Abstract: Throughout history, visualizations have played a central role in articulating scientific ideas and innovation. Even though technological systems and tools enables scientists to explore increasingly more ‘abstract’ scientific domains, sometimes traditional visualization techniques are no longer adequate to guide our understanding. Analogies and conceptual metaphors have often been highlighted as a key component of scientific thinking, especially when dealing with intangible entities and phenomena. In particular, visual metaphors, such as those found in comics, seem uniquely suited to illustrate complex scientific phenomena and promote public understanding of science. This article draws an analogy between microscopes and an imaginary metaphorical apparatus, in order to explore the potential (and limitations) of visual metaphors in scientific research. Published on 2018-10-10 13:40:43
Abstract: This review probes On Comics and Legal Aesthetics – Multimodality and the Haunted Mask of Knowing by Thomas Giddens (Routledge, 2018). The book explores the unique ways in which comics – with their hybridized text and images – can augment the ways we come to know of law’s rationality. This review explains the primary methodologies that Giddens utilizes such as highlighting the strict rationality of legal texts and their chaotic edges through comics narratives. It concludes with a warm endorsement of this deeply intellectual contribution to comics studies. Published on 2018-10-09 09:22:37
Abstract: In this article we argue that the comics grid, the array of panels, can be understood as a specific technology of ‘revealing’ through ‘enframing’ and as such is the key element in comics technology. We propose Martin Heidegger’s conceptual framework (Gestell: literally, ‘the framework’), primarily discussed in his 1954 essay ‘The Question Concerning Technology’ (1982) as a strategy that can be used to engage critically with panel layout in graphic narratives, concluding that the role of the grid in comics and the way that new technologies put that grid to work both in the production and consumption of comics means that comics embody the relationship between technology, storytelling and materiality. In an age in which most of the screens that dominate our information-filled lives are rectangular, we argue that the purpose of the grid is to manage a potentially overwhelming sublime space. Published on 2018-09-24 13:43:00
Abstract: Stephen Tabachnick’s edited collection The Cambridge Companion to the Graphic Novel (2017) is reviewed in light of the graphic novel’s relevance for contemporary literary studies. This review gives a special focus to the terminological debate surrounding the term ‘graphic novel’ and what that debate can mean for the field of literary studies as a whole. Published on 2018-09-19 12:45:52
Abstract: This article draws on comics studies, autobiography theory, and feminist theory to explore two autographics by the late Québecoise cartoonist Geneviève Castrée (1981–2016) and their mobilization online by a bereaved comics community. The article begins with Castrée’s Susceptible (2012), a graphic memoir of coming-of-age in a dysfunctional family in 1980s Québec. By focusing on lettering, layouts, and the braided motif of the bed, I show that Castrée draws her maternal home as a conflicted space of both anxiety and security. This analysis extends to Castrée’s 2015 series of self-portraits, ‘Blankets Are Always Sleeping,’ in order to reflect on the complex figure of the Sad Girl as a sign of gendered resistance. After her untimely death, images of the sleeping cartoonist were mobilized on social media by bereaved fans. I argue that this digital circulation inevitably simplified and sentimentalized her autographic persona, as the remediation of her self-portraits online transferred their signification from individual expression to communal grief. The article concludes with two graphic elegies posted online by Diane Obomsawin and Vanessa Davis in the week after Castrée’s death to consider her posthumous place amongst North American female cartoonists. Published on 2018-09-18 10:57:48
Abstract: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has been around since the 1930’s, yet it is still associated with passionate controversy. A large contributing factor to the current perception of ECT include the negative and grossly inaccurate portrayals in various forms of media. Through a literature review, the mechanisms, safety, efficacy, and side effects of the therapy are presented in a graphic narrative. Using both words and art to present a more accurate and holistic depiction of ECT, it was decided to use this visual medium so that the information could be accessed by a wide range of readers and counter incorrect depictions. In particular, this narrative could be read by individuals who are interested in learning more about ECT or are considering the treatment, allowing this comic to be a tool to help others make informed decisions. The findings from the review suggest that while the mechanism of action has still yet to be elucidated for ECT, it is an effective treatment in certain severe psychiatric illnesses. Specifically, it can improve symptoms and the quality of life of patients, especially for those who may be resistant to pharmacotherapy. Published on 2018-09-13 12:16:37
Abstract: This is an interview with renowned comics creator Hannah Berry, creator of Britten and Brülightly, Adamtine, and Livestock (all Jonathan Cape). It was recorded at the first annual conference of the Graphic Justice Research Alliance: Graphic Justice Discussions 2017, hosted by St Mary’s University on 4–5 July 2017. The interview was a plenary session at this conference, and was subsequently transcribed into text. In it, Berry discusses the various relationships between her creative comics work and her perspectives on law, the legal system, responsibility, politics, and social justice, as well as her creative practice and approach to comics production, and the general value of comics as an art-form. Published on 2018-07-02 12:01:35
Abstract: This article documents a selection of scholarly books received by The Comics Grid: Journal of Comics Scholarship during the 2017–2018 editorial year and notes them briefly, collating their metadata and publisher’s blurbs, as well as hyperlinks to the respective publisher’s web pages for each book. This round-up seeks to promote awareness of these recent publications within comics scholarship, and to encourage their acquisition by academic libraries, academic review and, if appropriate, inclusion in syllabi. Published on 2018-06-29 12:54:00
Abstract: This article explores the role of conceptual proximity as a parameter of salience in visual metonymies. The study discusses visual metonymy as a type of conceptual metonymy understood as a way of referring to one concept (the target) via another concept (the vehicle; cf. Lakoff and Johnson 1980, Radden and Kövecses 1999). The vehicle and the target are connected through a contiguity relation salient in a given context. A formal framework is developed for describing such salient contiguities and the key hypothesis is that the salience effect is determined largely by the conceptual distance between the target and the vehicle within a network of available contiguity relations. For example, when a musical note (the vehicle) is used in graphic narrative to refer metonymically to a melody (the target), the note is selected for the vehicle, because there is low conceptual distance between the two concepts. Published on 2018-06-26 15:44:36
Abstract: By launching in 1938 a series of adaptations of folktales in comics form, Thai cartoonist Prayoon Chanyawongse established the Cartoon Likay genre which places the reader as a member of an audience attending a Likay performance. The local theatrical form frames his graphic narratives where scenes of a play performed on a stage continuously alternate with sequences taking place in the vast realms of epics set in the Ayutthaya period. By introducing key Likay conventions such as recurring humorous interruptions and asides, Chanyawongse could effectively address contemporary social issues and political topics within traditional folktales. This paper explores several Cartoon Likay narratives in the context of the Likay theatrical form and the local folktale repertoire to discuss the nature and development of Chanyawongse’s signature comics genre. Published on 2018-06-01 13:01:42
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