The Cambridge Companion to the American Graphic Novel explores the important role of the graphic novel in reflecting American society and in the shaping of the American imagination. Using key examples, this volume reviews the historical development of various subgenres within the graphic novel tradition and examines how graphic novelists have created multiple and different accounts of the American experience, including that of African American, Asian American, Jewish, Latinx, and LGBTQ+ communities. Reading the American graphic novel opens a debate on how major works have changed the idea of America from that once found in the quintessential action or superhero comics to show new, different, intimate accounts of historical change as well as social and individual, personal experience. It guides readers through the theoretical text-image scholarship to explain the meaning of the complex borderlines between graphic novels, comics, newspaper strips, caricature, literature, and art.

This Companion examines the evolution of comic books into graphic novels and the development of this art form globally.

An overview of popular literature from the early nineteenth century to the present day from a historical and comparative perspective.

Interweaving history and theory, this book unpacks the complexity of comics, covering formal, critical and institutional dimensions.

This Companion explores the relationship between the ideas and themes of American science fiction and their roots in the American cultural experience.

This volume explores the most exciting trends in 21st century US fiction's genres, themes, and concepts.

This Companion focuses on the novel as a global genre and examines its role, impact and development.