Book Project: “Telling Stories without Words: Visual Communication in Silent Comics”
Eric Drooker’s Blood Song (2002) and Shaun Tan’s The Arrival (2006) both tell complex stories—of violence and alienation, of immigrant experiences—and communicate an array of sensory and emotional experience, without the use of text beyond their titles. In doing so, they participate in a broad tradition of wordless graphic storytelling. I began research on this project with a SSHRC-funded Postdoctoral Fellowship at Ryerson University.
This project challenges the established notion that the comics form must involve the combination of words and images. By isolating the “visual track” of graphic narration, the texts I study create narratives that transcend linguistic boundaries, and so constitute a literary genre uniquely open to cross-cultural reading and interpretation. This study builds a novel theoretical framework blending semiological and narratological methodologies, illuminating the aesthetics of silent comics as a genre. I address this genre historically, tracing its development from the 19th century to the present, and look comparatively at comics from North America, Europe, and Asia, while readings of the social themes of these works engage theories of urban and visual culture, and gender.
Books
Narrative Structure in Comics: Making Sense of Fragments. Rochester, NY: Rochester Institute of Technology Press, 2013.
Book Chapters
“The Visual Culture of Comics in the Last Half of the 19thCentury: Comics without Words.” Transforming Anthony Trollope: Dispossession, Victorianism and 19th century Word and Image. Ed. Laurence Grove and Simon Grennan. Leuven: Leuven UP, 2015. 131-147.
“Silent Comics.” The Routledge Companion to Comics and Graphic Novels. Ed. Frank Bramlett, Roy T. Cook and Aaron Meskin. New York: Routledge. 15p. Accepted by the editors September 8, 2014.
“Literary Theory/Narrative Theory.”The Routledge Handbook of the Secret Origins of Comics Studies. Ed. Matthew J. Smith and Randy Duncan. 15 p. Submitted July 2015.
Articles
“Establishing Relations: Photography in Wordless Comics.” The Narrative Functions of Photography in Comics. Spec. issue of Image and Narrative 16.2 (2015): 84-95.
“Following the Pictures: Wordless Comics forChildren.” Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics 5.3 (2014): 311-322.
“Draw a Thousand Words: Signification and Narration in Comics Images.” International Journal of Comic Art 9.1(2007): 487-501.
“Memories that Don't Weaken: Seth and Walter Benjamin.” International Journal of Comic Art 6.2 (2004): 266-272.
Encyclopedia Entries
“Blankets”; “Castle Waiting”; “Children’s Comics”; “First Second Books”; “Gloeckner, Phoebe”; “It’s a Good Life, If You Don’t Weaken”; “Medley, Linda”; “Playboy, The”; “Summer of Love, The”; “Top Shelf Productions”. Comics Through Time: A Historical Encyclopedia, Volume 4. Ed. M.Keith Booker. New York: Greenwood Press, 2014.
“Dear Julia (Biggs, Brian)”; “Night Fisher (R. Kikuo Johnson)”; “Robot Dreams (Sara Varon).” Graphic Novels: Reference Encyclopedia. Ed. Bart H. Beaty and Stephen Weiner. Ipswich, MA: H.W. Wilson / EBSCO Publishing, 2011.
Reviews and Other
"Take This Waltz: Review of The Wordless Leonard Cohen Songbook by George A. Walker." Strip Gids 40 (2015): 92.
“Men’s Comics are from Mars, Women’s Comics are from Venus: A Visual Exploration.” Interplanetary Journal of Comic Art: A Festschrift for John Lent. Raleigh, N.C.: Lulu, 2007. 41-46.
Exhibition Review. “Present Tense. Contemporary Project Series No. 31: Seth.” International Journal of Comic Art 8.1 (2006): 589-591.
Selected Conference Presentations
“Comics Diplomacy: Using Genre for Cultural Positioning.” Politics of Attachment: Amsterdam School of Cultural Analysis Annual Conference. University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands. March 27, 2015.
“Exploring the Family Comics Genre.” Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture since 1900. University of Louisville, Louisville, KY. February 22, 2014.
“Making Them Speak Without Words: Character in Silent Comics.” Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association National Conference, Washington, DC. March 29, 2013.
“Illustration against Alienation? Comics Without Sequential Images.” New Narrative IV. University of Toronto, Toronto, ON. May 5, 2011.
“Personal Graphics: Working at the Limits ofthe Graphic Novel.” Modern Language Association (MLA) National Convention. Philadelphia, PA. December 29, 2009.
“‘Welcome toChickenopolis:’ The Urban Utopianism of Sara Varon’s Chicago.” International Comic Arts Forum. Schoolof the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL. October 9, 2008.
Plenary Talks and Roundtables
“Keynote Roundtable: Thresholds in the Humanities:Finding the Way Forward.” Intersections 2015| Thresholds: Presence, Absence, and Territory, Communication and Culture Graduate Conference, Ryerson and YorkUniversities. Toronto, ON. March 13, 2015.
“Comics TheoryRoundtable.” Modern Language Association(MLA) National Convention. Vancouver, BC. January 11, 2015.
“Comics Studies, theCritical Era.” Plenary Presentation. RockyMountain Conference on Comics and Graphic Novels. Denver Comic Con, Denver,CO. June 13, 2014.
“Draw a ThousandWords: Signification and Narration in Comics Images.” John A. Lent AwardLecture. International Comic Arts Forum.Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. October 13, 2006.
Conferences and Events Organized
Co-organizer (with J. Andrew Deman). Canadian Society for the Study of Comics Annual Conference. Toronto, ON. May 7-8, 2015.
“Twelve-Cent Archie: America’s Most Iconic Teenagers in Comics.” Lecture by Bart Beaty. MLC Research Centre, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON. December 8, 2014.
“The Brinkley Girls, World War I, and American Patriotism in Comics.” Lecture by Trina Robbins. MLC Research Centre, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON. May 8, 2014.
Online Activity
"Why Don't Comics Make Me Cry?” Guest blog post on Pencil Panel Page: Questions About Comics. Jun 7, 2012. https://pencilpanelpage.wordpress.com/2012/06/07/why-dont-comics-make-me-cry/
"How Do We Quote Comics?" Guest blog post on Pencil Panel Page: Questions About Comics. May 30, 2013. https://pencilpanelpage.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/how-do-we-quote-comics/
"What is It About Children's Comics?" Guest blog post on Pencil Panel Page: Questions About Comics. Dec 6, 2012. https://pencilpanelpage.wordpress.com/2012/12/06/what-is-it-about-childrens-comics/
“The Death of the Cartoonist? Working on Living Creators.” Jan 24, 2014. Comics Forum. http://comicsforum.org/2014/01/24/the-death-of-the-cartoonist-working-on-living-creators-by-barbara-postema/
Exhibition Curated
"The Graphic LifeNarrative of Marta Chudolinska: An Exhibition.” MLC Gallery, Ryerson University. May 6-13, 2015
