In recent years, a number of artists have culled images from slapstick, comic strips and films, caricature, cartoons and animation to create works that address matters of war and global conflict, the loss of innocence, and ethnic stereotyping What does it mean to confront political concerns with humor? How can comics, serve as a medium for tackling difficult issues? The works presented here, from Julie Mehretu's intricately layered paintings of cartoon explosions and Arturo Herrera's psychological collages of Walt Disney coloring books to Ellen Gallagher's seductively minimalist paintings permeated by "blackface" signs and Rivane Neuenschwander's overpainted comic strips, grapple with such questions. Both critical and playful, these explorations reflect the intensely personal relationship that many contemporary artists maintain with political currents.<BR>This volume, which accompanies an exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, presents the first investigation into this mode of representation. It features works by thirteen artists who employ erasure and blurring, appropriation and ambiguity to put a new spin on the relationship between the vernacular language of pop culture and rarified brands of "fine art." Roxana Marcoci's essay looks at each artist in depth and considers how comic characters, style, and narrative structures - so deeply imprinted in our collective consciousness - retain their visual potency even when totally abstracted. Also included are interviews with the artists and selected exhibition histories and bibliographies.