{"title":"Sensational comics: erotic comics, women, and popular subjectivity in neoliberal Mexico","authors":"R. Medina, Ana Lilia Nieto Camacho","doi":"10.1080/21504857.2023.2200959","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21504857.2023.2200959","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Adding to the extant literature literature, we propose to approach Mexican comics as literary objects within which sociopolitical, economic and cultural processes of Mexican society are expressed. Instead of focusing on Golden and Silver Age Historietas or contemporary artistic and/or politically aware creations, we address the popular eighties’ erotic Sensacionales. Drawing on literary theory and interviews with cartoonists cartoonists, we argue that these comics enable us to understand how changes in gender, class and racial/ethnic relationships in Neoliberal Mexico are symbolically elaborated around female’s body and desire, displacing them into arousing narratives about sexually insatiable women.","PeriodicalId":53588,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47813956","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Three graphic memoirs and the “family mind” in action","authors":"Danielle Terceiro","doi":"10.1080/21504857.2023.2195674","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21504857.2023.2195674","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article looks at three graphic memoirs and considers the specific ways in which the comic medium allows for the representation of complex and non-verbal interactions between the members of a family. The selected texts show how the sequencing of panels in a comic can depict the unspoken affects that circulate within a family unit. The comic medium seems to be apt for representing the distributed consciousness of a family, and also for splintering a character temporally so that older and younger versions of the character can be put into dialogue with each other in a family context.","PeriodicalId":53588,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43995302","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Behold the Virago: Iconography of goddess Kali and body politics in Someday by Samidha Gunjal","authors":"Aishwarya Katyal, N. Jain","doi":"10.1080/21504857.2023.2197246","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21504857.2023.2197246","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Based on the theme of sexual predation and violence, Samidha Gunjal’s short story Someday, anthologised in Drawing the Line (2015), is a visual narration of a well-dressed woman walking through an urban landscape. During her journey, she is subjected to sexual harassment as she gets catcalled and whistled at by the men around her. Eventually, she arrives at a place depicted as an all-male terrain that transforms into a realm of predators as the men metamorphosize into rapacious beings with egregious physiognomy. Overwhelmed by these men who grow into enormous predators, the woman shrinks into nothingness and is eventually rendered invisible. At this juncture, when her sexual harassment escalates, the woman, too, undergoes a transmutation and emerges as goddess Kali to overthrow her abusers. While deploying the theories propounded by stalwarts including Foucault, Goffman, McCloud, and Chute, this paper attempts to decode Gunjal’s visual narrative to understand its radical feminist stance. It undertakes a critical exposition of the representation of violent (vagina dentata) and non-violent (naked protest) modes of resistance and how the iconography of goddess Kali embedded in its visuals challenges despotic patriarchal constructions that render women powerless.","PeriodicalId":53588,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44270840","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Comics Form: The Art of Sequenced Images","authors":"Richard Reynolds","doi":"10.1080/21504857.2023.2197247","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21504857.2023.2197247","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53588,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics","volume":"14 1","pages":"748 - 750"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44734021","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Youth in peril: representation of vulnerability of young people in doga comic books","authors":"Pritesh Chakraborty","doi":"10.1080/21504857.2023.2194664","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21504857.2023.2194664","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The paper analyses the susceptibility of the youths against political-religious polarisations as presented in the Indian (Hindi) superhero comic books. The focus will be on the character, Doga (Raj comics) as he appears in the comics from 1996 to 2019. This analysis will be carried out within the framework of deconstruction applied via political discourse analysis. The paper will read these titles - Doga Hindu Hai (Doga is Hindu) series, Doga ko Gado (Bury Doga) etc. These texts deal with political issues that are coloured with religious tones portraying situations in which youths usually go astray. However, the response of the protagonist to these challenges, channelises these discontents sometimes through his own example and sometimes through appeal and yet sometimes through use of force, into positive outcomes. These artistic responses offer both the wish fulfilment to mitigate the atmosphere of peril and incites alternate reactions to the quotidian (and generally political) answers. The paper is divided into the following sections – No country for the young, Comics and crisis, People and publication, Origins, Politics and youth delinquency, Poverty and delinquency, Catch ‘em Young, Colours of riot, Dalit and Doga and conclusion.","PeriodicalId":53588,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43433927","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Editorial","authors":"J. Ormrod, W. Grady","doi":"10.1080/21504857.2023.2218225","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21504857.2023.2218225","url":null,"abstract":"This editorial contextualizes the main themes covered in the articles of this Special Issue ‘Fashioning Girlhood across the Media in the Mid-Twentieth Century’. The themes involve the real and imagined experiences of girlhood, from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. The influence of Angela McRobbie on research in girls’ culture runs through many of the articles. McRobbie worked with girls’ magazines and comics to analyse how they might have impacted on girls’ consumption of popular culture. The articles in this issue analyse the significance of cross media promotion in the ways girlhood is experienced and reflected in film, fashion and stardom. The issue contains articles offering new insights about Jackie magazine, representations of the ballet body in girls comics and film, Vogue Italia covers and female Bollywood stars.","PeriodicalId":53588,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics","volume":"14 1","pages":"333 - 335"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44386060","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Anthologising COVID: an Interview with Kendra Boileau and Michael Green","authors":"Ishan Joshi, S. Venkatesan","doi":"10.1080/21504857.2023.2190146","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21504857.2023.2190146","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic is undoubtedly one of the most significant bio-socio-economic crisis of the early 21st century. Amid the fear, anger, hope, anxiety, disorientation, and uncertainty of the times, Graphic Mundi published COVID Chronicles: A Comics Anthology (2021), and Distant Connections published a comic series titled The Lockdown Lowdown. COVID Chronicles, edited by Kendra Boileau and Rich Johnson, includes 64 mini-comics from 70 contributors and offers an insight into the various lived experiences of the pandemic. Similarly, The Lockdown Lowdown series comprising of two zines and a special issue (on women and COVID-19), features artists from diverse backgrounds and geographical locations (such as Europe, the USA, and China), exploring the challenges and possibilities within the new normal. Taking these cues, Kendra Boileau and Michael Green share their experience of anthologising COVID comics through an email interview. The interview is divided into two parts. In Part A, titled ‘Suddenly our world changed completely,’ Boileau and Green answer questions common to both of them, and in Part B, titled ‘When can we give grandad a hug?’ they answer questions specific to the anthologies in discussion while also giving the reader a peek into their creative/editorial processes.","PeriodicalId":53588,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44819089","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Of comics and dementia: an interview with Nigel Baines, Rebecca Roher, and Liza Futerman","authors":"Laboni Das, S. Venkatesan","doi":"10.1080/21504857.2023.2190145","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21504857.2023.2190145","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53588,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41402847","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Spirou in the Congo: colonial racism and civilising mission in journal de Spirou 1938-1960","authors":"R. Aman","doi":"10.1080/21504857.2023.2178474","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21504857.2023.2178474","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article situates Journal de Spirou and its flagship title in the context of Belgium’s imperial history. It examines pro-empire messages in the magazine from the inaugural issue in 1938 up to the independence of the Congo in 1960. The magazine is one of Europe’s most successful, and the bellboy whose name is on the cover has evolved into a true icon of Franco – Belgian comics. Less known is the role Spirou played in promoting the colonial idea to its readers during the decades coinciding with Belgium’s overseas rule. In contrast to rival Tintin, who only went to the colony once, the Congo becomes Spirou’s most frequent itinerary. Throughout Belgium’s colonial period, Spirou makes use of dehumanising depictions of black Africans; depictions that affirm a message of white supremacy embedded in the storylines. In short, both the famous bellboy and the magazine carrying his name position themselves as significant actors in the field of bande dessinée in terms of providing justifications for colonialism.","PeriodicalId":53588,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43217873","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}