MAI Feminism & Visual Culture: Focus Issue Ten: Feminist Discourse in Comics & Graphic Novels

Misiak, Anna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7153-944X, Sadri, Houman ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7736-2494, Kahn, Ariel and Antola, Laura (2023) MAI Feminism & Visual Culture: Focus Issue Ten: Feminist Discourse in Comics & Graphic Novels. [Journal]

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Abstract / Summary

This issue shines the spotlight on feminist discourse in comics and graphic novels. As a medium, comics exist in a liminal space between literature and visual art. They tell stories that tend to unfold within the tension between words—or even lack thereof—and pictures. Unlike film or television, they allow us to follow their narratives at our chosen speed. Some argue that comics are the most versatile media because they represent the broadest of churches, from charcoal sketches to watercolour paintings, from newspaper strips and satirical cartoons to prestige hardback volumes (and all points in between).

Importantly, comics and graphic novels by female practitioners that approach themes of identity and belonging from a feminist or LGBTQ+ standpoint are central to the current resurgence of the medium. Whether fiction or autobiography, and across a wide range of genres, critiques of dominant patriarchal cultures are key to their narrative content, context, and structure.

Our authors speak of comics and graphic novels in the context of burningly relevant, global topics such as women in Iran, contemporary Arab feminism, abortion, and queer struggles. Next to it, we feature work looking at the Suffragettes, the 1990s Zine culture and an examination of alcohol use in one of the most popular Scandinavian comic series, to name but a handful.

Alongside critical reflection, we present creative submissions and interviews with comics practitioners. For example, Sarah Lightman offers watercolour depictions of Biblical women escaping historical paintings only to find themselves trapped in the modern miasma of Covid lockdowns. Sydney Heifler’s graphic project explores post-rape PTSD, and Miki Shaw uses her creative practice to debate the realities of parenting. These pieces sit alongside illuminating conversations with such figures as Mariko Tamaki, Jiipu Uusitalo, Bishakh Som, and Ana Penyas.

Elsewhere in this issue, we feature an appraisal of Marie Kreutzer’s celebrated 2022 film Corsage, a timely and sobering conversation with director Irina Tsilyk on the subject of filming on the frontline of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, and and a breath-taking and ambitious creative and critical hybrid interpretation of the sick lives and works of Bessie Bruce and Cookie Mueller, which activates loving epistolary exchanges across time to theorise letter writing as feminist care.

The presented collection of work was compiled and edited by a team led by Houman Sadri that included Ariel Kahn (Middlesex University), Laura Antola (University of Turku) and Anna Misiak. It was commissioned at the height of the pandemic, taking shape during a difficult and tumultuous time for everyone. Yet, our contributors and guest editors’ commitment and perseverance have been inspirational.

Item Type:	Journal
ISSN:	2003-167x
Subjects:	Creative Art & Design Film & Television Literature
Courses by Department:	The School of Film & Television
Depositing User:	Anna Misiak
Date Deposited:	18 Dec 2024 10:01
Last Modified:	18 Dec 2024 10:01
URI:	https://repository.falmouth.ac.uk/id/eprint/5857

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