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{{Short description|Nonfiction book by Will Eisner}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2023}} {{Use American English|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Comics and Sequential Art
| image = casa-cover.kwill.png
| author = [[Will Eisner]]
| country = United States
| language = English
| subject = [[Comics]]
| publisher = Poorhouse Press
| pub_date = 1985; 1990 (expanded edition)
| pages = 164 (expanded edition)
| followed_by = [[Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative]]
}}
'''''Comics and Sequential Art''''' is a book by American cartoonist [[Will Eisner]] that analyzes the [[comics]] medium, published in 1985 and revised in 1990. It is based on a series of essays that appeared in ''The Spirit'' magazine, themselves based on Eisner's experience teaching a course on comics at the [[School of Visual Arts]]. It is not presented as a teaching guide, however, but as a series of demonstrations of principles and methods. A 1990 expanded edition of the book includes short sections on the print process and the use of computers in comics. Eisner followed with a companion volume, ''[[Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative]]'', in 1996.

==Content==
In contrast to earlier books on comics, which focused on specific aspects such as drawing anatomy, Eisner's book takes an overall approach, devoting different chapters to different aspects of comics. To demonstrate many of the concepts the book introduces, Eisner provides a ten-page adaptation of the "[[To be, or not to be]]..." soliloquy from [[Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Hamlet]]''. A revised edition included a chapter on computer techniques.{{sfn|Schumacher|2010}}

==Publication history==
Since the 1970s Eisner had been lecturing on comics at the [[School of Visual Arts]]. He was unable to find a textbook that focused on theoretical aspects of comics, and began writing essays based on the subject for ''The Spirit'' magazine; these essays came to form the basis of ''Comics and Sequential Art''.{{sfn|Schumacher|2010}}

==Legacy==
Along with Scott McCloud's ''[[Understanding Comics]]'' (1993), ''Comics and Sequential Art'' is considered to form the foundations for formal [[comics studies]] in English.{{sfnm|1a1=Heer|1a2=Worcester|1y=2009|1p=xiv|2a1=Holston|2y=2010|2p=16}} Eisner followed up the book in different ways: he expanded the "Expressive Anatomy" chapter into a book with the same title two decades later, and followed up the book itself with ''[[Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative]]'' in 1996.{{sfn|Schumacher|2010}}

==See also==
* [[Comics studies]]
* [[Sequential art]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Works cited==
{{Refbegin}}

* {{cite book
|last1         = Heer
|first1        = Jeet
|last2         = Worcester
|first2        = Kent
|editor1-last  = Heer
|editor1-first = Jeet
|editor2-last  = Worcester
|editor2-first = Kent
|chapter       = Introduction
|pages         = xi–xv
|title         = A Comics Studies Reader
|url           = https://books.google.com/books?id=9LUYhG9qO_8C
|year          = 2009
|publisher     = University Press of Mississippi
|isbn          = 978-1-60473-109-5
}}
* {{cite book
|last1        = Holston
|first1       = Alicia
|editor-last  = Weiner
|editor-first = Robert G.
|title        = Graphic Novels and Comics in Libraries and Archives: Essays on Readers, Research, History and Cataloging
|chapter-url  = https://books.google.com/books?id=Xo-QYdfL9DoC&pg=PA9
|year         = 2010
|publisher    = McFarland
|isbn         = 978-0-7864-5693-2
|pages        = 9–16
|chapter      = A Librarian's Guide to the History of Graphic Novels
}}
* {{cite book
|last      = Schumacher
|first     = Michael
|title     = Will Eisner: A Dreamer's Life in Comics
|url       = https://archive.org/details/willeisnerdreame0000schu
|url-access = registration
|year      = 2010
|publisher = Bloomsbury Publishing
|isbn      = 978-1-60819-524-4
}}

{{Refend}}

{{Will Eisner}}
{{Portal bar|Comics}}

[[Category:1985 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Books about comics]]
[[Category:Books by Will Eisner]]

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