The Comics of Alison Bechdel

Janine Utell is professor and chair of English at Widener University. She is author of Engagements with Narrative and James Joyce and the Revolt of Love: Marriage, Adultery, Desire. She serves as editor of the Space Between: Literature and Culture, 1914-1945, a peer-reviewed digital journal.

The impact of Alison Bechdel's work is difficult to overestimate, yet there are no studies to date that focus entirely on her work. This timely collection aims to fill this gap. It provides a thorough investigation of Bechdel's work, its genesis, and reception and makes a distinct contribution to the existing scholarship on comics by focusing on the full range and breadth of Bechdel's work.--Heike Bauer, author of The Hirschfeld Archives: Violence, Death, and Modern Queer Culture The entire book is useful, but the latter two essays, and their images, alone make the collection necessary for those interested in comics, gender, and sexuality studies.-- "CHOICE" These chapters give a glimpse into the current state of Bechdel scholarship and serve as a solid foundation for future works, such as Bechdel's most recent publication The Secret to Superhuman Strength and the film adaptation of Fun Home. Importantly, The Comics of Alison Bechdel: From the Outside In serves as a necessary contribution to the Critical Approaches in Comic Artists Series hosted by the University Press of Mississippi, to what this reader hopes is a beginning for the series in examining the works of less mainstream grassroot and queer comic writers.--Noah Mullens "ImageText" The Comics of Alison Bechdel makes a significant contribution to the study of comics in American culture. Furthermore, since this volume is part of University Press of Mississippi's Critical Approaches to Comics Artists series, it also solidifies Bechdel's well-deserved place in the canon of American comics artists.--Kirsten Mollegaard "Journal of American Culture" In its entirety, The Comics of Alison Bechdel brilliantly functions in correlation with Bechdel's works: the several chapters chart intersections between Bechdel's diverse oeuvre and the dynamic relations in and between them, suggesting "closure" yet ultimately defying it. . . . . The Comics of Alison Bechdel fills the gap in existing scholarship on Alison Bechdel and points out how her comics may be read and reread anew--Malgorzata Olsza "ALH Online Review" The Comics of Alison Bechdel: From the Outside In sheds light on how the artist has shown LGBT and mainstream readers new ways to understand human connection. . . . Occasional jargon can be tough to digest, but the essays overall offer well-researched takes on this superlative comics artist, and identify fresh areas for future study.--Rosemary Booth "The Gay & Lesbian Review"