The LGBTQ+ Comics Studies Reader: Critical Openings, Future Directions

The LGBTQ+ Comics Studies Reader explores the critical opportunities, current interactions, and future directions of LGBTQ+ comics, featuring insights from leading comics figures and artwork from iconic artists. It engages with a range of scholarly positions and geographical vantages, covering queer lived experience, and highlights the efficacy of LGBTQ+ comics as a common ground for creators and readers.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 364 pages
Publication date: 20 September 2022
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi

The LGBTQ+ Comics Studies Reader delves into a remarkable collection of LGBTQ+ comics that emerged in the underground and alternative comix scenes of the mid-1960s and in the subsequent decades. Through insightful essays and interviews with prominent comics figures, the volume's contributors shed light on the critical opportunities, ongoing interactions, and future prospects of these comics. This extensively illustrated volume engages with the work of renowned artists from around the world, including Howard Cruse, Edie Fake, Justin Hall, Jennifer Camper, and Alison Bechdel, whose iconic artwork is reproduced within its pages. Furthermore, it examines and questions the possibilities of LGBTQ+ comics from diverse scholarly perspectives and geographical locations, covering a wide range of queer lived experiences. Throughout the journey, certain LGBTQ+ touchstones naturally emerge—pride, coming out, chosen families, sexual health, gender, risk, and liberation.

Featuring comics figures from various sectors of the industry, ranging from renowned scholars to emerging creators and webcomics artists, the reader explores a diverse range of approaches to LGBTQ+ comics, including queer history, gender and sexuality theory, memory studies, graphic medicine, genre studies, biography, and more. Chapters trace the connections of LGBTQ+ comics across different periods and genres, highlighting their evolution and impact.

In conclusion, The LGBTQ+ Comics Studies Reader is a groundbreaking exploration of the world of LGBTQ+ comics, offering a comprehensive and interdisciplinary perspective on this vibrant and evolving medium. Through its engaging content and diverse contributions, the volume contributes to our understanding of LGBTQ+ representation, identity, and experiences, and serves as a valuable resource for scholars, artists, and readers alike.

Weight: 554g
Dimension: 156 x 234 x 23 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781496841353