The Transmedia Archaeology ― Storytelling in the Borderlines of Science Fiction, Comics and Pulp Magazines

Throughout the world, people now engage with stories across multiple media, following the adventures of Doctor Who from television to the Web, exploring the Batman universe across cinema, television, comics, and more. This may seem recent, but transmedia storytelling is not a new phenomenon. History is filled with popular fiction, whose stories extend across different media as yesteryear's fan communities also participated in the act of expanding fictional worlds. In Transmedia Archaeology, Carlos A. Scolari, Paolo Bertetti and Matthew Freeman examine manifestations of transmedia storytelling not only in different historical periods but also in different countries, spanning the UK, the US and Argentina. They take us into the worlds of Conan the Barbarian, Superman and El Eternauta, and explore transmedia storytelling as part of 20th century mass culture, fandom, narrative practices, genres, and even political activism, giving us an introduction to the archaeology of transmedia.

Carlos A. Scolari is Associate Professor (tenure) at the Department of Communication of the University Pompeu Fabra, Spain. He has lectured about transmedia storytelling, media ecology and interactive communication in more than 20 European and Latin American countries. He is the author of Crossmedia Innovations (with I. Ibrus, 2012), and Narrativas Transmedia: Cuando todos los medios cuentan (2013).

Paolo Bertetti is Professor in Universita degli Studi di Siena, where he conducts research and organises the Master's degree in Business Communication and teaches Analysis of Advertising Discourse. He has been Visiting Professor at the University of Turin, Italy and his research interests include narratology, audio-visual storytelling, semiotic theory and the genres of contemporary popular culture.

Matthew Freeman is Visiting Lecturer in Media and Communication at Birmingham City University, UK and holds a PhD from the University of Nottingham. He has published on the history of transmedia storytelling in The International Journal of Cultural Studies, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, and International Journal of Communication. His first monograph will be published in 2015.