ABSTRACT

This volume explores comics as examples of moral outrage in the face of a reality in which precariousness has become an inherent part of young lives. Taking a thematic approach, the chapters devote attention to the expression and representation of precarious subjectivities, as well as to the economic and professional precarity that characterizes comics creation and production.

An international team of authors, young and senior systematically examines the representation of precarious youth in graphic fiction and autobiographic comics, superheroes and precarity, market issues and spaces of activism and vulnerability. With this structure, the book offers a global perspective and comprehensive coverage of different aspects of a complex and multifaceted field of knowledge, with a special attention to minorities and liminal subjects. The comics analyzed function as examples of "ethical solicitation" that bear witness of the precarious existence younger generations endure, while at the same time creating images that voice their outrage and might move readers to act.

This timely and truly interdisciplinary volume will appeal to comics scholars and researchers in the areas of media and cultural studies, modern languages, education, art and design, communication studies, sociology, medical humanities and more.

chapter |16 pages

Introduction

Graphic Narratives and the Precarious Condition

part I|72 pages

Representations of Precarious Youth in Graphic Fiction

chapter 181|12 pages

The Ideological Depiction of Childhood during the Great Depression

From Little Orphan Annie to Little Lefty

chapter 3|15 pages

Journey to Adulthood

Visual Representation of a Morphing Identity in Inio Asano's Goodnight Punpun

chapter 4|13 pages

“A Malaise That We Don't Know What to Name”

Cruel Optimism and Residual Disenchantment in Nadar's El mundo a tus pies (2015)

chapter 5|16 pages

What Is Love?

Precarious Lives, Precarious Loves in the Works of Italian Women Graphic Novelists

part II|34 pages

The Young Self in Crisis in (Auto)Biographic Comics

chapter 906|16 pages

Uncertain Homes

Trauma, Fracture and Resilience in Roma Biographies from the “Children's Homes” in the Czech Republic

chapter 7|16 pages

Finding Voice within the Objects of Their Lives

Adolescents Writing Memoir Comics to Interrogate Crisis

part III|26 pages

Superheroic Precarity

chapter 1248|12 pages

Super-Precariat

Socioeconomic Fictions and Realities of Superhero Comic Books

chapter 9|12 pages

“What Happens to a Dream Deferred?”

Super Villains of African Descent in Classic Marvel Era 1

part IV|48 pages

Surviving in a Precarious Market: Labour Insecurity and the Publishing Sector

chapter 15010|14 pages

Precarious Identity

Labelling Oneself Fumettista?

chapter 11|13 pages

Amazing Ultradeformer Cartoonist from Ituzaingó

The Memes of Pedro Mancini 1

chapter 12|19 pages

In Conversation with Vincent Giard

A Decade Taking Care of a Little Colossus

part V|60 pages

Spaces of Vulnerability/Spaces of Action

chapter 15|13 pages

Wasted Potential, Disposable Bodies

The Many Victims of Backderf's My Friend Dahmer

chapter 16|17 pages

Strike Comics

Representing the Inequities and Absurdities of Academic Precarity 1