Arresting Development is an excellent point of connection between previous and current scholarship of the contemporary comics era—a project that encourages scholars to embrace the complexity of what it means to read and study comics.
Studies in Twentieth and Twenty-first Century Literature
Pizzino's book is an excellent work for understanding the medium of comics in a transatlantic Anglophone world.
Inks: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society
Important…[Pizzino's] case studies will undoubtedly shape future critical discussions of the individual works that are their focus.
Studies in the Novel
I recommend Arresting Development without reservation as the close readings of the comics in this book offer new insights that would not have been gained without the concept of autoclasm, a way of seeing comics as comics.
Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics
[Pizzino's] argument uncovers an important and often misunderstood history of comics' battle for cultural acceptance…Pizzino produces some enlightening readings of the formal ways cartoonists respond to the problem of legitimacy.
Twentieth-Century Literature
Arresting Development is a fascinating book...Pizzino offers interesting and thoughtful reflections on a number of important comic creators and works, and presents a refreshing new way to look at the question of 'status' in comics and the place of comics in relation to literature and fine art.
Comic Book Yeti