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
Abstract: This essay compiles a range of 40 graphic narratives in order to identify and categorize the ways in which artists visually differentiate individual panels from other panels within page layouts. By differentiating or accenting a panel, creators give the accented panel’s story content greater value relative to other story content depicted on the same page. This essay explores the eight most common methods. Published on 2018-05-25 12:38:26
Abstract: A Theory of Narrative Drawing, by Simon Grennan, Palgrave Macmillan; XII, 277 pages, 16 b/w illustrations, 10 illustrations in colour; eBook ISBN 978-1-137-51844-6; DOI : https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51844-6; Hardcover ISBN 978-1-137-52165-1 This review in graphic form responds to Simon Grennan’s 2017 monograph ‘A Theory of Narrative Drawing’, describing its form and key ideas, and commenting on its contribution to the field, whilst enacting the graphic mark-making which is its focus. The review concludes that though some more framing material would have been useful for readers, the book repays a second reading and makes an invaluable contribution to the view of comics as an active process of meaning-making. Published on 2018-03-26 17:58:09
Abstract: The three Newcastle Science Comic anthologies – Science FACT-ion, Asteroid Belter, and Spineless – contain 63 pages of original comics by 84 contributors, as collaborations between science researchers and comics creators. They form a total of 30,000 printed copies and three digital editions, all free to read.This article in comics form (1) tells the story of the Newcastle Science Comic project with insights into the process of making these collaborative comics, which included not only institutional support from Newcastle University 2012–2016 but also individual and collective interest in research-comics collaborations; (2) explores what it means to meaningfully evaluate a science comic, and presents qualitative and quantitative evidence for the success of these anthologies with a focus on readers’ responses to the comics; (3) uses the Generic Learning Outcomes (GLOs) framework (Research Centre for Museums and Galleries 2003) to provide a shared language for comics readers, comics creators, and research/heritage institutions to evaluate the success of this applied comics project.Findings are presented in two stages: first an ad-hoc evaluation of Asteroid Belter as a practice-led project, then main findings from a qualitative questionnaire (n = 77) using GLOs to ask readers what they remembered, liked about, and learned from Spineless. Responses show readers’ interest in the science content and/or the comics form, and in the combination of content and form as science comics.Although other frameworks and other data collection methods might gather richer data, this use of GLOs supported an initial exploration of readers’ feedback on science comics using shared and accessible language. This is in keeping with our editorial team’s progression from making science comics to see if we could, to a more systematic approach to planning, delivering, and meaningfully evaluating large-scale comics projects for public engagement with science research and in museum contexts. Published on 2018-03-20 13:34:02
Abstract: As many as half of the new teachers who begin each year will leave either the school or the profession of teaching within five years. In underperforming districts and in schools with low resources, the retention among teachers is even worse (Ingersoll, 2010; Ingersoll & May, 2011). This comic examines a group of early career teachers; their experiences demonstrate the challenges and opportunities that are the reality for many new teachers entering high needs schools. The major themes that were uncovered included culture, success and failures, and work satisfaction. We conclude that the use of the comic representation is important in conveying the thoughts and feelings of these teachers. Published on 2018-03-20 13:26:33
Abstract: The word ‘innovative’ and its lexical field of novelty are often used to market digital comics. This obsession with everything new implies a specific link to the past. Anything which breaks with prior methods or forms of graphic creation becomes innovative. However, the formal evolution of French digital comics does not match with this linear pattern of innovation. This paper presents an analysis of the idea of innovation in relation to the long-term history of French digital comics creation. Whilst the technical means of graphic creation have improved since the 1980s, does that necessarily mean that the form and aesthetics of digital comics have evolved simultaneously' What is the role played by traditional printed comics in the aesthetic evolution of digital comics' Starting with the 1990s, it is not the potentiality but the reality of technological innovation that we will try to understand through time. Published on 2018-03-20 12:29:33
Abstract: The practice of coding directly confronts the comics creator with digital technology in a way that can prove fruitful for the making and understanding of digital comics. This paper presents a personal critical reflection on the author’s own creative practice, addressing three theoretical and practical issues that mark the relationship between coding, interface and narrative in the creation of digital comics: the writing of the interface, the critical approach to the digital tool, and the inscription of the ‘reader-actor’ into the interface of the digital text. Published on 2018-02-14 15:21:34
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