human existence. Comics is a medium where the artist is not so bound by limitations. Because of it's structure of using image and word together the artists and writers who make and draft comics can create moments that are simply unlike anything which has existed before in any medium. Comics are pure potential, and Chute reminds me in every page why I love reading them.
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