Twelve-Cent Archie (Comics Culture) - Hardcover

Bart Beaty

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0813563852 ISBN 13: 9780813563855

Publisher: Rutgers University Press, 2015

Synopsis

For over seventy-five years, Archie and the gang at Riverdale High have been America’s most iconic teenagers, delighting generations of readers with their never-ending exploits. But despite their ubiquity, Archie comics have been relatively ignored by scholars - until now.

Twelve-Cent Archie is not only the first scholarly study of the Archie comic, it is an innovative creative work in its own right. Inspired by Archie’s own concise storytelling format, renowned comics scholar Bart Beaty divides the book into a hundred short chapters, each devoted to a different aspect of the Archie comics. Fans of the comics will be thrilled to read in-depth examinations of their favorite characters and motifs, including individual chapters devoted to Jughead’s hat and Archie’s sweater-vest. But the book also has plenty to interest newcomers to Riverdale, as it recounts the behind-the-scenes history of the comics and analyzes how Archie helped shape our images of the American teenager.

As he employs a wide range of theoretical and methodological approaches, Beaty reveals that the Archie comics themselves were far more eclectic, creative, and self-aware than most critics recognize. Equally comfortable considering everything from the representation of racial diversity to the semiotics of Veronica’s haircut, Twelve-Cent Archie gives a fresh appreciation for America’s most endearing group of teenagers.

About this title

Review:

"Whether you re interested in the differences between Harry Lucey s Archie and Bob Montana s, or simply haunted by the signifying structure that is Betty Cooper s ponytail, there s something here for everyone who s ever read an "Archie "comic."--Scott Bukatman "author of The Poetics of Slumberland: Animated Spirits and the Animated Spirit ""

"Whether you're interested in the differences between Harry Lucey's Archie and Bob Montana's, or simply haunted by the signifying structure that is Betty Cooper's ponytail, there's something here for everyone who's ever read an Archie comic."--Scott Bukatman "author of The Poetics of Slumberland: Animated Spirits and the Animated Spirit "

About the Author:

Bart Beaty is a professor at the University of Calgary, Canada where he heads the department of English. He has written several books, including Fredric Wertham and Critique of Mass Culture, Unpopular Culture: Transforming the European Comic Book in the 1990s, and Comics Versus Art.

About this edition

• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0813563852
• ISBN 13: 9780813563855
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 232