The Parallel Universe: A Review of Webcomics

Kleefeld, S., Webcomics. Bloomsbury Academic, 254 pages, 2020, ISBN 9781350028173.The review considers Webcomics, by Sean Kleefeld (Bloomsbury Academic, 2020). This volume, ranging over broad themes in sections titled Historical Overview, Social and Cultural Impact, Key Texts, and Critical Uses, is an essential text in the under-studied area of webcomics. While Webcomics provides a fresh consideration of the form’s place in digital history, historical and current works, and promoting diverse creator voices, this review maintains that an opportunity has been missed to place webcomics in the wider social and cultural context of communication and publishing. This consideration, and that of digital comics readers’ ‘lived experience’ with webcomics, points to a gap in empirical research.