Analyzing the way that recent works of graphic narrative use the comics form to engage with the “problem” of reproduction, Shiamin Kwa’s Perfect Copies reminds us that the mode of production and the manner in which we perceive comics are often quite similar to the stories they tell. Perfect Copies considers the dual notions of reproduction, mechanical as well as biological, and explores how comics are works of reproduction that embed questions about the nature of reproduction itself. Through close readings of the comics My Favorite Thing Is Monsters by Emil Ferris, The Black Project by Gareth Brookes, The Generous Bosom series by Conor Stechschulte, Sabrina by Nick Drnaso, and Panther by Brecht Evens, Perfect Copies shows how these comics makers push the limits of different ideas of “reproduction” in strikingly different ways. Kwa suggests that reading and thinking about books like these, that push us to engage with these complicated questions, teaches us how to become better readers.
Introduction
1 The People Upstairs: Space, Memory, and the Queered Family in My Favorite Thing Is Monsters
2 Reach Out and Touch Someone: The Haptic Dreams of Gareth Brookes
3 Phantom Threads: Seeing in the Dark and Conor Stechschulte
4 If You See Something Say Something: Nick Drnaso’s Sabrina
5 There is a Monster in My Closet: Brecht Evens’s Panther
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
