Comics as Philosophy

Through the combination of text and images comic books offer a unique opportunity to explore deep questions about aesthetics ethics and epistemology in nontraditional ways. The essays in this collection focus on a wide variety of genres from mainstream superhero comics to graphic novels that exercise social realism to European adventure classics. <p> Included among the contributions are essays on existentialism in Daniel Clowes's graphic novel <i>Ghost World</i> ecocriticism in Paul Chadwick's long-running <i>Concrete</i> series and political philosophies in Herge's perennially popular <i>The Adventures of Tintin</i>. Modern political concerns inform Terry Kading's discussion of how superhero comics have responded to 9/11 and how the genre reflects the anxieties of the contemporary world. <p>Essayists also explore the issues surrounding the development and appreciation of comics. Amy Kiste Nyberg examines the rise of the Comics Code using it as a springboard for discussing the