andreagilroy

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Oscar Wilde can’t tell us with words that Dorian Gray is a full out twink so he compares him to Ganymede and Antinous and hopes we know enough Roman gay history to understand.

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*face palm and leaves*

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In this week’s episode, I talk about Underground Comix, an artistic movement spawned by the social upheaval of the 1950s and 1960s. Next week, I’ll talk about some of the artists in a little more details--in this video, I focus on history and context.

Research, useful sites, etc:

READ: Two books I found really useful in researching for this piece were Rebel Visions: The Underground Comix Revolution by Patrick Rosenkranz and Underground Classics: The Transformation of Comics Into Comix by Denis Kitchen and James Danky. Both include voices from members of the movement as well as great illustrations and scans.

VISIT: If you happen to live near San Luis Obispo, CA; Columbia, MO; or  Spokane, WA you’re in luck! Cal Poly holds the Moore Collection of Underground Comics, featuring hundreds of original comix, posters, adverts, and catalogs. The University of Missouri has Frank Stack’s papers, including letters between himself and other comix artists--as well as comix. Washington State University holds Lynn Hansen’s HUGE Underground comix collection, which also includes zines, mini comics, and micro comics.

CHECK OUT: Comix Joint has a huge collection of notes about and reviews of underground comix (the top of the page is the navigation...search by title)

PROSECUTE: Learn more about the obscenity cases I discuss (as well as newer ones), thanks to CBLDF (a program Denis Kitchen helped found)

WATCH: Learn a little more about US counterculture in the 1960s in this great little It’s History video.

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Anything by Flannery O’Connor, possibly America’s greatest writer of the 20th century. She primarily wrote short stories, and they’re devastating

an incomplete list of unsettling short stories I read in textbooks

the scarlet ibis

marigolds

the diamond necklace

the monkey’s paw

the open boat

the lady and the tiger

the minister’s black veil

an occurrence at owl creek bridge

a rose for emily

(I found that one by googling “short story corpse in the house,” first result)

the cask of amontillado

the yellow wallpaper

the most dangerous game

a good man is hard to find

some are well-known, some obscure, some I enjoy as an adult, all made me uncomfortable between the ages of 11-15

add your own weird shit, I wanna be literary and disturbed

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There’s been a lot of talk about diversity and comics lately, or comics and politics. Here’s the fact: Comics have always been political. 

Case in point: in this week’s Comics Crash Course, I discuss the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency and the establishment of the Comics Code Authority. I particularly tell the story of CCA Judge Charles Murphy banning “Judgment Day,” an explicitly anti-racist story from 1953. 

The Code itself was a political move; the reason politics SEEMS absent from many comics in the mid-1950s is because it was purposely removed. This was, of course, a political move on the part of the CCA (and even influenced by the federal government via the Senate Subcommittee)

The Code wasn't just about Wertham's kooky ideas in Seduction of the Innocent, it was about making sure all comics upheld 1950s values regarding respect for government, police, and parents; "family values" in regards to sexuality and marriage; etc etc. That's politics.

Politics in comics manifests in absence (especially when via its suppression) and presence. EC Comics and the establishment of the Comics Code only further proves comics has been a particularly political (and politically fraught) medium since the beginning.

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What a find! The pages of deconstructed, hollow Thing are heart-wrenching. Thanks to @joekeatinge for the twitter link.

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I posted the video yesterday but am late in announcing it! In this week’s video, I discuss one of the flash points of comics history in the US: the moral panic against comics, which culminates in Frederic Wertham’s famous book, Seduction of the Innocent.

There’s a ton of information online if you’d like to dive deeper into information about the moral panic. 

Here’s an article in the NYT summarizing Dr. Carol Tilley’s research about the flaws in Frederic Wertham’s research, as well as a few others’ findings. 

Here’s a link to a lecture from Dr. Christopher Pizzino regarding his research about Robert Peebles, the Polo Grounds murder, and Wertham’s misuse of the case.

The Web’s Original Seduction of the Innocent Site doesn’t have the most up-to-date web design, but it has a lot of information about the specific comics Wertham discussed in the book, different editions of the book, as well as its impact, etc.

I showed a short clip from the Confidential File on Horror Comics from October 9, 1955. Click the link to watch the whole episode on YouTube...it will give you a really great sense of the rhetoric at work in the 1950s. 

However, Bart Beatty works to address a more balanced view on Wertham’s ideas in his book, Frederic Wertham and the Critique of Mass Culture. While I still fall on the anti-Wertham side, I think Beatty raises some really important points.

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COMICS CRASH COURSE - EPISODE 8 is LIVE!

In this week’s episode I explore the genres outside of superhero books that helped make the Golden Age so very shiny. I spend a little extra time discussing the great forgotten genre of comic books, the romance comic.

ON THE GOLDEN AGE, GENERALLY

Collecting these books is out of the question for most of us, but there are a lot of great ways to read Golden Age material. One source I’ve frequently turned to is Comic Book Plus. Since most of the non-superhero books are now in the public domain, it’s safe to post them online...and that’s just what this site has done! The link I’ve provided goes to the “categories” page, which is a little bit of an easier way to start digging in. 

Pappy’s Golden Age Comic Blogzine is less an organized archive than Comic Book Plus, but still regularly posts covers and whole stories from Golden Age books. He’ll often work in theme, so there’ll be a period of war books, a period of horror, some romance, etc. Follow the tags and you’re sure to find great stuff!

Most histories of the Golden Age focus on the superheroes--that was where a lot of the most well-known artists were working and would be the main genres of the biggest surviving companies (DC and Marvel--though it was called Timely, then). A few good ones: Bradford Wright’s Comic Book Nation examines the role comic book industry has had in shaping youth culture. Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book by Gerard Jones is one of the most compelling re-tellings of the birth of the industry; as deeply researched as it is well-written. If you want some really nitty-gritty stuff, check out Ian Gordon’s Comic Strips and Consumer Culture, 1890-1945. 

ROMANCE COMICS

Oh man, there are a lot of great anthologies of classic romance comics! Start with Young Romance: The Best of Simon & Kirby’s Romance Comics, Love Without Tears: 50′s Romance Comics With A Twist, and Agonizing Love: The Golden Era of Romance Comics. These’ll get you going.

There are two great, accessible histories. The first, Love on the Racks: A History of American Romance Comics by Michelle Nolan, is an overview of the genre from the 40s to the 70s. The second, Confessions, Romances, Secrets, and Temptations: Archer St. John and the St. John Romance Comics, is a dive into St. John, a publisher that’s less widely known but highly regarded by romance comic fans as one of the best publishers in the history of the genre. The publisher was active primarily in the 1950s, so the book provides a closer look at the industry during the height of the genre.

Spend some time on Sequential Crush! This site focuses a bit more on 60s and 70s romance comics, but it’s a lot of fun.

MISCELLANY

I only briefly mentioned Carl Barks, but the man wrote A TON of Disney comics. He was lovingly called “The Good Duck Artist” by fans for many years. He’s a huge deal among comics aficionados, and rightly so. His work truly is lovely--the sort of comic book cartooning that makes drawing and storytelling look effortless and easy, but almost no one managed to match. This is an old website, and a little difficult to navigate, but it has tons of images to help give you an idea of his skill. Check out this beautiful essay written by Michael Barrier on the occasion of Barks’s 100th birthday. 

That’s it for this week. Have fun, and keep reading!

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Where We Are Going and Where We Have Been

My YouTube series, Comics Crash Course, is dedicated to helping fans and teachers learn more about comics: how they work, why they’re important, and what they can tell us about society and ourselves. The first series on the channel is an overview of the history of US comics--it starts with the prehistorical influences that inspired comics and will end in our current moment. The next series I have planned is an introduction to formal theory--how comics create meaning as a form. What else would you like to see? Ideally I’ll get to all of these, but I’d like to mix it up an gauge audience reactions.

Reblog or send a message! Some of the subjects I’ve been considering are:

A history of international traditions, particularly manga or bandes dessinees.

A “deep dive” into the history, themes, and issues of a particular genre or mode--for example, superhero comics or graphic memoirs.

A multi-part discussion of an important, “canonical” text

A “deep dive” (i.e. multiple episodes) into a particularly interesting or complex historical moment or important figure, like the War on Comics or George Herriman

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On My Life

Some of you know about this because we have discussed it in person, and others of you have probably assumed this was the case, but I thought it was time to publicly and explicitly discuss what’s going on with me regarding THE FUTURE when it comes to career options, particularly the dreaded tenure track. This’ll be long, I guess. Read at your own risk.

Simply and shortly, it has been three years and I have applied for nearly one hundred positions in areas such as media studies, visual studies, American studies, cultural studies, contemporary American literature, comparative literature, and, of course, the few comic studies positions that have come up. I have applied across the country and internationally. I received one request for more information. I have never been invited to even one first round interview.

I was the interim head of a program since graduation. In my graduate years, I organized events, including a pedagogy conference. I am a member of a board of a conference in my field. I have letters from three luminaries in my field, two from outside my institution. I have an impeccable teaching record. I have a publication; and in my last round, I had two publications under review. I have multiple conference appearances. I have a strong service record in and outside academia. I had peers and colleagues look over my materials at multiple stages. I admit I did not pay Karen Kelsky hundreds of dollars to look at them.

I admit that I have not applied for every available position. Shaun and I decided long ago that our quality of life meant we would not be willing to live just anywhere. I have not applied for any and every visiting position (though I have applied for many). I did not apply for every adjunct position. I have a hard time, at my age, imagining moving across the country every year for a one-year position only having to start over and do it all again.

I admit that I could be publishing more. I know this, but my focus has always been on teaching and working with my peers in the field, and I think my record reflects this. Unfortunately, in the era of metrics publications are all that matters. I had hoped the excellence in other areas could overcome this, and that the presence of publications and promise of more (there are more on the way, still!) would work. It did not.

So it came to this: I knew the market was affecting my mental health (and thus my physical health) in seriously negative ways. I was spiraling. I felt like I was doing everything right, but getting nowhere. I would see people who I thought I was as good as getting positions, and I didn’t understand it. I was questioning my worth not just as a scholar, but as a human. I have, since I started grad school, fiercely protected my moments of humanity. I have a husband. I get to spend time with him. I get to sleep. I get to be a person. No job should take that away, no matter how much I love it. (I mean, obviously there are crunch times, but, you know what I’m saying). So I realized that I had to step away.

I realized that I could still find ways to teach outside of the tenure track. It would be hard and different, but I could do it. That’s one reason I’ve started my YouTube channel. Not everyone gets access to Comics Studies 101 in college. Maybe they can online! I’m also hoping to find ways to work with teachers at all levels who hope to teach comics, to help them teach comics better. I know there’s a demand for this in a lot of middle and high school classrooms. I know, based on my experience at conventions, people outside the college classroom want to discuss comics and fandom in serious ways. Helping out with Miss Anthology has been one of the most enriching experiences of the past few years. I look forward to finding ways more to do this kind of work.

I have also, in some of my alternative positions, remembered my wealth of other skills. I am very good at administrative and organizational tasks. I am LOVING my current work as an associate curator on the Marvel Show opening soon at MoPop. I would love to continue exploring this, for sure!

For that last three years, I have been stringing together one-term or one-year gigs with the hope it might lead to something permanent. Now, I know it won’t. I can work temporary teaching gigs knowing it is on my terms. There are problems with the “gig economy” – a lot of them – but I am happier knowing that I am working in an uncertain world -on my terms- rather than chasing some imagined carrot that may never materialize.

We also really like it here in the PNW. And for someone wanting to be involved in the comics world, it’s the place to be. I like working with creators and creatives, with people working directly in publishing (maybe someday I’ll get involved in that, too). I hope to continue to teach in the classroom, too—there are, after all, two comics programs right nearby and I’m qualified…no other area in the nation can say that! I’m happy to pick up classes (I’ll be doing one this summer for UO, in fact). I’m not giving up on teaching, just on tenure-track academia.

Anyway, that’s where I’m at!

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Still on time for the east coast! In this episode, we look at some of the greats of the early years of newspaper comic strips--the Pioneers of the Funnies.

There’s a whole bunch of stuff out there on these artists--some easier to find than others. Enjoy looking around!

Books Worth Checking Out There are a lot of books on the subject, but these are the ones I like the best:

The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics, Bill Blackbeard

The Comics: Before 1945, Brian Walker

The Comics: An Illustrated History of Comic Strip Art, Jerry Robinson

The Art of the Funnies: An Aesthetic History, Robert C. Harvey

Krazy: George Herriman, a Life in Black and White, Michael Tisserand

Links Some of these are informational, some are links to image collections.

The AV Club’s Primer on Newspaper Comics: A grand primer! This goes beyond the early days discussed in this video, but is a good primer if you’re interested in the funny pages.

Obscure US Newspaper Comics: For every one strip that thrived during the Golden Age of Newspaper Strips, many more failed. The Lambiek Comiclopedia is a great source for tons of info, but this particular page is relevant to today’s interests.

San Francisco Academy of Comic Art Collection: Using the site takes a little getting used to, but there’s a great digitized collection of comic art here.

Comic Strip Library: This site has high-res images of Krazy Kat, Little Nemo, and Dream of the Rarebit Fiend.

Comics Kingdom Vintage: King Features is the syndicate that’s home to Bringing Up Father, Krazy Kat, The Katzenjammer Kids, and The Little King. They have samples of each strip available to read.

Mutt and Jeff: The Original Odd Couple: This article discusses Mutt and Jeff’s adaptation into animation and includes links to several videos

ComicArtFans: This is a place for comic art collectors to show off their collections (and sometimes sell them. Search by title and/or author to check out surviving original art. Examples of art by Tad Dorgan, Bud Fisher, George Herriman, Rudolph Dirks, George McManus, Frederick Burr Opper, and Winsor McCay have been posted!

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The comics have arrived! In this video we talk about the emergence of the modern comic strip in two places: Rodolphe Topffer's "histoires en images" and the newspaper funny pages!

On a trip this week, so not too much to add right now. I’m particularly proud of this one, we’re really getting into “my” territory. Next week will be exciting, too!

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EPISODE 3 - PRINT CULTURE GETS GOING

In today’s video we examine the birth of print culture. That means starting with Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press! There are a million videos of replicas of the Gutenberg press (we don’t actually have the plans of the original, so we don’t know exactly what it looked like!), but some of the best (imho) are here, here, and...if you have some time...here.

One of my biggest sources for this piece was David Kunzle’s The Early Comic Strip. It’s out of print and a bit difficult to get a hold of--but see if your library can get it for you. It’s full of fascinating stuff.

There’s a lot of information on the early British political cartoonists out there online. Here’s a nice introductory article. You can also browse the Library of Congress, which has a nice collection of these pieces.

One side story I didn’t tell was how caricature got a French cartoonist jailed.The magazine La Caricature was founded in 1830. The main author was a man names Charles Philipon, who was incredibly critical of King Louis-Philippe and frequently published illustrations making fun of the king. The most famous of these was an Honore Daumier piece based on one of Philipon’s own sketches that compared Louis-Philippe to a pear. 

The pear became a broader symbol of the breakdown of the king’s government. Between 1831 and 1835, the offices of the journal were seized by the government over a dozen times and Philipon himself spent at least a year in jail.

A bit light this week, but after recovering from illness next week, we’re getting back to it! See you then!

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My husband, Shaun, has been working on a webcomic for ages and it’s ready to be published! Support the dream, why dontcha?

Hey everybody! I rolled out the Wild Hunt Comic kickstarter today! You should check it out! You should back it! There’s a BOOK involved!