The Comic Book Western: New Perspectives on a Global Genre

2023 Ray and Pat Browne Award for Best Edited Collection in Popular and American Culture

One of the greatest untold stories about the globalization of the Western is the key role of comics. Few American cultural exports have been as successful globally as the Western, a phenomenon commonly attributed to the widespread circulation of fiction, film, and television. The Comic Book Western centers comics in the Western's international success. Even as readers consumed translations of American comic book Westerns, they fell in love with local ones that became national or international sensations.

These essays reveal the unexpected cross-pollinations that allowed the Western to emerge from and speak to a wide range of historical and cultural contexts, including Spanish and Italian fascism, Polish historical memory, the ideology of shōjo manga from Japan, British post-apocalypticism and the gothic, race and identity in Canada, Mexican gender politics, French critiques of manifest destiny, and gaucho nationalism in Argentina. The vibrant themes uncovered in The Comic Book Western teach us that international comic book Westerns are not hollow imitations but complex and aesthetically powerful statements about identity, culture, and politics.

Author: Christopher Conway
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Published: 06/01/2022
Pages: 328
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.06lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.73d
ISBN13: 9781496231642
ISBN10: 1496231643
BISAC Categories:
- Literary Criticism | Comics & Graphic Novels
- Literary Criticism | American | Regional
- Comics & Graphic Novels | Nonfiction | History

About the Author
Christopher Conway is a professor of Spanish at the University of Texas at Arlington. He is the author or editor of several books, including Heroes of the Borderlands: The Western in Mexican Film, Comics, and Music. Antoinette Sol is a professor of French at the University of Texas at Arlington and coeditor of MLA's Teaching Representations of the French Revolution.