This thesis proposed a structure-centered method for composing a critical history of comics. It examined the development building and breaking template--a rigid grid of panels depicting a narrative arc, which then leads to a panel depicting the arc's climax that breaks with that established structure--through four moments in the history of English-language comics. Rather than attempting a comprehensive overview of the building and breaking template, the thesis was a proof of concept for the application of recent advances in structure-oriented comics theory and in theories of affect--the pre-cognitive experience of emotion-- to specific comic structures. Examining the work of Bernard Krigstein, Art Spiegelman, David Mazzucchelli and Paul Karasik, and Joshua Cotter, the thesis placed these artists within a context of conditionality, dependent both upon the material circumstances of comics production and upon the unique semiotic and affective experiences of the comic's readers.
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