Bloomsbury Queer Comics: A Critical Guide (Bloomsbury Comics Studies)

An international and intersectional introduction mapping the history, impact, key critical issues and seminal texts of the genre, Queer Comics looks at queer creators and content in graphic narratives beyond familiar American gay and lesbian names.For as long as there have been comics, queer people have been making them. There is more queer work than ever before, but it can be hard to find. This book surveys the history of queer comics, speaks to the diversity of queer experience, and explores just how queer comics can be, both in form and content. Accessible and inclusive in the easy-to-navigate structure of the Bloomsbury Comics Studies series, the book covers: · Queer narrative art prior to comics, from Ancient Greek amphorae to the Khajuraho Monuments, and Katsushika Oi to Aubrey Beardsley · The rise of queer comics in physique magazines and the American comix underground, and the origin of bara manga in Barazoku and yuri manga in the S-novel, through to the establishment of queer comics communities from Finland to the Philippines · Queer webcomics from early self-publishing through an explosion of genres and styles to the potentials and pitfalls of comics reader apps and crowdfunding · The cultural landscape now that publishing online has levelled the playing field, enabling queer creators to disseminate their work, connecting to, and building communities online globally · Key texts by creators including Touko Laaksonen, Tove Jansson, Dennis Cooper and Keith Mayerson, Amruta Patil, Chicome Itzcuintli Amatlapalli and Bishakh Som · Queer self-representation of neurodiversity, body image, disability, indigeneity and spirituality, including where and how multiply-marginalised creators share their work Critical consideration of themes important to queer communities including censorship, socially acceptable queer narratives, the new queer comics underground, sexually explicit queer comics, the threat of AI, and celebrating queer monsters.