Examining the Regressive State of Comics Through DC Comics' Crisis on Infinite Earths
How to Cope with Crisis: Examining the Regressive State of Comics through DC Comics' Crisis on Infinite Earths Devon Lamonte Keyes Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English Virginia Fowler, Chair James Vollmer Evan Lavender-Smith May 10, 2019 Blacksburg, Virginia Keywords: Comics Studies, Narratology, Continuity Copyright 2019, Devon Lamonte Keyes How to Cope with Crisis: Examining the Regressive state of Comics through DC Comics' Crisis on Infinite Earths Devon Lamonte Keyes (ABSTRACT) The sudden and popular rise of comic book during the last decade has seen many new readers, filmgoers, and television watchers attempt to navigate the world of comics amid a staggering influx of content produced by both Marvel and DC Comics. This process of navigation is, of course, not without precedence: a similar phenomenon occurred during the 1980s in which new readers turned to the genre as superhero comics began to saturate the cultural consciousness after a long period of absence. And, just as was the case during that time, such a navigation can prove difficult as a veritable network of information|much of which is contradictory|vies for attention. How does one navigate a medium to which comic books, graphic novels, movies, television shows, and other supplementary forms all contribute? Such a task has, in the past, proven to be near insurmountable. DC Comics is no stranger to this predicament: during the second boom of superhero comics, it sought to untangle the canonical mess made by decades of overlapping history to the groundbreaking limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths, released to streamline its then collection of stories by essentially nullifying its previous canon and starting from scratch.
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