Breaking the Frames: Populism and Prestige in Comics Studies by Marc Singer (review)

In Breaking the Frames, Marc Singer delineates with aplomb a war of cultures and approaches within comics scholarship that will inspire any comics scholar to rededicate themselves to a new type of engagement and scholarship. Rooted in a counterintuitive nature of binary oppositions, one in which mainstream populus has consistently pitted comics as disposable pop culture against comics as cultural objet d'art and study, this war of comics culture is inscribed beneath the surface of Singer's thought-provoking argument in order to argue for the need for more diverse critical approaches and methodological rigor across disciplinary lines in comics studies. Singer immediately points out that as a disciplinary field of study, often housed in either cultural studies or literary studies programs, comics studies has reached a peak fervor of teaching and research acceptance on most college campuses. Its authenticity as a scholarly pursuit is no longer based on the romantic myth of the unsuccessful outsider seeking recognition and the academic spotlight. Assuredly and unquestionably, comics studies has proven its academic relevance and is no longer the new kid on the scholarly block and in scholarly productions (e.g., the variety and multitude of comics studies book series in academic scholarly presses). Thus, for Singer, comics studies is at a crucial crossroads because perceived canons in isolation (i.e., tension and division across so-called disciplinary lines) and unfortunate praise of scholarly affect over substantive criticism have stunted comics studies' rigor, true in-depth analysis, and potential areas of new focus. Moreover, with varied university structures of disciplines and departments buttressing singular approaches and divisive comics criticism on display at comics conferences, online, and in print, Singer proposes that comics scholars adopt best practices for scholarly rigor in which true critical discourses must include critical and oppositional work. In a nutshell, Singer's rhetorical plea is, there ought to be greater communication, community, and championing of the very comics that the vox populi study and admire. Throughout six chapters that range from a fresh analytical consideration of Umberto Eco's 1962 seminal text on "The Myth of Superman" to in-depth analyses of popular works by Marjane Satrapi, Alan Moore, Kyle Baker, and Chris Ware, Singer advocates for and demonstrates the scholarly rigor that should invite dialogue and not further discord. Put simply, Singer advocates for the dismantling of canonical frameworks that have stymied comics studies scholarship as well as signaling the need for inclusionary tactics in higher education that accept and welcome seemingly oppositional viewpoints so as to engage with comics once more in new and rigorous scholarly conversations.

The Introduction to Breaking the Frames is a primer for any novice comics scholar first entering the discipline of comics studies or even a recommitted scholar taking up Singer's rhetorical call to arms for new critical scholarly productions. At the outset Singer carefully suggests that some of the reasons why the discipline of comics studies, which runs the gamut from the popular to the philosophical, is at a crossroads include the fact that there has been a subtle lack of commitment and respect for it as an academic discipline from within the scholarly community: "It's time to take the chip off our collective shoulder and focus on producing the same high quality of work that would be expected in any other field" (35). Likewise, Singer attributes the crossroads to a breakdown of communication, an estrangement and tension among those figures from different yet related fields who could very well serve as a team of beacons for comics studies and its newfound age of maturity and intellectual rigor. Among the many recent examples that Singer introduces to demonstrate the divisive and counterproductive disputes taking place on a national stage: the 2015 Jill Lepore and G. Willow Wilson hyperbole debate over feminism and A-Force #1 in the New Yorker and on Wilson's webpage, and the 2014 Comics & Media, a special issue of Critical Inquiry...