Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to attend to comics produced during COVID-19 pandemic, especially those referring to the hardest moments of confinement and which may allow to observe the use of comics as a tool to analyze reality, both from a psychological point of view and from a sociopolitical one. Being such a recent phenomenon, corpus selection is introduced as temporary since new items continue to emerge, and furthermore, it is still early to assess its significance. As a pragmatic criterion, two vectors will be used: on the one hand, focus will be stressed on works belonging to the Spanish comics market in order to portray a particular cultural environment; on the other hand, four items will be selected to establish a coherent story which may adapt the stages of the hero's journey into a new paradigm (1. Fear, 2. Anger, 3. Humor, and 4. Healing).
TopIntroduction: Comics Artists Are The New Humanists In Times Of Crisis
This chapter aims to analyze a corpus of comics produced in Spain as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and which show, as their central plot, the representation of the consequences derived from the spread of the virus and, especially, from confinement. In this sense, the contributor’s goal is to observe various factors ranging from psychological aspects to sociopolitical reflections (how this confinement situation has affected citizens, in short). It is, therefore, a consideration which adheres to the analysis of fiction as an instrument to understand contemporary reality (Yrigoyen, 2020), that is, art as a humanistic tool which highlights uncertainties and social changes; in a way, it means using art to identify zeitgeist. More specifically, it is based on a selection of comics aimed at an adult audience and which, hence, follows the postulates of the Graphic Novel movement (García, 2010), which defines comics characterised by marked author-centered traits and which are oriented to cross-sectional readers who are not necessarily specialised in comics. However, this fact does not prevent that, at the same time, works to be analysed may contain usual elements of industrial comics, because they are twisted so that creator’s voice is preeminent (more meditations on this author-centered/mainstream hybridisation will be adressed for each graphic novel subsection).
Concerning the choice of a communicative and artistic medium which is different from conventional ones in an academic environment (essentially, literature), it should be noted that the language of comics refers to a multimodal and interdisciplinary component and that it is fully connected with the leading intermedial and transmedia panorama in early 21st century (Jenkins, 2003; Scolari, 2013). In other words: current cultural consumers have before them a panoply of referents whose raw material is no longer based unequivocally on the power of words but it is implemented on an integrating mold which adds image and sound, among other elements, to the literary factor (therefore, reading canon parameters are widened, as explained in Rovira-Collado, 2017). For this reason, the chapter’s author would like to suggest that it is necessary, with regard to an effective analysis of surrounding reality, to attend to the historical changes occurring about reading paradigm, a process in which comics, especially by means of Graphic Novel current movement, must assume a prominent position. Likewise, assimilation of content through an alternative communicative medium involves a different decoding process as specific instruments are used. Particularly, comics-based semantic and semiotic decipherment is linked with a narrative interpretation which, at the same time, is centered on the page layout, often dependent on sequential storytelling and in accordance with a reading process which tends to verge on intuition and on sensoriality, usually following a premise of a simultaneous visual impact (Cohn, 2013), mediated by functionality in turn (Matly, 2020). Hence, mimicking some reflections by Roland Barthes (1973) regarding the completion of the final meaning of a text by readers, it may be established that, precisely, the language of comics is ideal to create an open debate between creators and users (Yus, 1997) since decoding visual items offers a greater margin in favour of metaphors and symbolisms, even allegories (this action would be, without a doubt, a specific application of opera aperta concept by Umberto Eco, 1962). In a certain way, there is something about this peculiar medium language which acquires some sort of a mystical patina, that is, what is hinted but cannot be reliably explained. Then again, this chapter’s author does not consider that it should be understood that the language of comics cancels literary values, but it provides complementary elements since, obviously, relations between both media may give rise to a fruitful study of formal tangentialities (Pizzino, 2016), especially if a new reading intertext iteration is adressed (Mendoza Fillola, 2001). Not surprisingly, comics are a modern medium due to their industrial origins but, at the same time, they connect with almost innate human processes of understanding the world (Bartual, 2014), such as the use of panels to structure knowledge (Carrión & Sagar, 2018), an operation which seems to be very similar to the terminological categorizations scientific methodology delimits reality with.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Reader Intertext: A term which, mainly developed by literary theoretician Antonio Mendoza Fillola, denotes, in relation with literary competence, that readers decode what a text means by integrating, selecting and, therefore, activating their previous knowledge, and also their strategies and linguistic-cultural resources.
New Valencian School: A term which refers to a group of comics artists who, in the late 1970s and the early 1980s, resignified the graphic and narrative legacy of Valencian School (check this key term as well), to adapt it to works aimed at an adult audience, although young fiction items were also produced. As far as page layout is concerned, they were much influenced by Ligne Claire trends (an extreme sense of geometrical balance which makes every element included in a page to be perfectly positioned) through Tintin and other Franco-Belgian series, which is the reason why this movement was also called Valencian Ligne Claire .
Bruguera School: Based on both the graphic and storytelling style developed by comics artists who worked from the 1940s onwards for Editorial Bruguera, the most popular publishing house during classic Spanish comics period, critic Terenci Moix coined this term in 1968 to refer to its general traits. The usual tone was halfway between children’s entertainment and satirical rendering, accompanied by sociopolitical and socioeconomic comments as a hidden reading. Likewise, its starring characters usually got frustrated by their lack of success when they tried to escape poverty, which served as a mirror for the desires of the unlucky contemporary Spanish society. Graphics were simple though meaningful, tending towards a certain geometric abstraction and possessing a high metaphorical value, and the backgrounds were minimalist. This publishing house closed in 1986 but its influence is still evident throughout new generations of creators.
COVID-19 Pandemic: A global pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Also known as the coronavirus pandemic, it began between late 2019 and early 2020, and it caused the authorities to take drastic measures to confine the population for prolonged periods of time in order to prevent an infections increase. It may not yet be fully eradicated, despite the fact that restrictive measures have almost disappeared in most countries.
Graphic Novel: An author-centered movement which claims, for the comics medium as an art, an absolute formal and thematic freedom, not dependent on business conditions. Likewise, it is conceived to appeal mainly to adult cross-sectional readers, who may be interested in reading a work not because a love for comics is prevalent to them but because of circumstantial motivations or because its specific topic converges with readers’ interests in other artistic media. In contrast to conventional mainstream comics, they often reflect personal and intimate elements concerning its creators.
Valencian School: A term which designates the graphic and storytelling style developed by comics artists who worked for various Valencian publishers, such as Editorial Valenciana or Maga, from the 1940s onwards. In contrast to Bruguera School (check this key term as well), sociopolitical burden used to be less frequently adressed as preferences were higher for a naive comedy kind of tale, supported also by a powerful sense of wonder . On the other hand, backgrounds were more detailed, and graphics were usually less abstract as smooth and rounded shapes were favoured.
Opera Aperta: A term coined by semiotician Umberto Eco in 1962 by which it is suggested that there is not just one final meaning for a text at the expense of its creator, but it rather refers to a plurality of meanings, depending on various factors such as readers’ background.
Iconic Solidarity: A term coined by theoretician Thierry Groensteen in 1999 to explain the stagement on a comics page as a unit of meaning, by which panels acquire coherence by coexisting across the same plane. It should be added that it refers to an intuitive and sensory reading conceptualization as opposed to the linearity developed throughout artistic media which are essentially word-based.
Slice of Life: A term originating from Bande Dessinée tradition ( tranche de vie ), that is, from Franco-Belgian comics market, which describes works focused on everyday life filtered by a mundane perspective (complex job circumstances such as dismissal or bad relationships between co-workers; sentimental relationships in crisis, etc.). It is often linked to autobiographical comics and, therefore, it represents one of the most common subgenres within the Graphic Novel movement (check this key term as well).
Graphic Medicine: A movement which claims the use of comics to represent disease in images, especially based on a pedagogical will which may help patients heal or, at least, to help them understand the process they are going through. Additionally, it encourages empathy towards patients and their needs, with regard to both their families and society as a whole, especially concerning stigmatized illnesses such as mental issues.