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Comics and Narration, by Thierry Groensteen. Translated by Ann Miller. University Press of Mississippi, 2013. ISBN 978-1-61703-770-2. 205 pp. $55.00.
Thierry Groensteen's Comics and Narration returns to his influential 1999 Système de la bande dessinée, published in English as The System of Comics in 2007. The first volume was, Groensteen explains, a "macrosemiotic" theory, "not concerned with the details of single imagos" (3). Comics and Narration applies Groensteen's theories to individual comics pages, using examples from Europe, America, and Japan. In the process, he examines iconic "waffle-iron" comics pages; the innovative work of Chris Ware; experimental abstract comics; and intersections of comics with contemporary art. The result is a comprehensive overview of current comics practice...