A superb compendium of definitions for over one thousand terms related to comics studies, collecting, and publishing

Nancy Pedri is professor of English at Memorial University of Newfoundland (Canada), where she has taught since 2006. She edited “Mixing Visual Media in Comics” for ImageText and “The Narrative Functions of Photography in Comics” for Image [&] Narrative; she coedited “Sexuality and Mental Illness in Comics” for the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics. Her coauthored article on “Focalization in Graphic Narrative” won the 2012 James Phelan Award for the Best Essay in Narrative.

Nancy Pedri's profile page

CHUCK HOWITT was a reporter for the local daily newspaper, the Waterloo Region Record, until his recent retirement. He covered Research In Motion, the maker of BlackBerry, and other business stories for the newspaper. He lives in Kitchener.

Chuck Howitt's profile page

In the burgeoning world of comics studies, a book like this is indispensable. . . . Dictionaries are not designed to be read cover to cover, but this one is entertaining enough that it could be. More practically, though, it serves as a valuable resource for those needing a quick definition, wanting more information to develop an argument or fill in gaps, or seeking a scholarly reference for a term.

Journal of American Culture

Nancy Pedri's wonderful A Concise Dictionary of Comics provides useful references in a variety of texts for key concepts in comics studies that allows for ready comparison.

Ian Gordon, coeditor of The Comics of Charles Schulz: The Good Grief of Modern Life

There has been an undeniable rise in the popularity of graphic novels and superhero movies for a few decades. This increase in awareness has seen a surge in academic studies of, and pedagogical books devoted to, comics. Pedri found a gap in the related literature—a dearth of reference resources dedicated to terms commonly utilized in the study of comic books and its culture. . . . This reference is useful and recommended for most libraries so that they can support the growing interest in comic books within many user groups.

Library Journal

Though concise, as the title states, this reference is comprehensive and offers more than a dictionary of comics terms. Consisting of more than a thousand entries and definitions relevant to comics history, design, production, distribution, collecting, and scholarship, the dictionary is also an excellent source for anyone who wants to know more about any aspect of comics creation and culture. Highly recommended.

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