Comic Book Paratexts
Comic book content in, around, and outside the panels
About Comic Book Paratexts
Comic Book Paratexts (CBP) is a growing digital collection and scholary resource for the exploration of comic book paratexts. CPB aims to provide illustrative examples of the many types of paratexts found in comic books.
In literary studies, the paratext refers to textual and documentary components surrounding or otherwise associated with a text. Paratexts—extensively explored in Gérard Genette’s Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation (1987, 1997)—include titles, dust jackets, prefaces, tables of contents, indices, notes, and epigraphs. Paratextual elements can influence the reception and interpretation of a text.
In the comic book, the “text” is the sequential art, the comics narrative composed of panels, artwork, word balloons, captions, and more. Comic book paratexts include components already mentioned (titles, notes, etc.) along with other elements like advertisements, fan mail, publisher news, and editorial pages. In his essay “Superhero Comics and the Authorizing Functions of the Comic Book Paratext” (2013), Daniel Stein describes comic book paratexts as “productive contact zones between producers and consumers, authors and readers” (p. 160).
For a more extensive overview of paratexts and comic book paratexts, please see the introductory essay.
Acknowledgements
I want to offer special thanks to the CollectionBuilder team. Without their amazing digital collections platform, Comic Book Paratexts would not be possible in anything like its current form and functionality. I especially want to thank two members of the team, my former students Devin Becker and Olivia Wikle. I am extremely proud and appreciative of their work.
Technical Credits - CollectionBuilder
Comic Book Paratexts is built with CollectionBuilder, an open source framework for creating digital collections and exhibits. CollectionBuilder is developed by faculty librarians at the University of Idaho Library following the Lib-Static methodology.