Looking for some fun reading for this weekend? Drawing Liberalism: Herblock's Political Cartoons in Postwar America is currently 57% off at Amazon! #comics #herblock #politicalcartoons #comicsstudies #postwar #editorialillustration #editorialcartoon #EditorialCartooning #nationalcartoonistssociety #americanstudies

Excited to head to Boston next week for the American Literature Association annual conference, where I'll be presenting with a panel of other librarian-scholars on comics adaptations of classic literary works.

#ALA2023 #ComicsStudies #PoeStudies #gothic #horror

First published in Feminist Review, this piece unpacks the surprising lessons of feminist dystopia in Bitch Planet, an awesome “prison-world” comics series by writer Kelly Sue DeConnick and artist Valentine De Landro.

#ComicsStudies

https://ellenkirkpatrick.substack.com/p/you-need-to-learn-to-see-yourself?selection=cfdb730d-9101-45d1-9051-65909328ed61

ICYMI: My article, "Breaking Glass: Reclaiming Harley Quinn's Past to Determine Her Feminist Future," analyzing Mariko Tamaki & Steve Pugh's graphic novel is now available to read via the open access MAI: Journal of Feminism and Visual Culture https://maifeminism.com/harley-quinn-breaking-glass/

I also did a short piece for the UNT Comics Studies blog further developing one of the themes in Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass https://blogs.library.unt.edu/comics/2022/11/15/the-eyes-have-it-in-harley-quinn-breaking-glass/

Finally, I'll be talking again about HQ:BG this Friday at ICAF and will specifically be focusing on how drag culture can help us to throw off the misogyny in Harley's character history http://www.internationalcomicartsforum.org/2023-schedule.html

#ComicsStudies #CulturalStudies #OpenAccess #FeministScholarship

My article, "Breaking Glass: Reclaiming Harley Quinn's Past to Determine Her Feminist Future," is out now in the open access online publication MAI: Journal of Feminism and Visual Culture https://maifeminism.com/harley-quinn-breaking-glass/

#Feminism #Comics #VisualCulture #FeministScholarship #graphicnovels #ComicsStudies #CulturalStudies #OpenAccess

Registration is now open for the 2023 Comics Studies Society Conference, “Comics on the Margins,” coming to the University of North Texas this summer (July 27-29, 2023)

https://comicsstudies.org/2023-conference/

This event will feature an Artist’s Alley, exhibit tables by publishers and the UNT and UTA libraries, scholarly panels, workshops, a cosplay happy hour, and keynotes by Dr. Frederick Luis Aldama (Latinx Superheroes in Mainstream Comics) and the comics artist and writer Marinaomi (Turning Japanese).

There are special reduced rates for contingent faculty, librarians, K-12 teachers, graduate and undergraduate students, and early-bird registration (before 5/26/23).

#ComicsStudies #CSS #conferences

Drawing Liberalism is now officially out and to help publicize the launch I answered some questions about the book for the UVA Press.

https://www.upress.virginia.edu/author-corner/authors-corner-with-simon-appleford-author-of-drawing-liberalism/

#comicsstudies #herblock

I'm really proud of this work and I hope you'll consider reading it. If you do, please let me know as I'd love to hear what others think of it!

#comicsstudies

Block is arguably most famous for the numerous cartoons he drew responding to what he saw as the smear politics of two Republicans: Joseph McCarthy and Richard Nixon.

Long an opponent of the methods used by various congressional committees to root out alleged communists from American life, his 1950 responding to the tactics of Joseph McCarthy popularized the word McCarthyism as a short-hand for political witch hunts.

His depiction of Nixon as a sewer-dwelling thug complete with heavy five o’clock shadow and drooping jowls became so inseparable in people’s minds with the real Nixon that for much of his political career he was obsessed with “erasing the Herblock image.”

But there was much more to Block’s work than standing against these two politicians and Drawing Liberalism also explores how he engaged with issues such as civil rights and civil liberties, the emergence of a new conservative movement, and the election of 1968.

#comicsstudies

We’re less than a week away from the official publication date of Drawing Liberalism and preorders are starting to arrive, so I thought I’d write a short thread about my book.

Drawing Liberalism is a book about several things, but at its heart is the work of #Herblock. For those unfamiliar with his career, Herbert Block was the Washington Post’s political cartoonist from 1946 until his death in 2001. His work for the Post covered almost every major issue of the second half of the 20th century. Among many other topics, he regularly drew about issues including the U.S. economy, civil rights, environmentalism, the influence of special interests, corruption, and gun control.

Like many Americans of his generation, Block was a proponent of postwar liberalism, a normative set of values and assumptions that believed a benevolent but activist and expansive federal government could shape society by keeping in check the worst excesses of capitalism.

#comicsstudies #herblock #politicalcartoon

My article “Spaces of Protest: Seydina Issa Sow's Campus Graphic Novel Sidy” is out! You can read it for free at the link below. It’s about the portrayal of university student protest and the intersection (or lack thereof) between campus and urban life in a comic set in Dakar, Senegal. #AfricanStudies @africanstudies #comics #ComicsStudies
https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/ISSJTUFQ5BIAR6PMEIAU/full?target=10.1080/13696815.2022.2154200

A very interesting open access issue of Comicalites is out. It's got me thinking about the materiality of digital comics and how we interact with them. https://journals.openedition.org/comicalites/7619
#comicsstudies

Was away between Christmas and New Year but came home to find a late Christmas gift from the University of Virginia Press. It’s somewhat surreal holding a physical copy but the Press has done an amazing job with it! #herblock #ComicsStudies

I'm excited to be part of the #LibLearnX23 educational programming at the end of the month. Register today to participate in my "Comic Conventions as Professional Development and Outreach Opportunities" session. Any of my #library chums going? #libraries #librarians #LibraryMastodon #librarian #comics #ComicsStudies #ComicConventions

https://www.2023.alaliblearnx.org/registration

This is an important read for my #ComicsStudies colleagues

https://www.comicsgrid.com/article/id/9733/?fbclid=IwAR3-PcAG0dSALBH8J7pse8cJ_buihyf9O5s9NV4YpoRPHSlIOGof9BDH308

#comics #webcomic #scholars #librarians #CollectionDevelopment

This looks like an important read for my #ComicsStudies colleagues
#comics #CollectionDevelopment #webcomic #webcomics #librarians https://www.comicsgrid.com/article/id/9733/?fbclid=IwAR3-PcAG0dSALBH8J7pse8cJ_buihyf9O5s9NV4YpoRPHSlIOGof9BDH308

Come join us at the University of North Texas for next summer's Comics Studies Society Conference! #ComicsStudies

The CFP is now open for individual papers, panels, roundtables, or workshops:

https://comicsstudies.org/2023-cfp/

Come join us at UNT for next summer's Comics Studies Society Conference! #ComicsStudies

The CFP is now open for individual papers, panels, roundtables, or workshops:

https://comicsstudies.org/2023-cfp/

Coming soon: an extensive volume on #LatinAmerican #Comics in the 21st century, org. and carefully edited by my brilliant colleagues #LauraCristinaFernández, @snark84 and #PabloTurnes.

It explores the political, economic + cultural landscape of 21st-century Latin America through comics + their resurgence in recent decades spurred by the ubiquity of the Internet and reminiscent of the complex political experiences + realities of the region.

https://www.routledge.com/Burning-Down-the-House-Latin-American-Comics-in-the-21st-Century/Fernandez-Gandolfo-Turnes/p/book/9781032148311#

@litstudies
#ComicsStudies

What better way of #introduction than by announcing that my book Drawing Liberalism: Herblock’s Political Cartoons in Postwar America will be published in early 2023 from the University of Virginia Press. It explores Herblock's political and social impact and argues that his cartoons played a central role in shaping, propagandizing, and defending the ideals of postwar liberalism, a normative set of values and assumptions that dominated American politics and culture after World War 2. #ComicsStudies