Kapitel
Lizenziert
Nicht lizenziert Erfordert eine Authentifizierung

8 World-Building

  • Dan Hassler-Forest
Veröffentlichen auch Sie bei De Gruyter Brill

Abstract

Comics have long been published as serialized works that develop elaborate and often complex storyworlds. This chapter relates theories and practices of world-building to the historical development of Western comics. It first establishes the key theoretical concepts related to world-building, using examples from comics history to illustrate and contextualize them. The chapter then discusses the relationship between serialized comic strips and systematic world-building, using Popeye/ Thimble Theatre as a central case study. The second section foregrounds the political and ideological implications of world-building by drawing on Herge’s Tintin series. The third section then examines the complex world-building of American superhero comics and the central internal contradictions within these storyworlds, with Watchmen as an example of a text that foregrounds rather than diminishes them. Finally, a brief discussion of Chris Ware’s Building Stories discusses the reader’s activity in comic book world-building.

Abstract

Comics have long been published as serialized works that develop elaborate and often complex storyworlds. This chapter relates theories and practices of world-building to the historical development of Western comics. It first establishes the key theoretical concepts related to world-building, using examples from comics history to illustrate and contextualize them. The chapter then discusses the relationship between serialized comic strips and systematic world-building, using Popeye/ Thimble Theatre as a central case study. The second section foregrounds the political and ideological implications of world-building by drawing on Herge’s Tintin series. The third section then examines the complex world-building of American superhero comics and the central internal contradictions within these storyworlds, with Watchmen as an example of a text that foregrounds rather than diminishes them. Finally, a brief discussion of Chris Ware’s Building Stories discusses the reader’s activity in comic book world-building.

Heruntergeladen am 25.12.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110446968-009/html
Button zum nach oben scrollen