{"product_id":"openness-of-comics-maaheen-ahmed-9781496805935","title":"Openness of Comics: Generating Meaning Within Flexible Structures","description":"Never before have comics seemed so popular or diversified, proliferating across a broad spectrum of genres, experimenting with a variety of techniques, and gaining recognition as a legitimate, rich form of art. Maaheen Ahmed examines this trend by taking up philosopher Umberto Eco's notion of the open work of art, whereby the reader--or listener or viewer, as the case may be--is offered several possibilities of interpretation in a cohesive narrative and aesthetic structure. Ahmed delineates the visual, literary, and other medium-specific features used by comics to form open rather than closed works, methods by which comics generate or limit meaning as well as increase and structure the scope of reading into a work. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Ahmed analyzes a diverse group of British, American, and European (Franco-Belgian, German, Finnish) comics. She treats examples from the key genre categories of fictionalized memoirs and biographies, adventure and superhero, noir, black comedy and crime, science fiction and fantasy. Her analyses demonstrate the ways in which comics generate openness by concentrating on the gaps essential to the very medium of comics, the range of meaning ensconced within words and images as well as their interaction with each other. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The analyzed comics, extending from famous to lesser known works, include Will Eisner's \u003ci\u003eThe Contract with God Trilogy\u003c\/i\u003e, Jacques Tardi's \u003ci\u003eIt Was the War of the Trenches\u003c\/i\u003e, Hugo Pratt's \u003ci\u003eThe Ballad of the Salty Sea\u003c\/i\u003e, Edmond Baudoin's \u003ci\u003eThe Voyage\u003c\/i\u003e, Grant Morrison and Dave McKean's \u003ci\u003eArkham Asylum\u003c\/i\u003e, Neil Gaiman's \u003ci\u003eSandman\u003c\/i\u003e series, Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell's \u003ci\u003eFrom Hell\u003c\/i\u003e, Moebius's \u003ci\u003eArzach\u003c\/i\u003e, Yslaire's \u003ci\u003eCloud 99\u003c\/i\u003e series, and Jarmo Mäkilä's \u003ci\u003eTaxi Ride to Van Gogh's Ear\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Maaheen Ahmed\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1496805933\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781496805935\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University Press of Mississippi\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/01\/2016\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 240\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.15lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.69d","brand":"Maaheen Ahmed","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48013955006719,"sku":"9781496805935","price":110.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_4c64f181-989a-4d9d-95da-951f1f6d7759.jpg?v=1767745815","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/openness-of-comics-maaheen-ahmed-9781496805935","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}