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Keywords comic books convergence culture copyright creative labor fandom media industries Media Studies 2.0 new media history participatory culture Visit IJLM.net AbstractArguing that comic book culture has been one of convergence for many decades, this essay examines the history of this once dominant pop cultural form to reflect on current debates around new media. With a focus on three eras within the comic book industry, the author gleans five lessons for today's media practitioners, theorists, and educators. The author is especially interested in the gradual institutionalization of new media and in the impact and importance of fans. Ultimately this brief history of the comic book industry recommends for the contemporary moment a more cautious approach to new media and new media studies than some of the utopian rhetoric of the last decade has offered, with a greater emphasis on fair labor practices and movement toward an appropriate legal regime.

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