"Comix in an Authoritarian Age: What Graphic Novels Can Tell us About Democracy"

This Roundtable discussion will make connections between the production, selling, and reading of graphic novels (comics), a frequently subversive and sometimes undervalued genre, and the current political climate. As an underground genre now finding a wider audience and greater recognition, comics and graphic novels provide a crucial vantage point on ongoing negotiations of democracy. The combination of visual and verbal media in comics and graphic novels allows for a variety of political and aesthetic interventions while also reaching an audience sometimes excluded from establishment political debates.

 

The panel will feature Drs Daniel Hannah and Judith Leggatt and a research assistant/undergraduate student, McKenna Boeckner, all from the English department. They will present their ongoing research on “Social Media and Political Disengagement in Comics,” “The Political Work of Indigenous Graphic Novels,” and “They Made Iceman Gay”: Homosexuality as a “Politically Loaded Subject" in Marvel Comics Fandom," respectively. The panel will also include Laura Prinselaar from the Thunder Bay Public Library to discuss the Library’s graphic novel collection, and a local graphic novel writer Merk (Christopher Merkley).