The Epilogue, Cats, and the Future of Comics Studies The Authority File

In the final episode of this four-part series, Dale Jacobs, author of On Comics and Grief, discusses the title’s epilogue and the future of comics studies. First, Dale walks through the feedback he received from peer reviewers that encouraged him to conclude on a more hopeful note. Highlighting the benefits of peer review, he chats about his decision to include reviewer comments in the epilogue. Next, Dale tells the tale (or tail?) of a key figure that showed up in the text, Dale and his wife Heidi’s cat, Klaus. A stray that eventually found a permanent home with Dale and Heidi, Klaus helped Dale through a time of loss and overall burnout, earning a shoutout in the epilogue. Finally, Dale looks ahead to topics in comics scholarship still left untapped, including “typical comics” outside the superhero genre and the overarching aim to keep the personal within academic work.

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