This is one of those books that isn't really at its best when it's dealing with the subject of its title. Its first third is about the theory and history of comics in general, and is a bit weak. The rest is made up of criticism of the works of particular creators, and is a good deal better. ( )

The first half on comics theory was very insightful. ( )

Let comics be comics. ( )

This works really well as Comics Crit 101, which is what I was looking for. Many people who already read a lot about comics were underwhelmed by this book, but I needed a starting point and this was very accessible. I've been reading comics for years but never feel qualified to participate in the in-depth discussions that my friends have, and this will help. I've read about 2/3 of what he covers. For the stuff I haven't already read, I appreciated that it wasn't all browbeating into how a title was brilliant and I absolutely had to read and appreciate it. Some essays reinforced my impression that a title was well done but not for me. ( )

very interesting and informative, but i found wolk's tone to be annoying at times. ( )