1

McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York: Harper Collins, 1994.

Print.

This Innovative comic explains in detail the definition of a comic, technique involved in

making a comic, helping us to understand what goes on inside the comic format. He traces the

history of the Comic art medium carefully examining the development of early sequential

picture into full fledged comics. He analyses the powerful role of comic in our culture.

This work discusses the comic trend and its theories, its effects, importance of time and

motion, the styles to be used while creating a comic, the placement of the panels, the transition

involved between the panels, and the artistic process involved. This book is a delight to read

as McCloud uses the comic medium to explore the medium, through this he attempts to place

comics within the tradition of serious western art.

2

McCloud, Scott. Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic

Novels. New York: Harper Collins, 2006. Print.

The book starts with a new look at the process of making comics. "Ninety percent of the

book is about those subjects that the other books just aren't talking about. I hope if I've done

my job right, it's the book you want to read first, before you learn how to draw thigh muscles

or how to draw the cape or how to make the runes on that sword look really cool." McCloud

focuses his analysis on the clarity of art form. He explores the creation of comics, from the

broadest principles to the sharpest details. He highlights how even a small emphasis on a

character’s muscle could bring out varied emotions. It’s about how to make drawings become

a story and how cartooning choices communicate meaning to readers.

McCloud shows his reader how to make audience care about story and characters through

word and image by giving more attention to body language, facial expression, better drawing

and refined story telling. It makes an interesting and informative read though the book is

aimed at professional illustrators to hone their skills.

3

McCloud, Scott. Reinventing Comics: How Imagination and technology are revolutionizing

an art form. New York: Harper Collins, 2000.Print.

McCloud starts a lengthy discourse on the sad state of comics in the United States. He

talks about the expansion potential of comics in the twenty first century. In his discourse on

the plight of comics in America he analyses a few works and provides historical context for

the importance of these works. Comics as an art form and literature, representation of gender

and sex in comics, the rights of the creator and public perception of comics are discussed in

the first half of the book.

The Second half of the book is devoted to exploring the possibilities for comics in the

digital age. The use of computers to create comics and to distribute them is looked upto by

the author as he considers it as a way of saving the comic art medium. The challenges that

would be faced when using digital canvas is also discussed.

4

Eisner, Will. Comics & Sequential Art. Tamarac: Porthouse Press, 1996. Print.

The Legendary Comics Creator shares decades of his experience producing comic strips

and books. This book is useful for beginners. It focuses on the concept of comic art and

concentrates on the various techniques that can be used to create a comic. He also goes a step

further to reason out why those techniques work. Eisner's classic comic strips and illustrative

examples keep it light and really give a visual anchor to all of the ideas presented. The

various lessons touch on timing, framing, composition, expressive anatomy, writing for

comics and other application of comics. This book has inspired generations of artists,

students, teachers, and fans.

A lot of the things discussed feel like common sense, like the portion that focused on how

readers' eyes move across the page, but it was explained in a manner which not only brings

the matter to the reader's attention, but forces them to analyze it and comprehend the idea on

a much higher level. The dichotomy between the slightly stuffy, possibly pedantic tone of the

writing and the whimsical and absurd illustrations and comic strips really pulls this book

together stylistically.

5

Eisner, Will. Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative. New York: Poorhouse Press, 1996.

Print.

This book is a great reference book for people who write or want to become comic writers.

It focuses on successful Visual storytelling. Eisner shares with the readers certain issues to be

tackled while storytelling using comics. He describes comic tools like lettering, building

momentum, using visual clues and writing. He discusses about the techniques to build up

interesting storyline. Eisner gives a lot of examples through his comic strips on how to

engage readers, how readers think and the mistakes to avoid. Eisner uses illustrated

storytelling samples of his own and also other authors to point out that images can be used as

narrative tools to enhance the story.

6

Fingeroth, Danny. The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels. New York: Rough Guides, 2008.

Print.

Fingeroth is a former Marvel Comics Editor who has discussed about the expanding world

of Comics in this book. The history of graphic novels is recounted by him. Fingeroth goes on

to define a graphic novel which is a book length comic book. He then goes on to differentiate

between a comic book and graphic novel and describes how the comic art has developed

through the ages.

Fingeroth with examples from graphic novels instructing the readers about the making

of graphic novels and discusses the techniques involved in it. He goes on to name the best

graphic novels, brief personal accounts of graphic novelists and also discusses the latest

offerings of magazines, films, conventions and websites which offer latest information on

graphic novels.

7

Petersen, S. Robert. Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels-A History of Graphic Narratives.

California: Praeger, 2011. Print.

Petersen with the help of illustrations gives a comprehensive account of graphic narratives

across time and cultures. He goes on to give a historical overview and discusses various types

of graphic narratives. The book is divided into thirteen chapters covering in detail each aspect

of graphic narrative. He traces the history of sequential art, its uses as a powerful

communicative medium in society, the development of the narrative technique, focussing on

the elements of graphic narrative. He engages the readers by illustrating his views.

The passage of how comic books from pulp fiction to evolving into neat graphic style

novels are discussed chronologically. He divides the evolution of comics into ages dwelling

on the popular graphic narrative of the ages. Graphic narrative’s entry into mainstream

literature, the various manifestations of the narrative style is explained in the last few

chapters.

8

Campbell, Eddie. A Graphic Novelist’s Manifesto. Comics Journal 263(Oct-Nov. 2004).

Print.

Campbell through this ambitious book issues a manifesto to the readers regarding graphic

novel. He defines the term “Graphic Novel”, explains that graphic novel in itself is a

movement. In this book he states the goal of the movement: "to take the form of the comic

book, which has become an embarrassment, and raise it to a more ambitious and meaningful

level."  He draws out guidelines to the members of the movement to ensure that the graphic

novel movement is identified into mainstream literature. This book provides instructions for

aspiring graphic novelists to innovate their thoughts and to bring graphic novels to the

forefront of literature.

“In essence, the soul of the graphic novel movement is its intention. Graphic novelists will

aspire to reach the top, to explain the world, to make a notch in the wheel of time, to be a

complete and proud artist with full freedom. ‘Pride’ is the real motto of movement. ‘Pride’ in

who we are: artists, cartoonists and comic writers”. - Eddie Campbell.

9

Goldsmith, Fransisca. Reader’s Advisory Guide to Graphic Novels. Chicago. American

Library Association, 2004. Print.

This book is an attempt to promote reading graphic novels to the readers and also gives

reading advice to those who already interested in graphic novels. It intends to spark an

opening for a conversation about how to advance the connection between the readers and the

graphic novels. Unlike any other guide this book does not merely list out works of graphic

novelists, instead it tries to lead the reader to a desirable book. Works of graphic novelists of

different genre are suggested to the reader for a pleasurable reading experience.

It also offers assistance to the readers by breaking down the format of graphic novel to a

simple level. This book helps in researching the basic idea of graphic novel and also offers a

suggested list of books to understand about a graphic novel. This book is helpful for both a

beginner and a professional who wants to read or research on graphic novel as it tracks down

a few resources.

10

Heer, Jeet., and Kent Worcester. Arguing Comics: Literary Masters on a Popular Medium.

Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2004. Print.

This book is a compilation of best academic comic criticism that is currently available.

The main purpose of this book was to collect the best and important statements about comics.

This book is divided into three parts containing half a dozen essays written by “Literary

Masters”. The first section contains essays criticizing the use of illustrations in comics. The

second section deals with essays on comics and their place in mass culture. The final section

functions as a transition from ‘comics as controversy’ discussions into the academic comic

studies of recent decades. Umberto Eco, Marshall McLuhan, Leslie Fiedler, Gilbert Seldes,

Dorothy Parker, Irving Howe, Delmore Schwartz are a few writers whose essays are

compiled in this book. The book is an enlightening collection of the most important

landmarks in the still nascent field of "comics studies."

11

Rollins, Prentis. "The Making of a Graphic Novel." School Library Journal 52.3 (2006):

246-. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 8 Feb. 2013.

This book is a unique "double-sided flip book" explaining the creation of a graphic novel.

It includes a 100 page Sc-fi graphic novel The Resonator by Prentis Rollins on one side and a

description of the technicalities involved in making that graphic novel on the other side. The

information on the making is clearer and richer. Flipping the book over one gets about

amazing seventy pages of explanation, covering writing, preproduction, pencilling, inking,

and lettering. Rollins takes the readers through every step of the process by explaining the

story's evolution from writing workshop project to short story, to script. The sections are

copiously illustrated with conceptual sketches, diagrams, and clear explanations of his artistic

process. Readers also learn about his fictional as well as real-life inspiration for the story and

the visual designs. This book is valuable for readers who love graphic novels and aspiring

graphic novelists.

12

Witek, Joseph. Comic Books as History: The Narrative of Jack Jackson, Art Spiegelman and

Harvey Pekar. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1989. Print.

This book is a perceptive analysis of comic medium as narratives and comics need serious

critical analysis. He argues that not all comics are based on fantasy, horror and adventure. He

vividly describes the underground comics made aware that comic books can offer narratives

of great power and technical sophistication. In this study Joseph Witek examines the rise of

the comic book to a position of importance in modern culture and assesses its ideological and

historical implications.  He takes up the works of three authors- Jack Jackson, Art

Spiegelman and Harvey Pekar to illustrate that comics are also based on factual occurrences

and personal experiences. He brings out the thematic and narrative maturity in all the three

works and emphasises that comic art has productive tradition of telling true stories with grace

and economy. He gives them credit for the emergence of the comic book as a serious artistic

medium. 

13

Carrier, David. The Aesthetics of Comics. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania University Press,

2000. Print.

This book attempts to first full-length philosophical account of the comic strip. Carrier

adds that art historians study visual artifacts from every culture, Comics, he claims, are

essentially a composite art that, when successful, seamlessly combine verbal and visual

elements. Yet the comic strip, an art form known to everyone, has not yet been much studied

by aestheticians or art historians. Carrier looks at the way an audience interprets comics and

contrasts the interpretation of comics and other mass-culture images to that of Old Master

visual art. The meaning behind the comic can be immediately grasped by the average reader,

whereas a piece of museum art can only be fully interpreted by scholars familiar with the

history and the background behind the painting. Finally, Carrier relates comics to art history.

Ultimately, Carrier s analysis of comics shows why this popular art is worthy of

philosophical study and proves that a better understanding of comics will help us better

understand the history of art.

14

Wolk, Douglas. Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean.

Philadelphia: Da Capo Press, 2007. Print.

Wolk aims to “explore some of the way it’s possible to read comics and to figure out

where their powers come from”. In the first half of the book he attempts to develop a

structured method for readers and critics to evaluate and analyse comics. He provides concise

survey of the history of American comics and also explains its current state. The second half

comprises of essays on graphic novelists and artists. Wolk illuminates the most dazzling

creators of modern comics-from Alan Moore to Alison Bechdel to Chris Ware-and explains

their roots, influences, and where they fit into the pantheon of art. This study will be useful to

comic readers as it is a critical approach to their favourite medium and to critics of graphic

novels.

15

Weiner, Stephen. Faster than a Speeding Bullet: The Rise of the Graphic Novel. New York:

NBM, 2003. Print.

A concise history of American comics and the comics industry over the twentieth

Century. This is a fine introduction to comics and graphic novels, and wonderfully

demonstrates the breadth of comics highlighting different titles to show how the industry was

influenced in different periods. Profusely illustrated with art from Superman, Plastic Man,

Tin-Tin, Zap Comics, Cerebus, Elfquest, and a host of others, Mr. Weiner connects all the

dots in this amazing evolution of a true art form—an evolution driven as much by artists and

writers as by their readers.

16

Friedman, Jonathan. C. The Routledge History of the Holocaust. New York: Routledge

Publishers, 2011. Print.

The genocide of Jewish and non-Jewish civilians perpetrated by the German regime

during World War Two continues to confront scholars with elusive questions even after

nearly seventy years and hundreds of studies. This multi-contributory work is a landmark

publication that sees experts renowned in their field addressing the problems of Holocaust.

Serving as a comprehensive introduction to the history of the Holocaust, this volume also

adds depth to current debate, both geographically and topically, assessing the Final Solution

as the German occupation instituted it across Europe and covering issues such as the problem

of prosecuting war crimes, gender and Holocaust experience, the persecution of non-Jewish

victims, and the Holocaust in post-war culture. The framework is thematic and chronologic.

17

Witek, Joseph. Art Spiegelman Conversations. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press,

2007. Print.

In Joseph Witek's introduction to Art Spiegelman: Conversations, it's clear that

Spiegelman is viewed as pivotal to American comics, from the underground comix of the

1960s to today. It also includes plenty of content that does more than simply applaud

Spiegelman as the patron saint of American comics. From the first chapter, a 1979 interview,

to the last, a 3-page from 2006, Spiegelman dutifully answers questions about his use of

animals as characters, his relationship with his father, and the complications of representing

history and biography. As the collection progresses, readers can discern Maus taking on a life

of its own, independent from its creator; interviewers expand their scope to inquire about the

book's influence and place within comics history, how it is used in classrooms, and its

publishing history. Several interviews, even more recent ones, focus on Maus entirely, but

not always from the angle one might expect. Readers learn about Spiegelman's earlier

endeavors as a commercial artist. Conversations will be a valuable resource for those

studying (and perhaps even teaching) Maus.

18

Geis, Deborah.R. Considering Maus: Approaches to Art Spiegelman’s “Survivor Tale” of the

Holocaust. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2003. Print.

The first focuses mostly on Spiegelman himself, as both author and character, and on the

sometimes audacious choices he made in bringing Maus to fruition. The second considers

the Maus volumes within the genre of Holocaust testimony, asking where and how to situate

these idiosyncratic texts. The third section takes a still wider view of the Maus volumes as

ongoing cultural productions. They explore many aspects of the work, including

Spiegelman's use of animal characters, the influence of other "comix" artists, the role of the

mother and its relation to gender issues, the use of repeating images such as smoke and blood,

Maus's position among Holocaust testimonials, its appropriation of cinematic technique, its

use of language and styles of dialect, and the implications of the work's critical and

commercial success. 

19

Mcglotholin, Erin Heather. Second-Generation Holocaust Literature: Legacies of Survival

and Perpetration. New York: Camden House, 2006. Print.

McGlothin's solid, clearly written, and well-researched book moves through a series of

analyses of second-generation survivor literature. It investigates how second-generation

writers employ similar tropes of stigmatization to express their troubled relationships to their

parents' histories. Writers from what is known as the second generation have produced texts

that express their feeling of being powerfully marked by events of which they have had no

direct experience.  Through readings of nine American, German, and French literary texts,

McGlothlin demonstrates how an anxiety with signification is manifested in the very

structure of second-generation literature, revealing the extent to which the literary texts

themselves are marked by the continuing aftershocks of the Holocaust.

20

Rothberg, Michael. Traumatic Realism: The Demands of Holocaust Representation.

Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2000. Print.

Michael Rothberg engages the question "how to comprehend the Holocaust and its

relationship to contemporary culture" by re-evaluating the function of realism in representing

the Holocaust —an event generally assumed to pose unique challenges to realism and to

representation. The first part of the book considers the Holocaust's impact on modernism,

specifically in its demand for a rethinking of space and time. The second part engages texts

by Holocaust survivors and explores the Holocaust's impact on the function of the real in the

work of representation. The final part explores cultural sources that partake in the

problematic presence of the Holocaust in a postmodern world, such as texts by Philip Roth

and Art Spiegelman, memorials such as the American Holocaust Museum, and films such

as Schindler's List. As it establishes new grounding for Holocaust studies, his book provides

a new understanding of realism, modernism, and postmodernism as responses to the demands

of history.

21

Lacapra, Dominick. Writing History, Writing Trauma. Maryland: John Hopkins University

Press, 2001. Print.

Lacapra provides a broad-ranging, critical inquiry into the problem of trauma, notably

with respect to major historical events. In a series of interlocking essays, he explores

theoretical and literary-critical attempts to come to terms with trauma as well as the crucial

role post-traumatic testimonies—particularly Holocaust testimonies—have assumed in recent

thought and writing. In doing so, he adapts psychoanalytic concepts to historical analysis and

employs socio-cultural and political critique to elucidate trauma and its after effects in culture

and in people. LaCapra addresses trauma from the perspective of history as a discipline. He

then lays a theoretical groundwork for the book as a whole, exploring the concept of

historical specificity and insisting on the difference between trans-historical and historical

trauma. Subsequent chapters consider how Holocaust testimonies raise the problem of the

role of affect and empathy in historical understanding, 

22

Orban, Katalin. Ethical Diversions: The Post-Holocaust Narratives of Pynchon, Abish,

DeLillo and Spiegelman. New York: Routledge Publishers, 2005. Print.

Orban chooses Pynchon, Abish, DeLillo and Spiegelman- four postmodern American

prose narratives which in their ways position themselves as Post-Holocaust works. Within

these four texts the author brings out how and why holocaust keeps appearing and

disappearing. He tries to bring out the similarities and the ethico-lingual entanglement found

in all the four texts. He analyses the narrative styles of each of the text by applying theoretical

texts. The ethical difficulties found in the narration and representation is discussed briefly in

this book.

23

Royal, Derek Parker. Unfinalized Moments: Essays in the Development of Contemporary

Jewish American Narrative. US: Purdue University Press, 2011. Print.

This book explores the community of Jewish American writers who published their first

book after the mid-1980s. It is the first book-length collection of essays on this subject matter

with contributions from the leading scholars in the field. Topics like Jewish American

writing, identity politics, testimonies, second generation literature, religious and cultural

practices are discussed. The essays begin with examination of the past and the ways it is

manifested in the writings of the second generation survivors. It explores some of the

different ways in which Jewish traditions and weight of history have become prominent

theme in many of the narratives. It also has interviews of contemporary Jewish writers who

are traditionally been marginalised within the criticism.

24

Epstein, Julia and Lefkovitz, Lori Hope. Shaping Losses: Cultural Memory and the

Holocaust. US : University of Illinois Press, 2001. Print.

Lefkovitz and Epstein have configured a text exploring cultural memory and the

Holocaust. It confronts the problem of transforming trauma into cultural memory. This book

examines how memoirs, films, photographs, art, and literature, as well as family

conversations and personal remembrances, embody the impulse to preserve what is

destroyed. The contributors to this collection are themselves survivors or children of

survivors examine the memorialisation of the Nazi campaign of genocide against European

Jews. Contributors discuss artistic efforts to 'preserve the rawness' of memory, to resist

redemptive closure in Holocaust narratives and public memorials, and to prevent the

Holocaust from being sealed in 'the cold storage of history'.

25

Mandel, Naomi. Against the Unspeakable: Complicity, the holocaust, and slavery in

America. US: University of Virginia Press, 2006. Print.

This Book is a critique the writings of holocaust. Naomi Mandel argues against the

"unspeakable" as any kind of inherent quality of such an event, insisting that the term is a

rhetorical tactic strategically employed to further specific cultural and political agendas.   It

focuses on the representations of Holocaust testimonies, and slavery in America exploring the

tension between historical fact and cultural artifacts. It also analyses text based on the

traumatic experience of the holocaust. Mandel draws on critical theory, literary analysis, and

film studies to offer a paradigm of reading that will enable the crucial work on comparative

atrocities and the representation of suffering to move beyond the impasse of "unspeakability".

26

Baskind, Samantha and Omer-Sherman Ranen. The Jewish Graphic Novel: Critical

Approaches. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2008. Print.

This book is a collection o variety of essays that addresses the biographical, historical and

aesthetic dimensions of Jewish Graphic novels. It focuses on the illuminating discussions of

major trends, developments intrinsic to the Jewish Graphic novel. Part One covers the Jewish

American experience addressing several foundational issues. Part two focuses on the

Holocaust, its pain involving reconciliation with the past and present and memories of the

children of holocaust survivors. The third and final section discusses the works of authors

worldwide and also offers a more personal focus with interviews from Jewish Graphic

novelists.

27

Reizbaum, Marilyn.“Surviving on Cat and Mouse: Art Spiegelman’s Holocaust Tale”.

Mapping Jewish Identities. Ed. Silberstien, Laurence Jay. US: New York University Press,

2000. Print.

This book is a collection of essays investigating the concept of identity that has been of

fundamental importance in recent discussions about Jewish life. The contributors to this book

are a part of a select group of Jewish studies scholars and cultural critics engaged in

rethinking the categories of Jewish identity discourse. Reizbaum reads Spiegelman’s Maus as

revealing the complexities of identity formation as it relates to the children of Holocaust

survivors. She is concerned with the limits of authenticity and burden of history. She explores

the imagery used in the graphic novel finds that Spiegelman strives to overthrow both internal

and external resistance to critique and display post-Holocaust legacies.

28

Levine, Michael.G. The Belated Witness: Literature, Testimony and the question of

Holocaust Survival. California: Stanford University Press, 2006. Print.

The book is an attempt to listen to the stories of the survivors of Holocaust. It explores the

relationship between narration and survival. The impact of the untold stories upon the lives of

Holocaust survivors and their children is the focus in this book. The first two chapters in this

book discuss in detail about Spiegelman’s Maus. He brings out the bitter anguish of the

holocaust experience by exploring the graphic novel’s usage of the sequential art to convey

the experience. He tries to bring out how the format of graphic narration found in Maus tries

to speak about the Holocaust experience. Levine elucidates on the state of the second

generation survivors coming to terms with their own implication in their parent’s

experiences.

29

Langer, Lawrence. L. “Two Holocaust Voices: Cynthia Ozick and Art Spiegelman”.

Literature of the Holocaust. Ed. Bloom, Harold. Pennsylvania: Chelsea House Publishers,

2004. Print.

This book is a collection of essays contributed by various writers discussing about the

memory and representation of experiences of the holocaust in literature. Langer in his essay

brings out the holocaust experiences in literature by talking about the writers- Ozick and

Spiegelman. Ozick’s stories are based on the tensions revolving around the Jewish heritage.

Spiegelman’s Maus centres on the Holocaust. The author tries to bring out the connection

between the themes of both the texts in this essay. He attempts to bring out the atrocities of

the holocaust by examining the works of both the writers in detail. The explicit portrayal of

subjective experience of a horror is brought out in literature.

30

Young, James. E. “The Art of Jewish Memory in Post Modern Age”. Meaning and

Representation in History. Ed. Rusen, Jorn. New York: Berghahn Books, 2006. Print.

The complex interrelationships of memories that links between past, present and future

that binds history is the primal focus of the text. Distinguished Scholars such as Paul Ricoeur,

Johan Galtung, Eberhard Lämmert, and James E. Young have contributed to this collection of

essays. James E. Young in his essay tries to explore the forms and meanings of a few of the

transformations in Jewish memory in the post modern age. The essay attempts to look at a

few post modern responses to the emblematic event of Holocaust, mediate on its significance

and speculate on the transformations of Jewish memory in post modern age.

31

Huyssen, Andreas. “Of Mice and Mimesis: Reading Spiegelman with Adorno”. Visual

Culture and the Holocaust. London. Athlone Press, 2001. Print.

This book visualises the Holocaust through its various domains of visual representation. It

explores wide and increasing number of settings by which the Holocaust has come to be

visually represented-in film, photography, comic books, art, artifacts, internet and television

and radio. Each domain explored in this book boasts its own shadows and reflections and

each needs to be considered on its own terms.

Huyssen in his essay tries to show that a reading through mimesis of one specific

Holocaust image-text allows to primarily focus on how to represent Holocaust properly or

how to avoid aestheticizing it. He discusses Art Spiegelman’s Maus in terms of mimetic

dimension and argues that it may allow approaching Holocaust memory and representation

today in a way different than earlier dominant paradigm.