Robin and the Making of American Adolescence by Lauren R. O'Connor (review)

Abstract

222 Woo and Stoll conclude their collection by thinking about the role of the comics scholar in the comics world. Taking Bourdieu as a point of departure, they argue that “researchers are not separate from the worlds they study” (234) and choose to include, as a final chapter, an interview between themselves, foundational theorist and scholar Charles Hatfield, and early career scholar Franny Howes. The chapter is a meaningful conclusion to the collection not only because it effectively establishes the position of theorist and researcher of comics within the larger theoretical framework of the collection, but also nicely demonstrates the method of semi-structured interviews. In this way, the final offering of the collection effectively combines the theoretical and empirical focuses of the text into a single conversation and demonstrates how these two principles can contribute to better understanding comics, by better understanding their social context. This collection offers readers a glimpse into what Woo and Stoll call “the exciting, messy world around comic books and graphic novels” (xvi). It invites researchers to “go exploring” (xvii) in the comics world with the social scientific model of inquiry and advocates for an understanding of comics through an understanding of the social contexts that surround them. Through this work, Woo and Stoll have put together one of the most meaningful collections on the future of comics and comics studies in recent memory. They have provided a clear and articulate model for expanding our understanding of comics through approaches rooted in social scientific research and demonstrate how empirical research with the publics and human actors involved in the comics world can not only illuminate new meanings made within the fringes of what has traditionally been thought of as comics studies, but also radically redefine how we understand comics and other visual texts as a result.