ABSTRACT
In this introduction, Howard and Hoeness-Krupsaw draw on Performance Studies scholarship to examine the impact of comics on social construction. Like performances, graphic narratives and other comics are product and process, and they can initiate robust, critical conversations about how comics might contribute to our social, cultural, and political understanding. This chapter also provides an overview of Dwight Conquergood’s model for performance’s function as the organizing principle for this collection of chapters to illustrate the graphic narrative’s potential for social construction and audience engagement.
