Spirits in the Gutters: The British Invasion and the Haunting of the Twentieth Century

dc.contributor.advisorBeaty, Bart
dc.contributor.authorSewel, Tom
dc.contributor.committeememberXie, Shaobo
dc.contributor.committeememberLai, Larissa
dc.contributor.committeememberMason, Derritt
dc.contributor.committeememberMurray, Chris
dc.contributor.committeememberBeaty, Bart
dc.date2023-06
dc.date.accessioned2023-02-01T22:15:53Z
dc.date.available2023-02-01T22:15:53Z
dc.date.issued2023-01-27
dc.description.abstractIn this dissertation, I analyze the significant artistic and literary shifts initiated in mainstream US superhero comics by the British Invasion authors Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Warren Ellis (among others), and argue that their restless curiosity in exploring how the comics page can come to make meaning is part of a tradition of literary production whose roots run back through the disruptive US/UK modernisms of the early twentieth century, the fragmented spiritual affects of Romanticism, and the dissonant overcomplications of Baroque art. I argue that that the impact of this group of writers instigated a sea change of generational proportions in the direction of American comics writing from the late 1980s to the early 2000s. This change began with an increased focus on textuality and the tropes of literary storytelling (such as unreliable narrators, non-linear narratives, and biting political allegory) but was always accompanied by and generative of an innovative and experimental approach to the mechanics of visual storytelling in terms of the manipulation of layouts, panelling, guttering, and other concrete elements of the comics page. US superhero comics written and illustrated by US creators published subsequent to the British Invasion and up to the present day, continue to reflect the deep shifts in aesthetic and literary preoccupations inaugurated by the authors of the British Invasion, with Moore, Morrison, and Ellis chief among them. At stake in this sea change is the figure of the unreconstructed, all-American superhero as a symbol of hope, justice, morality, and honour. I argue that the British Invasion authors brought a critical, intellectualized cynicism to their own superhero writing, which worked to create and sustain new audiences of more mature comics readers whose taste for overtly political or philosophical comics remains a powerful market force in the comics industry today. The Invasion writers changed the way that stories could be told in superhero comics, and while they may not have been successful in recouping the radical potential of the superhero as a figure of collective liberation, they heralded an enduring shift in the kinds of stories that mainstream comics were allowed to tell.en_US
dc.identifier.citationSewel, T. (2023). Spirits in the gutters: the British invasion and the haunting of the twentieth century (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1880/115799
dc.identifier.urihttps://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/40704
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisher.facultyArtsen_US
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Calgaryen
dc.rightsUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.en_US
dc.subjectComicsen_US
dc.subjectGraphic Narrativeen_US
dc.subjectBaroqueen_US
dc.subjectModernismen_US
dc.subjectPost-structuralismen_US
dc.subjectOthernessen_US
dc.subjectAmerican Literatureen_US
dc.subjectEnglish Literatureen_US
dc.subject.classificationLiteratureen_US
dc.titleSpirits in the Gutters: The British Invasion and the Haunting of the Twentieth Centuryen_US
dc.typedoctoral thesisen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineEnglishen_US
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Calgaryen_US
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)en_US
ucalgary.item.requestcopytrueen_US
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