tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/comics-5682/articlesComics – The Conversation2023-10-19T07:24:30Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2158672023-10-19T07:24:30Z2023-10-19T07:24:30ZThe story of Israel and Palestine in comic strips<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554590/original/file-20231018-17-5inc0y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=33%2C10%2C802%2C787&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Excerpt from the comic book 'How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less', by Sarah Glidden.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://drawnandquarterly.com/books/how-understand-israel-60-days-or-less/">Drawn & Quarterly</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/hamas-assault-echoes-1973-arab-israeli-war-a-shock-attack-and-questions-of-political-intelligence-culpability-215228">On the morning of 7 October</a>, at the dawn of the Sabbath –the sacred day for Jewish people– an unprecedented attack was carried out by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas">Hamas (Islamic Resistance Movement) militants</a> on recognised Israeli soil. </p>
<p>By way of land, sea and air, Hamas has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/08/israel-gaza-hamas-attack-netanyahu-warns-of-long-and-difficult-war">reignited a major conflict</a> that had lain dormant for almost half a century. They broke down the barrier dividing Palestinian territory from Israeli, killed civilians and took hostages, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/09/how-the-hamas-attack-on-the-supernova-festival-in-israel-unfolded">many of whom were attendees at an electronic music festival</a> being held near the border with the Gaza Strip. </p>
<p>The response was immediate: <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/we-are-at-war-netanyahu-says-after-hamas-launches-devastating-surprise-attack/">“Citizens of Israel…We are at war and will win.”</a> With these words the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared war on Hamas. This was much to the detriment of the Palestinian people, as has been seen across the world’s media in recent weeks.</p>
<p>Israel’s continued occupation of Palestine has lead many prominent figures to call Gaza “<a href="https://merip.org/2015/06/gaza-as-an-open-air-prison/">the world’s largest open-air prison</a>”. The situation is more political than religious, as the international community recognises the State of Israel (created and institutionalised in 1948), but not all recognise the Palestinian State. Palestine is <a href="https://theconversation.com/palestine-and-britain-forgotten-legacy-of-world-war-i-that-devastated-the-middle-east-106408">a land that is significant to both peoples</a>, and proactive action is needed by Western societies to try to understand what has happened and what continues to happen in the region.</p>
<h2>A story told in comic strips</h2>
<p>In these times, comics and graphic novels can offer an incisive, insightful medium for thoughtfulness and reflection, as numerous press cartoonists are using their platforms to denounce war and death, such as <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CyKin3-riqS/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==">Coco</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CyGGxgToNoJ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==">Joann Sfar</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CyLaRfitpGN/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==">Mana Neyestani</a>. </p>
<p>The following is a selection of graphic novels that invite us to delve into both the roots and the present-day nature of the conflict. All of these works can be found freely online, in bookstores and in many public libraries around the world.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://books.google.es/books?id=6aQywgEACAAJ&hl=es&source=gbs_book_other_versions"><em>Best of Enemies: A History of US and Middle East Relations</em></a> by Jean-Pierre Filiu, and David Beauchard</strong></p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554725/original/file-20231019-29-hh15g4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Cover of the second volume of _Best of Enemies_ by Jean Pierre Filiu and David B." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554725/original/file-20231019-29-hh15g4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554725/original/file-20231019-29-hh15g4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=838&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554725/original/file-20231019-29-hh15g4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=838&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554725/original/file-20231019-29-hh15g4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=838&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554725/original/file-20231019-29-hh15g4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1053&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554725/original/file-20231019-29-hh15g4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1053&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554725/original/file-20231019-29-hh15g4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1053&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Cover of the second volume of <em>Best of Enemies</em> by Jean Pierre Filiu and David B.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://books.google.es/books?id=6aQywgEACAAJ&hl=es&source=gbs_book_other_versions">Google Books</a></span>
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<p>The second volume of this series –<em>Best of Enemies: A History of US and Middle East Relations, Part Two: 1953-1984</em>– looks at the strategic situation and international politics of the Middle East from the 1950s to the 1980s. </p>
<p>The narrative focuses on this turbulent period in world history, with events such as the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PXHeKuBzPY">Islamic Revolution in Iran</a> in the late 1970s, and the Six-Day War between Israel and Egypt, Syria and Jordan in 1967. It presents events through dreamlike drawings and unrealistic proportions, using a black and white style reminiscent of the newspapers and archival footage of the time.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554726/original/file-20231019-19-bg0wgl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Cover of _Jerusalem: Chronicles of the Holy City_ by Guy Delisle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554726/original/file-20231019-19-bg0wgl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554726/original/file-20231019-19-bg0wgl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=833&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554726/original/file-20231019-19-bg0wgl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=833&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554726/original/file-20231019-19-bg0wgl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=833&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554726/original/file-20231019-19-bg0wgl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1046&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554726/original/file-20231019-19-bg0wgl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1046&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554726/original/file-20231019-19-bg0wgl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1046&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Cover of <em>Jerusalem: Chronicles of the Holy City</em> by Guy Delisle.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://drawnandquarterly.com/books/jerusalem/">Drawn & Quarterly</a></span>
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<p><strong><a href="https://drawnandquarterly.com/books/jerusalem/"><em>Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City</em></a> by Guy Delisle</strong></p>
<p>Guy Delisle, a Canadian author, documents his travels with his wife, an administrator for Doctors Without Borders, with whom he has also travelled to (and written about) <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyongyang:_A_Journey_in_North_Korea">Pyongyang</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhen:_A_Travelogue_from_China">Shenzhen</a>. Here, he writes about his year long stay in the city of Jerusalem. </p>
<p>Using colour in clear, uniform tones and narrating in the first person, Delisle’s style joins up the simultaneous experiences of being a tourist and documentary artist.</p>
<p>In his enriching comic strips, the author reflects the prejudices and stereotypes that he had previously held, which gradually shift as he experiences the complex daily life of the city first hand and listens to accounts told by residents of the city.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.fantagraphics.com/products/palestine"><em>Palestine</em></a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footnotes_in_Gaza"><em>Footnotes in Gaza</em></a>, by Joe Sacco</strong></p>
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<span class="caption">Cover of <em>Footnotes in Gaza</em> by Joe Sacco.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780805092776/footnotesingaza">Macmillan Publishers</a></span>
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<p>Most of Maltese-American cartoonist Joe Sacco’s works can be classified as “graphic journalism”. </p>
<p>In <em>Palestine</em>, originally published as a serial from 1993-1995, Sacco opens a window onto the checkpoint filled world of occupied Palestine in the early 1990s. He uses his position as a journalist to move between the daily life of Israelis and Palestinians, twenty years before Delisle. The comic is in black and white, and narrated in the first person. In it, Sacco shows his desire to learn, acknowledging his shortcomings, and displaying a sharp, caustic and dark sense of humour. </p>
<p>Through his eyes, the reader can delve into events such as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakba">Nakba</a> in 1948 and the 1973 Yom Kippur War, as well as the role played by the <a href="https://www.unrwa.org/">UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East)</a>.</p>
<p><em>Footnotes in Gaza</em> (2009), originally commissioned by the magazine Harper’s, is also based on first hand accounts, focusing on the cities of Rafa and Khan Younis. Here Sacco examines the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, going back to the aftermath of the Sinai War in 1956. Heartbreaking and painful, it provides much food for thought.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554729/original/file-20231019-17-2krjgh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Cover of _How to understand Israel in 60 days or less_ by Sarah Glidden." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554729/original/file-20231019-17-2krjgh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554729/original/file-20231019-17-2krjgh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554729/original/file-20231019-17-2krjgh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554729/original/file-20231019-17-2krjgh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554729/original/file-20231019-17-2krjgh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1074&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554729/original/file-20231019-17-2krjgh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1074&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554729/original/file-20231019-17-2krjgh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1074&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Cover of <em>How to understand Israel in 60 days or less</em> by Sarah Glidden.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://drawnandquarterly.com/books/how-understand-israel-60-days-or-less/">Drawn & Quarterly</a></span>
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<p><strong><a href="https://drawnandquarterly.com/books/how-understand-israel-60-days-or-less/"><em>How to understand Israel in 60 days or less</em></a> by Sarah Glidden</strong></p>
<p>The author of <a href="https://books.google.es/books/about/Rolling_Blackouts.html?id=liNAEAAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y"><em>Rolling Blackouts</em></a> offers a first person account, drawn in colour, of a trip to Israel in 2007 under the Birthright programme. </p>
<p>Birthright –a delicate and highly controversial subject– is the precursor to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Return">Law of Return</a>, which grants any Jew, or person with one or more Jewish grandparent, the right to emigrate to Israel. </p>
<p>While discovering her Jewish roots, Glidden takes the opportunity to form her own opinions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://drawnandquarterly.com/books/tunnels/"><em>Tunnels</em></a> by Rutu Modan</strong></p>
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<span class="caption">Cover of <em>Tunnels</em>, by Rutu Modan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://drawnandquarterly.com/books/tunnels/">Drawn & Quarterly</a></span>
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<p>In this full colour fiction Modan, an Israeli author, uses the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a backdrop to tell the story of an Israeli archaeologist’s excavation work. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.bookforum.com/print/1402/rutu-modan-s-exit-wounds-275"><em>Exit Wounds</em></a> is another highly recommended fictional work by Modan which takes place in the same tense setting.</p>
<h2>Other references</h2>
<p>The historic and current conflict has also been explored in José Pablo García’s <a href="https://www.accioncontraelhambre.org/sites/default/files/documents/dossier_prensa-vidas_ocupadas.pdf"><em>Vidas Ocupadas</em></a> (in Spanish), in <a href="https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/jerusalem-a-family-portrait"><em>Jerusalem</em></a> by Boaz Yakin and Nick Bertozzi, the graphic novel adaptation of Yasmina Khadra’s <a href="https://www.fireflybooks.com/catalogue/adult-books/health-beauty/product/11333-the-attack-graphic-novel"><em>The Attack</em></a> by Dauvilier and Chapron and <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780809074044/nottheisraelmyparentspromisedme"><em>Not the Israel my parents promised me</em></a> by Harvey Pekar together with J.T. Waldman and Joyce Brabner. </p>
<p>Additionally, there are the historic, iconic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handala">Handala comic strips</a> by Palestinian artist Naji Al-Ali. Another recommended resource is the 2001 documentary <a href="https://www.filmaffinity.com/en/film332729.html"><em>Promises</em></a> by Justine Shapiro, B.Z. Goldberg and Carlos Bolado, in which the protagonists, children, are foregrounded, resulting in a powerful, enlightening work.</p>
<p>Today Hamas continues to kill civilians and keep hostages. Meanwhile, Palestine remains under siege, and the Palestinian people are being massacred by the Israeli government. These pictures of the past continue to be as current as they ever were.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215867/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elena Pérez Elena receives funding from the Spanish Ministry of Universities (FPU contract)</span></em></p>Faced with an overwhelming amount of information on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, comics offer us a thoughtful way to delve into the roots and current events of the conflict.Elena Pérez Elena, Doctoranda FPU en el programa Estudios Artísticos, Literarios y de la Cultura de la UAM y profesora en el Grado de Lenguas Modernas, Cultura y Comunicación (UAM), Universidad Autónoma de MadridLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2090102023-07-19T12:25:47Z2023-07-19T12:25:47ZHoly voter suppression, Batgirl! What comics reveal about gender and democracy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537647/original/file-20230717-152675-ha7ae5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1733%2C837&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'The Unmasking of Batgirl,' story from Detective Comics, April 1972.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.dcuniverseinfinite.com/comics/book/detective-comics-1937-422/1bec2a4b-a5ac-46a6-b1c0-be8517ccc206">DC Universe Infinite</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Each July, comics fans, professionals and scholars descend on San Diego, California, for <a href="https://www.comic-con.org/cci">Comic-Con International</a> – a celebration of the art and business of the comics industry. Comic books used to be a niche genre of interest to a narrow subset of popular culture enthusiasts. Since the 1970s, however, they increasingly have supplied the characters and stories on which <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/american-comic-book-industry-and-hollywood-9781844579419/">film, television and streaming media empires are founded</a>. </p>
<p>Marvel, home of the Avengers, turned an <a href="https://www.wsj.com/podcasts/the-journal/introducing-with-great-power-the-rise-of-superhero-cinema/3f8af98c-13e6-4160-acb8-c24c73ce0496">almost broke comics and toy company into one of the most lucrative movie franchises in history</a> and became one pillar of Disney’s streaming media empire. Sony <a href="https://screenrant.com/spiderman-no-way-home-box-office-profit-sony/#:%7E:text=With%20nearly%20%241.9%20billion%20grossed,million%20in%20profit%20for%20Sony.">continues to make money from its share of the Spider-Man franchise</a>. DC Comics originated fan favorites Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Although their transition to film did not match Marvel’s success, <a href="https://variety.com/2022/film/news/dc-warner-bros-discovery-zaslav-hbo-max-1235232185/">WarnerMedia has doubled down on its investment in DC superheroes</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537955/original/file-20230718-23-832eke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Drawing of DC superheroes" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537955/original/file-20230718-23-832eke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537955/original/file-20230718-23-832eke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537955/original/file-20230718-23-832eke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537955/original/file-20230718-23-832eke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537955/original/file-20230718-23-832eke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=683&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537955/original/file-20230718-23-832eke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=683&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537955/original/file-20230718-23-832eke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=683&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Justice League.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">DC Universe Infinite</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As comic books’ cultural impact has grown, scholars have explored how they have reflected and shaped attitudes about everything from <a href="https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/P/Politics-in-the-Gutters">politics</a> to <a href="https://www.usni.org/press/books/comics-and-conflict">war</a> to <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Superheroes-and-Economics-The-Shadowy-World-of-Capes-Masks-and-Invisible/ORoark-Salkowitz/p/book/9780815367086">economics</a> to <a href="https://ohiostatepress.org/books/titles/9780814215272.html">gender</a>, <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/black-comics-9781441135285/">race</a>, <a href="https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-08474-9.html">ability</a> and <a href="https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/T/The-LGBTQ-Comics-Studies-Reader">sexuality</a>.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://communicationstudies.colostate.edu/people/karrin/">scholar of gender and political culture</a>, I am interested in comic book depictions of superheroines as elected officials. My research collaborator, Ryan Greene, and I have presented analysis of political storylines in comics involving <a href="https://www.eventeny.com/events/comiccon-2022-3116/?action=schedule-item&action_ops%5bitem_id%5d=19909">Wonder Woman and Batgirl</a> at Comic Con International. We contend that these comic book depictions aptly illustrate how sexism weakens democracy. Our examination also demonstrates why comics history is relevant to contemporary politics. </p>
<h2>Wonder Woman for president</h2>
<p>Wonder Woman, the Amazonian princess, warrior for peace and Earth’s self-appointed defender, has long been an icon of feminist strength. She famously graced the cover of Ms. magazine’s inaugural issue in 1972, depicted as a giant superheroine rescuing an embattled world as she ran for U.S. president on a platform of “peace and justice.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Giant Wonder Woman runs through a chaotic city street next to one of her presidential campaign signs" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537627/original/file-20230717-218241-g2t785.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537627/original/file-20230717-218241-g2t785.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=815&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537627/original/file-20230717-218241-g2t785.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=815&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537627/original/file-20230717-218241-g2t785.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=815&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537627/original/file-20230717-218241-g2t785.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1025&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537627/original/file-20230717-218241-g2t785.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1025&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537627/original/file-20230717-218241-g2t785.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1025&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Ms’ magazine cover, 1972.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">msmagazine.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1944, however, when Wonder Woman ran for president in the pages of her own comic book, the story exhibited a surprising undercurrent of authoritarianism and sexist thinking.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Wonder Woman giving a speech to adording supporters" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537628/original/file-20230717-98971-5fkiun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537628/original/file-20230717-98971-5fkiun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=815&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537628/original/file-20230717-98971-5fkiun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=815&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537628/original/file-20230717-98971-5fkiun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=815&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537628/original/file-20230717-98971-5fkiun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1024&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537628/original/file-20230717-98971-5fkiun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1024&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537628/original/file-20230717-98971-5fkiun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1024&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Wonder Woman for President,’ story from Wonder Woman, January 1944.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">DC Universe Infinite</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“<a href="https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Wonder_Woman_Vol_1_7">Wonder Woman for President</a>,” is a flash-forward story set in the 3000s, when women head the governments of the world. Wonder Woman’s creator, <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/241159/the-secret-history-of-wonder-woman-by-jill-lepore/">William Moulton Marston</a>, believed in women’s moral superiority and conjured a world based on gender differences, with women representing peace and justice and men symbolizing war and corruption.</p>
<p>What Marston called the “new woman’s age,” though, has the trappings of an authoritarian state. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537635/original/file-20230717-129345-8aetzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Depictions of authoritarian elements in Wonder Woman" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537635/original/file-20230717-129345-8aetzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537635/original/file-20230717-129345-8aetzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=276&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537635/original/file-20230717-129345-8aetzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=276&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537635/original/file-20230717-129345-8aetzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=276&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537635/original/file-20230717-129345-8aetzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537635/original/file-20230717-129345-8aetzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537635/original/file-20230717-129345-8aetzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Wonder Woman for President,’ story from Wonder Woman, January 1944.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">DC Universe Infinite</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“Girl troopers” guard President Arda Moore, the woman who precedes Wonder Woman’s ascent to the Oval Office. The sky is blanketed with airships spreading “a great net of friendly protection across the length and breadth of America.” Women secretaries cheerfully wear devices on their heads that compel them to type their female bosses’ dictation. Most notably, Wonder Woman’s mother, Queen Hippolyta, assures her daughter that “all men are much happier when their strong aggressive natures are controlled by a wise and loving woman!”</p>
<p>Democracy isn’t dead in the U.S., however, and Wonder Woman’s alter ego, Diana Prince, steps into the political fray in order to keep the corrupt “Man’s Party” from taking control of the government. Her victory is undermined both by young women voters whose girlish infatuation compels them to vote for the male candidate and by a ballot-stuffing scheme orchestrated by the Man’s Party.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537630/original/file-20230717-138859-co2ah8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Women pine over newspaper coverage of a man with hearts around their heads. Men rig an election." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537630/original/file-20230717-138859-co2ah8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537630/original/file-20230717-138859-co2ah8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=243&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537630/original/file-20230717-138859-co2ah8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=243&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537630/original/file-20230717-138859-co2ah8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=243&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537630/original/file-20230717-138859-co2ah8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537630/original/file-20230717-138859-co2ah8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537630/original/file-20230717-138859-co2ah8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Wonder Woman for President,’ story from Wonder Woman, January 1944.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">DC Universe Infinite</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When democratic processes prove insufficient for keeping the peace, Wonder Woman intervenes to foil the Man’s Party’s plan and take the presidential oath as her alter ego, Diana Prince.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537633/original/file-20230717-218241-awaw3v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Diana Prince takes the oath of office" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537633/original/file-20230717-218241-awaw3v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537633/original/file-20230717-218241-awaw3v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537633/original/file-20230717-218241-awaw3v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537633/original/file-20230717-218241-awaw3v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537633/original/file-20230717-218241-awaw3v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=671&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537633/original/file-20230717-218241-awaw3v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=671&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537633/original/file-20230717-218241-awaw3v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=671&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Wonder Woman for President,’ story from Wonder Woman, January 1944.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">DC Universe Infinite</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Historian Philip Smith <a href="https://doi.org/10.1525/fmh.2018.4.3.227">describes</a> “Wonder Woman for President” as a “proto-feminist” story that reflects attitudes about gender that were progressive in their time. </p>
<p>However, our research demonstrates how the comic introduces damaging stereotypes about gender and politics that endure to this day: that <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2016/05/19/americans-views-of-women-as-political-leaders-differ-by-gender/">gender differences determine people’s approach to leadership</a>; that <a href="http://doi.org/10.1353/rap.2006.0001">young women voters are sometimes motivated by sexual attraction</a>; and that <a href="https://doi.org/10.14321/rhetpublaffa.20.3.0525">when women do gain political power, they use it to dominate men</a>.</p>
<p>Additionally, although Wonder Woman is cast as a defender of democracy, Marston’s story portrays democracy as weak, prone to corruption and ultimately in need of superheroic intervention in order to survive. In that respect, “Wonder Woman for President” mirrors other stories about political superheroes in comics and films <a href="https://www.themarysue.com/dawn-of-fascists/">that have authoritarian underpinnings</a>.</p>
<h2>Giving sexist and authoritarian politics ‘the boot’</h2>
<p>A comics narrative that has been overlooked by scholars and fans, however, illustrates how popular culture can foster healthier attitudes about politics and gender. In the 1970s, DC Comics sent Batgirl and her alter ego, Barbara Gordon, to the nation’s capital in a narrative premised on gender equity and the strength of democracy.</p>
<p>In “<a href="https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Detective_Comics_Vol_1_422">The Unmasking of Batgirl</a>,” Batgirl is discouraged that the crooks she sends to jail get released and commit more crimes. Disillusioned with vigilantism, she decides that the only way to effectively fight crime is to champion legislation aimed at crime prevention and prison reform. </p>
<p>Gordon launches a campaign for U.S. Congress that promises to give corrupt politicians “the boot” – a nod to Batgirl’s signature footwear – drawing support from a diverse coalition of voters. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537964/original/file-20230718-23-5eworn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Barbara Gordon speaks to diverse voters who cheer her on" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537964/original/file-20230718-23-5eworn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537964/original/file-20230718-23-5eworn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537964/original/file-20230718-23-5eworn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537964/original/file-20230718-23-5eworn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537964/original/file-20230718-23-5eworn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537964/original/file-20230718-23-5eworn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537964/original/file-20230718-23-5eworn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Candidate for Danger!’ story from Detective Comics, May 1972.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">DC Universe Infinite</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Whereas Diana Prince’s constituents were exclusively white and predominantly female, Barbara Gordon activates a multiracial coalition of women and men from various walks of life. Her heroic Batgirl persona recedes into the background as Gordon deploys a more democratic superpower – persuasion – to accomplish her mission.</p>
<p>As in Diana Prince’s campaign, nefarious actors meddle in the voting, this time using intimidation to depress voter turnout. But rather than waiting for Batgirl to save the day, Gordon’s political supporters intervene to get voters to the polls, assuring her political victory in “<a href="https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Detective_Comics_Vol_1_424">Batgirl’s Last Case</a>.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537643/original/file-20230717-130180-xxi92d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Youth supporters help get voters to the polls" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537643/original/file-20230717-130180-xxi92d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537643/original/file-20230717-130180-xxi92d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537643/original/file-20230717-130180-xxi92d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537643/original/file-20230717-130180-xxi92d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537643/original/file-20230717-130180-xxi92d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537643/original/file-20230717-130180-xxi92d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537643/original/file-20230717-130180-xxi92d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Batgirl’s Last Case,’ story from Detective Comics, June 1972.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">DC Universe Infinite</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Wonder Woman’s superpowers were needed to compensate for democracy’s weaknesses, but Batgirl’s heroics prove insufficient for ensuring justice. Her faith in the people and in democracy is rewarded when citizens, working together, save the day.</p>
<h2>Telling democratic stories</h2>
<p>As another presidential campaign season approaches, it’s worth remembering that authoritarian politics don’t always announce themselves as such. </p>
<p>Sometimes, like Wonder Woman’s signature outfit, they’re draped in red, white and blue. </p>
<p>These stories have enduring appeal. “Wonder Woman for President” continues to be celebrated on <a href="https://www.80stees.com/products/wonder-woman-for-president-dc-comics-t-shirt">T-shirts</a>, <a href="https://bleedingcool.com/comics/how-wonder-woman-7-from-1943-predicted-the-future-of-politics/">fan sites</a> and in <a href="https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/the-ages-of-wonder-woman/">comics scholarship</a>. And a subset of the voting public has demonstrated support for real-world authoritarian figures <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2016/11/8/13563500/joss-whedon-donald-trump-fascist-fantasy-lone-superhero">who make heroic promises</a>.</p>
<p>Although Batgirl’s congressional tenure has largely been ignored by scholars and fans, it illustrates how even pulpy remnants of historical pop culture sometimes provide a surprisingly robust vision of gender equity and democratic strength.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209010/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karrin Vasby Anderson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Comic book depictions of superheroines as politicians illustrate how sexism weakens democracy and why comics history is relevant to contemporary politics.Karrin Vasby Anderson, Professor of Communication Studies, Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2077652023-06-16T10:11:20Z2023-06-16T10:11:20ZThe Flash review: Michael Keaton’s Batman is the real star of this DC multiverse mashup<p><em>Warning: the following article contains spoilers.</em></p>
<p>The Flash is one of DC’s most versatile superheroes. First popularised in the 1940s, the speedster’s mantle has been worn by multiple characters in the comics – most famously Barry Allen and Wally West, but also the female Flash, Chinese American <a href="https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Avery_Ho_(Prime_Earth)">Avery Ho</a>. These Flashes have appeared not just in their own comics, but across the DC comics universe from <a href="https://teentitans.fandom.com/wiki/Main_Page">Teen Titans</a> to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cxixDgHUYw">Justice League</a>.</p>
<p>Director Andy Muschietti’s new film, The Flash, is Warner-DC’s attempt to wrap up DC Extended Universe of films (DCEU) directed by Zac Snyder, which started with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6DJcgm3wNY">Man of Steel</a> in 2013. At the same time, it is launching James Gunn and Peter Safran’s <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/01/31/james-gunn-dcu-announcement-batman-superman-new-dc-slate#:%7E:text=%22Superman%3A%20Legacy%22%20will%20bring,released%20on%20July%2011%2C%202025.">new DC Universe</a> of film and TV as they take over as the heads of DC Studios. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Trailer for The Flash (2023).</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Muschietti’s plan is to smash together – quite literally – previously unconnected film worlds from Warner-DC’s long history of superhero film and television adaptations, creating something new from everything old.</p>
<p>Some may see these colliding worlds as necessary to distract from the <a href="https://www.thecut.com/article/ezra-miller-allegations.html">slowly amassing flow of accusations</a> laid at the feet of The Flash’s central star, Ezra Miller. Indeed, Warner-DC has largely used another actor to promote The Flash: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzb7Q7HAIi8">Michael Keaton</a>.</p>
<p>Clever uses of stunt teams allow Keaton, the now 71-year-old star of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgC9Q0uhX70">Tim Burton’s Batman</a> (1989) and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Too3qgNaYBE">Batman Returns</a> (1992), to return to active duty as the dark knight in The Flash after a 30-year absence. </p>
<h2>Serving the fans</h2>
<p>Time travel is central in The Flash. Deft storytelling uses spaghetti metaphors to explain the complexities of messing with timelines. Slipping through the flow of time using the “<a href="https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Speed_Force#:%7E:text=The%20Flash%20Vol%202%20%2391&text=The%20Speed%20Force%20is%20a,grants%20all%20speedsters%20their%20power.">Speed Force</a>” (which grants him access to extradimensional energy), Miller’s Flash goes back in time. </p>
<p>He saves his mother’s life, but causes a rippling impact along a multiverse of timelines that takes the Flash out of the DCEU and drops him into the world of Keaton’s Batman.</p>
<p>The result is by turns a bombastically nostalgic and watered-down variant on Burton’s earlier blockbuster films. The Flash relishes in nostalgically recreating Burton’s Batcave, augmenting its gothic-industrial aesthetic with CGI bats which are more reminiscent of director Christopher Nolan’s cycle of Batman films. But, The Flash also tamps down the gothic flourishes that have made Burton a world-renowned director.</p>
<p>The Batcave is explored by two versions of Barry Allen/Flash, after an accident in the time stream deposits the original Allen into an alternate world. After meeting himself, the two travel to find Batman at his home in Wayne Manor. </p>
<p>Discovering the Batcave, the younger version of Allen gleefully pulls a dustsheet off the Batmobile prop from Burton’s 1989 film. As he does so, he wistfully remembers seeing the Batmobile on television. Fan-serving moments like these abound as The Flash reaches out to audiences who grew up watching Burton’s Batman.</p>
<p>Muschietti makes great use of these nostalgic cameos. Fans of comics are also rewarded with new twists on old favourites, such as an aside to the Superman-as-Soviet-superhero comic <a href="https://www.dc.com/graphic-novels/superman-red-son">Red Son</a> (2003), when Batman and the Flashes go to rescue a Kryptonian held in captivity by the Soviets.</p>
<p>Likewise, the film’s plot borrows elements from the <a href="https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Flash:_Flashpoint">Flashpoint comics saga</a> from the early 2010s. Among other scenes, these comics inspire one of the film’s more gruesome sequences, which shows the “original” Allen performing Frankenstein-like experiments on himself in an attempt to regain his powers.</p>
<p>These allusions, twists and borrowings culminate in a sequence of superhero cameos. As the original Allen confronts his limitations as a superhero, Muschietti places the Flash’s personal revelations against a backdrop of colliding worlds that contain what look like digitally scrolling film reels. </p>
<p>These filmstrips contain past DC superhero adaptations, reminding audiences of every incarnation of the DC universe’s favourite characters, from George Reeves’s 1950s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxL46STIZB0">television Superman</a> to Christopher Reeve’s 1970s and 80s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nprJvYKz3QQ">Superman blockbusters</a>.</p>
<p>Standing out among these myriad superheroes – the true star of The Flash, despite its title – is Keaton’s Batman. It is Keaton’s narrative arc and catchphrases (“You wanna get nuts? Let’s get nuts.”) that echo down the timelines of Warner-DC history and leave a lasting impact. </p>
<p>The film is even structured to give Keaton’s performance greater resonance. Early portions of sometimes silly superhero humour give way in the film’s second half, where Keaton’s razor-edged, comedic yet gothic darkness allows the film to gather emotional depth.</p>
<p>In mining Warner-DC’s iconic film and television history, The Flash is able to smash together a pantheon of screen superheroes. As it works to reset the core Warner-DC universe, The Flash’s colliding worlds remind audiences of why they love superheroes such as Batman and Superman in the first place. In doing so, it shifts away from the grim tone of the old DC Extended Universe, injecting hope (and humour) into the new one.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207765/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rayna Denison is affiliated with University of Bristol. </span></em></p>It’s Keaton’s razor-edged, comedic darkness that allows the film to gather emotional depth.Rayna Denison, Professor of Film and Digital Arts, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2058922023-06-01T12:29:23Z2023-06-01T12:29:23Z‘Across the Spider-Verse’ and the Latino legacy of Spider-Man<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529439/original/file-20230531-21-rqrm8k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C26%2C878%2C570&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Spider-Man Miguel O’Hara, who first appeared in the 1992 comic series 'Spider-Man 2099,' was the first Latino superhero to assume a starring role.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/f/f0/Miguel_O%27Hara_%28Earth-6375%29_from_Exiles_Vol_1_75_001.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090903231159">Marvel Database</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As a Latino literature and media scholar, a lifelong gamer and a Guatemalan-American girl whose dad read her comics every night, I quickly became a fan and then scholar of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00064246.2022.2007345">Miles Morales</a>, the Afro-Puerto Rican Spider-Man who first appeared in comic book form in 2011’s “<a href="https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/39962/ultimate_fallout_2011_4">Ultimate Fallout #4</a>.”</p>
<p>Just seven years after his introduction, Morales swung into theaters in
“<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4633694/">Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse</a>,” a visually stunning, 3D-animated film that won an Academy Award for <a href="https://variety.com/2019/film/news/spider-man-into-the-spider-verse-wins-oscar-best-animated-film-1203145826/">best animated feature</a>.</p>
<p>Now, its sequel, “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9362722/">Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse</a>,” features two Latino Spider-Men in starring roles. Irish-Latino Spider-Man Miguel O’Hara of “Spider-Man 2099,” voiced by Oscar Isaac, is jumping into the fray. And although he was a well-received Spider-Man as a Marvel comic book character in the 1990s, there’s a good chance you’ve never heard of him.</p>
<h2>Breaking the mold</h2>
<p>Latino characters, particularly ones who have a starring role, have traditionally been <a href="https://uapress.arizona.edu/book/latinx-superheroes-in-mainstream-comics">underrepresented in mainstream comics</a>. </p>
<p>Marvel’s first Latino hero, Hector Ayala, debuted in 1975, <a href="https://utpress.utexas.edu/9781477318966/">after the success of “Black Panther</a>.” Written by Bill Mantlo and drawn by legendary comic artist <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIH3dbQftAc">George Pérez</a>, Ayala, known as <a href="https://youtu.be/ODOlsQVdHgM?t=224">White Tiger</a>, was a Puerto Rican college student living in New York. His powers came from a magical amulet that bestowed him with speed and martial arts expertise.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://uapress.arizona.edu/book/latinx-superheroes-in-mainstream-comics">Latino comics scholar Frederick Luis Aldama argues</a>, Mantlo and Pérez avoided many of the stereotypes that plagued Latinos in comics, which often cast Latinos as criminals or drug dealers. <a href="https://www.marvel.com/characters/white-tiger-hector-ayala">Later iterations of White Tiger</a> included his niece Angela del Toro and his sister, Ava Ayala.</p>
<p>The first Marvel Latina superhero, also co-created by Mantlo, was Firebird – real name, Bonita Juárez – who first appeared in 1981. A Catholic social worker from New Mexico, she represented a departure from the Black and Latino comic characters <a href="https://uapress.arizona.edu/book/latinx-superheroes-in-mainstream-comics">who predominately come from big cities like New York</a>.</p>
<h2>Spider-Man’s web extends into Latin America</h2>
<p>In Latin America, Spider-Man has been a popular character since the hero first appeared in his own series, “Amazing Spider-Man,” in 1963. </p>
<p>Marvel licensed Mexican publisher La Prensa to print Spanish translations of Spider-Man issues <a href="https://codigoespagueti.com/noticias/comics-hombre-arana-hechos-mexico/">just a few months</a> after its release in the U.S. </p>
<p>La Prensa also extended Spider-Man’s reach to Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Perú. In Mexico, Spider-Man quickly became more popular than any other Marvel character, save for his girlfriend, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-CJwX2VRQ8&t=1s">Gwen Stacy</a>. </p>
<p>So in the 1970s, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080327084155/http:/bajolamascara.universomarvel.com/2008/02/el_spiderman_ilegal_mexicano.html">La Prensa began to create its own Spider-Man stories</a> on weeks when Marvel didn’t release a new Spider-Man issue. These new stories, like an issue where Peter Parker dreams that he married Gwen Stacy, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210424122019/https:/spidermex.com/inicio.php">only appeared in Mexico</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1096924779213275136"}"></div></p>
<p>Perhaps Spider-Man’s popularity in this part of the world is due to the fact that he’s scrappy, hardworking, and trying to help his family. Or maybe Latin Americans love <a href="https://youtu.be/w-CJwX2VRQ8?t=1172">his luchador-esque costume</a> – Peter Parker did, after all, debut his Spider-Man title and threads <a href="https://spiderfan.org/review/comics/amazing_fantasy/015.html">as a professional wrestler</a>.</p>
<h2>An Irish-Latino swings into the Spider-Verse</h2>
<p>Firebird and White Tiger never headlined their own series, though. And the Spider-Man who Latin Americans embraced in the 1960s and 1970s was white.</p>
<p>So it was a big deal when Miguel O'Hara took on the mantle of Spider-Man in his own series, which ran for four years.</p>
<p>While <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Multiverse">the multiverse</a> is a recent development in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, multiple Earths – each with its own versions of Marvel superheroes – have existed for decades in the comics.</p>
<p>This has allowed for different iterations of the same superhero.</p>
<p>Peter Parker is the Spider-Man of Earth-616, the official Marvel universe. Miles Morales began as the Spider-Man of Earth-1610. </p>
<p>Miguel O'Hara is the future Spider-Man of Earth-616 in the year 2099, a post-apocalyptic future run by greedy corporations. </p>
<p>When O’Hara first appeared in 1992 as the main star of the “2099” series, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/remembering-the-first-and-forgotten-latino-spider-man">fans embraced him</a>, with little controversy. </p>
<p>It’s possible that O'Hara was uncontroversial because questions of race and racism <a href="https://amazingspidertalk.com/2014/12/spidiversity-2099-regarding-miguel-ohara/">didn’t factor explicitly into the plots of each issue</a>. And perhaps O'Hara’s light skin made it easy for readers to forget that he was Latino in the first place.</p>
<p>Yet comics scholar Kathryn M. Frank argues in the collection “<a href="https://utpress.utexas.edu/9781477309155/">Graphic Borders</a>” that the writers of “Spider-Man 2099” were aware of their hero’s ethnic identity and subtly incorporated commentaries on race into the series.</p>
<p>In the comics, O'Hara has an accent due to his elongated, spiderlike teeth, which may reflect the assumed foreignness of Latino citizens in the U.S. and the discrimination they suffer for it. He also embraces his difference in his own style. As fans have pointed out, <a href="https://cdn.superaficionados.com/imagenes/dia-muertos-cke.jpg">his costume</a> mixes a <a href="https://www.rutgers.edu/news/what-meaning-behind-day-dead-symbolism">Day of the Dead skull</a> with the classic spider insignia in an explicit connection to his Mexican heritage.</p>
<h2>Recasting Spider-Man as an Afro-Latino</h2>
<p>Then, in 2011, Marvel announced Miles Morales, the first Spider-Man who was both Black and Latino. </p>
<p>This time, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewnewton/2011/08/04/how-the-media-reacted-to-news-of-a-non-white-spider-man/?sh=49edfabc4f61">the responses</a> <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21504857.2014.994647">were more polarizing</a>. </p>
<p>Former Fox News pundit Glenn Beck <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/peter-parker-replaced-by-mixed-race-spiderman/2011/08/03/gIQAyQQ6rI_blog.html">blamed then-first lady Michelle Obama</a> for the creation of Morales, pointing to <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/story/rewriting-our-history-changing-our-traditions">a clip of her saying,</a> “We’re going to have to change our traditions.”</p>
<p>However, to some fans, recasting Spider-Man as Black made perfect sense. Walter Moseley, a popular crime novelist, has provocatively argued that the original Spider-Man of the 1960s is actually “<a href="https://www.vulture.com/2016/10/walter-mosley-on-why-spider-man-is-black.html">the first Black superhero</a>,” since his backstory – raised by his extended family, growing up in poverty and demonized by the media – was more relatable to Black New Yorkers.</p>
<p>When Morales came on the scene, he wasn’t merely a carbon copy of Peter Parker, though. He was raised by his African American father – an ex-con who had turned his life around – and Puerto Rican mother in Brooklyn.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Smiling man with dreadlocks poses with 'shocker' hand gestures." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529438/original/file-20230531-21-3hlj3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529438/original/file-20230531-21-3hlj3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529438/original/file-20230531-21-3hlj3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529438/original/file-20230531-21-3hlj3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529438/original/file-20230531-21-3hlj3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529438/original/file-20230531-21-3hlj3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529438/original/file-20230531-21-3hlj3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Actor Shameik Moore, who voiced Miles Morales in ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,’ celebrates after the film won best animated feature at the Academy Awards in 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-handout-provided-by-a-m-p-a-s-actor-shameik-moore-news-photo/1127271085">Matt Petit/A.M.P.A.S. via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>How Morales’ race and ethnicity would play into the stories has been a point of contention. As English professor Jorge J. Santos, Jr. argues in the collection “<a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/mixed-race-superheroes/9781978814592">Mixed-Race Superheroes</a>,” the first comics series featuring Morales “barely makes any mention of Miles’s ethnicity.” He didn’t seem to speak Spanish, nor did he have any Puerto Rican or Latino friends. He even resisted <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2018/12/miles-morales-of-into-the-spider-verse-the-race-problem.html">being seen as a Black Spider-Man</a>.</p>
<p>That somewhat changed in the following series, which came out in 2018 and was written by Saladin Ahmed and drawn by Javier Garrón. In December 2022, Cody Ziglar, a Black comic writer, took over as the head writer of Morales’ story.</p>
<p>Latino representation in the Spider-Verse is still somewhat lacking. Araña, <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7560/309148-012/html?lang=en">a Mexican-Puerto Rican Spider-Girl</a> conceived in 2004, is the only other major Latino Spidey character.</p>
<p>Marvel has tried to highlight <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/panthers-hulks-and-ironhearts/9781978809215">Latino diversity in its other comics</a>. In 2021, the comics publisher released an entire collection showcasing Latino characters titled “<a href="https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/marvels-voices-comunidades-1-announcement">Marvel’s Voices: Comunidades #1</a>.”</p>
<p>The sequel to “Into the Spider-Verse” is sure to make viewers of color in the U.S. cheer. As Latino media scholar <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/mixed-race-superheroes/9781978814592">Isabel Molina-Guzmán</a> argues, while race complicates Hollywood casting and writing, Black and Latino viewers reacted very positively to Morales. But she insists that the movie also invites longtime fans and audiences of all backgrounds “to stand in Miles Morales’s space” and root for the mixed-race teen trying to save the world.</p>
<p>To me, that’s what makes superhero films starring characters of color so compelling. These characters are, in many senses, outcasts searching for community – in their real lives and in costume.</p>
<p>As Frank, the comics scholar, notes, these differences can lead to feelings of alienation.</p>
<p>But they can also be a source of empowerment.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ follows its 2018 predecessor, which incorporated a groundbreaking mix of 2D and 3D animation.</span></figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205892/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Regina Marie Mills does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Latino characters have traditionally been underrepresented in mainstream comics. But Spider-Man’s backstory makes him the perfect superhero to be recast as a minority.Regina Marie Mills, Assistant Professor of Latinx and U.S. Multi-Ethnic Literature, Texas A&M UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2008872023-03-02T13:23:43Z2023-03-02T13:23:43ZThe cautionary tale of ‘Dilbert’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512736/original/file-20230228-16-g9ya3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=67%2C40%2C2914%2C2065&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What Adams writes and draws rarely attracts scrutiny – it's what he says that has gotten him in hot water.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/scott-adams-famed-creator-of-the-comic-strip-dilbert-stands-news-photo/866464926?phrase=scott adams dilbert&adppopup=true">Bob Riha, Jr./Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Dilbert, the put-upon chronicler of office life, has been given the pink slip.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.comicsbeat.com/dilbert-creator-scott-adams-dropped-from-andrews-mcmeel-syndicate-following-racist-statements/">On Feb. 26, 2023</a>, Andrews McMeel Universal announced that it would no longer distribute the popular comic strip after its creator, Scott Adams, engaged in what many people viewed as a racist rant on his YouTube channel. Hundreds of newspapers had by then decided to quit <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/26/us/dilbert-newspapers-racism.html">publishing the strip</a>.</p>
<p>It followed an incident in which Adams, on his program “Real Coffee with Scott Adams,” reacted to <a href="https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/lifestyle/general_lifestyle/january_2023/not_woke_yet_most_voters_reject_anti_white_beliefs">a survey by Rasmussan Reports</a> that concluded only 53% of Black Americans agreed with the statement “It’s OK to be white.” If only about half thought it was OK to be white, Adams said, this qualified Black Americans as a “hate group.”</p>
<p>“I don’t want to have anything to do with them,” <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/25/business/dilbert-comic-strip-racist-tirade/index.html">Adams added</a>. “And I would say, based on the current way things are going, the best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from Black people, just get the f— away … because there is no fixing this.”</p>
<p>Adams later doubled down on his statements, writing on Twitter that “Dilbert has been cancelled from all newspapers, websites, calendars, and books because I gave some advice everyone agreed with.”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1630181061543211009"}"></div></p>
<p>Adams is wrong. If everyone had agreed with him, “Dilbert” would still be appearing in newspapers. </p>
<p><a href="https://dilbert.com/strip/1989-04-16">The first “Dilbert” strip</a> – a comic centered on mocking American office culture – appeared in 1989. It became a hit, and until recently, “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/02/27/1159822857/newspapers-drop-dilbert-over-creators-racist-remarks">Dilbert” ran</a> in more than 2,000 daily newspapers across 65 countries. </p>
<p>Now, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/comics/2023/02/27/scott-adams-dilbert-reactions/">according to Adams</a>, his client list is “around zero.”</p>
<p>Therein lies the moral of the story: Know thy audience.</p>
<p>Adams failed to grasp that being a social critic means your freedom of expression only goes as far as your audience is willing to accept it. Adams could say whatever he wanted to his YouTube audience because his listeners may have agreed with what he said. </p>
<p>Unfortunately for him, what he said on his program did not stay on his program. </p>
<p>But Adams’ comfortable salary depended on his satisfying a wider audience – many of whom found his opinions intolerable. </p>
<h2>America’s tradition of free speech</h2>
<p>In a country that prides itself on its tradition of free expression, it’s important to explore the limits of free expression in the United States. This can be done in part by looking at social criticism, as I did in my book “<a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/drawn-to-extremes/9780231130660">Drawn to Extremes: The Use and Abuse of Editorial Cartoons</a>.”</p>
<p>Cartoonists are limited by their imagination, talent, taste and their senses of humor, morality and outrage. If they want an audience they must also consider the tastes and sensibilities of their editors and readers. </p>
<p>The United States may pride itself on its tradition of free speech, but cartoonists throughout the nation’s history have been jailed, beaten, sued and censored for their drawings.</p>
<p>In 1903, the governor of Pennsylvania, <a href="http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/portal/communities/governors/1876-1951/samuel-pennypacker.html">Samuel W. Pennypacker</a>, called for restrictions against journalists after a Philadelphia newspaper cartoonist had <a href="https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/4eIAAOSwS5ljYtue/s-l400.jpg">depicted him as a parrot</a> during the previous fall’s gubernatorial campaign. A state representative then <a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/drawn-to-extremes/9780231130660">introduced a bill</a> that made it illegal to publish a cartoon “<a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-opinion-editorial-cartooning-end-20211007-nen4hk7vjzfxdhzgzqh5r5omti-story.html">portraying, describing or representing any person</a> … in the likeness of beast, bird, fish, insect or other inhuman animal” that exposed the person to “hatred, contempt, or ridicule.” Another cartoonist then drew the governor as a frothy stein of beer and the bill’s author as a small potato. </p>
<p>The bill failed to pass.</p>
<p>Cartoonists working for the socialist magazine The Masses were accused of undermining the war effort during World War I with their anti-war opinions <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/845994">and prosecuted under the Espionage Act</a>. </p>
<p>And during the <a href="https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/cuban-missile-crisis">Cuban Missile Crisis</a> of 1962, newspapers canceled Walt Kelly’s “Pogo” comic strip <a href="https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1414205">after Kelly drew</a> Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev as a medal-wearing hog and Cuban leader Fidel Castro as a cigar-smoking goat because they thought the strip might jeopardize the peace process.</p>
<p>Perhaps no cartoonist – before the ax fell on “Dilbert” – has seen his strip canceled by more newspapers than <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/01/13/954095569/i-just-followed-my-interests-garry-trudeau-on-50-years-of-doonesbury">Garry Trudeau</a>, creator of “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Doonesbury">Doonesbury</a>.” In 1984, dozens of newspapers canceled a series of strips wherein which Doonesbury’s dim-witted newsman Roland Burton Hedley took readers on a trip through then-President Ronald Reagan’s brain, finding “80 billion neurons, or ‘marbles,’ as they are known to the layman.” And Trudeau’s syndicate, Universal Press, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-05-25-mn-15468-story.html">refused to distribute a strip that satirized an anti-abortion documentary</a>.</p>
<p>In other countries, cartoonists <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30708237">have been murdered</a> in retaliation for their work. Famously, on Jan. 7, 2015, two French Muslim terrorists entered the Paris office of the satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Charlie-Hebdo-shooting">and killed 12 cartoonists, editors and police officers</a> after the periodical published satirical drawings of the Prophet Muhammad.</p>
<h2>The importance of context</h2>
<p>Such controversies were generally caused by what cartoonists said in their cartoons. There have been exceptions. Al Capp, who created the comic strip “Li’l Abner,” saw his popularity wane in the 1960s and 1970s <a href="https://www.newsfromme.com/2013/04/20/the-shame-of-dogpatch/">when he began expressing his far-right political opinion</a> in both his strip and particularly in his public appearances.</p>
<p>Adams was similarly punished not for what he included in his comic strip but rather what for what he said on his YouTube program. </p>
<p>The context here is important. This was not the first time Adams has been censured after saying something deemed to be offensive. In May 2022, around 80 newspapers canceled “Dilbert” after Adams introduced his first Black character in the 30-plus year run of the strip. The character <a href="https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2022/05/03/dilbert-presents-black-character-gets-dragged/">identified as white</a> to prank his boss’s diversity goals.</p>
<p>Adams lost some newspapers when he decided to mock diversity in the business world. He lost his strip when he used racist language to attack Black people on his YouTube program.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200887/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Lamb does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Cartoonists throughout the nation’s history have been jailed, beaten, sued and censored. But Scott Adams’ work is being rejected for what he expressed off the page.Chris Lamb, Professor of Journalism, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1989972023-02-20T19:01:51Z2023-02-20T19:01:51Z‘Special thanks’: how comic book writers and artists are forgotten during the superhero film boom<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511041/original/file-20230220-24-nilbvx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C0%2C1194%2C799&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the new creative head of DC Studios, James Gunn, <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/james-gunn-unveils-dc-slate-batman-superman-1235314176/">announced</a> their upcoming slate of films and TV, it included many names you might expect: Superman, Batman, maybe even Swamp Thing.</p>
<p>It also included some lesser-known and leftfield picks, such as the take-no-prisoners superhero team The Authority. The team’s co-creator, artist Bryan Hitch, found that out when everyone else did. “The Authority…?” he <a href="https://twitter.com/THEBRYANHITCH/status/1620472981473615872">tweeted</a>. “I’m glad someone told me…”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1620472981473615872"}"></div></p>
<h2>Comic book creators forgotten</h2>
<p>This kind of disrespect to comic book creators is nothing new. As recounted in Tom De Haven’s book <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300171242/our-hero/">Our Hero: Superman On Earth</a>, Superman’s co-creator wrote a furious press release about the upcoming Superman movie in 1975: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I, Jerry Siegel, the co-originator of Superman, put a curse on the Superman movie! I hope it super-bombs. I hope loyal Superman fans stay away from it in droves. I hope the whole world, becoming aware of the stench that surrounds Superman, will avoid the movie like a plague. Why am I putting this curse on a movie based on my creation of Superman? Because cartoonist Joe Shuster and I, who co-originated Superman together, will not get one cent from the Superman super-movie deal.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>For most comic creators, not much has changed. Ed Brubaker, who co-created the Winter Soldier for Marvel’s Captain America comics, also saw his character burst onto the big screen. He <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/aug/09/marvel-and-dc-face-backlash-over-pay-they-sent-a-thank-you-note-and-5000-the-movie-made-1bn">wrote</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>For the most part, all Steve [Epting, co-creator] and I have got for creating the Winter Soldier and his storyline is a thanks here or there, and over the years that’s become harder and harder to live with.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Brubaker is referring to the “special thanks” that appear in the credits of blockbuster movies, briefly listing the names of comic writers and artists whose work influenced the films. Sometimes that’s all they get, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/aug/09/marvel-and-dc-face-backlash-over-pay-they-sent-a-thank-you-note-and-5000-the-movie-made-1bn">The Guardian</a>, sometimes they will receive a flat fee if they lawyer up – like Jim Starlin did, creator of the supervillain Thanos – they can sometimes manage more. Compared to the global box office for superhero movies, though, these payments are pittances.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511055/original/file-20230220-22-b746kx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511055/original/file-20230220-22-b746kx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511055/original/file-20230220-22-b746kx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=701&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511055/original/file-20230220-22-b746kx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=701&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511055/original/file-20230220-22-b746kx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=701&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511055/original/file-20230220-22-b746kx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=881&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511055/original/file-20230220-22-b746kx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=881&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511055/original/file-20230220-22-b746kx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=881&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the creators of the Superman character, spent much of their life battling DC Comics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Work for hire</h2>
<p>There are multiple reasons for these tactics from Marvel and DC Comics. First is that the writers and artists create characters under strict “work-for-hire” contracts, granting the publishers full ownership. But it’s also that superhero movies usually aren’t straight adaptations of particular comic book storylines. They pluck what they want to use from a decades-long continuum of stories by a wide variety of writers and artists, making credits more complicated.</p>
<p>That’s why movies and TV have settled on “characters created by”. This, too, is problematic. Take the recently cancelled Doom Patrol TV series. Its credits list Arnold Drake, Bob Haney and Bruno Premiani, who created the original version of the team in 1963. But the show is undeniably based on the cult run of Doom Patrol comics by Grant Morrison and Richard Case that began in 1989. They are not credited – even though Morrison was name-checked by the fourth-wall-breaking villain Mister Nobody.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511057/original/file-20230220-24-b11a86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511057/original/file-20230220-24-b11a86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511057/original/file-20230220-24-b11a86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511057/original/file-20230220-24-b11a86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511057/original/file-20230220-24-b11a86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511057/original/file-20230220-24-b11a86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511057/original/file-20230220-24-b11a86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511057/original/file-20230220-24-b11a86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The now-cancelled Doom Patrol TV series.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">IMDB</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Comic fans were heartened by Gunn’s <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/james-gunn-unveils-dc-slate-batman-superman-1235314176/">announcements</a>, as he pointed to comics by beloved creators for adaptation such as Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly’s All-Star Superman, and Tom King and Bilquis Evely’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. These aren’t just a matter of ladling out characters, stories and themes from the expansive sea of superhero comics, they’re specific comics by specific authors. “Characters created by” just won’t do.</p>
<p>Gunn took pains to say he wasn’t creating a “Gunnverse” of films and TV filtered only through his auteurist vision. “The stories are completely different,” he said, “and each has the individual expression of the writers and the director that are making those projects.” But comic book authors have that same kind of individual expression, and that is usually ignored in favour of treating their work as raw content, ready to be reshaped and repackaged.</p>
<p>Gunn announced that comics writer Tom King has been acting in an advisory role for DC Studios, and hopefully this means he’ll be receiving more than a token payment and a “special thanks”. Most comic creators won’t be so lucky.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1622663925195218944"}"></div></p>
<h2>Open hearts and open purse strings</h2>
<p>A few years ago, the co-creator of Marvel’s gun-toting Rocket Raccoon from Guardians of the Galaxy, Bill Mantlo, was in a nursing home with a traumatic brain injury. His brother set up a GoFundMe, asking fans to chip in for his care. As the New York Daily News <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-brother-of-rocket-raccoon-creator-bill-manto-asks-for-money-20190430-6r7ivslg4bdqxnnsmbknzpapbq-story.html">reported</a>, “the $100,000 Mantlo is asking for is .0083% of the reported $1.2 billion Avengers: Endgame made worldwide during its opening weekend”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/any-means-necessary-the-police-who-adopt-the-skull-symbol-of-the-ultra-violent-comic-book-vigilante-the-punisher-195922">'Any means necessary': the police who adopt the skull symbol of the ultra-violent comic book vigilante the Punisher</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Marvel, under growing public pressure, eventually did come to a financial agreement with Mantlo – although, as his brother <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/07/movies/comic-character-creators-fight-for-cash-and-credit.html">said</a>, “My attorney is very good. I’m not going to say Marvel came to me and opened up their hearts and their purse strings.”</p>
<p>Some say that comic creators willingly signed these contracts, so they don’t deserve any further compensation if their characters earn billions for movie studios. Superheroes, however, don’t care about what’s legal. They care about what’s right.</p>
<p>Marvel and DC should embrace the ethics of their own characters and do the right thing – without needing to be blackmailed or bullied first.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198997/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martyn Pedler does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If the directors of superhero movies are considered auteurs, why aren’t the writers and artists who created the comics they’re based on?Martyn Pedler, PhD Candidate, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1973682023-01-15T14:37:15Z2023-01-15T14:37:15ZBasquiat: A multidisciplinary artist who denounced violence against African Americans<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503457/original/file-20230106-25-uqa0a0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6255%2C2982&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jean-Michel Basquiat's _Toxic_, pictured right, is inspired by the American cartoon and denounces the violence of American society.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(MMFA)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The exhibition <a href="https://www.mbam.qc.ca/en/exhibitions/jean-michel-basquiat/">Seeing Loud: Basquiat and Music</a>, currently running at the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, demonstrates that the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, which is usually associated with painting, also calls upon other media, including music — the main theme of this exhibition — literature, comic strips, cinema and animation, a much lesser-known aspect of his work.</p>
<p>Basquiat was born in New York in 1960 to a Haitian father and a mother of Puerto Rican descent. In the late 1970s, in collaboration with Al Diaz, he drew enigmatic graffiti <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520383340/reading-basquiat">under the pseudonym SAMO</a>. The artist quickly made a name for himself in the New York art world (becoming friends with Andy Warhol and Madonna, among others). He then produced solo paintings and achieved international fame that continued to grow until his death in 1988.</p>
<p>At the time of the Black Lives Matter movement, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s work is more relevant than ever. It highlights racial inequalities and the lack of representation of racialized people in the media, but also the violence suffered by African Americans.</p>
<p>This is what I propose to explore in this article. As a PhD student in literature and performing and screen arts, my research focuses on the interactions between animated film and the visual arts (comics, painting) as well as on the American cartoon.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503146/original/file-20230104-129855-7kcpz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503146/original/file-20230104-129855-7kcpz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503146/original/file-20230104-129855-7kcpz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503146/original/file-20230104-129855-7kcpz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503146/original/file-20230104-129855-7kcpz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503146/original/file-20230104-129855-7kcpz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503146/original/file-20230104-129855-7kcpz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jean-Michel Basquiat with his <em>Klaunstance</em> installation, at the Area, in 1985.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Photo: Ben Buchanan)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Love/hate for the cartoon</h2>
<p>As a child, Basquiat <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520305168/the-jean-michel-basquiat-reader">dreamed of becoming a cartoon animator</a>. When he became a painter, the television was always on while he worked in his studio, <a href="https://niuarts.com/2021/02/tvs-influence-on-the-work-of-jean-michael-basquiat-is-the-subject-of-the-next-elizabeth-allen-visiting-scholars-in-art-history-series/">and regularly ran cartoons</a>. These programmes and films were a great source of inspiration for the artist, who integrated several references to animation and comic strips into his paintings.</p>
<p>One of these works, which can be seen in the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts exhibition, is called <em>Toxic</em> (1984). The painting depicts a Black man with his arms in the air, with a collage in the background that mentions several titles of animated shorts made between 1938 and 1948.</p>
<p>The character is in fact a friend of Basquiat’s, the artist Torrick “Toxic” Ablack. So the <a href="https://www.widewalls.ch/artists/toxic">title of the painting refers to him</a>. However, knowing that Basquiat <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520305168/the-jean-michel-basquiat-reader">played with words and their meanings</a>, “Toxic” could also refer to the relationship he had with the animated films that are mentioned behind the character.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503155/original/file-20230104-129650-l0k73w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503155/original/file-20230104-129650-l0k73w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503155/original/file-20230104-129650-l0k73w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503155/original/file-20230104-129650-l0k73w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503155/original/file-20230104-129650-l0k73w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503155/original/file-20230104-129650-l0k73w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503155/original/file-20230104-129650-l0k73w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A multidisciplinary artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat was also a musician. The exhibition devoted to him at the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts illustrates this aspect of his work.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(MMFA)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Could we say that the films are considered toxic by Jean-Michel Basquiat, despite his admiration for them? In fact, I think there is a certain duality in this picture: the artist loves the cartoon, but he hates it at the same time. The dictionary definition of the word <a href="https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/american_english/toxic">“toxic”</a> can mean someone or something that likes “to control and influence other people in a dishonest way.” The term therefore implies that the toxic element (the cartoon in this case) is dangerous in a way that isn’t apparent.</p>
<h2>The violence of cartoons</h2>
<p>The cartoon is often associated with childhood, pleasure, eccentricity.</p>
<p>This is a universe where anything is possible: in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-fpqSdSnD0"><em>Gorilla My Dreams</em></a>, directed by Robert McKimson in 1948, for example, the character Bugs Bunny talks, dresses up as a baby and imitates a monkey. It appears innocent. However, the cartoon can also represent the worst of humanity in a very sneaky way through the incredible violence it contains: the characters hunt each other, chase each other, hit each other, cut each other, kill each other and then start again.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G-fpqSdSnD0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Robert McKimson, <em>Gorilla My Dreams</em>, Warner Bros., 1948.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In <em>Porky’s Hare Hunt</em>, a film directed by Ben Hardaway in 1938 and quoted in <em>Toxic</em>, the character of Porky is injured by dynamite, abused even though he is in his hospital bed and tries to kill a rabbit. Basquiat, who consumed cartoons every day on television, knew that they were a reflection of 20<sup>th</sup> century American society.</p>
<p>This is an interpretation that could be supported by the title of another of his paintings, which also uses iconography from animation or comics: <em>Television and Cruelty to Animals</em> (1983). This cruelty is also denounced and reproduced in <em>An Opera</em> (1985), which shows Popeye being beaten with the words “ senseless violence ” above his head, as well as in <a href="https://www.mbam.qc.ca/en/oeuvres/14684/"><em>A Panel of Experts</em></a> (1982), where we see matchstick men hitting each other right next to an enormous revolver.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503115/original/file-20230104-14-ck5io.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503115/original/file-20230104-14-ck5io.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503115/original/file-20230104-14-ck5io.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503115/original/file-20230104-14-ck5io.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503115/original/file-20230104-14-ck5io.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=720&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503115/original/file-20230104-14-ck5io.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=720&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503115/original/file-20230104-14-ck5io.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=720&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The painting <em>A Panel of Experts</em>, produced in 1982, denounces cruelty and violence.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(MMFA, gift of Ira Young. Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Licensed by Artestar, New York. Photo: Douglas M. Parker)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The violence that Basquiat denounces is so present in the cartoon that it seems, to a certain extent, to have become commonplace, like the violence seen on television newscasts (which he probably watched while he was painting).</p>
<h2>Denouncing racial stereotypes</h2>
<p>These cartoons are also violent because they often perpetuate racial stereotypes (not to mention the many stereotypes related to sexual orientation, gender, sex, body appearance, etc.).</p>
<p>Bob Clampett’s 1940 film <em>Patient Porky</em>, which is also mentioned in <em>Toxic</em>, features a scene in which a elevator attendant grossly and monstrously parodies a Black character. In <em>Untitled (All Stars)</em> (1983), Basquiat cites Max Fleischer’s 1920 film <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WXrrOIWZKo"><em>The Chinaman</em></a>, which features a highly caricatured Asian character and Koko the Clown putting makeup on to impersonate him.</p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Max Fleischer, <em>The Chinaman</em>, Bray Studios, 1920.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By placing elements referring to animation in his compositions, Basquiat attempts to denounce a stereotypical and unfair worldview where <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520305168/the-jean-michel-basquiat-reader">racialized people are portrayed in an unrealistic way</a>. Basquiat said that if he had not been a painter, he would have been a filmmaker and would have told stories where Black people <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520305168/the-jean-michel-basquiat-reader">were portrayed as human beings, not negatively</a>.</p>
<p>So, the title of the painting <em>Toxic</em> carries several meanings. It refers both to the main subject (Torrick “Toxic” Ablack), but also to its relationship to popular culture and to animation, in this case.</p>
<p>The <em>Toxic</em> character has his arms in the air and his hands coloured red. Could it be that this toxic relationship has made his hands dirty? Or, specifically, that the character — because the cartoon has continually portrayed Black people in a pejorative manner — is now being portrayed as a criminal? Indeed, his position indicates that he appears to be under arrest.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503154/original/file-20230104-105026-uxktgp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503154/original/file-20230104-105026-uxktgp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503154/original/file-20230104-105026-uxktgp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503154/original/file-20230104-105026-uxktgp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503154/original/file-20230104-105026-uxktgp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503154/original/file-20230104-105026-uxktgp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503154/original/file-20230104-105026-uxktgp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"><em>Dog Bite/Ax to Grind</em> (1983).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. Licensed by Artestar, New York)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This hypothesis is very likely since Basquiat produced several works denouncing police brutality against African Americans, including <em>The Death of Michael Stewart (Defacement)</em> (1983).</p>
<p>Basquiat died prematurely in 1988 at the age of 27. Other artists from the Black community, such as Montréal painters <a href="https://helloteenadultt.com/">Kezna Dalz, aka Teenadult</a>, <a href="https://www.manuelmathieu.com/">Manuel Mathieu</a>, and animation filmmaker <a href="http://www.martinechartrand.net/">Martine Chartrand</a> have, in their own way, taken up his struggle and continue to fight for greater visibility of Black people in the arts.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197368/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Harbour's doctoral research is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).</span></em></p>In the age of the Black Lives Matter movement, Basquiat’s work is more relevant than ever. It highlights racial inequality and violence against racialized people.John Harbour, Doctorant en littérature et arts de la scène et de l'écran (concentration cinéma), Université LavalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1973302023-01-06T13:12:06Z2023-01-06T13:12:06ZWhat if the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol had succeeded? A graphic novel is uniquely placed to answer<p>“Art is a powerful tool to confront the complex issues we face today,” says author and artist Gan Golan. An uncontroversial statement, perhaps, when discussing great portraits, harrowing films, or triple decker novels. But not one generally associated with comics. </p>
<p>Yet Golan knows the powerful role that <a href="https://theconversation.com/three-graphic-novels-that-creatively-confront-the-climate-crisis-195160">graphic novels</a> can play in galvanising social movements better than most. </p>
<p>In 2010, he coauthored a short comic, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/mar/06/adventures-unemployed-man-origen-golan-review">The Adventures of Unemployed Man,</a> that compared the efforts of the ordinary people challenging Wall Street’s financial elites with comic book heroes facing off against super villains.</p>
<p>Within weeks of its release, <a href="https://comicsalliance.com/unemployed-man-occupy-wall-street/">Unemployed Man himself</a> – Golan in disguise – joined the Occupy Wall Street protesters in Zucotti Park in New York, where he stayed in solidarity for more than a month. </p>
<p>One decade on, and Golan has teamed up with a new group of writers and artists to produce another comic book aimed at galvanising social action on America’s streets. Joining Golan is the writer, activist, educator and <a href="https://hls.harvard.edu/faculty/alan-jenkins/">Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School, Alan Jenkins</a> and the experienced <a href="http://www.williamrosado.com/about">comic artist Will Rosado</a>. </p>
<p>Behind them is a larger team still, of graphic artists, but also of journalists, scholars and activists who have offered information and advice from a broad sweep of perspectives.</p>
<h2>What if the January 6 insurrection had succeeded?</h2>
<p>The title of this collaboratively produced graphic novel is simple: <a href="http://www.onesixcomics.com/">1/6</a>. It refers to 6 January 2021, the day on which a mob of Donald Trump supporters laid siege to the US Capitol Building in Washington D.C., rallied on by the outgoing president.</p>
<p>One civilian was killed and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/11/us/politics/capitol-riot-police-officer-injuries.html">more than 130 police officers were injured</a> in the attack, while <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/officer-who-responded-us-capitol-attack-is-third-die-by-suicide-2021-08-02/">four took their own lives</a> in the following months. <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/01/06/remarks-by-president-biden-to-mark-one-year-since-the-january-6th-deadly-assault-on-the-u-s-capitol/">Speaking to mark its first anniversary</a>, President Joe Biden described the event as an “armed insurrection” that sought “to deny the will of the people” and “subvert the Constitution”.</p>
<p>Another year on, and the release of the first volume of 1/6 has been timed to coincide with the second anniversary of the attack on the Capitol.</p>
<p>The project, <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/onesixcomics/1-6-the-graphic-novel">initially crowdfunded on Kickstarter</a> where it raised nearly US$10,000 (£8,300), has been released in conjunction with Western States Centre, an organisation that brings together social movements and marginalised communities to advance “<a href="https://www.westernstatescenter.org/our-story">a 21st-century civil rights movement</a>” across the US.</p>
<p>The premise of 1/6 begins with a question: what if the 6 January 2021 insurrection had been successful? </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503411/original/file-20230106-26-ft7in4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A statue shows a group of soldiers pushing a flag pole to erect the USA flag." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503411/original/file-20230106-26-ft7in4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503411/original/file-20230106-26-ft7in4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=686&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503411/original/file-20230106-26-ft7in4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=686&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503411/original/file-20230106-26-ft7in4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=686&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503411/original/file-20230106-26-ft7in4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=862&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503411/original/file-20230106-26-ft7in4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=862&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503411/original/file-20230106-26-ft7in4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=862&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington County, Virginia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2018-10-31_15_25_21_The_west_side_of_the_Marine_Corps_War_Memorial_in_Arlington_County,_Virginia.jpg">Wiki Media Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Drawing on <a href="https://www.cbr.com/doomsday-clock-the-15-scariest-dystopian-futures-in-comics/">a rich tradition of comics</a> that depict counterfactual and dystopian futures, this graphic novel breathes horrifying visual life into a world in which there was no peaceful transition of power in 2021. </p>
<p>Instead, groups of armed thugs patrol the streets of Washington, suppressing civilian resistance with brutal violence under the banner of the Confederate flag.</p>
<p>Led by Rosado, the team of pencillers, colourers, and letterers portray an America at once familiar and strange. They blend everyday scenes – in streets, parks, newsrooms and diners – with panels designed to shock readers into action. </p>
<p>In one of the first volume’s most striking images, armed soldiers stand guard beneath a new statue in Washington D.C. that shows a group of insurrectionists led by the QAnon Shaman in the pose of the iconic <a href="https://www.nps.gov/gwmp/learn/historyculture/usmcwarmemorial.htm">Iwo Jima Marine Corps War Memorial</a>.</p>
<h2>A promising first volume</h2>
<p>As of 6 January 2022, only the first of four promised volumes of 1/6 has been released. It’s just under 40 pages, but it manages to convey a layered vision and complex plot in that limited space.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the authors’ approach is to centre the plot on a resistant movement that has sprung up against the new authoritarian government. 1/6 may present a dystopian future to lure in its readers, but its broader aim is to restore their agency and hope.</p>
<p>In this first issue, we follow a group of underground activists who have managed to smuggle the <a href="https://theconversation.com/congress-passes-legislation-that-will-close-off-presidential-election-mischief-and-help-avoid-another-jan-6-196204">electoral college ballots</a> that decide the presidential election to Washington. With this “last evidence of our democracy”, they plan to mount a civilian challenge to the militaristic takeover of their state.</p>
<p>When the trilogy is complete, we can expect a full length graphic novel. Promotional material for volume two suggests that the comic will return to the historical events that led up to the insurrection. As a form that represents time spatially on the page, comics are well placed to show how the present is always informed by the past, not to mention the ways in which that past is appropriated by those who aim to seize control of the future.</p>
<p>1/6 promises an exciting story line presented in compelling images. But it also aims to pivot its speculative fiction into the very real world of social movements, civil rights and democracy itself – whether in the Capitol or on the streets</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197330/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dominic Davies does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Comic book creators with a history of galvanising social action on America’s streets have created a graphic novel about the US Capitol attacks.Dominic Davies, Senior Lecturer in English, City, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1967612022-12-27T09:02:59Z2022-12-27T09:02:59Z100 years of Stan Lee: how the comic book king challenged prejudice<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501587/original/file-20221216-21-nry0ra.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4824%2C3172&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Stan Lee poses on the red carpet for Doctor Strange (2016). </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/los-angeles-ca-october-20-2016-532339153">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>December 28 2022 marks 100 years since the birth of the world’s most famous comic book writer: the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/nov/12/stan-lee-obituary">late Stan Lee</a>.</p>
<p>The 1960s were Stan Lee’s most astonishing decade, during which he came up with <a href="https://www.insider.com/characters-created-by-stan-lee-2018-11">ideas and scripts</a> for the first appearances of such heroes as the original <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-an-x-men-writer-inspired-binge-worthy-character-driven-tv-from-buffy-to-game-of-thrones-110764">X-Men</a>, Iron Man, <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwj50cygzoX8AhVLZcAKHUW_BH4QFnoECA8QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheconversation.com%2Ffor-the-love-of-thor-why-its-so-hard-for-marvel-to-get-its-female-superheroes-right-186639&usg=AOvVaw0hIK_JDhSCrlzMjlzeZERc">Thor</a>, the Hulk, <a href="https://theconversation.com/black-panther-2-why-the-death-of-someone-young-can-be-harder-to-handle-195307">Black Panther</a>, Daredevil and <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjwzPKCzoX8AhVREsAKHZ25BJsQFnoECBQQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheconversation.com%2Fthe-witch-treatment-what-dr-stranges-wanda-tells-us-about-representations-of-female-anger-184509&usg=AOvVaw3HAx8D5RDXB5ZUMGpysA6w">Doctor Strange</a>. </p>
<p>This extraordinary purple patch elevates Lee as one of the architects of modern pop culture. The <a href="https://www.cbr.com/marvel-comics-marvel-method-depictions/">Marvel method</a> of writing comics (where artists plot the story of a comic and the layout of the pages based on a collaborative approach between artist and scriptwriter) enabled him to <a href="https://www.comics.org/searchNew/?q=stan+lee&selected_facets=facet_model_name_exact:story&selected_facets=country_exact:United%20States">script several hundred comics in the 1960s</a>. </p>
<p>He wrote the dialogue for the first decade of titles featuring Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men and many others.</p>
<p>Stanley Martin Lieber (who later changed his name to Stan Lee) was born to Jewish-Romanian immigrants in Manhattan. His father was a dress cutter and Lee had <a href="https://www.looper.com/53983/stan-lee-went-delivering-sandwiches-face-marvel">teenage jobs</a> delivering sandwiches, as a theatre usher and an office boy, before his first writing jobs. These included advance obituaries for a news service and publicity material for the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/72b52a2c-e80e-11e8-8a85-04b8afea6ea3">National Tuberculosis Centre</a>.</p>
<p>In 1939, he found work at <a href="https://screenrant.com/why-marvel-change-name-timely-comics/">Timely</a> – later renamed Atlas Comics, and eventually Marvel – as an editorial assistant, with <a href="https://money.com/stan-lee-net-worth-marvel-universe/">his first writing credit</a> on an early issue of Captain America in 1941. <a href="https://stanmarvellee.weebly.com/early-career.html">This issue</a> saw the writer adopt his pen name and saw Cap throw his shield as a weapon for the first time – now a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uULSTvYcwa0">signature move</a> for the hero.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501863/original/file-20221219-16-n9w9cz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Spider-Man perched atop a street light in Spider-Man: No Way Home" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501863/original/file-20221219-16-n9w9cz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501863/original/file-20221219-16-n9w9cz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=680&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501863/original/file-20221219-16-n9w9cz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=680&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501863/original/file-20221219-16-n9w9cz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=680&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501863/original/file-20221219-16-n9w9cz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=854&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501863/original/file-20221219-16-n9w9cz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=854&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501863/original/file-20221219-16-n9w9cz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=854&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of Marvel’s most popular characters, Spider-Man, was a Stan Lee invention.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://sonypicturespublicity.com/dom/secured/mediaassets/viewMediaAssetsLevel2.jsf#">Matt Kennedy / Marvel</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Superheroes had been around <a href="https://kleinletters.com/Blog/the-dc-comics-offices-1930s-1950s-part-2/">since the 1930s</a>, with DC Comics finding an early lead publishing Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. But <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/superhero/Silver-Age-1956-69">by the early 1960s</a> the genre had stagnated.</p>
<p><a href="https://comicbookhistorians.com/from-atlas-monsters-to-marvel-superheroes/">At this time</a>, sci-fi and horror anthologies were Marvel’s staples. For the final issue of one floundering Marvel anthology, <a href="http://www.marvelmasterworks.com/marvel/hcs/omniboo/omni_amfan01.html">Amazing (Adult) Fantasy</a>, Lee and <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/7/17543924/steve-ditko-spider-man-doctor-strange-marvel-comics-artist-obituary">artist Steve Ditko</a> invented a new character – <a href="https://www.cbr.com/amazing-fantasy-trivia-facts-spiderman-first-comic/">Spider-Man</a>. The character was <a href="https://www.historynet.com/spider-man-history/">“an instant success”</a>, helping revive the superhero genre.</p>
<h2>Superheroes in the 1960s</h2>
<p>In 1960, DC hit on the idea of gathering their most popular heroes together to create the <a href="https://ew.com/books/brief-history-of-the-justice-league-in-all-its-incarnations/">Justice League of America</a>, following their earlier Justice Society. At Marvel, Lee had only just co-created such characters as the Hulk, Iron Man and Ant Man but within a year of their first appearances brought them together to form <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ComicBook/TheAvengers">The Avengers</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501586/original/file-20221216-26-ynh8ru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Stan Lee wears large tinted glasses, wears a green shirt and holds a microphone. His hair is grey." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501586/original/file-20221216-26-ynh8ru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501586/original/file-20221216-26-ynh8ru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501586/original/file-20221216-26-ynh8ru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501586/original/file-20221216-26-ynh8ru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501586/original/file-20221216-26-ynh8ru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501586/original/file-20221216-26-ynh8ru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501586/original/file-20221216-26-ynh8ru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Stan Lee speaking at a convention in the 1980s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stan_lee_circa_80.jpg">Larry D. Moore</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These initiatives show that Lee was not only good at creating concepts that others could build on. He also had a savvy nose for marvellous ideas, copying what rival companies were doing and looking to new readerships.</p>
<p>He also remembered <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sub-Mariner">the company’s back catalogue</a>. First he brought back <a href="https://www.sportskeeda.com/comics/how-namor-complicated-relationship-fantastic-four-possible-mcu-theories-explored">Namor in 1962</a>, then revived <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ComicBook/CaptainAmerica">Captain America in 1964</a>. He also reimagined 1930s characters Angel and Human Torch as members of the X-Men and Fantastic Four respectively.</p>
<p>Lee rose quickly from fill-in writer to <a href="https://www.gamesradar.com/from-stan-lee-on-down-a-brief-history-of-marvel-comics-editors-in-chief/">editor-in-chief</a> at Marvel, partially due to <a href="https://www.looper.com/31532/untold-truth-stan-lee/">the exodus</a> of Captain America creators Joe Simon and Jack Kirby to DC due to lack of profit sharing and, <a href="https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/stan-lee-silver-age-history-of-marvel-comics">perhaps, being a cousin of the owner’s wife</a>. </p>
<p>Lee enjoyed being the public face of Marvel, conducting <a href="https://therealstanlee.com/life-of-an-icon/stan-lee-speaker-man/">Q&As about comics</a> at colleges in the 1960s. He also added “Stan’s Soapbox” to hundreds of titles, a column which allowed to not only respond to reader letters, but also pursue <a href="https://www.inverse.com/article/35553-marvel-comics-stan-lee-racism-bigotry-soapbox">an anti-racist agenda</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PFzDEySeYdY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Fans associated Stan Lee with his Marvel movie cameos.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The public associated him with many of the characters he co-created because he also narrated Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends and The Incredible Hulk cartoons in the 1980s, as well as the Spider-Man video games in the 2000s.</p>
<p>More recently, <a href="https://movieweb.com/stan-lee-mcu-movie-cameo/">cameos</a> in nearly every Marvel adaptation between 2000 and 2018 made Lee the face of the film franchises.</p>
<h2>Lee’s faith and multiculturalism</h2>
<p>Despite being of Jewish descent, Lee showed <a href="https://www.heyalma.com/the-complicated-jewishness-of-stan-lee/">little interest</a> in faith <a href="https://eu.independentmail.com/story/news/2018/11/15/stan-lee-and-fortuitous-faith-his-fantasy-family/1981350002/">but saw</a> “world religion as a way into the storytelling process”.</p>
<p>While the <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ComicBook/FantasticFourNumberOne">Fantastic Four’s Thing</a> was eventually revealed to be Jewish, it took four decades for this to be <a href="https://screenrant.com/fantastic-four-thing-jewish-identity-marvel-deepest-hero/">worked into storylines</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501858/original/file-20221219-26-bf4ic6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A pair of trainers/sneakers standing on an array of Marvel comics." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501858/original/file-20221219-26-bf4ic6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501858/original/file-20221219-26-bf4ic6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501858/original/file-20221219-26-bf4ic6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501858/original/file-20221219-26-bf4ic6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501858/original/file-20221219-26-bf4ic6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501858/original/file-20221219-26-bf4ic6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501858/original/file-20221219-26-bf4ic6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many Marvel fan favourites were Stan Lee’s creation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/RlQhqhfH1DE">Erik Mclean</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Lee’s fellow Jewish collaborator <a href="https://jewishcurrents.org/jack-kirbys-golem">Jack Kirby</a>, however, may have included <a href="https://theculturetrip.com/czech-republic/articles/the-legend-of-the-golem-of-prague/">iconography of the Golem</a> (a mythical <a href="https://www.jmberlin.de/en/topic-golem">humanoid made of earth</a> brought to life in Jewish folklore) into the character’s design and gave him a fictional <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Yancy_Street">Jewish neighbourhood</a> as a home.</p>
<p>Although Lee didn’t bring his own background to his comics, he and <a href="https://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/dynamics/2012/04/24/9165/">Kirby wished to create</a> the “<a href="https://www.thegeektwins.com/2018/02/the-secret-history-of-black-panther-by.html">first black superhero</a>”, leading to the <a href="https://www.history.com/news/the-real-history-behind-the-black-panther">co-creation of Black Panther</a> in 1966. </p>
<p>Interested in minority representation in the genre, Lee was also working on a TV adaptation of an LGBTQ+ superhero novel <a href="https://www.mtv.com/news/ayikws/perry-moore-hero-tv-adaptation">Hero</a> in the 2000s, before that project was stymied by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/19/books/19moore.html">its gay writer’s passing in 2011</a>.</p>
<p>One comic he co-created – X-Men – has resonated with LGBTQ+ readers. In an article for Syfy, author Sara Century wrote that with its 1980s run X-Men “implied queerness … and <a href="https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/x-men-as-a-queer-metaphor">an analog to AIDS</a>”.</p>
<p>Pop culture expert <a href="https://www.academia.edu/38163857/Reading_the_Superhuman_Embodiments_of_Multiplicity_in_Marvel_Comics">Anna Peppard notes</a> Marvel comics in the 1960s and beyond took in themes from “the Civil Rights movement, second-wave feminism … and liberal multiculturalism”.</p>
<p>One of the last characters Lee created for Marvel was <a href="https://www.cracked.com/article_33968_she-hulk-was-created-because-of-stan-lees-paranoia.html">She-Hulk</a>, whose 2022 TV series challenged <a href="https://www.cbr.com/she-hulk-toxic-masculinity-captain-marvel-disney-plus/">toxic masculinity in superhero fandom</a>. Stan Lee died, aged 96, in 2018.</p>
<p>By accident or design, Lee’s comics and the characters he helped create have not only had a huge influence on pop culture but also <a href="https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/movies/comic-writer-stan-lee-left-indelible-mark-on-modern-pop-culture-37520972.html">reflect an increasingly liberal world</a>.</p>
<p>For these reasons and many more, his impact on the world is well worth celebrating.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196761/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Fitch receives funding from Design Star Centre for Doctoral Training, on behalf of the UKRI Arts and Humanitites Reseach Council. </span></em></p>Stan Lee deserves his place in the pantheon of great pop culture architects, but his Marvel characters did more than just entertain – they actively fought against prejudice.Alex Fitch, Lecturer and PhD Candidate in Comics and Architecture, University of BrightonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1959222022-12-06T03:38:55Z2022-12-06T03:38:55Z‘Any means necessary’: the police who adopt the skull symbol of the ultra-violent comic book vigilante the Punisher<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499154/original/file-20221206-10103-yb6d53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C3988%2C2000&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/ Disney</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In Travis Linnemann’s book <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/the-horror-of-police">The Horror Of Police</a>, he quotes <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/08/warrior-cop-class-dave-grossman-killology.html">David Grossman</a>, founder of the “bulletproof warrior” seminar series, <a href="https://www.insider.com/bulletproof-dave-grossman-police-trainer-teaching-officers-how-to-kill-2020-6/">notorious</a> for teaching police that killing is “just not that big of a deal.”</p>
<p>At the end of a long day, Grossman says, police should “look out on your city and let your cape blow in the wind”.</p>
<p>This suggests police should see themselves as superheroes. In reality, they seem drawn to one superhero in particular: the classic Marvel comics character, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punisher">the Punisher</a>.“</p>
<p>He doesn’t wear a cape, admittedly. He’s more famous for the stylised skull logo plastered across his chest.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499163/original/file-20221206-22-lr7xk1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499163/original/file-20221206-22-lr7xk1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499163/original/file-20221206-22-lr7xk1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499163/original/file-20221206-22-lr7xk1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499163/original/file-20221206-22-lr7xk1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499163/original/file-20221206-22-lr7xk1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499163/original/file-20221206-22-lr7xk1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499163/original/file-20221206-22-lr7xk1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Punisher as depicted in Marvel comics in 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marvel</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Brutal and abusive</h2>
<p>It’s a skull that a <a href="http://archive.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/112982324.html/">group of rogue officers</a> in Milwaukee wore while on patrol in 2011. They were characterised as "brutal and abusive” by a police academy supervisor. In 2017, the logo was <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/punisher-logo-removed-kentucky-cop-cars-public-outcry-979612/">added to police cruisers</a> in Lexington, Kentucky – morphed together with a <a href="https://www.dictionary.com/e/politics/blue-lives-matter/">Blue Lives Matter flag</a> – and only removed after public outcry. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/chicago-police-officer-wore-punisher-skull-on-uniform-during-2019-incident/">A Chicago officer</a> wore a Punisher skull in 2019 while pointing his weapon at teenagers, and <a href="https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2020/06/as-the-punisher-skull-re-emerges-on-cops-in-u-s-protests-marvel-comics-reckons-with-its-imagery/">police wearing the same skull</a> were spotted at the crackdowns after George Floyd’s death in 2020.</p>
<p>Before you think this is limited to America, the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5356951/NSW-Police-slammed-Punisher-skull-car.html">skull has appeared</a> on an Australian police car, too.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"835165585298370564"}"></div></p>
<h2>Why do so many police love the Punisher?</h2>
<p>What makes the Punisher so appealing to these police? Created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru, the Punisher first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #129 in 1974. He was the gun-toting, ex-soldier Frank Castle, determined to wipe out crime with deadly force after his family were murdered in front of him.</p>
<p>While initially an antagonist, it wasn’t long before he graduated to anti-hero. By 1986 he starred in his own Marvel miniseries, by the late ‘80s he was popular enough to have multiple ongoing comic books at once.</p>
<p>This included ten issues of <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Punisher_Armory_Vol_1">The Punisher Armory</a>, one of the strangest series Marvel has ever published: just page after page of flat, technical drawings of weapons. As Professor of Political Science Kent Worcester wrote in Law Text Review:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It is difficult to think of another comic book figure, in any universe, that could inspire such a relentless, militaristic, and fetishistic series.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A Marvel editor, Stephen Wacker, <a href="https://www.cbr.com/greg-rucka-unleashes-the-punisher/">once noted</a> the Punisher had killed around 48,502 people since his first appearance. Compare that to Batman, who refuses to kill – much to the annoyance of some fans. According to <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Caped-Crusade/Glen-Weldon/9781476756738">critic Glen Weldon</a>, this is more than a moral decision. It’s also a “deliberate storytelling choice: it would be easy to mow down a roomful of bad guys with an uzi”.</p>
<p>Why would the police choose the Punisher skull instead of Batman’s logo? The police chief in Lexington, Kentucky, <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/punisher-logo-removed-kentucky-cop-cars-public-outcry-979612/">defended</a> its use on their police cars by saying that the skull “represents that we will take any means necessary to keep our community safe.”</p>
<p>The adoption of the skull is a sign some police no longer want to be police – they want to be vigilantes, capable of using “any means necessary”. After all, as Worcester states, “the legal system is little more than an inconvenience” to the Punisher.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1267998373560401921"}"></div></p>
<h2>The vigilante impulse</h2>
<p>After American citizen <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-20/kyle-rittenhouse-trial-protest-shooting-kenosha/100603512">Kyle Rittenhouse</a> was found not guilty of murder, after killing two men and seriously injuring a third with a gun during a Black Lives Matter protest, a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/19/opinion/kyle-rittenhouse-not-guilty-vigilantes.html">New York Times</a> opinion piece described the vigilante impulse as a “central feature of the American experience”. The police are far from immune.</p>
<p>Gerry Conway, the Punisher’s co-creator, is appalled by law enforcement adopting the logo. He said <a href="https://twitter.com/gerryconway/status/1182807817020829697?s=20&t=raSoM6YFnc0TmCe1Tb1nZQ">on Twitter</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Any ‘cop’ who wears a Punisher logo in his official capacity is identifying law enforcement with an outlaw. These ‘cops’ are a disgrace to serious police officers everywhere. They show an imbecilic level of irresponsibility and should be fired immediately.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Many called on Marvel to make a statement about the skull’s unofficial use after the George Floyd crackdown. <a href="https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2020/06/as-the-punisher-skull-re-emerges-on-cops-in-u-s-protests-marvel-comics-reckons-with-its-imagery/">A spokesperson said</a> they were “taking seriously” any unlicensed usage, but otherwise referred to a general message shared by Marvel:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We stand against racism. We stand for inclusion. We stand with our fellow Black employees, storytellers, creators and the entire Black community. We must unite and speak out.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>They also pointed to a specific issue of The Punisher from the year before. In The Punisher #13 (2019), Frank Castle tears up a skull decal on a police car, explaining that if the police want a role model, they should look to Captain America instead.</p>
<p>This set a precedent: it is the character who would apparently be speaking for the company.</p>
<p>Professor of Film and Cultural Studies Will Brooker <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/what-is-a-superhero-9780199795277?cc=au&lang=en&">writes</a> that origin stories are those that “bury the old, battered, weaker self and give the character a new life as someone braver and bolder”. But the origin for the Punisher’s crusade – watching his family die – had already been complicated by other Marvel stories.</p>
<p>A recent Punisher series suggests it wasn’t his family’s deaths that created the Punisher. It shows teenage Frank as a pathetic loser in grimy flashbacks, sulking in a Captain America mask. Instead of allowing him to become “braver and bolder”, we see Frank was always prone to fits of extreme violence.</p>
<p>In this version, the Punisher didn’t begin as a “bulletproof warrior”. He was a disturbed child – more Dexter Morgan than Dirty Harry.</p>
<h2>Skulls for justice</h2>
<p>A few years ago, Punisher creator Gerry Conway launched an initiative called <a href="https://www.comicsbeat.com/gerry-conway-skulls-for-justice-punisher-emblem/">Skulls For Justice</a>. It asked artists to create new versions of the Punisher skull by combining it with the imagery of Black Lives Matter. Conway explains:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>For too long, symbols associated with a character I co-created have been co-opted by forces of oppression and to intimidate Black Americans. This character and symbol was never intended as a symbol of oppression. This is a symbol of a systematic failure of equal justice. It’s time to claim this symbol for the cause of equal justice and Black Lives Matter.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499151/original/file-20221206-14-d7vnoj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499151/original/file-20221206-14-d7vnoj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499151/original/file-20221206-14-d7vnoj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499151/original/file-20221206-14-d7vnoj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499151/original/file-20221206-14-d7vnoj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499151/original/file-20221206-14-d7vnoj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1144&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499151/original/file-20221206-14-d7vnoj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1144&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499151/original/file-20221206-14-d7vnoj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1144&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Punisher as depicted in Marvel comics in 2022, with a new skull logo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These skulls were not approved by Marvel. However, in the latest Punisher series, Marvel has also changed the iconic logo on Frank’s chest. Almost as if they know the old skull is too toxic to be redeemed, and – at least for now – they’re abandoning it to the vigilante police who’ve embraced it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195922/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martyn Pedler does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The classic Marvel comic book anti-hero is known for ultra-violence and vigilante justice: why is he so appealing to law enforcement?Martyn Pedler, PhD Candidate, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1901102022-09-08T17:13:10Z2022-09-08T17:13:10ZThe Sandman: a masterclass in unfaithful adaptation<p>Whether it’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Call the Midwife or, more recently, Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, most of us will have enjoyed a book-to-TV adaptation. In the process, we might also have had to endure a family member or friend smugly informing us that what we’re watching is, in fact, “nothing like the book”.</p>
<p>Before we get into this, full disclosure: when it comes to comic books, and especially Sandman, I am that guy.</p>
<p>Nothing would give me more pleasure than to catalogue for you every minor way in which the new Netflix series about Morpheus, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-sandman-how-representations-of-dreams-and-nightmares-have-changed-over-time-188498">maker of dreams</a>, differs from the original comics, which started in 1989.</p>
<p>Sure, you all loved the episode in the diner, for example, but honestly, it bears only a passing resemblance to the comics version. Think The Corinthian – the bad guy – is scary? Listen with amazement as I authoritatively explain how, in the comics, he really doesn’t matter much at all.</p>
<p>This smug indulgence, however, would require me to overlook one of the show’s central points – and in some ways its purpose. New Sandman may indeed be different to old Sandman, but that difference is an entirely conscious move on the part of the series’ makers, who include Neil Gaiman himself. And the show is all the better for that difference.</p>
<h2>But why does it have to change?</h2>
<p>At one level, change was necessary for practical reasons. Anyone adapting a book for TV has to accept that the constraints and possibilities of the medium are not the same, and this principle applies more in Sandman’s case than most.</p>
<p>Back when I first started reading comics, they were designed to be read, reread, shared with friends and debated over with frenemies until the next issue came out, usually a full month later. TV is clearly not made for that approach. Who in their right mind is going to say, “Hey, I think I’ll watch episode one of Sandman every few days this month, and only then move on to episode two”?</p>
<p>Things have to change when literature moves across to the screen. Take the aforementioned episode, 24/7, perhaps the best episode in the new show. This story, set in a diner, is from what is coincidentally the first great issue of The Sandman comic and was told with incredible efficiency. Gaiman had single panels, for example, depicting the events of specific hours. That approach would become quickly tedious on TV, so the makers of the new series didn’t try.</p>
<p>Instead, they tore the story down to the emotional heart, threw everything else away and wrote something that we know works on television: they turned it into a stage play. It gets the point of the original across without being distracted by the techniques of the original.</p>
<p>Practical considerations aside, however, Netflix’s adaptation of The Sandman is also making a statement – about how seasoned veterans like me don’t exercise some sort of imagined authority over culture just because we were there in 1989.</p>
<p>This need to resist cultural gatekeeping is something Gaiman has explicitly mentioned on <a href="https://twitter.com/neilhimself/status/1555391113292382208">Twitter</a>, but it is also what the comics were always about.</p>
<h2>Who gets to read comics</h2>
<p>Back in the 1980s, comics stores were very unfriendly spaces for some people. They were dominated by white guys who revelled in being “in the know” about different characters and artists. Women, queer people and people of colour were made to feel very unwelcome. If you’re familiar with the Android’s Dungeon comics store in The Simpsons, trust me, it’s more a photograph than the caricature you might think it is. These places, places I loved, deserved the bad name they acquired.</p>
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<p>The Sandman challenged that culture from the beginning. Gaiman was especially keen to create a comic that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jul/30/neil-gaiman-sandman-netflix-interview">women could enjoy</a>. Years later, when I was researching my first piece of academic writing about Sandman – an <a href="https://openlibrary.org/books/OL46919M/St._James_encyclopedia_of_popular_culture">encyclopaedia entry on the comic</a> – I interviewed different comic store owners. Every single one said that Sandman was the book that had got women into their shop, and this has been echoed by <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Feminism-Worlds-Neil-Gaiman-Essays/dp/0786466367">subsequent writing on feminism</a> in Gaiman’s work.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-sandman-how-representations-of-dreams-and-nightmares-have-changed-over-time-188498">The Sandman: how representations of dreams and nightmares have changed over time</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>The new show is as intent on inclusion as ever. It’s not just that the stories have been adapted for TV; the colour and gender identity of characters have changed as well. The decision, for instance, to replace the warlock John Constantine with Jenna Coleman’s Joanna Constantine probably wasn’t just made with Gaiman’s approval. I’d be surprised if the change wasn’t his idea.</p>
<p>Faithful adaptations in culture validate fan authority. It feels good, almost flattering, to be able to say, “I know about this; I read the book”. The new version of The Sandman aims squarely at the opposite result.</p>
<p>This strategy of unfaithful adaptation also strives to disempower our tendency to exert ownership over culture, a tendency that threatens to exclude, rather than include, new audiences. In that sense, the television series is exactly like the book.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190110/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joe Sutliff Sanders does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Netflix’s Sandman is quite different from the comics and that opens up the story to a whole new fandom.Joe Sutliff Sanders, Associate Professor in Children's Literature in Education, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1819962022-05-16T19:34:28Z2022-05-16T19:34:28ZYouth-oriented comics with LGBTQ+ positive characters are busting binaries<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463144/original/file-20220515-23-80f00p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C10%2C991%2C637&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Lumberjanes,' launched in 2014, traces the adventures of campers at Miss Quinzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet's Camp for Hardcore Lady Types.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(BOOM! Studios)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a polarized cultural milieu, the portrayal of LGBTQ+ characters in popular media for youth and children is sometimes contentious. </p>
<p>In March, for example, the Disney corporation was criticized for covertly supporting Florida legislation that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/mar/21/disney-faces-backlash-lgbtq-controversy-dont-say-gay-bill-florida">bars instruction about “sexual orientation or gender identity”</a> for young schoolchildren.
This comes on the heels of controversy about the <a href="https://theconversation.com/luca-disney-and-queerbaiting-in-animation-164349">treatment of queer characters in Disney films</a>.</p>
<p>But some comics artists writing for younger audiences <a href="https://www.polygon.com/23020252/nimona-movie-netflix-blue-sky-nd-stevenson-disney">have found critical and</a> <a href="https://comicbook.com/news/lumberjanes-1-sells-out-headed-for-second-printing">financial success telling stories</a> about LGTBQ+ characters. </p>
<h2>Important role for fiction</h2>
<p>Fiction has historically been a pivotal site of resisting demands that young people who exist outside of perceived sex and gender binaries must assimilate, argues professor of English and queer theorist Kathryn Bond Stockton in her book <em><a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-queer-child-or-growing-sideways-in-the-twentieth-century">The Queer Child</a></em>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463203/original/file-20220516-26-9dz6w6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The back of a person's half-shaved head is seen and a t-shirt reading 'no homophobia, no violence, no racism, yes kindness yes love and this person is lifting up another person who is laughing joyously" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463203/original/file-20220516-26-9dz6w6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463203/original/file-20220516-26-9dz6w6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463203/original/file-20220516-26-9dz6w6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463203/original/file-20220516-26-9dz6w6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463203/original/file-20220516-26-9dz6w6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463203/original/file-20220516-26-9dz6w6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463203/original/file-20220516-26-9dz6w6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Positive role models and experiences of belonging in community matter.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Ece Ak/Pexels)</span></span>
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<p>Media professor Tony Kelso describes how scholars studying portrayals of queer youth in media “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2015.1021634">have convincingly argued that representations in the media have a socializing influence</a> on young people’s development of their notions of self, whether in regard to race, gender, class, sexual orientation or other identity categories.” </p>
<p>He notes that particularly for emerging queer youth growing up who may have few role models, “LGBTQ+ images in the media take on especially heightened importance.” </p>
<p>Strong queer representation in youth-oriented comics has the potential to play a significant positive impact on the health and well-being of queer-identified or sex and gender-questioning youth. </p>
<h2>Role models, community</h2>
<p>The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization <a href="https://www.thetrevorproject.org/explore/">for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning young people</a>, notes that <a href="https://www.thetrevorproject.org/research-briefs/fostering-the-mental-health-of-lgbtq-youth/">having positive role models and a sense of community</a> serve as protective factors that enhance positive development or resiliency for LGBTQ youth. </p>
<p>Fiction can offer role models, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119237211.ch1">fandom forged around comics can also foster community</a>. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pride-month-and-queer-students-why-creatively-drawing-on-virtual-community-during-covid-19-matters-158374">Pride Month and queer students: Why creatively drawing on virtual community during COVID-19 matters</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>Many creators of comics with young queer characters say that their creative motivation includes speaking to the well-being of queer children and youth in ways that they themselves may not have experienced. </p>
<p>Here are four comics works that foreground the representation of queer youth experiences: </p>
<h2>1. <em>Backstagers</em></h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463133/original/file-20220515-18-yl52mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Four cartoon characters seen on scaffolding in front of a fuscia background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463133/original/file-20220515-18-yl52mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463133/original/file-20220515-18-yl52mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463133/original/file-20220515-18-yl52mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463133/original/file-20220515-18-yl52mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463133/original/file-20220515-18-yl52mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463133/original/file-20220515-18-yl52mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463133/original/file-20220515-18-yl52mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">‘Backstagers’ Volume 1.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(BOOM! Studios)</span></span>
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<p>The comic book series <em><a href="https://www.boom-studios.com/series/backstagers/">Backstagers</a></em> follows the stage crew at an all-male high school. The series includes <a href="https://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2016/8/17/comic-book-all-queer-theater-geeks">gay, bi and trans characters</a> who <a href="https://queerbooksforteens.com/2018/04/18/the-backstagers-volume-1-rebels-without-applause/">are white, Black and racialized</a>.</p>
<p>It’s penned by James Tynion IV, who is well-known for his <a href="https://www.comicbooktreasury.com/batman-by-james-tynion-reading-order/">work on DC’s <em>Batman</em></a> and who won <a href="https://comicbook.com/comics/news/2021-eisner-award-winners-black-widow-jimmy-olsen-usagi-yojimbo-comic-con/#:%7E:text=">the Eisner Award</a> in comics in 2021. </p>
<p>In an interview with <em>School Library Journal</em> in 2017, Tynion said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“<a href="https://goodcomicsforkids.slj.com/2017/07/10/interview-james-tynion-iv-on-backstagers">I wanted to write the book that I needed the most, particularly in middle school</a> and when I first started reading comics … I always wanted the book to be about misfits, misfits are great, but I wanted to have different forms of queer masculinity.… Growing up, not being able to see yourself in the media you consume, you feel like there’s something wrong. Seeing yourself in these worlds is so empowering.”</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/will-eisner-and-the-evolution-of-the-graphic-novel-73892">Will Eisner and the evolution of the graphic novel</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>2. <em>The Prince and the Dressmaker</em></h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463137/original/file-20220515-16-ad5yzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graphic novel cover showing a seamstress in a long dress standing closely to a prince with a measuring tape." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463137/original/file-20220515-16-ad5yzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463137/original/file-20220515-16-ad5yzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=850&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463137/original/file-20220515-16-ad5yzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=850&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463137/original/file-20220515-16-ad5yzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=850&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463137/original/file-20220515-16-ad5yzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1068&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463137/original/file-20220515-16-ad5yzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1068&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463137/original/file-20220515-16-ad5yzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1068&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">‘The Prince and the Dressmaker’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Macmillan)</span></span>
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<p>The graphic novel <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723634/theprinceandthedressmaker"><em>The Prince and the Dressmaker</em></a> by <a href="https://www.jenwang.net/about">author and illustrator Jen Wang</a> tells the story of a powerful friendship between a humble dressmaker and an esteemed young prince. The prince lives a secret double-life as “Lady Crystallia,” Paris’s latest (and most mysterious) high-fashion icon. </p>
<p><em>The Prince and the Dressmaker</em> earned a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/the-10-best-graphic-novels-of-2018/2018/11/13/a192b760-e2d7-11e8-ab2c-b31dcd53ca6b_story.html">place on many best books</a> lists <a href="https://apps.npr.org/best-books-2018/">of 2018</a>. </p>
<p>Like Tynion IV, <a href="https://nerdist.com/article/prince-and-dressmaker-jen-wang-interview/">Wang desribed her inspiration</a> in a 2018 interview with <em>Nerdist</em> as a sort of retroactive intervention in her own life: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“"I wrote this book for my teenage self so I’m really excited for young people to read this! … I hope readers who connect with it are able to indulge in the fairy tale fantasy but also feel known.” </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>3. <em>Nimona</em></h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463136/original/file-20220515-14-liy0vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graphic novel cover of three characters, one kneeling in the middle in a short tunic dress, against a teal green background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463136/original/file-20220515-14-liy0vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463136/original/file-20220515-14-liy0vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463136/original/file-20220515-14-liy0vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463136/original/file-20220515-14-liy0vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463136/original/file-20220515-14-liy0vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463136/original/file-20220515-14-liy0vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463136/original/file-20220515-14-liy0vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">‘Nimona’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(HarperCollins)</span></span>
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<p><a href="https://www.harpercollins.ca/9780062278227/nimona/">ND Stevenson’s graphic novel <em>Nimona</em></a>, developed from their earlier web comic, uses the concept of a shape-shifter in a medieval universe. </p>
<p>The story explores the damaging potentials of perceiving humanity and human relationships in terms of pre-established categories, including <a href="https://mashable.com/article/nimona-netflix-disney-queer-representation">categories of sexuality and gender</a>. Stevenson currently <a href="https://twitter.com/Gingerhazing/status/1377305526908841990">identifies as transmasculine and bigender</a>.</p>
<p><em>Nimona</em> is a <em>New York Times</em> bestseller, won <a href="https://comicbook.com/news/2016-eisner-award-winners-announced/">an Eisner Award</a> and is slated for <a href="https://www.polygon.com/23020252/nimona-movie-netflix-blue-sky-nd-stevenson-disney">a Netflix film adaptation</a>.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/07/noelle-stevenson-nimona-lumberjanes-comic-con-eisner-awards">Stevenson</a> told <em>Vanity Fair</em> in 2015, the shape-shifter represents a key way to threaten and destabilize such norms through the body: “Nimona is about identity and if who you are is defined by what you look like.” </p>
<h2>4. <em>Lumberjanes</em></h2>
<p>The comics series, <a href="https://www.boom-studios.com/series/lumberjanes/"><em>Lumberjanes</em></a>, <a href="https://www.comicsbeat.com/lumberjanes-hbo-max/">launched in 2014</a>, traces the adventures of campers at <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.ca/books/Lumberjanes-Vol-20/Shannon-Watters/Lumberjanes/9781684157433">Miss Quinzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady Types</a>. </p>
<p>The series <a href="https://www.yalsa.ala.org/jrlya/2017/12/drawing-queerness-evaluating-notable-lgbtq-graphic-novels-for-teens/">focusses not on one particular character</a> but on a circle of five friends <a href="https://queerbooksforteens.com/2017/12/07/lumberjanes-unicorn-power/">from diverse backgrounds of class, race and structures of family</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.themarysue.com/lumberjanes-17-awesomeness/">In Issue 17</a>, the character Jo counsels a “Scouting Lad” from across the lake named Barney who is struggling to identify with their fellow all-male campers. </p>
<p>Jo reveals that she herself transitioned from male to female. Jo used to be a Scouting Lad as well before finding peace and acceptance among the Lumberjanes. Barney requests to join the Lumberjanes and finds similar peace and acceptance, while also adopting the pronouns they/them. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1207756764151721986"}"></div></p>
<p>The group of friends also includes <a href="https://lesbrary.com/danika-reviews-lumberjanes-series-vol-1-6-by-noelle-stevenson-grace-ellis-shannon-watters-and-brooke-a-allen/">two girls who develop a romance</a>. Literature scholar Aaron Kashtan notes the series assumes a <a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/contributor/aaron-kashtan/">feminist and anti-racist way of seeing while deflating feminist killjoy stereotypes</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.autostraddle.com/lumberjanes-issue-17-continues-positive-representation-as-jo-talks-about-being-trans-303008/">Shannon Watters</a>, <a href="https://catalog.simonandschuster.com/TitleDetails/TitleDetails.aspx?cid=6957&isbn=9781608868605&FilterByName=&FilterBy=&FilterVal=&ob=0&pn=1&ed=&showcart=N&camefrom=&find=&a=">Lumberjanes co-creator</a> and one of several writers on the series, said in a 2015 interview for the feminist, queer and trans folks-run media site <em>Autostraddle</em>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We write Lumberjanes like it’s somewhere we wish existed, all while hoping that maybe the mere <a href="https://www.autostraddle.com/lumberjanes-issue-17-continues-positive-representation-as-jo-talks-about-being-trans-303008/">fact of its existence in fiction might make it easier and better for some humans</a> who live in the real world.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A host of creative talent worked on this series: <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/herocomplex/la-et-hc-noelle-stevenson-talks-lumberjanes-nimona-20150520-story.html">Stevenson is another co-creator</a> and writer of the series, and Wang wrote for <a href="https://comicsalliance.com/jen-wang-lumberjanes-makin-the-ghost-of-it-interview">a 2016 Lumberjanes special, <em>Lumberjanes: Makin: the Ghost of It</em></a>.</p>
<p><em>Lumberjanes</em> had a <a href="https://comicbook.com/news/lumberjanes-1-sells-out-headed-for-second-printing/">a sold-out first printing</a>, won multiple Eisner Awards and has earned <a href="https://deadline.com/2020/10/lumberjanes-animated-tv-series-based-on-boom-comics-hbo-max-noelle-stevenson-1234592758/">an HBO Max animated series adaptation</a>. <a href="https://www.abramsbooks.com/press-releases/lumberjanes/">In 2017, a <em>Lumberjanes</em> novel series</a> was launched, <a href="https://www.abramsbooks.com/?s=lumberjanes">written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Brooklyn Allen</a>. </p>
<p>In all of these comics, <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250171122/snapdragon">and many more</a>, we see <a href="https://www.scholastic.ca/books/view/the-girl-from-the-sea">the potential for</a> contemporary media portrayals to provide important mental and physical well-being interventions in the lives of LGBTQ+ youth — and thus another reminder of why representation and relatable stories matter.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181996/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>J. Andrew Deman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Strong queer representation in young adult comics can have a significant positive impact on the well-being of queer-identified or questioning youth.J. Andrew Deman, Professor of English, University of WaterlooLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1806342022-04-07T14:10:52Z2022-04-07T14:10:52ZFive exciting additions to Marvel’s cinematic universes – according to a comics expert<p>Two new Marvel heroes have been brought to the big and small screens that may be quite new to many people. The first is the titular character in the Disney+ series <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10234724/">Moon Knight, starring Oscar Isaac</a>, which is set in the main Marvel Cinematic Universe. The other is <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5108870/">Morbius</a>, an unlucky vampiric doctor, played by Jared Leto, who is the newest villain-turned-good-ish guy in <a href="https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a39583017/sony-spider-man-universe-timeline-venom-morbius/">the Sony Spider-Man Universe</a> to get a film, after Venom. </p>
<p>These are stories featuring violent male anti-heroes – who are also characters fairly unknown to the general public. When the first Venom was released, <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/why-venom-is-dividing-movie-audiences-1149713/">The Hollywood Reporter</a> noted: “The MCU makes it easy to be a Marvel fan without having ever read the source material”.</p>
<p>Morbius has not fared so well, bringing in the lowest box office numbers compared to its Spider-Man counterparts. Critics suggest that this might be due to the character’s “<a href="https://qz.com/2150556/morbius-logged-the-lowest-box-office-in-the-spider-man-universe/">relative obscurity</a>”. On the other hand, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/mar/30/moon-knight-review-oscar-isaac-is-a-crime-fighting-frank-spencer">Moon Knight has garnered good reviews</a>.</p>
<p>Like it or not, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is expanding and there are a whole host of new heroes making their way from the more obscure corners of the comic universe onto the screen. Here are five such characters who will be headlining new films and TV series as part of numerous forthcoming Marvel projects, from <a href="https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a834277/marvel-phase-4-mcu-movies-tv-shows/">Disney’s Marvel Studios</a>, and <a href="https://spiderman-films.fandom.com/wiki/Sony%27s_Spider-Man_Universe">Sony</a>.</p>
<h2>1. Ms Marvel</h2>
<p>The world’s first female, teen, Muslim superhero, Ms Marvel received a lot of praise when she made her debut in 2013 in a <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Kamala_Khan_(Earth-616)">Captain marvel comic</a>. Critics praised the character as a <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2022/03/16/ms-marvel-trailer-muslim-women-crying-over-superhero-representation-16287152/">positive representation of a young Pakistani American woman who is also Muslim</a>. This outing was so successful, the teen got her own comic the following year. She will also officially be joining Marvel’s Cinematic Universe in June 2022 with her own series on Disney+. </p>
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<p>The series revolves around a young woman called Kamala Khan, who is a huge fan of superheroes. When she mysteriously gets powers, Khan is inspired by Captain Marvel to become a hero herself. Ms Marvel will be appearing alongside Captain Marvel and <a href="https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Monica_Rambeau">Photon</a> in the <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10676048">2023 film The Marvels</a>.</p>
<h2>2. She-Hulk</h2>
<p>In the comics, lawyer Jennifer Walters receives a blood transfusion from her cousin Bruce Banner after she’s shot by a mobster. Afterwards, <a href="https://www.marvel.com/characters/she-hulk-jennifer-walters/in-comics">she also turns green when angry</a>. First appearing in 1980, and <a href="https://therealstanlee.com/comics/stan-lee-trivia-the-savage-she-hulk/">one of the last characters created by Marvel impresario Stan Lee</a>, She-Hulk comics often lean towards <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ComicBook/SensationalSheHulk">comedy, with characters breaking the fourth wall</a>. </p>
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<p>While the Guardians of the Galaxy films are <a href="https://screenrant.com/guardians-galaxy-most-hilarious-moments-mcu/">more comedic than their stablemates</a>, and the two Deadpool movies were <a href="https://www.cbr.com/deadpool-most-hilariously-raunchy-jokes-fans-missed/">black comedies</a>, this is the first Marvel Cinematic Universe project to overtly use this genre. So, like <a href="https://collider.com/wandavision-tv-tropes-sitcom-references-explained/">WandaVision which used the sitcom format</a> as a jumping off point, this is an interesting experiment for the Marvel brand. The She-Hulk show, set for release in late 2022, is expected to <a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/tv/news/1210891-she-hulk-director-comedy-mcu">have audiences laughing more than any hero before her</a>. </p>
<h2>3. Werewolf by Night</h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Comic cover of a man standing in front of a werewolf." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456856/original/file-20220407-11-cuzh19.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456856/original/file-20220407-11-cuzh19.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456856/original/file-20220407-11-cuzh19.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456856/original/file-20220407-11-cuzh19.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456856/original/file-20220407-11-cuzh19.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1144&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456856/original/file-20220407-11-cuzh19.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1144&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456856/original/file-20220407-11-cuzh19.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1144&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Werewolf by Night will be MCU’s first horror outing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marvel</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Following the cinema release of <a href="https://www.distractify.com/p/is-doctor-strange-2-a-horror-movie">Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness</a>, this will be the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first horror themed TV show. Featuring the somewhat prosaically named <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Jack_Russell_(Earth-616)">Jack Russell</a>, Werewolf by Night ran for four years in the 1970s, following a relaxation on <a href="http://cbldf.org/comics-code-revision-of-1971/">censorship of horror comics</a>, which allowed for the creation of Marvel’s vampire characters <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Eric_Brooks_(Earth-616)">Blade</a> and <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Michael_Morbius_(Earth-616)">Morbius</a> in the first half of the decade. </p>
<p>A sometimes-friendly lycanthrope, Russell joined up with other Marvel horror characters to form <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Legion_of_Monsters_(Earth-616)">the Legion of Monsters</a> appearing in <a href="https://comicvine.gamespot.com/legion-of-monsters/4060-46227/">various comics on and off since 1976</a> to fight evil. The TV version, set for release in October 2022, will also feature this helpful werewolf, played by <a href="https://www.gamesradar.com/uk/gael-garcia-bernal-to-lead-marvels-halloween-special-werewolf-by-night/">Gael Garcia Bernal</a>. </p>
<h2>4. Kraven the Hunter</h2>
<p>Kraven is the orphaned son of Russian aristocrats with a penchant for hunting big game. While hunting in Africa, he ends up drinking a potion that gives him superhuman strength, speed and the instincts of a jungle cat. Bored of hunting animals he sets his sights on larger prey, Spider-Man.</p>
<p>Kraven first appeared in comics as <a href="https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/who-is-kraven-the-hunter">Spider-Man’s foe in 1964</a>. The maniacal hunter will be the <a href="https://variety.com/2021/film/news/aaron-taylor-johnson-kraven-the-hunter-1234982555/">third villain to lead a live-action Spider-Verse film</a>. However, unlike Venom and Morbius before him, Kraven is not known in the comics for performing good deeds, so it will be an interesting challenge for Marvel to make an anti-hero of the artistocrat. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Cartoon of a hunter." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456858/original/file-20220407-21-vtn8z2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456858/original/file-20220407-21-vtn8z2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456858/original/file-20220407-21-vtn8z2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456858/original/file-20220407-21-vtn8z2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456858/original/file-20220407-21-vtn8z2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456858/original/file-20220407-21-vtn8z2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456858/original/file-20220407-21-vtn8z2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kraven The Hunter is not a nice guy in the comics but is set to be an anti-hero in his first outing in the Spider-Man Sony universe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marvel</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Kraven rarely appears without Spider-Man in the comics so Sony have set themselves a challenge to flesh out the hunter in a film where his nemesis doesn’t appear. Kraven will be played by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8790086/">Aaron-Taylor Johnson</a>, who is no stranger to a tight suit, having previously played the low-rent superhero <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1250777/">Kick Ass</a> in two films.</p>
<h2>5. Silk</h2>
<p>The first Spider-Man Sony universe TV show will feature Cindy Moon, a female student bitten by the same radioactive spider that gave Spider-Man his abilities. However, unlike Peter Parker who was left to swing around New York and discover his new powers, Moon was <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Cindy_Moon_(Earth-616)">kidnapped and held in a bunker for 13 years</a>. </p>
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<img alt="A woman suspended in a spider's web." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456859/original/file-20220407-26-t014q3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456859/original/file-20220407-26-t014q3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456859/original/file-20220407-26-t014q3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456859/original/file-20220407-26-t014q3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456859/original/file-20220407-26-t014q3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456859/original/file-20220407-26-t014q3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456859/original/file-20220407-26-t014q3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Silk was turned by the same spider as Spider-Man.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_(comics)#/media/File:Silk-comic_cover.jpg">Marvel/Wikimedia</a></span>
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<p>With Sony’s films only apparently allowing for Spider-Man to be <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/venom-post-credit-scene-spiderman-marvel-b1939566.html">shown</a> or <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2022/04/morbius-post-credits-scenes-what-they-are-1234712844">discussed</a> in their end credit scenes, it will be interesting to see how Silk deals with the heroine’s creation without any mention of Spidey – unless given permission by Disney to do so. There has been speculation that <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2022/01/11/how-sony-rehabilitated-their-spider-man-franchise-at-marvel-and-disney-expense">Sony may revive Andrew Garfield’s incarnation of the character</a> in the future, so time will tell how Silk proceeds.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180634/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Fitch receives funding from UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training, Design Star. </span></em></p>The Marvel universe is expanding with new heroes in new films and shows that break new boundaries and tackle new genres.Alex Fitch, Lecturer and PhD Candidate in Comics and Architecture, University of BrightonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1748982022-02-07T16:01:37Z2022-02-07T16:01:37ZFrom health to the environment, how comics could drive behaviour change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444568/original/file-20220204-17-109eg1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C0%2C1235%2C810&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An image from Plastic Nightmare.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jim Lavery</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When we hear the word “comic”, graphic novels oozing with superheroes, villains and other colourful characters are likely to come to mind. It’s true that comics are, traditionally, fictional tales condensed into compelling visual narrative. But since their infancy <a href="https://the-artifice.com/history-of-comics/">in the 1920s</a>, and evolution to superhero fiction in the 1960s, comics have been adapted to various fiction subgenres – and to non-fiction contexts too.</p>
<p>Today, comics are increasingly used to educate and influence attitudes and behaviour in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214635021001581">various settings</a>. Comics can support our understanding of <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/340/bmj.c863">health information</a> – an area we call “<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22282425/">graphic medicine</a>”. They can also be used as an educational tool when it comes to <a href="https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/mcr/2013-v77-78-mcr77_78/mcr77_78art01/">environmental issues</a> – these are sometimes called “eco-comics”.</p>
<h2>Graphic medicine</h2>
<p>Comics which visually explain health treatments and complex medical procedures can improve physical and mental <a href="http://repository.tavistockandportman.ac.uk/1230/">health literacy</a> and help people to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1757975918798364">keep taking their medications</a>. They can also help <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1054773821994851?casa_token=c6gzqMQGxNAAAAAA%3ATeVm1ObmQg_wpVE-aawa23Z-Z6OFCeFSp4rb7rtr3KiX_ekBjihFvn6BDNWvSvYdSwuO4WW39z8">alleviate anxiety</a> in patients before surgery.</p>
<p>By providing accessible health information and advice, comic novels can also encourage people to engage in <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13187-017-1241-4">health screening</a>, helping prevent <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749379717302064">chronic conditions</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="The cover page of the first issue of the 'Plastic Nightmare' comic. The illustration depicts a predatory creature above a university campus." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444525/original/file-20220204-19-ag7vh2.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444525/original/file-20220204-19-ag7vh2.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444525/original/file-20220204-19-ag7vh2.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444525/original/file-20220204-19-ag7vh2.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444525/original/file-20220204-19-ag7vh2.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1016&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444525/original/file-20220204-19-ag7vh2.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1016&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444525/original/file-20220204-19-ag7vh2.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1016&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of the comics we have developed, Plastic Nightmare.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jim Lavery</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During the current pandemic, comics and images extracted from comics have been used to convey how COVID-19 is spread, and how our behaviour can affect its spread.</p>
<p>Health researchers believe that comics not only provide a more <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17453054.2020.1761248">accessible medium</a> for disseminating important public health information, but that readers can relate to and develop empathy for the comic characters. This can influence their perceptions of health risk. In turn, they may be inclined to imitate the behaviour of these characters (a concept called modelling) if the observed behaviour results in a favourable outcome.</p>
<p>There has also been a steady growth of comics used to convey patients’ lived experiences of <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10912-011-9158-0">chronic physical illness</a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21504857.2020.1773885">mental health conditions</a>.
These comics provide a resource for others who are dealing with similar health challenges, by validating experiences such as fear, uncertainty, and isolation, and presenting <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/748214/pdf?casa_token=rTWPhUd4cgYAAAAA:dazogQ0oHvoqRV8xMi5eCES1uSBl6esaQrEyME2TJif9Z8lRQAyEJfNYRYmpoqZKHnrolrmw">advice and solutions</a> through the narrative.</p>
<p>Comics depicting lived experience of illness may also help healthcare providers <a href="https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/graphic-pathographies-and-ethical-practice-person-centered-medicine/2018-02">empathise</a> with their patients, which can improve the quality of care they provide.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/soap-operas-can-deliver-effective-health-education-to-young-people-new-research-175087">Soap operas can deliver effective health education to young people – new research</a>
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<p>I recently developed a comic called “Diabetes Cyberspace” together with a <a href="https://twitter.com/jimlavery1?lang=en-GB">comic artist</a> and a group of young people living with type 1 diabetes from the UK, Ireland and Denmark. The narrative of the comic was informed by themes generated through interviews with these young people (our findings are published as a <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/b5nku">pre-print</a>). The comic tells the story of a young person with type 1 diabetes and the impact that diabetes-related social media content has on their mental wellbeing.</p>
<p>The comic is intended to be used as an educational resource to convey some of the challenges that young people with type 1 diabetes experience. It also provides advice and tips to help young people with the condition deal with unhelpful content online. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="The cover page of the first issue of the 'Diabetes Cyberspace' comic. The illustration depicts three people in a car, including a young person on a smartphone." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444555/original/file-20220204-19-g548oi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444555/original/file-20220204-19-g548oi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=819&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444555/original/file-20220204-19-g548oi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=819&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444555/original/file-20220204-19-g548oi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=819&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444555/original/file-20220204-19-g548oi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1029&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444555/original/file-20220204-19-g548oi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1029&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444555/original/file-20220204-19-g548oi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1029&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Diabetes Cyberspace.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jim Lavery</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Research has demonstrated the potential benefits of comics as communication tools in the areas of <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/hir.12145">physical</a> and <a href="http://repository.tavistockandportman.ac.uk/1230/1/Farthing%20-%20Graphic%20Medicine.pdf">mental health</a>. But most of the existing evidence on comics is speculative, based on <a href="https://mh.bmj.com/content/38/1/21.abstract?casa_token=osxaPORLufUAAAAA:ZNd8hJoOb8Vnnt2VVA9iXiK6gf2CnanwyIUrqdZBG5fi2n98EXWqgR3Tql3pGkk_5FUVxPabnQ">theoretical studies</a> (where researchers observe and analyse the contents of the comic) and small <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/hir.12145">qualitative</a> studies.</p>
<p>With a lack of <a href="https://mh.bmj.com/content/40/1/49.full?casa_token=D1fj2E60YUkAAAAA:dbROr7i2XiBiCUgWbCkiTQt43xRS-Jj59HmjF9OQSr8hqnhU5MYM3MJ6z27AEBxss_o0Ooyv9g">empirical studies</a> examining the effectiveness of comics to influence health-related outcomes such as knowledge and behaviour change, it’s difficult to understand the scale of their impact. </p>
<p>We hope the Diabetes Cyberspace comic can be evaluated to explore its effectiveness as an educational resource and communication tool for young people with type 1 diabetes and their caregivers, and in turn go some way to filling this knowledge gap.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pow-comics-are-a-way-to-improve-queer-mens-body-image-119582">Pow! Comics are a way to improve queer men's body image</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Eco-comics</h2>
<p>Comics have also been used to enhance learning about <a href="https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/mcr/2013-v77-78-mcr77_78/mcr77_78art01/">environmental issues</a>. As with graphic medicine, the body of evidence exploring the capacity for ecological comics to influence environmental attitudes and behaviour is sparse. </p>
<p>But recently the use of an <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/11/3148">eco-comic</a> in primary schools in east Africa demonstrated positive results. Questionnaires indicated the children had enhanced conservation knowledge immediately after and, again, one year after they were exposed to the comic. </p>
<p>In other research, a comic which illustrated more sustainable ways of disposing of waste resulted in significant improvements in <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Blessing-Ario/publication/344693332_Assessing_the_Effectiveness_of_Comic-Style_Illustrations_for_Promoting_Environmental_Sustainability/links/5f89cce0299bf1b53e2c247d/Assessing-the-Effectiveness-of-Comic-Style-Illustrations-for-Promoting-Environmental-Sustainability.pdf">waste disposal habits</a> among people in Nigeria.</p>
<p>By providing information in a more accessible way, these studies highlight the potential for eco-comics to increase environmental literacy and promote conservation.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A scene from the comic 'Plastic Nightmare'. It depicts a dinosaur looking in through the window of a science lab." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444567/original/file-20220204-13-168civr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444567/original/file-20220204-13-168civr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=268&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444567/original/file-20220204-13-168civr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=268&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444567/original/file-20220204-13-168civr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=268&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444567/original/file-20220204-13-168civr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444567/original/file-20220204-13-168civr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444567/original/file-20220204-13-168civr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An image from Plastic Nightmare.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jim Lavery</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We have also recently developed an <a href="https://www.qub.ac.uk/sites/StaffGateway/staff-blog/SupportingsustainabilitythroughcollectivecreativityCo-designingtheQueensGreenComic.html">ecological comic</a>, called “Tales of Ecological Terror – A Plastic Nightmare.” We hosted face-to-face and online workshops with students and staff from diverse disciplines across Queen’s University Belfast to co-design the comic.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/kapow-zap-splat-how-comics-make-sound-on-the-page-160455">Kapow! Zap! Splat! How comics make sound on the page</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The comic aims to raise awareness of the harmful impact of plastic waste and the importance of waste reduction and recycling through a fun yet emotive narrative. We envisage that the comic will be piloted in different educational settings to measure its potential impact on ecological literacy, attitudes and behaviour.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174898/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Berry does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>We’ve developed two comics – one which we hope will help young people with diabetes, and another which we hope will raise awareness about the issue of plastic waste.Emma Berry, Lecturer in Health Psychology, Queen's University BelfastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1330022022-02-06T14:51:37Z2022-02-06T14:51:37ZWhen teachers in comic books get more than a thought bubble, watch out for an identity crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443268/original/file-20220129-17-apbj3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C49%2C808%2C479&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Strong feelings and hidden identities seem to be part of the teaching life in comics. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">('Batman and the Outsiders'/DC Comics/ 6 January 1984) </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Teacher characters in comics are almost as ubiquitous as flowing capes and tights — but they’re often relegated to the background of stories about the lives of students, like a piece of furniture or a potted plant.</p>
<p>As a familiar example, <a href="https://peanuts.fandom.com/wiki/School_building?file=19750115.gif">the teachers in <em>Peanuts</em> never appear in the panels but are only implied as distant voices</a>, while even Snoopy is given <a href="https://peanuts.fandom.com/wiki/School_building?file=Pe211205.jpg">the odd thought bubble</a>. Teachers in comics therefore rarely have much of an inner world. </p>
<p>Even if certain figures — such as <a href="https://comicvine.gamespot.com/ms-grundy/4005-1741/">Ms. Grundy</a> of Riverdale High <a href="https://archiecomics.com/">in the <em>Archie</em> comics</a> — are immediately recognizable, you would be forgiven for thinking she has no life outside of her job. Only rarely do readers see Ms. Grundy doing something out of the ordinary, such as <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13603468-betty-111">taking a skydiving class on the weekend</a> or preparing <a href="https://www.comics.org/issue/222294/">a lecture for her students on women’s rights</a>.</p>
<p>As a professor who educates teachers-to-be about learning to build a sustainable teaching life, both in and out of the classroom, and a researcher who has examined teachers in comics, I read comics set in school with an inquiring eye about what readers are led to implicitly accept about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-873X.2012.00605.x">the emotional lives of those who teach</a>. </p>
<p>While as noted, some comics artists have rendered teachers as background filler, that’s not always the case. Through examining some depictions of teachers in comics, we can gain insight into real-life challenges of teachers related to negotiating their identities and feelings in the classroom. </p>
<h2>Black Lightning / Mr. Pierce</h2>
<p><a href="https://theundefeated.com/features/the-cover-of-1970s-black-lightning-comic-book-no-1/">Black Lightning</a>, a member of the DC superhero team, <a href="https://comicvine.gamespot.com/outsiders/4060-5704/">The Outsiders</a>, distinguishes himself by carrying on a day job as an English teacher <a href="https://www.hoodedutilitarian.com/2013/12/black-lightning-always-strikes-twice-double-consciousness-as-a-super-power/">simultaneous to his work as a costumed hero</a>. </p>
<p>In the classroom, as Mr. Pierce, he is committed to making a difference in his students’ lives, despite the obstacles they may face: “I came here to teach,” he once exclaimed, “and <a href="https://view-comic.com/black-lightning-1995-issue-2/">I can do that whether I’m in a classroom or a locker room — or out on the street</a>.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443586/original/file-20220131-139881-1l3ze0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443586/original/file-20220131-139881-1l3ze0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443586/original/file-20220131-139881-1l3ze0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443586/original/file-20220131-139881-1l3ze0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443586/original/file-20220131-139881-1l3ze0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443586/original/file-20220131-139881-1l3ze0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443586/original/file-20220131-139881-1l3ze0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It’s hard for Mr. Pierce to grade papers in the morning after a night as superhero Black Lightning.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">('Black Lightning', Issue 6, July 1995/DC Comics)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This double life, however, takes its toll, and leaves Pierce with hardly a moment to rest. In one story, after spending the night out as Black Lightning, he remarks, visibly exhausted: “<a href="https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Black_Lightning_Vol_1_3">Schoolteacher Jefferson Pierce still has some English papers to grade before morning</a>.”</p>
<p>For such characters, the stress of a double life reveals the impediments that teachers may encounter when trying to maintain out-of-school interests and identities. To greater or lesser degress, these may be at odds with mainstream western cultural expectations and cultural myths about teachers — such as the view that teachers are <a href="https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.56.4.mv28227614l44u66">rugged individualists and self-made experts</a>, as noted by education researcher Deborah P. Britzman. </p>
<h2>Johnny Thunder / Mr. Tane</h2>
<p>First appearing in 1940s western comics, much of cowboy superhero <a href="https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/John_Tane_(New_Earth)">Johnny Thunder’s</a> story line involves a struggle between his desire to enact vengeance and justice at gunpoint, and his wish to teach children about civic duty in the classroom as Mr. John Tane. </p>
<p>The comics’ narrating voice describes this confusion of identities as a “dual post as fighter with books and bullets for justice” in a 1951 issue of <em>All American Western</em> (Issue 120). Tane’s father is also the local sheriff, and <a href="https://babblingsaboutdccomics3.wordpress.com/tag/john-tane/">often humiliates his son for working as a teacher</a>: “Teachin’s for womenfolk!” he says, “<a href="https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/All-American_Western_Vol_1_112">An fightin’ for justice a man’s job</a>.” </p>
<p>Education researchers Shannon D. M. Moore and Melanie D. Janzen have examined how campaigns by governments that criticize teachers or the teaching profession, and seek to justify underfunding education, rely on <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-largely-female-teaching-force-is-standing-up-for-public-education-130633">gendered projections that suggest patriarchal surveillance over teaching devalued as “women’s work.”</a></p>
<p>Though he has his suspicions, Sheriff Tane never does discover his son’s secret identity, nor does he come around to respect his work in the classroom, a fact that leads his son to feel understandably confused about who he actually is. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443580/original/file-20220131-125257-leszm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443580/original/file-20220131-125257-leszm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443580/original/file-20220131-125257-leszm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1186&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443580/original/file-20220131-125257-leszm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1186&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443580/original/file-20220131-125257-leszm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1186&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443580/original/file-20220131-125257-leszm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443580/original/file-20220131-125257-leszm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443580/original/file-20220131-125257-leszm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tane and Thunder.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">('All-American Western' Issue 120, June-July 1951/National Comics Publications, Inc.)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, in one image from <em>All-American Western</em>, violent reverberations of Tane’s face, rendered by multiplying its outline more than 15 times, indicate the degree to which his own identity lacks coherence. Indeed, after reading through every single issue of this character’s run, I’m left unsure about whether to consider Johnny Thunder or Mr. Tane as the character’s true identity. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443585/original/file-20220131-141004-wt0hok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443585/original/file-20220131-141004-wt0hok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1224&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443585/original/file-20220131-141004-wt0hok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1224&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443585/original/file-20220131-141004-wt0hok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1224&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443585/original/file-20220131-141004-wt0hok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443585/original/file-20220131-141004-wt0hok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443585/original/file-20220131-141004-wt0hok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Johnny Thunder’s students could be impressed by his superhero status, but his father disapproves of his daytime teaching career.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">('All-Star Western' Issue 116, Dec. 1960-Jan. 1961/National Comics Publications, Inc.)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The split identity struggles of Black Lightning and Johnny Thunder resonate with themes that education scholars <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1495065">Dennis Sumara and Rebecca Luce-Kapler</a> have noticed in beginning teachers, who often join the profession experiencing a sense of “dissonance between their pre-teaching lives and their lives as experienced teachers.” Unsurprisingly, they find, this is especially true for teachers from marginalized groups, <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1495065">including racialized teachers, immigrant teachers and gay and lesbian teachers</a>. (Other research notes <a href="https://www.glsen.org/blog/lgbtq-educators-what-we-know-and-what-they-need">LGBTQ+ teachers struggle to find safe space in schools to be themselves</a>.) </p>
<p>Just as Pierce has trouble fitting both his lives into the larger frame of “teacher,” and we aren’t sure who Tane really is, so may novice teachers be forced to negotiate between what Sumara and Luce-Kapler name as “conflicting remembered, lived and projected senses of identity.” </p>
<h2>Barbie</h2>
<p>A surprising example of a character able to balance her life in and out of the classroom is Barbie. (Yes, that Barbie!) <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Barbie_Fashion_Vol_1_23">In a 1990s storyline</a>, Barbie decides to pursue a career as a teacher, even though she is already well-known as a model. </p>
<p>Her sentiments may be a little saccharine and naïve — “I hope I’ll be a good teacher,” she thinks to herself, “and that the students learn a lot from me.” Yet, it’s also refreshing to see her able to express such inner thoughts, and to admit emotional concerns as an important component of who she is as a teacher. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443582/original/file-20220131-142511-2rlat0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443582/original/file-20220131-142511-2rlat0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=613&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443582/original/file-20220131-142511-2rlat0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=613&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443582/original/file-20220131-142511-2rlat0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=613&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443582/original/file-20220131-142511-2rlat0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443582/original/file-20220131-142511-2rlat0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443582/original/file-20220131-142511-2rlat0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Already well-known as a model, Barbie also pursues a teaching career.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">('Barbie Fashion' Issue 23, 1992/Marvel Comics)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://journal.jctonline.org/index.php/jct/article/view/957">As education scholar Debbie Sonu and colleagues</a> indicate, it is only by admitting “the elusive qualities of emotional life” into the classroom that teachers may also grapple with challenging topics, like social justice and social inequity, as “part and parcel of education, and not the opposite.” </p>
<p>If teachers <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2021.1977982">are able to encounter themselves as emotional beings</a>, they will be more readily able <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00224871211051991">to encourage such moves among their students as well</a>. </p>
<h2>Comics help imagine, examine unconscious life</h2>
<p><a href="https://journal.jctonline.org/index.php/jct/article/view/959">In my own work with those who are learning to teach</a>, I have explored making comics with students to allow them to represent and read their own dreams of life in the classroom. Doing this is one means of side-stepping what could otherwise entail imposing a predictable and prescriptive script of expected outcomes and methods in teacher education.</p>
<p>Such imagining can help ensure new teachers’ versions of teaching may be grounded in their broader lives and identities, and that their knowledge and personal appropriation of professional methods don’t work to render such identities <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0142569940150106">invisible and silent</a>. </p>
<p>Since comics seem to offer a valuable lens into the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0533316407076114">social unconscious</a> <a href="http://files.partnership-academy.net/200002623-049ce0690e/Unconscious%20Bias_Educational%20Leadership.pdf">of educational life</a>, perhaps counter-intuitively, we should also learn to trust <a href="https://doi.org/10.14288/tci.v16i2.192294">what comics imply</a> about the everyday life of teaching and learning.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133002/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Lewkowich receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>Comic characters like Ms. Grundy of Riverdale High, and Johnny Thunder (alias Mr. Tane), offer a valuable look at how teachers navigate mainstream cultural assumptions about teaching.David Lewkowich, Associate Professor, Department of Secondary Education, University of AlbertaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1698982021-10-15T13:41:53Z2021-10-15T13:41:53ZSuperman’s not the first hero to be portrayed as bisexual, but he’ll bring hope to LGBTQ+ fans<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426298/original/file-20211013-15-tspm93.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C3%2C1101%2C827&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jonathan Kent, the new Superman, with love interest Jay Nakamura.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">DC Comics</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Superman has come out as bisexual. Or more accurately, Superman’s son – Jonathan Kent – who has recently taken on his father’s role in DC Comics, has been depicted kissing another male character in a panel from a forthcoming comic. </p>
<p>Although the wider public has only recently been <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2021/10/men-like-me-have-been-waiting-our-whole-lives-for-a-bisexual-superman">made aware of this</a>, comic readers have suspected it for several months after a growing romance between Kent and journalist, Jay Nakamura, in recent issues of <a href="https://www.dccomics.com/comics/superman-son-of-kal-el-2021/superman-son-of-kal-el-1">Superman: Son of Kal-El</a>. And Kent has introduced his boyfriend to his parents in <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/superman-comes-out-as-bisexual-in-new-issues-of-dc-comic-book-12431587">recent issues</a> of the comic he stars in.</p>
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<p>The revelation that a Superman is bisexual is a big deal in terms of superhero comics, but it hasn’t gone down well with everyone. Former Superman actor Dean Cain claimed the move would have been brave 20 years ago but now was “<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-58895126">bandwagoning</a>”.</p>
<p>Various Republican senators in the US have <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/arizona-state-senator-furious-superman-bisexual-loves-louis-lane-1637897">complained</a>, including Arizona state senator Wendy Rogers who called him “a woke Superman”. Josh Mandel, who is trying for a senate seat, said, “Bisexual comics for kids [are] trying to destroy America.” And another Arizona Republican, Josh Barnett, asked “Why does Hollywood have to ruin everything?”</p>
<p>In the book <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/the-superhero-symbol/9780813597164">The Superhero Symbol</a>, which brings together superhero scholars from a range of disciplines, the authors note, “While Superman might profess his emblem means hope, the readily recognisable logo has also become a brand every bit as powerful as golden arches or a stylised swoosh.” And his well-known “S shield”, previously associated with a heterosexual cisgender man defending “truth, justice and the American way”, is now connected with a young bisexual man. </p>
<p>Many people may have also been surprised to discover that Superman has a son. But this is not a new plot point and has been featured several times before – a notable example being in an <a href="https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Whatever_Happened_to_the_Man_of_Tomorrow%3F">out of continuity comic</a> written by Alan Moore in 1986. </p>
<p>On-screen, a seven-year-old Jason Kent has also appeared in the film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0348150/">Superman Returns</a> (2006), while the current TV series, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11192306/">Superman & Lois</a>, provides the couple with two teen boys – Jonathan and Jordan - both with powers.</p>
<h2>Reflecting the readers</h2>
<p>The sexuality of Superman’s onscreen children is yet to be revealed, non-heterosexual superheroes are certainly not a new phenomenon. In Marvel Comics, a team of <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Young_Avengers_(Earth-616)">Young Avengers</a> have existed since 2005, with most members of the group belonging to the LGBTQ+ community. </p>
<p>Some have started to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Disney+ shows, including <a href="https://screenrant.com/wandavision-wiccan-billy-maximoff-comic-book-facts-storylines-importance-marvel-disney-plus/">Wiccan</a> (in WandaVision), and <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Loki_Laufeyson_(Kid_Loki)_(Earth-616)">Kid Loki</a> (in Loki), while Miss America is set to be featured in the film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9419884/">Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness</a> next year – as a lesbian, she is Marvel’s first Latin-American LGBTQ+ character to star in an ongoing series.</p>
<p>In comics, the X-Men’s <a href="https://x-men.fandom.com/wiki/Iceman">Iceman</a>, and the third male teenager to take on the role of Batman’s <a href="https://nerdist.com/article/why-tim-drake-robin-coming-out-as-bisexual-matters-dc-comics/">Robin</a> have both been given same-sex love interests in recent comics. But Marvel has been more circumspect about its more famous character <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1431045/">Deadpool</a>, who is identified as bi or pansexual more in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/feb/11/deadpool-the-pansexual-superhero-who-has-never-had-a-non-heterosexual-experience">word than deed</a>.</p>
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<p>Both Marvel and DC have included narratives about the difficulties of coming out in some stories. A younger version of Iceman, for example, travelled from the 20th-century to the 21st-century so he could <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/4/22/8463721/iceman-gay-x-men">embrace his sexuality</a>. Similarly, Batwoman is revealed to have been <a href="https://www.themarysue.com/ruby-rose-dont-ask-dont-tell-batwoman-pilot/">kicked out of military school</a>, due to the “<a href="https://www.hrc.org/our-work/stories/repeal-of-dont-ask-dont-tell">don’t ask, don’t tell</a>” policy in the US before 2011, which barred openly gay, lesbian or bisexual people from military service. </p>
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<p>A teen version of Superman was also featured in early seasons of the TV series <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0279600/">Smallville</a>. As was his fond bromance with a young <a href="https://smallville.fandom.com/wiki/Lex_Luthor">Lex Luthor</a> – which some viewers claimed was <a href="https://medium.com/novembering/super-queer-130e7eeb86eb">queer-baiting</a>. This is when creators hint at, but never actually depict, same-sex romance. So for LGBTQ+ comics readers, seeing a character called Superman genuinely involved in a same-sex relationship is a profound moment.</p>
<p>While DC Comics haven’t been brave enough to give Clark Kent himself a boyfriend, the storyline allows bisexual teens to see themselves reflected in a world-famous character. And seeing Jonathan Kent with an emblem of “hope” on his chest may well help many bisexual or bicurious teenagers to feel more accepted too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169898/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Fitch receives funding from UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training, Design Star. </span></em></p>The revelation that a Superman is bisexual is a big deal in terms of Superhero comics, and it hasn’t gone down well with everyone.Alex Fitch, Lecturer and PhD Researcher in Comics and Architecture, University of BrightonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1582572021-06-14T15:39:14Z2021-06-14T15:39:14ZComics and graphic novels are examining refugee border-crossing experiences<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405681/original/file-20210610-14-1cukhod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C2%2C897%2C607&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'An Olympic Dream: The Story of Samia Yusuf Omar' recounts how the Somali Olympic runner drowned while trying to reach Italy in 2012. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(From Reinhard Kleist's 'An Olympic Dream: The Story of Samia Yusuf Omar/SelfMadeHero)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Comics about refugee experiences are not new. After all, even the superhero created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, <a href="https://www.rescue.org/article/superman-refugees-success-story">Superman, is a refugee</a> who landed on Earth after his flight from Krypton. </p>
<p>However, recently there has been renewed interest in comics representing migrant experience — namely, that of refugees and asylum-seekers. Since 2011, in particular, and the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26116868">start of the civil war in Syria</a>, comics and graphic novels have become an important forum for examining global forced migration. </p>
<p>These so-called “refugee comics” range from newspaper comic strips to webcomics and graphic novels that combine eyewitness reportage or journalistic collaboration with comic-book storytelling. These stories are written with the aim of incorporating the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37998-8_16">points of views of refugees, artists, volunteers</a> or journalists working on-the-ground in displaced communities, war zones and along the migrant journey. They sometimes emerge <a href="https://positivenegatives.org/">in collaboration with human rights organizations</a>. </p>
<p>In light of their subject matter, these comic artists contend with complex and distressing themes that are otherwise difficult to represent. </p>
<p>They draw on <a href="http://www.imageandnarrative.be/inarchive/house_text_museum/lefevre.htm">the traditional comics format, including the medium’s sequential nature, the use of panel walls and a combination of text and image</a> to <a href="https://theconversation.com/refugee-comics-personal-stories-of-forced-migration-illustrated-in-a-powerful-new-way-106832">foster empathy and compassion for the migration journey</a>. In so doing, they aim to give voice to asylum-seekers and refugees, part of <a href="https://www.unhcr.ca/in-canada/refugee-statistics/">80 million individuals and families forcibly displaced worldwide</a>, whose anonymous images often appear in western media.</p>
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<h2>Complex issues, narrator’s perspective</h2>
<p>These comics are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08989575.2017.1339468">typically drawn by western cartoonists, based on direct testimonies by migrants and refugees or those who have worked with them</a> or encountered them. They are typically not by refugees but about refugees. Scholar Candida Rifkind, who studies alternative comics and graphic narratives, explores how comics about migrant experience often emerge when witnesses to migrant stories grapple with feelings of “shame, guilt and responsibility” to make western society at large more aware of and responsive to refugee realities. </p>
<p>These narratives prompt <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08989575.2020.1738081">ethical questions about what it means to tell a story and who has the right or responsibility</a> to do so. While questions about the power relations embedded in how these texts are produced remain, comics on global forced migration are still an important avenue for interrogating the representation of migrants and the socio-political circumstances surrounding their journeys.</p>
<p>These comics also challenge what may otherwise be relayed in mainstream media as the story of a global migrant crisis that has no human face, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2020.1802499">with perilous effects for migrants who face xenophobia and hate</a>. In Rifkind’s words, they are a kind of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08989575.2017.1339468">intervention into “the photographic regime of the migrant as Other</a> that has emerged as the dominant visual record” of contemporary globalization. </p>
<p>In comics about forced migrant experiences, people experiencing life as refugees become centred as the subjects of their own stories. But <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37998-8_17">cartooning can allow storytellers to represent individuals anonymously</a>, <a href="https://deeply.thenewhumanitarian.org/refugees/community/2018/06/26/why-comics-are-so-effective-at-telling-refugees-stories">making it easier for people “to give testimony fully and candidly</a>,” while affording them the specificity of their humanity. </p>
<p>There can be consequences for refugees who testify about their circumstances and the oppression and violence they encounter. Photographic evidence of unlawful or undocumented residence in migrant encampments or someone’s journey to seek asylum could in fact jeopardize a person’s safety and end goal. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Cartoon panel showing smoke floating outside the panel and a bullet cutting through the edge." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405791/original/file-20210610-16-1n0r6je.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405791/original/file-20210610-16-1n0r6je.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=673&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405791/original/file-20210610-16-1n0r6je.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=673&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405791/original/file-20210610-16-1n0r6je.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=673&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405791/original/file-20210610-16-1n0r6je.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=846&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405791/original/file-20210610-16-1n0r6je.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=846&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405791/original/file-20210610-16-1n0r6je.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=846&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The violence encountered by the refugees depicted in ‘The Unwanted: Stories of the Syrian Refugees,’ by Don Brown is the only graphic element that breaks through the panel frame.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(HMH Books)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>New visual strategies</h2>
<p>Notably, comics on forced migration are also inventing new visual strategies to recount refugee experiences. Artists use panel borders to add a layer of storytelling that typically vacillates between the creators’ ability to represent a specific experience, emotion or event and the very inability to portray some forms of trauma and lived experience.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.hmhbooks.com/shop/books/The-Unwanted/9781328810151">In <em>The Unwanted: Stories of the Syrian Refugees</em></a> (2018), American author and illustrator Don Brown depicts moments of hardships and hope in the lives of the refugees that Brown met in three Greek refugee camps in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/04/14/sunday-review/greece-refugee-king-gilbertson.html">Ritsona</a>, in Thessaloniki and on <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2021/05/21/leros-new-migrant-detention-centre-brings-back-old-ugly-memories">Leros</a>.</p>
<p>The violence encountered by the refugees of Brown’s graphic novel is the only graphic element that breaks through panels. Bullets fracture the panel edges, bombs explode out of the picture planes and toxic smoke rises through the frames. </p>
<p>Brown draws on the convention of exceeding and playing with borders in comics to demonstrate a relationship between violence and transgressing borders. Not only did violence in Syria force many of its citizens to journey in search of safety and freedom; fleeing Syrians also also faced <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2053168016679590">violence and hostility beyond the borders of their homeland on their journeys and where they landed</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Cartoon panels that are bordered with white lace" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405989/original/file-20210611-13-lt8q58.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405989/original/file-20210611-13-lt8q58.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=257&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405989/original/file-20210611-13-lt8q58.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=257&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405989/original/file-20210611-13-lt8q58.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=257&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405989/original/file-20210611-13-lt8q58.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405989/original/file-20210611-13-lt8q58.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405989/original/file-20210611-13-lt8q58.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Detail of a page shows how lace is used as a panel border in ‘Threads,’ by Kate Evans.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Verso)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The panel borders in <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/2458-threads"><em>Threads: From the Refugee Crisis</em></a> (2016) by British cartoonist, non-fiction author and graphic novelist Kate Evans are comprised of clippings of delicate lace. <em>Threads</em> is a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/ink.2021.0004">socio-political</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.16995/cg.215">cultural critique</a> rooted in the author’s <a href="https://vancouversun.com/entertainment/local-arts/cartoonist-draws-on-experiences-as-a-refugee-camp-volunteer-for-graphic-novel-threads">experience volunteering</a> in the largest though <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-37750368">unofficial refugee encampment in Calais, France</a>, which operated from January 2015 to October 2016. </p>
<p>My research has examined how this lace integrated into the comic is more than simply an analogy for the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/ink.2021.0004">intertwining factors and complex relationships that emerged in Calais</a>. The lacework is a fundamental structuring principle in Evans’ text that engages with the region’s history of lacemaking, Calais’ most essential industry and refugee experience simultaneously.</p>
<h2>Frames within stories</h2>
<p>The aesthetics of the smartphone have also begun to play a role in the representation of refugee experiences in comics. Smartphone screens and social media platforms function as frames within some stories. </p>
<p>German graphic designer and cartoonist <a href="https://www.selfmadehero.com/books/an-olympic-dream-the-story-of-samia-yusuf-omar">Reinhard Kleist</a> embeds social media into the comics grid in <em>An Olympic Dream: The Story of Samia Yusuf Omar</em> (2016). The story <a href="https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-07-17/samia-yusuf-omar-earned-fame-runner-died-refugee-new-comic-honors-her">recounts how Omar</a>, the Somali Olympic runner, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-19323535">died by drowning en route to Italy in 2012</a>. </p>
<p>Some of the story is <a href="https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-07-17/samia-yusuf-omar-earned-fame-runner-died-refugee-new-comic-honors-her">narrated through Facebook posts</a> based on interviews conducted on that platform with Omar’s sister and a <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2012/8/27/grieving-for-somali-olympian-samia-omar">journalist who had interviewed and known Omar</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Illustrated borderless panel, in which Omar is packing for journey to Italy. A t-shirt, towel, scarf, pair of pants, toothbrush and a cell phone are spread across the floor. A Facebook post in the top left corner reads: I'm packing for my trip. Miriam told me what to bring. Only God knows how long it will take." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405963/original/file-20210611-17-2amma0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405963/original/file-20210611-17-2amma0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405963/original/file-20210611-17-2amma0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405963/original/file-20210611-17-2amma0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405963/original/file-20210611-17-2amma0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=697&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405963/original/file-20210611-17-2amma0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=697&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405963/original/file-20210611-17-2amma0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=697&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Panel from ‘An Olympic Dream: The Story of Samia Yusuf Omar,’ by Richard Kleist.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(SelfMadeHero)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Somalian athletes lifted up Omar’s story to draw attention to the Olympics as a venue to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/03/the-story-of-samia-omar-the-olympic-runner-who-drowned-in-the-med">promote awareness about global conflict and peace</a>. In Kleist’s introduction, he writes that too often, “abstract numbers represent human lives.”</p>
<p>This comic and others joins several examples of new media, such as <a href="https://youtu.be/m1BLsySgsHM">viral videos</a>, <a href="https://burymemylove.arte.tv/">mobile games</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/sep/24/midnight-traveler-refugee-documentary-afghanistan">documentary film</a> that are highlighting the role mobile devices can play during the migration journey.</p>
<p>Through their personal stories, comics on forced migration <a href="https://www.globalcitizen.org/es/content/ali-fitzgerald-drawn-to-berlin-refugees-interview/">humanize refugee experience</a>. This category of graphic narrative also offers opportunities for articulating the complexity of refugee experience through the narrative techniques and visual strategies of comic art.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158257/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Biz Nijdam does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Comics about migrant experiences seek to expose personal perspectives about the global crisis of 80 million individuals and families forcibly displaced worldwide.Biz Nijdam, Lecturer, Department of Central, Eastern, and Northern European Studies, University of British Columbia, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1604552021-06-10T04:06:11Z2021-06-10T04:06:11ZKapow! Zap! Splat! How comics make sound on the page<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404737/original/file-20210607-21-1xsoanf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=59%2C29%2C6563%2C4378&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/BVNmFNShq6U">Unsplash/Joe Ciciarelli</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Typically, comics are considered a silent medium. But while they don’t come with an aural soundtrack, comics have a unique grammar for sound. </p>
<p>From Wolverine’s <em>SNIKT!</em> when unsheathing his claws, to Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Death-Stalin-Fabien-Nury/dp/1785863401">The Death of Stalin</a> (later made into a film) the use of “textual audio” invites comics readers to <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt14bthzd">hear with their eyes</a>.</p>
<p>Fundamental elements such as symbols, font styles and onomatopoeia (where words imitate sounds) mean reading comics is a cross-sensory experience. New and old examples show the endless potential of the artform. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404734/original/file-20210607-23-1jm9kme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="comic book pages" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404734/original/file-20210607-23-1jm9kme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404734/original/file-20210607-23-1jm9kme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404734/original/file-20210607-23-1jm9kme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404734/original/file-20210607-23-1jm9kme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404734/original/file-20210607-23-1jm9kme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404734/original/file-20210607-23-1jm9kme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404734/original/file-20210607-23-1jm9kme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kaboom! and splosh! on every page.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/nUL9aPgGvgM">Unsplash/Miika Laaksonen</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2><strong>Holy onomatopoeia Batman!</strong></h2>
<p><a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/onomatopoeia">Onomatopoeia</a> — isn’t unique to comics but comic artists have certainly <a href="https://www.cbr.com/the-15-most-iconic-comic-book-sound-effects/">perfected this figurative form of language</a>. <em>POW! BAM! BANG!</em> appear on the page when Batman and Robin land a punch. <em>BLAM!</em> is the sound made by the Penguin’s umbrella when it shoots from a distance. </p>
<p>The list of sounds represented by onomatopoeia is limitless in terms of creative potential. There are words that mimic sounds directly, such as SPLOSH! (the sound made by an object falling into water) and made-up sounds like that of Wolverine’s adamantium claws (as we will see further below).</p>
<p>The language of comics offers creative freedom to expand the aural lexicon. One <a href="http://www.comicbookfx.com/fxlist.php">online database</a> lists over 2500 comic book sounds with links to comics images in which they’ve been used.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404751/original/file-20210607-27-10nnnms.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="cowboy comic" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404751/original/file-20210607-27-10nnnms.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404751/original/file-20210607-27-10nnnms.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=257&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404751/original/file-20210607-27-10nnnms.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=257&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404751/original/file-20210607-27-10nnnms.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=257&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404751/original/file-20210607-27-10nnnms.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404751/original/file-20210607-27-10nnnms.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404751/original/file-20210607-27-10nnnms.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Stan Lee’s Gunsmoke Western (1955) #68, with lettering and pencilling by Dick Ayers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.comicbookfx.com/result.php?exact=1&FX=BLAM!">The Comic Book Sound Effect Database</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This can also present special <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317022280_Approach_to_the_translation_of_sound_in_comic_books">challenges for translators</a>. Sounds represented in comics can <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317022280_Approach_to_the_translation_of_sound_in_comic_books">range</a> from speech sounds (subject to language rules including <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/phonotactics-phonology-term-4071087#:%7E:text=Phonotactic%20constraints%20are%20rules%20and,predictable%20part%20of%20its%20structure.%22">those</a> governing how syllables can be formed) to human-made non-verbal sounds like sneezes, to sounds made by objects and environments. </p>
<p>Visual context is important too. We only recognise the warning of Wolverine’s violent retribution in <em>SNIKT!</em> when the word is drawn and displayed next to the hairy mutant. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400199/original/file-20210512-19-1yhzdkk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="comics image of man with claws" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400199/original/file-20210512-19-1yhzdkk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400199/original/file-20210512-19-1yhzdkk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400199/original/file-20210512-19-1yhzdkk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400199/original/file-20210512-19-1yhzdkk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400199/original/file-20210512-19-1yhzdkk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400199/original/file-20210512-19-1yhzdkk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400199/original/file-20210512-19-1yhzdkk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wolverine extends his claws.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Likewise, the <a href="https://gizmodo.com/boom-how-comic-book-sounds-become-movie-sounds-5656616">word <em>THWIP!</em></a> by itself may not mean much. But when positioned in context it can imbue a comic page with excitement and adventure. </p>
<p>Imagine a young man dressed in a tight red-and-blue bodysuit diving at high speed from the top of the Empire State building. Suddenly, just before hitting the ground, <em>THWIP!</em> he shoots spider webs from his wrists, using them to swing from building to building. Both readers and the crowd of enthusiastic fans on the page react: “Here comes Spidey!” </p>
<h2>The way they say it</h2>
<p>Comic creators also use <a href="https://slate.com/human-interest/2015/02/comic-sound-effects-comic-artists-lee-marrs-ryan-north-and-ben-towle-talk-how-they-write-down-unusual-sounds.html">font style and size</a> and different speech bubble shapes and effects to shout, whisper or scream language. </p>
<p>Bold, italics, punctuation, faded or irregular letters are used to emphasise different features of the written words: fear, courage, loudness or quietness. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12959045-my-friend-dahmer">My Friend Dahmer</a>, created by a school friend of the infamous serial killer, the protagonist is seen carrying a dead cat on his way home by a group of kids. Comics creator John “Derf” Backderf applies bigger-bold words in one of the kids’ speech balloon to emphasise the shouting and surprise of onlookers.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404781/original/file-20210607-27-q4l865.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="comic book page" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404781/original/file-20210607-27-q4l865.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404781/original/file-20210607-27-q4l865.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404781/original/file-20210607-27-q4l865.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404781/original/file-20210607-27-q4l865.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404781/original/file-20210607-27-q4l865.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=619&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404781/original/file-20210607-27-q4l865.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=619&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404781/original/file-20210607-27-q4l865.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=619&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">My Friend Dahmer (2012) by Derf Backderf.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heroes-villains-biology-3-reasons-comic-books-are-great-science-teachers-143251">Heroes, villains ... biology: 3 reasons comic books are great science teachers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Music to my eyes</h2>
<p>The 1973 manga <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/116223.Barefoot_Gen_Volume_One">Barefoot Gen</a>, written by Keiji Nakazawa, explores his firsthand experience of the bombing of Hiroshima and its aftermath. </p>
<p>Gen, the main character, sings through several pages of the story. The author uses a musical note symbol (<strong>♪</strong>) to indicate where speech bubbles are sung. By the final pages of the fourth volume, Gen sings to celebrate that his hair is beginning to grow again after being affected by radiation poisoning. </p>
<p>When preceded by the easily recognisable musical symbol, it’s virtually impossible to read the dialogue without “hearing” a melody: </p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>♪</strong> “Red roof on a green hilltop … </p>
<p>A bell tower shaped like a pixie hat… </p>
<p>The bell rings, ding-dong-ding … </p>
<p>The baby goats sing along, baa-baa-baa …” <strong>♪</strong> </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Expanding on this concept, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13378509-how-to-talk-to-girls-at-parties">How to Talk to Girls at Parties</a> by Neil Gaiman contains musical panels where the combination of drawings, words and signs present a soundtrack. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400200/original/file-20210512-21-136heh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="comic page" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400200/original/file-20210512-21-136heh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400200/original/file-20210512-21-136heh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400200/original/file-20210512-21-136heh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400200/original/file-20210512-21-136heh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400200/original/file-20210512-21-136heh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400200/original/file-20210512-21-136heh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400200/original/file-20210512-21-136heh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The How to Talk to Girls at Parties party scene (created by Neil Gaiman, Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá) gives us a sense of how the scene sounds to the characters in it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In film terminology, this is <a href="https://www.masterclass.com/articles/diegetic-sound-and-non-diegetic-sound-whats-the-difference#3-examples-of-diegetic-sound">diegetic sound</a> — noises or tunes from within the storyworld — as opposed to a narrative voiceover or a musical soundtrack the characters can’t hear within the story. </p>
<p>In Gaiman’s comic a combination of illustrations, musical notes and words (including the onomatopoeic <em>TUM</em> for a base drum beat) convey the sense that music fills every room of the house where a party is taking place.</p>
<p>In the political satire comic that inspired a <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4686844/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">movie</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Death-Stalin-Fabien-Nury/dp/1785863401">The Death of Stalin</a> creator Fabien Nury and illustrator Thierry Robin show lines from Mozart’s orchestral score for his Piano Concerto No. 23 at the bottom of two pages. This adds drama to a climactic scene where Russian leader suffers a stroke. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400201/original/file-20210512-17-rh2fcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="comics frames of stalin dying" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400201/original/file-20210512-17-rh2fcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400201/original/file-20210512-17-rh2fcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400201/original/file-20210512-17-rh2fcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400201/original/file-20210512-17-rh2fcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400201/original/file-20210512-17-rh2fcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400201/original/file-20210512-17-rh2fcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400201/original/file-20210512-17-rh2fcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The musical score can add pace and drama to an already dramatic scene.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author'</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Next time you read a comic book, make sure you listen carefully. <em>KABOOM!</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160455/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Victor Araneda Jure does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When we read comics, we ‘hear’ sound on the page. Creators are experts at this cross-sensory form of storytelling - indeed one database lists over 2500 comic book sounds.Victor Araneda Jure, Teaching Associate / Filmmaker, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1482002020-11-30T21:15:55Z2020-11-30T21:15:55ZMarvel’s first on-screen Muslim superhero — Kamala Khan, Ms. Marvel’s alter-ego — inspires big hopes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370941/original/file-20201124-21-zipg58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C5%2C1189%2C729&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some Ms. Marvel comic storylines have revealed her as a well-rounded character while others have advanced Islamophobic themes.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Marvel)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Amid the stress of a rising second wave of COVID-19, comic book fans found something to celebrate this September. Marvel Studios announced the casting of its first on-screen Muslim superhero, Kamala Khan, the alter-ego of Ms. Marvel.</p>
<p>Much like <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/ms-marvel-canadian-heroes-1.5746524">Canadian teen actress Iman Vellani who was plucked for this role</a>, Kamala has been a virtual unknown outside of comic fandom despite being a sensation since her series debut at the <a href="https://www.diamondcomics.com/Home/1/1/3/237?articleID=156090">top of comic book sales charts</a> in 2014. </p>
<p>It should be no surprise then that Marvel Studios decided to capitalize on this success and signed Kamala for her own TV series on Disney+ for an anticipated debut in <a href="https://www.radiotimes.com/news/on-demand/2020-09-22/ms-marvel-release-date-disney-plus/">late 2021 or early 2022</a>. </p>
<p>As a researcher who has examined Muslim superheroes in American comics, I find Kamala to be the most intriguing of all American Muslim superheroes. She has an ability to <a href="https://mpcaaca.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Hosein-Ms-Marvel-Final-1.pdf">destabilize stereotypes of Muslims while reinforcing ideas about American exceptionalism</a>. In the hands of different writers in various comic iterations, she has appeared as multi-dimensional and stereotype-breaking, but also as a one-dimensional figure that advances Islamophobic themes.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370945/original/file-20201124-21-mxc65c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370945/original/file-20201124-21-mxc65c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370945/original/file-20201124-21-mxc65c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370945/original/file-20201124-21-mxc65c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370945/original/file-20201124-21-mxc65c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=746&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370945/original/file-20201124-21-mxc65c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=746&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370945/original/file-20201124-21-mxc65c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=746&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kamala Khan is a Pakistani American who speaks Urdu. Panel from Volume 1, digital edition.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Marvel)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Muslim characters post 9/11</h2>
<p>It may seem that Marvel Studios is taking a big risk spotlighting a Muslim character when we are living in a time of rising <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-09/anti-muslim-incidents-are-increasing-across-america">anti-Muslim hatred</a> in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/28/europe-social-pandemic-hatred-muslims-blm">the West</a>. But while there has been a resurgence of Muslim superheroes in American comics after 9/11, some of these representations reiterate stereotypes.</p>
<p>Muslim characters underwent a mini-makeover in popular culture after 9/11. Characters emerged from being buffoonish villains to figures who gave off the appearance of depth while simultaneously regurgitating stereotypes. American studies and ethnicity scholar Evelyn al Sultany coined the term “simplified complex representation” to describe this approach in her book, <em><a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814707326/arabs-and-muslims-in-the-media/">Arabs and Muslims in the Media: Race and Representation After 9/11</a></em>. </p>
<p>Certainly, Muslim superheroes were a <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Abdul_Qamar_(Earth-616)">thing before 9/11</a>. But after 9/11, a spate of Muslim superheroes emerged, including characters like the orientalized <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Sooraya_Qadir_(Earth-616)">Sooraya Qadir (Dust)</a>, who appeared in <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/New_X-Men_Vol_1?file=New_X-Men_Vol_1_133.jpg"><em>New X-Men</em> in 2002</a>, <a href="https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Simon_Baz_(Prime_Earth)">Simon Baz</a>, member of the Green Lantern Corps featured in <em>Green Lantern</em>, and <a href="https://www.marvel.com/characters/josiah-x">Josiah X</a> who first <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Crew_Vol_1_1">appeared in <em>The Crew</em></a>. This is fascinating to me since superheroes often function as patriotic symbols, and Muslims are regarded as the quintessential “other” because Islam is usually <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0033563042000270726">framed as incompatible with the West</a>. </p>
<p>After reading Sooraya Qadir’s debut, it became obvious to me that comics found a new way to sensationalize Muslim representation.</p>
<h2>Enter Kamala Khan</h2>
<p>To me, Kamala seemed to be the rare glimpse of hope that existed on the other side of the rainbow if we just characterized Muslims — who make up <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/08/09/muslims-and-islam-key-findings-in-the-u-s-and-around-the-world/">almost one-quarter of the world’s population</a> — as something more nuanced. And she delivered on that front, particularly in her early days. </p>
<p>Readers met her as a Pakistani American that spoke Urdu. This means we saw representation of Muslims in the West escape the frequent stereotypical assumption that all Muslims are Arabs and vice versa.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371563/original/file-20201126-13-1sl0pgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371563/original/file-20201126-13-1sl0pgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371563/original/file-20201126-13-1sl0pgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371563/original/file-20201126-13-1sl0pgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371563/original/file-20201126-13-1sl0pgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371563/original/file-20201126-13-1sl0pgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371563/original/file-20201126-13-1sl0pgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This panel from Ms. Marvel, Volume 1, digital edition, written by G. Willow Wilson and illustrated by Adrian Alphona, depicts Kamala Khan as a believable character in a possible real-world setting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Marvel)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Later <a href="https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/meet-amulet-the-newest-super-hero-coming-to-ms-marvel-13-in-march-2020">in <em>Magnificent Ms. Marvel #13</em></a>, written by the Arab American writer, <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/244190/saladin-ahmed/">Saladin Ahmed</a>, the sole focus shifted away from Kamala Khan when an Arab American sidekick named Amulet was introduced.</p>
<h2>Successful sales, popularity</h2>
<p>In <em>Ms. Marvel’s</em> earlier volumes written by the Muslim writer, and white Muslim convert, G. Willow Wilson, we saw Kamala anointed with her superhero mantle to the tune of <a href="https://allpoetry.com/Amir-Khusro">Amir Khusro’s</a> poetry. We saw her juggle her schedule between battles and <em>mehendis</em>, and even got a glimpse of her great-great grandmother’s move from India to Pakistan during Partition. </p>
<p>Back then, I remember comic book store clerks telling me how popular <em>Ms. Marvel</em> was with customers. The print collection of the series sold <a href="https://bleedingcool.com/comics/ms-marvel-sold-half-million-trade-paperbacks/">half a million copies</a> alone. As Wilson notes, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piWo4200G0U&t=179s">the first issue had had eight separate printings and its digital edition became Marvel’s best-selling</a> digital comic of all time. Its first volume, released in 2014, was ranked again amongst the top five in sales rankings in <a href="https://icv2.com/articles/markets/view/46793/diamonds-top-500-graphic-novel-september-2020">September 2020</a>.</p>
<p>I remember thinking that this Urdu-speaking Muslim powerhouse could be the start of a new type of Muslim character. She was proof that creators didn’t need to recycle the tireless oppressed Muslim woman or terrorist Muslim male tropes for sales. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/piWo4200G0U?wmode=transparent&start=179" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">G. Willow Smith discusses Kamala Khan as ‘A Superhero for Generation Why.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Introducing Islamophobic themes</h2>
<p>But following the success of the <em>Ms. Marvel</em> series, Kamala appeared in Marvel’s <em>Champions</em> series about a team of teenage superheroes. Perhaps Marvel intended to further boost the popularity of the already-successful <em>Ms. Marvel</em> series by bringing in Mark Waid, a high-profile non-Muslim white writer, who authored the popular comic series <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/603561/kingdom-come-by-mark-waid/9781401290962">(and award-winning graphic novel) <em>Kingdom Come</em></a> and others.</p>
<p>In <em>Champions</em>, some tired stereotypes surfaced. In the third issue, the team flies to a fictional South Asian country. There, they rescue <a href="https://bleedingcool.com/comics/its-marvel-comics-vs-fundamentalist-islam-in-todays-champions-3">hijabi Muslim girls from violent men who conform to stock villain Muslim stereotypes</a> like the <a href="https://ascmag.com/articles/true-lies-tests-cinemas-limits">terrorists seen in Hollywood movies such as <em>True Lies</em></a>.</p>
<p>Here, Kamala is effectively used as a racist weapon against brown men and is depicted to suggest proof of western superiority. Sadly enough, I was concerned she could be used this way before she actually was.</p>
<p>I was reminded that such tropes may exist simply because of implicit bias as opposed to <a href="https://www.comicsbeat.com/ms-marvel-is-marvels-1-digital-seller/">profitability</a>. </p>
<h2>Celebrate and watch</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Ms. Marvel and Wolverine." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370947/original/file-20201124-23-lymh08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370947/original/file-20201124-23-lymh08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370947/original/file-20201124-23-lymh08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370947/original/file-20201124-23-lymh08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370947/original/file-20201124-23-lymh08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=810&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370947/original/file-20201124-23-lymh08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=810&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370947/original/file-20201124-23-lymh08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=810&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kamala’s selfie with Wolverine, from ‘Ms. Marvel’ Volume 2, digital edition.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Marvel)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For now, we should celebrate the debut of Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first Muslim superhero. I have hope that the Disney+ series will do her justice as its <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/ms-marvel-series-works-disney-1234216">showrunner</a> is the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/nov/16/i-feel-joy-bisha-k-ali-struggling-standup-ms-marvel-maestro-muslim-superhero">stand-up comedian and writer</a> <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9946590/">Bisha K. Ali</a>, known for incisive commentary. </p>
<p>However, Marvel plans to move Kamala eventually to the <a href="https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/iman-vellani-ms-marvel-cast">silver screen</a> and there’s already talk of a <a href="https://www.inverse.com/article/59205-marvel-phase-5-young-avengers-disney-series-champions-ms-marvel-hawkeye"><em>Champions</em> type of superhero team series</a> featuring Kamala. </p>
<p>If anything of the likes of Kamala as a racist weapon to prove western superiority is featured, I can’t say there will be much cause for celebration.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148200/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Safiyya Hosein does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Urdu-speaking powerhouse, Ms. Marvel, has destabilized stereotypes of Muslims and reinforced ideas about American exceptionalism.Safiyya Hosein, PhD Candidate in Communication and Culture, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1473112020-10-01T18:57:55Z2020-10-01T18:57:55ZFrom Mafalda with love: three lessons from the late Quino and his immortal creation<p>Millions of readers across the world are familiar with the dark-haired, impertinent, soup-hating, diabolically smart and terribly funny little girl named Mafalda. She was imagined by the Argentinian cartoonist Joaquin Salvador Lavado Tejon, known to all as Quino, <a href="https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/culture/joaquin-quino-salvador-lavado-the-creator-of-mafalda-dies-at-88.phtml">who passed away September 30 at age 88</a>.</p>
<p>The Mafalda comics ran from 1964 to 1973 and are the most widely known of Quino’s works – they’ve been translated into multiple languages, including braille, and were also turned into an <a href="https://www.quino.com.ar/animacion">animated series</a>. His legacy also includes numerous other black-and-white comic strips, often wordless and composed of single vignettes.</p>
<p>Through his art, Quino engaged in pointed social critique on a wide range of topics – the state of the world, politics, cliches and prejudices, the middle-class family, social relationships, food and art – where visual and verbal humour played a central role.</p>
<h2>Humour as a window into the soul</h2>
<p>I personally owe much of the awakening of my political consciousness and rebelliousness to Quino’s black-and-white comic strips. While the meaning of most was obscure to me at first, progressively I found them disturbingly funny over the years, and ultimately this helped trigger my scholarly interest in the use of two powerful tools in the social sciences, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzcMEwAxSP8">drawing and humour</a>, and in <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-affect-theory-reader">affect theories</a> that seek to understand the deep emotional and embodied dimensions of our lives.</p>
<p>The word <em>affect</em>, from the Latin <em>afectus</em>, is often understood in its verb form “to affect” someone or something (actively or instrumentally) or “to be affected” (passively) by someone or something. In an <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334851417_The_Affectivity_Gap_in_Stakeholder_Theory">ongoing project, my colleagues and I</a> have stressed how this narrow definition considerably limits our understanding of <em>affect</em> in its noun form (affect, affectivity) and the even richer problematisations of its verb form. Our findings highlight three detrimental consequences.</p>
<p>First, it privileges a limited anthropological assumption of humans reduced to abstract labels (such as “stakeholders” or “employees”), depersonalised ties based on interest, and roles. Second, it hinders our ability to foster deeper relations, where others are ends in themselves instead of means. Third, overall, this leads to weakened ethical engagement in the world we all share.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Mafalda in the subway station" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361160/original/file-20201001-19-anejh7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361160/original/file-20201001-19-anejh7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361160/original/file-20201001-19-anejh7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361160/original/file-20201001-19-anejh7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361160/original/file-20201001-19-anejh7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361160/original/file-20201001-19-anejh7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361160/original/file-20201001-19-anejh7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mafalda in the subway station.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/violinha/3192511233">Violina/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To counter this, humour proves a powerful tool to bring affectivity back in. It triggers emotional and embodied responses such as laughing, which becomes even more powerful when shared with others.</p>
<p>For instance, research has shown that shared humour fosters <a href="https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/amle.2013.0368">socialisation and integration into a group</a>. In my own work, I’ve analysed how shared moments of humour also have the capacity to create empathy and solidarity, allowing a group threatened by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1350508414558726">violence and injustice</a> to revolt against them.</p>
<p>Quino’s brilliant use of humour can teach us at least three lessons to help us reconnect with our inner affective lives and with others – a deeply needed capacity in an age of social distancing. First, that humour can trigger critical thinking. Second, that humour can foster ethical relationships to others. And third, that humour can powerfully encourage resistance to oppression.</p>
<p>To reuse one of his album’s titles, it is high time for some <a href="https://www.amazon.fr/Quinoterapia-Quinotherapy-QUINO-JOAQUIN-SALVADOR/dp/8426445373">“Quinotherapy”</a>.</p>
<h2>Triggering critical thinking</h2>
<p>Mafalda’s constant insubordination and (often impertinent) questions leave her friends and particularly her middle-class parents speechless.</p>
<p>In his preface to a 10th-anniversary edition, <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/disparitions/article/2020/09/30/le-dessinateur-argentin-quino-papa-de-l-heroine-mafalda-est-mort_6054266_3382.html">Umberto Eco noted</a> that Mafalda, as a young girl, has the privilege of childhood innocence, allowing her to question the world. This in turn triggers deeper questions in adults about how they’ve abandoned their ability to be imaginative and reflexive.</p>
<p>Mafalda makes us question what we take for granted, and in a very touching way expresses her dissatisfaction with what she calls the “disastrous” state of the world. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361162/original/file-20201001-18-75n1xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361162/original/file-20201001-18-75n1xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361162/original/file-20201001-18-75n1xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=175&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361162/original/file-20201001-18-75n1xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=175&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361162/original/file-20201001-18-75n1xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=175&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361162/original/file-20201001-18-75n1xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=220&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361162/original/file-20201001-18-75n1xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=220&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361162/original/file-20201001-18-75n1xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=220&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mafalda reads the definition of the word democracy: ‘Democracy (from the Greek, <em>demos</em>, people and kratos, <em>authority</em>): government in which the people exercise sovereignty.’ Her reaction is laughter, so little does the world resemble that definition.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/38256002@N06/3714127590">iii/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By using satire, Quino often leaves us with open, provocative and often desolating questions, where Mafalda wonders why reasoning and common sense are so hard to find. In so doing, she highlights how being “rational” is not only – as we are made to believe – to be self-interested and calculating. Reason is not opposed to emotion and affectivity, and there are <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/project/The-rational-is-relational">other forms of rationality that foster relationality</a>.</p>
<p>This joins the general aim of <a href="https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199275250.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199275250-e-4">critical scholars</a>, who seek to uncover the mechanisms of domination and exploitation that control not only our societies, but more importantly the production of knowledge itself.</p>
<p>It is through such critical thinking that as individuals and as social groups we can imagine alternative ways of living our lives <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0170840618815519">instead of having them being dictated by institutions</a>.</p>
<h2>Fostering ethical relationships to others</h2>
<p>The ability to question the world and society through critical thinking is often present in Quino’s drawings regarding the ways in which we relate to each other : such relationships are often odd, problematic, messy, unbalanced, but in the end that is what makes them undoubtedly human.</p>
<p>More importantly, Quino often points to the deeply human need to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1350508420956321">connect with others, of developing empathy and care</a>, or simply of recognising a familiar face in an anonymous world.</p>
<p>Following phenomenologists such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508414558726">Michel Henry</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0018726717741530">Emmanuel Levinas</a>, this need for connection – or in philosophical terms, this “embodied affectivity” – is what creates a fruitful and ethical bond between humans. In the words of <a href="https://www.seuil.com/ouvrage/soi-meme-comme-un-autre-paul-ric-ur/9782020114585%22">Paul Ricoeur</a>, it is what makes us “aim for a good life, with and for others, in just institutions”.</p>
<p>Maybe this is why Quino’s life-long editor <a href="https://twitter.com/DanielDivi1/status/1311310205750214657">Daniel Divinski tweeted</a> that his passing would be mourned by all the “good people in the country and in the world”.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1311310205750214657"}"></div></p>
<h2>Sparking resistance</h2>
<p>Comics and cartoons have a long tradition in <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781137573452">fostering social critique and stirring up activism</a>, and for me it is one of Quino’s most powerful legacies.</p>
<p>When I left home and moved to a far-away university to study philosophy, among the books that came with me was the Mafalda album <a href="https://www.amazon.com/grite-Dont-Scream-Hardback-Spanish/dp/B00FBBPBCK"><em>A mi no me grite!</em> (“Don’t you scream at me!”)</a>, which I discovered as a child on my father’s desk. True to this tradition, in one of his final public appearances, Quino lifted a banner reading “Je suis Charlie” following the 2015 terrorist attack on the offices of the French satirical weekly <em>Charlie Hebdo</em>.</p>
<p>Mafalda and Quino’s other characters question social problems that are still with us today – the feminine condition, nuclear power, political abuse, overpopulation, capitalism, authoritarianism and more. His subtle and poignant humour continues to speak to audiences across the world, and remains a strong call that urges us to resist oppression and to work together to improve our shared condition. Even as Quino rests in peace, he inspires us still.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147311/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mar Pérezts is member of OCE Research Center (Organizations: Critical and Ethnographic perspectives) of EM Lyon Business School. </span></em></p>Through his work, the Argentinian cartoonist Joaquin Salvador Lavado Tejon, known to all as Quino, engaged in pointed social critique on a range of topics that are even more relevant today.Mar Pérezts, Associate professor, EM Lyon Business SchoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1438012020-09-08T19:21:55Z2020-09-08T19:21:55ZComic-Con@Home: Virtual comics event declared a failure by industry critics, but fans loved it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355620/original/file-20200831-21-hu412v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=203%2C8%2C5235%2C3343&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Don't forget fans. Here, Phuong Nguyen (left) as Captain America with Derrick Petry as Deadpool, at Comic-Con International in July 2018, in San Diego. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Richard Vogel)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With the vast majority of North America’s <a href="https://benjaminwoo.carto.com/builder/5bfa6c88-f43d-438c-bbd1-1e6787b0c1f3/embed">thousand-plus fan conventions</a> cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual conventions (called cons) have been a bright spot for fans in an otherwise bleak year. Although <a href="https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/45768/with-comic-conventions-lockdown-organizers-move-online-mixed-results">organizers have experimented with different ways to run an online convention</a>, none had as high expectations as the San Diego Comic-Con’s <a href="https://www.comic-con.org/cci/2020/athome">Comic-Con@Home</a>.</p>
<p>The virtual event, held July 22–26, featured content distributed across several platforms, including video panels, a virtual exhibition hall and a <a href="https://fandom.tumblr.com/post/624634965150302208/comicconathome-cosplay-masquerade-winners">cosplay masquerade on Tumblr</a>. From the <a href="https://twitter.com/Comic_Con/status/1258898741622382593">beginning</a>, it promised not only to fill the Comic-Con-shaped hole in regular attendees’ summers but also to make a Comic-Con experience accessible to fans who ordinarily can’t attend or are turned off by the scramble for badges and hotel rooms or by endless lines.</p>
<p>Comic-Con@Home inevitably drew comparisons <a href="https://www.dictionary.com/browse/irl">to the in-real-life</a> event, but some critics promptly <a href="https://news.avclub.com/the-comic-con-at-home-experiment-didnt-work-out-especia-1844525307">branded it</a> <a href="https://screenrant.com/comic-con-home-a-massive-failure/ment-didnt-work-out-especia-1844525307">a failure</a> — perhaps most prominently in <em>Variety</em>, the entertainment industry trade magazine. </p>
<p>But calling Comic-Con@Home a flop for <a href="https://www.thegamer.com/comic-con-at-home-schedule-no-marvel-dc-warner-brothers/">not having enough exclusive movie reveals</a> or <a href="https://www.slashfilm.com/comic-con-at-home-numbers-failure/">failing to produce enough social media buzz</a> assumes too much. Not all participants share the same goals as the largest industry players. </p>
<p>While Comic-Con has always had a relationship to Hollywood, to many fans, gaining virtual access to panels that might have been otherwise capped by space constraints and the sense of community matter more than a simplistic analysis about metrics or interactivity.</p>
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<h2>Industry views of Comic-Con</h2>
<p><em>Variety</em>’s Adam B. Vary’s story, “Why Comic-Con ‘At Home’ Was a Bust” cites <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ListenFirstMedia/posts/2926734444104271">data from social media analytics firm ListenFirst</a>, which found “<a href="https://variety.com/2020/film/news/comic-con-at-home-analysis-walking-dead-new-mutants-1234717509/">tweets that mentioned Comic-Con@Home were down 95 per cent from 2019’s live convention</a>.” Vary is unimpressed by YouTube views of around 15,000 per panel, and he laments the lack of fan interaction — “the most elemental reason for Comic-Con’s 50-year success” — in Comic-Con@Home’s video panels, which were pre-recorded and disabled user comments.</p>
<p>But the relationship between fans, Comic-Con and big media companies <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/only-at-comic-con/9780813594705">has often</a> proven a point of tension. When <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/20th-century-fox-pulls-out-of-comic-con-hall-h-presentation-exclusive/">a major studio skips a presentation</a> in the <a href="https://comicbook.com/irl/news/comic-con-2020-someone-made-a-hall-h-sign-for-their-home/">celebrated Hall H</a> or <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/13/business/media/13comic.html">an apparent cult classic in the making bombs at the box office</a>, the media are quick to speculate whether Comic-Con attendees have lost their most favoured audience status.</p>
<p>If anything, <em>Variety</em>’s focus on analytics proves that, when it comes to the entertainment industry’s attempts to shape and define the Comic-Con experience, the virtual con wasn’t really all that different than other years.</p>
<h2>Another look at numbers</h2>
<p>Evaluating at-home participation by the same yardstick as an in-person event doesn’t account for differences in format and mode of engagement. These metrics need to be understood in context. Even then, they don’t tell the whole story of Comic-Con@Home.</p>
<p>For instance, the more than <a href="https://variety.com/2020/film/news/comic-con-at-home-analysis-walking-dead-new-mutants-1234717509">84,000 views logged for AMC’s <em>The Walking Dead</em> panel</a>, (now over <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=FDwoZKvV6q0">95,000</a>) would be an impossibility in Hall H, which seats 6,500 fans. </p>
<p>This same panel also aired on gaming and entertainment site <a href="https://www.ign.com/events/comic-con">IGN’s official Comic-Con hub</a>, which did feature live chatting among users. (As of this writing, the IGN version of <em>The Walking Dead</em> panel has garnered another <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pno12-zKD8g">63,000</a> views, and their <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYlpa4_qFis">livestream of that day’s programming</a> was accessed over 180,000 times.)</p>
<p>Add the <a href="https://variety.com/2020/film/news/comic-con-at-home-analysis-walking-dead-new-mutants-1234717509/">11,900</a> tweets about this panel alone cited in <em>Variety</em>, and these impressions and engagements begin to rival, if not exceed, the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonthompson/2017/07/25/a-thor-subject-comic-cons-biggest-winners-on-social-media/#392353ab5ff4">103,000</a> social media mentions logged by <em>The Walking Dead</em> in 2017. </p>
<p>And let’s not forget fan- and community-led panels. Their views this year frequently outstripped the capacity of the rooms they are typically assigned in the San Diego Convention Center. For example, this year’s Super Asian America panel has received <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKBifGHxhPY">1,700 views on YouTube</a> so far; in 2019, it was <a href="https://comiccon2019.sched.com/event/RstI/super-asian-america">scheduled in room 5AB</a>, which has a <a href="https://sdccblog.com/2015/06/san-diego-comic-con-room-capacities/">maximum capacity of only 504</a>.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BKBifGHxhPY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Super Asian America panel.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Sense of community</h2>
<p>Throughout Comic-Con@Home, fans used social media, blogs and forums to share memories and connect with friends they made at previous Comic-Cons. Some went so far <a href="https://twitter.com/ParksAndCons/status/1286505754086617089">as to travel</a> to San Diego and hold <a href="https://twitter.com/Crazy4ComicCon/status/1287220815491022848">socially distant meet-ups</a>, including cosplay <a href="https://twitter.com/batcap50/status/1287505035924869121">photo shoots</a>, in <a href="https://twitter.com/Crazy4ComicCon/status/1283456466309885952">beloved locations</a> nearby. </p>
<p>The San Diego Convention Center’s <a href="https://twitter.com/SDConventionCtr/status/1285632280409628672">video tribute</a> prompted an outpouring of love for the building, which for many attendees symbolizes the experience of Comic-Con (<a href="https://twitter.com/yesterdaysco/status/1286337614866505728">an “I Miss SDCC” pin featuring the convention centre sold out in two minutes</a>). </p>
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<p>Fans even bonded over negative experiences, such as <a href="https://twitter.com/OriginalFunko/status/1286110722489872395">the glitches</a> in the online sales of exclusive merchandise. In these moments, the sense of community mattered more than the relative absence of Hollywood buzz and hype. </p>
<p>Contrary to <em>Variety</em>, the largest fan-run SDCC blog stated, “<a href="https://twitter.com/SD_Comic_Con/status/1287917039571685382">we had an amazing time</a>,” a sentiment <a href="https://twitter.com/toddlandstore/status/1287903359513448449">echoed by</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CABrowncoats/status/1288104693709672448">many virtual</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/EnglishmanSDCC/status/1287868004085063681">attendees</a>. </p>
<p>Experiences like these are absent from industry-oriented assessments of Comic-Con@Home. </p>
<h2>Comics go beyond Hollywood’s needs</h2>
<p>Instead of definitively capturing the meaning of Comic-Con@Home, criticisms of the event illustrate how <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780203872604/chapters/10.4324/9780203872604-8">media companies still claim pop-culture pride of place for themselves</a>, even as the popularity of Comic-Con and other <a href="https://doi.org/10.1386/jfs_00007_1">con events</a> is frequently cited (often by <a href="https://variety.com/2014/film/news/hollywood-points-the-focus-to-fans-at-comic-con-1201266232/">these same</a> outlets) as evidence of fandom’s growing influence. </p>
<p>This is not to suggest that cultural industries should be understood in simplistic, fan-versus-industry terms.</p>
<p>But with fan events moving mostly online for the foreseeable future, the debate about Comic-Con@Home is a useful reminder that these relationships don’t start and end with Hollywood’s needs. </p>
<p>The Comic-Con experience may have looked different this year, but competing attempts to define this experience — as either failure or success — made it just another Comic-Con.</p>
<p><em>This analysis was collaboratively authored by the members of the <a href="https://roccetlab.ca/projects/swarming-sdcc/">Swarming SDCC</a> project team, including Anne Gilbert, Felan Parker, Suzanne Scott and Matthew J. Smith.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143801/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The Swarming SDCC collective's research is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erin Hanna and Melanie E.S. Kohnen do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some comic fans have found a bright spot in virtual conventions in an otherwise bleak pandemic year. The sense of community matters more than a simplistic analysis about metrics or interactivity.Benjamin Woo, Associate professor, Communication and Media Studies, Carleton UniversityErin Hanna, Assistant Professor of Cinema Studies, University of OregonMelanie E.S. Kohnen, Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Media Studies, Lewis & Clark Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1379102020-05-07T15:13:10Z2020-05-07T15:13:10ZComics and cartoons are a powerful way to teach kids about COVID-19<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332684/original/file-20200505-83745-16byjqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An image from My Hero is You, produced by the UN and several humanitarian agencies.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">IASC/Helen Patuck</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The global COVID-19 pandemic has turned children’s lives upside down. Stay-at-home orders mean that they cannot go to school, visit a playground or spend time with friends. Just like adults, they may be scared and frustrated.</p>
<p>But given the right information, children can be powerful agents of change in their families and communities. That’s according to a <a href="https://www.unicef.org/cwc/files/CwC_Final_Nov-2011(1).pdf">UNICEF guide for communicating with children</a>. This guide highlights the need to communicate with children in an age-appropriate, culturally sensitive, inclusive and positive way. It emphasises that to be effective, the communication must be interesting and engaging.</p>
<p>In response to the current pandemic, leading health scientists and child psychologists have joined forces with writers, educators and artists to produce innovative communication materials. These range from children’s books and videos to infographics and comics. It’s a powerful collaboration: scientists provide the credibility and accuracy, while artists ensure this is communicated with creative flair and appealing design.</p>
<p>And there’s science to back up their efforts. An <a href="https://jcom.sissa.it/archive/17/01/JCOM_1701_2018_Y01">academic overview of research looking at educational comics</a> has concluded that comics have great potential to make complex topics more meaningful to diverse audiences. This is achieved by combining visuals with powerful metaphors, character-driven narratives and emotionally charged storylines. <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2012-19688-007">Scholars confirm that</a> science-themed comics can both entertain and educate, thereby stimulating interest in science topics. </p>
<p>Comic books have been shown to be <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21548455.2014.941040">more effective than textbooks in increasing interest in and enjoyment</a> of science topics. The medium is particularly effective at <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042813037725">engaging low literacy audiences</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3859376/">young people with a low interest in science</a>. </p>
<p>Cartoons and comics may, research suggests, be <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3859376/">particularly effective when trying to explain viruses</a> and how they affect our health.</p>
<p>Here are some of the best examples I have come across in the past few weeks. All were created especially for communicating about the novel coronavirus and COVID-19. Importantly, these resources are shared freely online, and some are translated into several languages. </p>
<h2>A variety of resources</h2>
<p>A fantasy creature called Ario is the lead character in <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/09-04-2020-children-s-story-book-released-to-help-children-and-young-people-cope-with-covid-19">My Hero is You</a>. The book resulted from collaboration between several agencies of the United Nations and several dozen organisations working in the humanitarian sector. Ario helps children to understand why the coronavirus is changing their lives and how to cope when they are feeling worried, angry or sad. </p>
<p>Script writer Helen Patuck drew on input from more than 1,700 children, parents, caregivers and teachers from around the world who shared their ways of coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. This online book is also available in audio format. Translation has been finalised or is in progress in more than 100 languages.</p>
<p>Vaayu is the superhero who’s been called upon to help Indian children cope with the pandemic in <a href="https://countercurrents.org/2020/03/a-comic-strip-on-coronavirus-for-kids-kids-vaayu-corona-who-wins-the-fight">a comic book issued by the Indian ministry of health and family welfare</a>.</p>
<p>From Singapore comes a series of <a href="https://sph.nus.edu.sg/covid-19/public-education/">comic strips</a> for young children featuring Baffled Bunny and Curious Cat. They’re seeking advice and clarification from Doctor Duck. This series was created by award-winning graphic novelist Sonny Liew, who worked with Associate Professor Hsu Li Yang, the programme leader for infectious diseases at the National University of Singapore.</p>
<p>Nosy Crow, a UK publisher, has created <a href="https://nosycrow.com/blog/released-today-free-information-book-explaining-coronavirus-children-illustrated-gruffalo-illustrator-axel-scheffler/">a digital book for primary school age children</a>, with the help of Professor Graham Medley of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, an expert in the modelling of infectious diseases. The book is also available as <a href="https://lapa.co.za/koronavirus-n-boek-vir-kinders-eboek">a free e-book in Afrikaans</a>, with text by South African author Jaco Jacobs.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/02/28/809580453/just-for-kids-a-comic-exploring-the-new-coronavirus">After asking experts in mental health what kids may want to know about the coronavirus</a>, Cory Turner, an educational reporter on National Public Radio, created <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/02/28/809580453/just-for-kids-a-comic-exploring-the-new-coronavirus">an online comic</a> that is also available in a <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PYrKYfOBa4p-azI5z_46KJMbi1FSmL_Y/view">printable “zine” version</a>. It’s available in <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/06/811752935/">Chinese</a> and <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/04/01/822540659/solo-para-chicos-y-chicas-un-c-mic-sobre-el-nuevo-coronavirus">Spanish</a> too.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://sacoronavirus.co.za/category/explaining-covid-19-to-kids/">comic strip promoted by the South African health department</a> features Wazi, who asks questions about the coronavirus and then shares advice provided by his parents and teachers.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.oaky.co.za/">Oaky and the Virus</a> was written by South African author, poet and academic Athol Williams. It’s available in English, isiZulu, Siswati, Sepedi and Tshivenda, and helps children understand why they have to stay at home and wash their hands regularly.</p>
<p>Jive Media Africa, a science communication agency in South Africa, <a href="https://jivemedia.co.za/category/media/comics/">created a series of cartoon-based infographics</a> with “Hay’khona Corona” as a theme. “Hay’khona” is a South African expression meaning “no, definitely not!”. These infographics are based on the World Health Organisation’s guidelines around COVID-19. They’re available in several of South Africa’s official languages, as well as languages spoken in other parts of the continent like Yoruba, KiSwahili, French and Portuguese.</p>
<p>Instagrammers are also creating and sharing graphics about coping with COVID-19, with good examples at “comicallysane”, “callouscomics” and “comicsforgood”.</p>
<h2>Evidence-based communication</h2>
<p>Of course, comic strips aren’t just for kids. Some have been created specifically for adults, tackling questions about the coronavirus with a mixture of education and humour. One example is <a href="https://www.graphicmedicine.org/covid-19-comics/">a collection</a> curated by <a href="https://www.graphicmedicine.org/about/">Graphic Medicine</a>, a health communication platform created by a team of researchers, information specialists and artists.</p>
<p>All of this work and the many other comics and cartoons available to help explain COVID-19 show that these media are far from frivolous. Scientists and communicators are <a href="https://jcom.sissa.it/archive/08/04/Jcom0804%282009%29A02">becoming more aware</a> of the special appeal and communication potential of science comics, and are starting to use them as part of an evidence-based portfolio of communication tools.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137910/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marina Joubert does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Scientists provide the credibility and accuracy, while the artists ensure this is communicated with creative flair and appealing designs.Marina Joubert, Science Communication Researcher, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1349712020-03-30T21:02:22Z2020-03-30T21:02:22ZComics vs. coronavirus: Comics industry shut down for the first time in almost a century<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323775/original/file-20200329-146689-1pttwrd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C19%2C744%2C536&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An extended pause by the biggest publishers could spur comic creators to pursue new projects and accelerate a shift away from comic book stores. Here, the cover of Batman Giant #4, which was expected in stores this April 1, 2020.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(DC Comics)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last week, the producers behind a number of comic book-derived movies and TV shows announced delays for their franchises: <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-news/wonder-woman-1984-postpone-release-date-coronavirus-972458/">release dates for <em>Wonder Woman</em></a> and <a href="https://variety.com/2020/film/box-office/black-widow-release-coronavirus-1203532996/"><em>Black Widow</em> were pushed</a> ahead, while <a href="https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/walking-dead-season-10-finale-delayed-coronavirus-1203543878/"><em>The Walking Dead</em> announced that COVID-19</a> had made it impossible for the show to complete work on the current season and that the finale was being delayed.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.dccomics.com/characters/wonder-woman">what of</a> the <a href="https://www.marvel.com/characters/black-widow-natasha-romanova/in-comics/profile">comic books</a> <a href="https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/the-walking-dead-1">that spawned</a> these blockbuster franchises? </p>
<p>On March 23, Steve Geppi, CEO of Diamond Comic Distributors, announced the closing of the distribution system that holds a near-monopoly on the circulation of comic books in North America. He cited a number of problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic: <a href="https://www.newsarama.com/49538-diamond-comics-distributors-ceases-receiving-products-for-distribution-due-to-coronavirus-report.html">comic retailers can’t service customers, publishing partners are having supply chain issues and shipping is delayed</a>. He wrote his “only logical conclusion is to cease the distribution of new weekly product until there is greater clarity on the progress made toward stemming the spread of this disease.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/doi/full/10.1080/21504857.2011.602699">New Comics Day has occurred every Wednesday</a> since the creation of the direct market in the 1970s, as die-hard fans rush to buy new books before spoilers pop up online. </p>
<p>But no longer: This week, for the first time in more than 80 years, no new comic books will ship to shops, and production is on hold into the foreseeable future. No previous global event — not the Second World War, <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/9-11-attacks">not 9/11</a> — has previously shuttered the comic book industry.</p>
<p>To understand how this single decision could transform the operations of comic book publishers owned by Disney (Marvel Comics) and AT&T (DC Comics), among dozens of others, as well as comic production, consumption and culture, one needs to understand how the status of the comic book has shifted over the past century. </p>
<h2>Bygone newsstand days</h2>
<p>As <a href="https://mississippi.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.14325/mississippi/9781604732672.001.0001/upso-9781604732672">Jean-Paul Gabilliet</a>, professor of North American studies at Université Bordeaux demonstrates, the comic book form emerged in the 1930s as a promotional giveaway for department stores and gas stations before it migrated to the newsstand as a part of the larger magazine industry.</p>
<p>Despite some fits and starts, the format took off based the success of <em>Superman</em>, created in spring 1938, and the many imitation superheroes his popularity spawned as comic books became a staple of the newsstand. Circulation grew during the war, and exploded shortly after as new publishers initiated new genres like crime, romance and horror comic books. </p>
<p>By 1952, the peak year for comic book sales in the United States, comic books were a formidable cultural presence. But the rise of television, changes to the magazine distribution system and <a href="https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/S/Seal-of-Approval">criticisms of the industry by public figures</a> led to an industry-wide collapse of sales. Comic books limped through the 1960s as a cheap disposable form of entertainment for children, found on magazine racks that catered to parents. </p>
<p>By the 1970s, the American comic book had lost its status as a mass medium. At the same time, a rapidly growing network of used comic-book dealers began to spring up at flea markets, conventions, bookstores and eventually specialty stores that catered to a devoted set of comic collectors. The growing fan network presented a life raft to the industry.</p>
<h2>1970s turning point</h2>
<p>The turning point, as American writer and reporter Dan Gearino points out in his <a href="https://www.ohioswallow.com/book/Comic+Shop">history of comic book stores</a>, came in 1972 when a convention organizer named Phil Seuling convinced the major publishers to wholesale new issues to him on a non-returnable basis. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323766/original/file-20200329-146724-v1fotj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323766/original/file-20200329-146724-v1fotj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323766/original/file-20200329-146724-v1fotj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=744&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323766/original/file-20200329-146724-v1fotj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=744&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323766/original/file-20200329-146724-v1fotj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=744&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323766/original/file-20200329-146724-v1fotj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=935&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323766/original/file-20200329-146724-v1fotj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=935&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323766/original/file-20200329-146724-v1fotj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=935&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Stan Lee, standing, publisher of Marvel Comics, discusses a ‘Spiderman’ comic book cover with artist John Romita at Marvel headquarters in New York in January 1976.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This appealed to the publishers, who were accustomed to routinely over-printing comic books by the hundreds of thousands to supply the inefficient system of mom-and-pop corner stores that retailed their work. Seuling’s model shifted risk from the publisher to the retailer, who ordered product on a non-returnable basis, but it facilitated the growth of a network of thousands of comic book shops across North America.</p>
<p>For more than two decades, comic book shops were supplied by a network of regional wholesale distributors that served specific geographic regions based on the location of their warehouses. This changed at the end of 1994 when Marvel Comics bought Heroes World, the third largest distributor. </p>
<h2>Marvel meets Diamond</h2>
<p>American writer Sean Howe’s <a href="https://www.harpercollins.ca/9780061992117/marvel-comics/">history of Marvel Comics</a> details how, in July 1995, <a href="https://www.harpercollins.ca/9780061992117/marvel-comics/">the company made their new subsidiary the exclusive supplier of their market-leading product</a>, reducing income at the other distributors by a third. A scramble ensued, with Geppi’s Diamond securing the rights to DC Comics and Image Comics, the next two largest publishers after Marvel. Other publishers quickly fell in line, signing exclusive deals with Diamond and bankrupting the regional distributors. </p>
<p>When Heroes World proved incapable of supporting Marvel’s needs, the company folded in 1996 and Marvel joined forces with Diamond, the only other distributor still standing. That same year, the Bill Clinton government began investigating Diamond as a monopoly. But <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/how-marvel-set-stage-weeks-comics-shutdown-1286239">the government dismissed the case in 2000</a>, finding that the new company <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060322213439/http://www.comicbookresources.com/comicbrief/archives.cgi?category=1&view=11-00">was not monopolistic</a> because comic books were only a small part of the overall publishing industry.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323770/original/file-20200329-146689-1ta6fz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323770/original/file-20200329-146689-1ta6fz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323770/original/file-20200329-146689-1ta6fz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323770/original/file-20200329-146689-1ta6fz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323770/original/file-20200329-146689-1ta6fz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323770/original/file-20200329-146689-1ta6fz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323770/original/file-20200329-146689-1ta6fz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323770/original/file-20200329-146689-1ta6fz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Marvel comics impresario Stan Lee, centre, poses with Lou Ferrigno, right, and Eric Kramer, left, who portray The Incredible Hulk and Thor, respectively, in ‘The Incredible Hulk Returns.’ They’re pictured here in Los Angeles, Calif., in May 1998.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Nick Ut</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The situation remained largely unchanged for more than 20 years. Diamond is the exclusive dealer of comic books to the a network of thousands of comic book stores who have continued to order on a non-returnable basis. Until now. </p>
<h2>‘Pencils down’</h2>
<p>The consequences of Diamond’s decision are immediate and wide-reaching. In closing their warehouses to new product, publishers have alerted printers to stop. Comic book freelancers recently began tweeting they’d received <a href="https://cosmicbook.news/comic-book-market-collapses-pencils-down">“pencils down” messages</a> from publishers curtailing production. </p>
<p>Communication to comic book retailers, creative personnel and fans has been haphazard as the large publishers scramble to plan for an uncertain future. Many are concerned about the growing digital footprint of comic book publishers. </p>
<p>Since 2011, most comic books have been released to comic book stores and in electronic format to consumers through platforms like Comixology (a subsidiary of Amazon) on the same day. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323769/original/file-20200329-146689-uuipdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323769/original/file-20200329-146689-uuipdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323769/original/file-20200329-146689-uuipdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323769/original/file-20200329-146689-uuipdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323769/original/file-20200329-146689-uuipdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323769/original/file-20200329-146689-uuipdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323769/original/file-20200329-146689-uuipdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Archie Comics has announced the company will release some April titles digitally. Here, the front cover of an edition of ‘Archie vs. Predator II.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Archie Comics)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>With a protracted closure of the distribution system, publishers like Marvel and DC could continue to move forward with electronic sales, which would inevitably bolster that end of their business at the expense of their retail partners. Archie Comics <a href="https://www.newsarama.com/49594-archie-going-ahead-with-some-april-titles-digitally-in-print-others-postponed.html">has announced</a> that they will release some April titles digitally. </p>
<p>If several months passed with electronic sales but no physical comic book sales, it’s uncertain that those printed books would ever find an audience. An extended pause by the biggest publishers, on the other hand, would undoubtedly spur comics creators to pursue new projects either online or through the book trade. </p>
<p>This could accelerate a shift away from <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/getting-a-life-products-9780773552845.php">comic collectors’ habitual buying that take place comic shops as establishments that foster unique social relations</a>, as described by Benjamin Woo, associate professor of communication and media studies at Carleton University.</p>
<p>While <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15405702.2010.493421">comic books sales proved remarkably resilient</a> during the 2008 financial crisis, if the current situation breaks readers’ buying habits for a few months, they might never return in the same way.</p>
<p><em>This is a corrected version of a story originally published on March 30, 2020. The earlier story said Diamond Comic Distributors made an announcement March 24 instead of March 23.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134971/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bart Beaty receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p>Neither the Second World War nor 9/11 stopped weekly comic book distribution to comic stores. But COVID-19 means production and distribution is now on hold, and the future of comics is up in the air.Bart Beaty, Professor of English, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1346862020-03-25T14:30:47Z2020-03-25T14:30:47ZAsterix the Gaul creator Albert Uderzo helped France rediscover her proud ancient roots<p>Albert Uderzo, half of the team that created Asterix the Gaul, has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/mar/24/asterix-creator-albert-uderzo-dies-at-92">died at the age of 92</a>. Born in north-eastern France in 1927, the son of Italian immigrants, Uderzo first emerged as a young cartoonist in 1959 when he and the writer René Goscinny produced the first serialised adventures of Asterix for the magazine <em>Pilote</em>.</p>
<p>The first book, <em>Astérix le Gaulois</em> (Asterix the Gaul) appeared in 1961. The two men produced 24 books before <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1977/11/07/archives/rene-goscinny-dies-in-paris-created-noted-comic-strip.html">Goscinny died, prematurely, in 1977</a>. <em>Astérix chez les Belges</em> (Asterix in Belgium, 1979) was almost complete and, not without hesitation, Uderzo finished off the work alone. Uderzo carried on, producing <em>Le Grand Fossé</em> (The Great Divide) in 1980, an allegorical tale (as most of the stories are) of the Berlin wall. Eight more books followed until 2009, when he finally hung up his pen after 50 years with <em>Astérix et le Livre d’Or</em> (Asterix and Obelix’s Birthday: The Golden Book).</p>
<p>Since then, four more books have appeared, produced with loving care by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/24/asterix-picts-interview-ferri-conrad">Jean-Yves Ferri (words) and Didier Conrad (pictures)</a>. The most recent, <em>Astérix et la Fille de Vercingétorix</em> (<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/oct/24/meet-adrenaline-asterix-gets-first-female-hero-in-60-year-history">Asterix and the Chieftain’s Daughter</a>), published in the autumn of 2019, has sold 5 million copies. Such is the place of Asterix in the French mind and cultural landscape that to mark publication a handful of Paris metro stations <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2019/10/10/next-stop-place-de-clichix-paris-metro-stations-renamed-for-asterix">changed their names for the day</a>, including <em>Place de Clichix</em>, <em>Gare de Lugdunum</em>, <em>Menhirmontant</em>. Asterix is not just a star in France. All told, some <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/07/arts/asterix-new-translated-editions.html">380 million of the books</a> have been sold worldwide and his adventures have been translated into more languages than any other comic.</p>
<p>I use Asterix to introduce my first-year undergraduate language students to ideas of French identity. Let me explain.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322898/original/file-20200325-168907-1uwuhl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322898/original/file-20200325-168907-1uwuhl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322898/original/file-20200325-168907-1uwuhl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322898/original/file-20200325-168907-1uwuhl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322898/original/file-20200325-168907-1uwuhl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=630&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322898/original/file-20200325-168907-1uwuhl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=630&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322898/original/file-20200325-168907-1uwuhl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=630&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Asterix, Obelix and Dogmatix pay tribute to the victims of the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Uderzo via Parc Asterix</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The stories may be predictable, the allegory sometimes a little heavy – but their appeal to readers of all ages lies in so many aspects of their work. The subtlety of language (which was always a challenge for the translators) and Uderzo’s extraordinary drawings – the page in <em>La Grande Traversée</em> (Asterix and the Great Crossing) where Asterix and Obelix have to explain the Gauls in signs and gestures is a masterpiece. These firm foundations were supplemented by their intelligence, deft wordplay and gentle – and not always so gentle – use of stereotypes. But the principal stereotype that underpins the whole show is that of the Gauls – that is to say the French themselves.</p>
<h2>Story of a nation</h2>
<p>The country may owe its name to the Franks, but when French republicans in the late 19th century were looking to establish the “origins” of their people, the Celtic Gauls fell easily to hand as the “first nation”. It helped, of course, that the Gauls, as far as anyone knew, elected their chiefs and that druids met once a year in a kind of “national assembly”. In telling the “<em>roman de la nation”</em> – the national story – the first lesson was: “Our ancestors the Gauls”, and every schoolchild in France, including Goscinny and Uderzo, knew it.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322902/original/file-20200325-168872-9val38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322902/original/file-20200325-168872-9val38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322902/original/file-20200325-168872-9val38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322902/original/file-20200325-168872-9val38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322902/original/file-20200325-168872-9val38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322902/original/file-20200325-168872-9val38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322902/original/file-20200325-168872-9val38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Father of the Gauls: Vercingetorix.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">JayC75 via Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Look around France’s towns and villages and you will see the Gaulish warrior on innumerable war memorials, either in person or signalled by his helmet, the same one worn by Asterix or on a packet of Gauloises cigarettes. Paradoxically, during the second world war, the Gaul mostly figured as the dutiful youth of the collaborationist Vichy regime of Marshal Pétain. After the war, in his <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41298959">famous speech at Bayeux in June 1946</a>, where he outlined his plans for the new republic, General de Gaulle insisted on the need for strong leadership to overcome “our old Gaulish propensity for division and quarrelling”.</p>
<p>The early success of Asterix, then, was built on an understanding and subversion of this founding myth. But there was a (sort of) serious side to it all too. With the exception of their village, all of Gaul is occupied, as France had been until 15 years before. But by 1959, France was back under the control of a general who spelt history with a capital “H”. Asterix was also about not taking “History” too seriously.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322908/original/file-20200325-168907-vnl76c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322908/original/file-20200325-168907-vnl76c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322908/original/file-20200325-168907-vnl76c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=788&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322908/original/file-20200325-168907-vnl76c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=788&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322908/original/file-20200325-168907-vnl76c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=788&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322908/original/file-20200325-168907-vnl76c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=990&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322908/original/file-20200325-168907-vnl76c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=990&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322908/original/file-20200325-168907-vnl76c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=990&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Asterix books dealt with some dark passages in Gaulish history.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikipedia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the 1968 story <em>Le Bouclier arverne</em> (The Chieftain’s Shield) we learn about Vercingetorix, the greatest Gaul of them all and leader of the revolt of 52BC against Caesar that ended in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Alesia-52-BCE">defeat and massacre at Alésia</a> (in eastern France).</p>
<p>Except, in the Asterix story, when veterans of that campaign are asked about Alésia, they become irate, refuse to answer and point out that, in any case, nobody knows where Alésia is. This much remains true to this day. For Alésia, read <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/fall_france_01.shtml">June 1940</a>, read the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/01/dien-bien-phu-battle-france-vietnam-indochina-war">defeat at Dien-Bien Phu</a> in the Indochina War in 1954, read the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2006/11/a-chronology-of-the-algerian-war-of-independence/305277/">retreat from Algeria</a>. The France into which Asterix emerged was still grappling with what French historian Henri Rousso would dub “<a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674935396&content=bios">Vichy syndrome</a>”, while Algeria <a href="https://ifair.eu/2019/08/01/why-frances-colonial-chapter-in-algeria-is-anything-but-history/">remains problematic</a> to this day.</p>
<h2>Le French flair</h2>
<p>And yet, in Asterix, Obelix and their fellow villagers, we can also read a spirit of defiance (“<a href="http://www.rfi.fr/en/20180830-macron-unyielding-gauls-scandinavia-finlan-denmark-strikes">the unyielding Gauls</a>” perhaps, as the French president, Emmanuel Macron, referred to them in 2018). There is also a capacity, at moments of great need, to pull together, by means of some magic potion, what French rugby players nowadays call <em>le French flair</em>, offset by a tremendous spirit of openness and hospitality (every Asterix tale ends with a feast) and of international fraternity against oppression – the Romans, the Germans (but not the Goths), the crushing hand of the centralised state. Asterix is complicated stuff. And so is France.</p>
<p>Vale Uderzo.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134686/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With his colleague René Goscinny, Uderzo told the story of the Gaulish nation.Paul Smith, Associate Professor in French and Francophone Studies, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1309882020-02-13T14:14:08Z2020-02-13T14:14:08ZAmerica’s postwar fling with romance comics<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315078/original/file-20200212-61912-op3vlq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=125%2C52%2C1067%2C711&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">With over 100 issues, 'Young Love' was one of the longest running romance comics series. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gary Lee Watson Comic Book Collection, Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, University of South Carolina Libraries</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last year, comic book enthusiast <a href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/582733/gary-watson-comic-collection-donated-university-south-carolina">Gary Watson</a> donated his massive personal collection to <a href="https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/university_libraries/browse/irvin_dept_special_collections/index.php">the Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections</a> at the University of South Carolina. </p>
<p>As the <a href="https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/university_libraries/about/contact/faculty-staff/weisenburg_michael.php">reference and instruction librarian</a>, I’m tasked with getting to know the collection so I can exhibit parts of it and use the materials for teaching. One of the great pleasures of assessing and cataloging Watson’s collection has been learning about how comic books have changed over time. Sifting through Watson’s vast collection of 140,000-plus comics, I’m able to see the genre’s entire trajectory.</p>
<p>Before World War II, superheroes were all the rage. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/aug/17/art-spiegelman-golden-age-superheroes-were-shaped-by-the-rise-of-fascism">Reflecting anxieties</a> over the Great Depression, the rise of fascism and the march to war, readers yearned for mythical figures who would defend the disenfranchised and uphold liberal democratic ideals.</p>
<p>Once the war ended, the content of comic books started to change. Superheroes gradually fell out of fashion and a proliferation of genres emerged. Some, such as <a href="http://www.powerhousebooks.com/books/golden-age-western-comics/">Westerns</a>, offered readers a nostalgic fantasy of a pre-industrial America. Others, like <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114164218">true crime</a> and <a href="https://www.outrightgeekery.com/2017/10/18/the-rise-fall-and-rebirth-of-horror-comics-a-history/">horror</a>, hooked readers with their lurid tales, while <a href="https://comicsalliance.com/best-silver-age-sci-fi-covers-gallery/">science fiction comics</a> appealed to the wonders of technological advancement and trepidation about where it might lead us.</p>
<p>But there was also a brief period when the medium was dominated by the romance genre. </p>
<p>Grounded in artistic and narrative realism, romance comics were remarkably different from their superhero and sci-fi peers. While the post-war popularity of romance comics only lasted a few years, these love stories ended up actually having a strong influence on other genres.</p>
<h2>Romance comics’ origin story</h2>
<p>Though today they are most famous for creating “Captain America,” the creative duo of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=gUCgAwAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA46#v=onepage&q&f=false">launched the romance comic book genre in 1947</a> with the publication of a series called “Young Romance.” </p>
<p>Teen comedy series like “<a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/1/26/13149304/archie-comics-riverdale-evolution">Archie</a>” had been around for a few years and occasionally had romantic story lines and subplots. Romance pulps and true confession magazines had been around for decades. </p>
<p>But a comic dedicated to telling romantic stories hadn’t been done before. With the phrase “Designed for the More Adult Readers of Comics” <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Young_Romance_Issue_1.jpg">printed on the cover</a>, Simon and Kirby signaled a deliberate shift in expectations of what a comic could be. </p>
<p>While most scholars have argued that <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=9pPgDE63U9oC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA127#v=onepage&q&f=false">romance comics tend to reinforce conservative values</a> – making marriage the ultimate goal for women and placing family and middle-class stability on a pedestal – the real pleasure of reading these books came from the mildly scandalous behavior of their characters and the untoward plots that the narratives were ostensibly warning against. With titles like “I Was a Pick-Up!,” “The Farmer’s Wife” and “The Plight of the Suspicious Bridegroom,” “Young Romance” and its sister titles <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=9pPgDE63U9oC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&lpg=PP1&dq=Comic%20Book%20Nation%3A%20The%20Transformation%20of%20Youth%20Culture%20in%20America.&pg=PA128#v=onepage&q&f=false">quickly sold out of their original print runs</a> and began outselling other comics genres.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315088/original/file-20200212-61958-1y8dre8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315088/original/file-20200212-61958-1y8dre8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315088/original/file-20200212-61958-1y8dre8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315088/original/file-20200212-61958-1y8dre8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315088/original/file-20200212-61958-1y8dre8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315088/original/file-20200212-61958-1y8dre8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=625&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315088/original/file-20200212-61958-1y8dre8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=625&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315088/original/file-20200212-61958-1y8dre8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=625&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Issue #1 of ‘Teen-Age Romances’ (St. John, 1949).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gary Lee Watson Comic Book Collection, Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, University of South Carolina Libraries</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other publishers noticed the popularity of the genre and followed suit with their own romance titles, most of which closely followed Simon and Kirby’s style and structure. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ndJ7BwAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false">By 1950</a>, about 1 in 5 of all comic books were romance comics, with almost 150 romance titles being sold by over 20 publishers.</p>
<p>The rage for all things romance was so sudden that publishers eager to take advantage of the new market altered titles and even content in order to save on <a href="https://www.comichron.com/faq/postalsalesdata.html">second-class postage permits</a>. Second-class or periodical postage is a reduced rate that publishers can use to save on the cost of mailing to recipients. Rather than apply for new permits every time they tested a new title, comics publishers would simply alter a failing title while retaining the issue numbering in order to keep using the preexisting permit. To comics historians, this is a telltale sign that the industry is undergoing a sudden change. </p>
<p>One striking example of this is when comics publisher Fawcett ended its failing superhero comic “<a href="https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=72086">Captain Midnight</a>” in 1948 with issue #67 and launched its new title, “<a href="https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=63254">Sweethearts</a>,” in issue #68. In this case, the death of a superhero comic became the birth of a romance comic. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315086/original/file-20200212-61912-e6lwjk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315086/original/file-20200212-61912-e6lwjk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315086/original/file-20200212-61912-e6lwjk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315086/original/file-20200212-61912-e6lwjk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315086/original/file-20200212-61912-e6lwjk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=651&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315086/original/file-20200212-61912-e6lwjk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=651&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315086/original/file-20200212-61912-e6lwjk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=651&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Issue #3 of ‘Bride’s Romances’ (Quality Comics, 1953).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gary Lee Watson Comic Book Collection, Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, University of South Carolina Libraries</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>With so many new titles flooding newsstands and department stores, the bubble was bound to burst. In what comic book historian Michelle Nolan <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ndJ7BwAAQBAJ&lpg=PR4&ots=e23lp1L4DI&dq=Nolan%2C%20Michelle%20(2008).%20Love%20on%20the%20Racks%3A%20A%20History%20of%20American%20Romance%20Comics.%20McFarland%20%26%20Company%2C%20Inc.&pg=PA62#v=onepage&q&f=false">has dubbed</a> “the love glut,” 1950 and 1951 witnessed a rapid boom and bust of the romance genre. Many romance titles were canceled by the mid-1950s, even as stalwarts of the genre, such as “Young Romance,” remained in print into the mid-1970s. </p>
<p>There was the brief popularity of the sub-genre of gothic romance comics in the 1970s – series with names like “The Sinister House of Secret Love” and “The Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love.” But romance comics would never approach their brief, postwar peak.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315111/original/file-20200212-61966-vvwu6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315111/original/file-20200212-61966-vvwu6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315111/original/file-20200212-61966-vvwu6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315111/original/file-20200212-61966-vvwu6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315111/original/file-20200212-61966-vvwu6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=696&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315111/original/file-20200212-61966-vvwu6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=696&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315111/original/file-20200212-61966-vvwu6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=696&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gothic romances – like this issue of ‘The Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love’ – had a brief run in the 1970s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gary Lee Watson Comic Book Collection, Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, University of South Carolina Libraries</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A brief boom, an enduring influence</h2>
<p>Among collectors, issues of romance comics are less sought after than those of other genres. For this reason, they tend to go under the radar.</p>
<p>Romance comics, however, featured work by pioneering artists like <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/real-life-comic-book-superhero-74267">Lily Renée</a> and <a href="https://www.twomorrows.com/media/MattBakerPreview.pdf">Matt Baker</a>, both of whom worked on first issue of “Teen-Age Romances” in 1949. </p>
<p>Baker is the first-known black artist to work in the comic book industry and Renée was one of comics’ first female artists. Prior to working on “Teen-Age Romances,” they both drew “<a href="https://www.goodgirlcomics.com/good-girl-history/">good girl art</a>” – a set of artistic tropes borrowed from pinups and pulp magazines – for several titles. Their work in both genres exemplifies how earlier pulp magazine themes of desire and seduction could readily be applied to newer genres. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315090/original/file-20200212-61912-w4chvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315090/original/file-20200212-61912-w4chvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315090/original/file-20200212-61912-w4chvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315090/original/file-20200212-61912-w4chvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315090/original/file-20200212-61912-w4chvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315090/original/file-20200212-61912-w4chvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1125&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315090/original/file-20200212-61912-w4chvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1125&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315090/original/file-20200212-61912-w4chvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1125&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘But He’s the Boy I Love’ was one of the few romance comic to feature black characters.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gary Lee Watson Comic Book Collection, Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, University of South Carolina Libraries</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After the “love glut,” sub-genre mashups nonetheless emerged. For example, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ndJ7BwAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA86#v=onepage&q&f=false">cowboy romances</a> were briefly popular. Later, in response to the civil rights movement, Marvel published the 1970 story “<a href="https://truelovecomicstales.blogspot.com/2016/02/our-love-story-but-hes-boy-i-love.html">But He’s the Boy I Love</a>,” which was the first story in a romance comic to feature African-American characters since Fawcett’s three-issue run of “<a href="https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=360151">Negro Romance</a>” in 1950. </p>
<p>Even after romance comics largely fell out of fashion, the genre’s visual tropes and narrative themes became more prevalent during what’s known as the “<a href="https://www.cosmiccomics.vegas/latest-news/the-history-of-silver-age-comic-books/">Silver Age</a>,” a superhero revival that lasted from 1956 to 1970. Titles such as “Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane” often borrowed heavily from romance for their plots to generate intrigue and tension in the hopes of driving up sales. </p>
<p>Issue 89, in which Lois marries Bruce Wayne, is a prime example of such marketing techniques. Issues such as these were often situated as “what if” narratives that offered readers speculative story lines, such as “What if Lois Lane married Bruce Wayne?” Though they’re generally thought of as separate from the superhero canon, these love stories show that comic book writers had internalized the main narrative techniques of romance comics even if the genre itself was in decline. </p>
<p>But other comics didn’t merely use romantic themes for the occasional gimmick issue. Instead, they made the love lives of their characters a central plot point and a fundamental aspect of their characters’ identities. Comics such as the “Fantastic Four” and the “X-Men” rely heavily on the heated emotions and jealousies found in group dynamics and love triangles.</p>
<p>Take Wolverine. Presumably tough and stoic, he’s so enamored of Jean Grey – and so envious of her love interest, Scott Summers – that you could argue that unrequited love is one of his primary motivations throughout the series.</p>
<p>Thanks to romance comics, even stoic superheroes got bitten by the love bug.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael C. Weisenburg does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>During the ‘love glut,’ roughly 1 in 5 of all comic books were romance comics, as publishers scrambled to appease readers’ appetites for scandalous storylines.Michael C. Weisenburg, Reference & Instruction Librarian at Irvin Department of Rare Books & Special Collections, University of South CarolinaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.