Overview
2020 Eisner Award for Best Academic/Scholarly Work Entertaining Comics Group (EC Comics) is perhaps best-known today for lurid horror comics like Tales from the Crypt and for a publication that long outlived the company's other titles, Mad magazine. But during its heyday in the early 1950s, EC was also an early innovator in another genre of comics: the so-called ""preachies,"" socially conscious stories that boldly challenged the conservatism and conformity of Eisenhower-era America. EC Comics examines a selection of these works-sensationally-titled comics such as ""Hate!,"" ""The Guilty!,"" and ""Judgment Day!""-and explores how they grappled with the civil rights struggle, antisemitism, and other forms of prejudice in America. Putting these socially aware stories into conversation with EC's better-known horror stories, Qiana Whitted discovers surprising similarities between their narrative, aesthetic, and marketing strategies. She also recounts the controversy that these stories inspired and the central role they played in congressional hearings about offensive content in comics. The first serious critical study of EC's social issues comics, this book will give readers a greater appreciation of their legacy. They not only served to inspire future comics creators, but also introduced a generation of young readers to provocative ideas and progressive ideals that pointed the way to a better America.
Full Product Details
Author: Qiana Whitted
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Imprint: Rutgers University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 0.80cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.255kg
ISBN: 9780813566313
ISBN 10: 0813566312
Pages: 196
Publication Date: 08 March 2019
Recommended Age: From 16 to 99 years
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
,
Tertiary & Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
Qiana Whitted's well-written study confirms and complicates EC's reputation as the most aesthetically ambitious and politically daring comic book company of the twentieth-century. A subtle exploration of the relationship between race, gender, and representation, it should be considered essential reading for anyone with an investment in modern popular culture. --Ben Saunders coeditor of Comic Book Apocalypse: The Graphic World of Jack Kirby Qiana Whitted's insightful book EC Comics thoughtfully weaves together carefully researched historical context, keen analysis of the discourse communities surrounding EC, and meticulous close readings of the comics, ultimately building a powerful argument for the decisive role the company and its comics played in combating social injustices of the day while advocating for a better, more inclusive society in the future. --Susan Kirtley co-author of Lynda Barry: Girlhood through the Looking Glass
Qiana Whitted's well-written study confirms and complicates EC's reputation as the most aesthetically ambitious and politically daring comic book company of the twentieth-century. A subtle exploration of the relationship between race, gender, and representation, it should be considered essential reading for anyone with an investment in modern popular culture. --Ben Saunders coeditor of Comic Book Apocalypse: The Graphic World of Jack Kirby A seminal work of meticulous and original scholarship. --Midwest Book Review Race, Shock, and Social Protest: An Interview with Qiana Whitted, by Julian Chambliss--Black Perspectives Qiana Whitted's insightful book EC Comics thoughtfully weaves together carefully researched historical context, keen analysis of the discourse communities surrounding EC, and meticulous close readings of the comics, ultimately building a powerful argument for the decisive role the company and its comics played in combating social injustices of the day while advocating for a better, more inclusive society in the future. --Susan Kirtley co-author of Lynda Barry: Girlhood through the Looking Glass
"Whitted’s book is an excellent example of how comics can serve as tools of social protest and instigate new realms of thought in both young and old readers alike. Qiana Whitted provides sharp analysis and insight into a publisher that pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable for a young medium to do."" —The Journal of Graphic Novel and Comics"
Qiana Whitted's well-written study confirms and complicates EC's reputation as the most aesthetically ambitious and politically daring comic book company of the twentieth-century. A subtle exploration of the relationship between race, gender, and representation, it should be considered essential reading for anyone with an investment in modern popular culture. --Ben Saunders coeditor of Comic Book Apocalypse: The Graphic World of Jack Kirby A seminal work of meticulous and original scholarship. --Midwest Book Review Race, Shock, and Social Protest: An Interview with Qiana Whitted, by Julian Chambliss--Black Perspectives Recommended. --Choice Qiana Whitted's insightful book EC Comics thoughtfully weaves together carefully researched historical context, keen analysis of the discourse communities surrounding EC, and meticulous close readings of the comics, ultimately building a powerful argument for the decisive role the company and its comics played in combating social injustices of the day while advocating for a better, more inclusive society in the future. --Susan Kirtley author of Lynda Barry: Girlhood through the Looking Glass
Qiana Whitted's well-written study confirms and complicates EC's reputation as the most aesthetically ambitious and politically daring comic book company of the twentieth-century. A subtle exploration of the relationship between race, gender, and representation, it should be considered essential reading for anyone with an investment in modern popular culture. --Ben Saunders coeditor of Comic Book Apocalypse: The Graphic World of Jack Kirby A seminal work of meticulous and original scholarship. --Midwest Book Review Race, Shock, and Social Protest: An Interview with Qiana Whitted, by Julian Chambliss--Black Perspectives Recommended. --Choice Qiana Whitted's insightful book EC Comics thoughtfully weaves together carefully researched historical context, keen analysis of the discourse communities surrounding EC, and meticulous close readings of the comics, ultimately building a powerful argument for the decisive role the company and its comics played in combating social injustices of the day while advocating for a better, more inclusive society in the future. --Susan Kirtley co-author of Lynda Barry: Girlhood through the Looking Glass
Author Information
QIANA WHITTED is a professor of English and African American studies at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. She is the author of A God of Justice?: The Problem of Evil in 20th Century Black Literature.
