ABSTRACT
The new orientation of comic-book production at the end of the decade of the 1970s was mostly initiated by the influence of some path breaking independent works like Justin Green’s Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary (1972), Harvey Pekar’s American Splendor (1976-2008), or Dave Sim’s Cerebus the Aardvark (1977). These narrative iconical productions introduced new topics directly related to everyday life occurrences, and opened up the door to the so-called “alternative comics” (Hatfield, Lopes). In this movement, autobiographical works with a strong testimonial element were successfully published: Art Spiegelman’s Maus (1980-1991), Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis (2000-2004), Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home (2006), or Miriam Katin’s We Are on Our Own (2006). “Autobiography,” Charles Hatfield argues, “has emerged as the nonfiction comics’ most familiar and accessible guise” (111). Authors seem to have found in the graphic-novel format a new way of recollecting their traumatic memories and expressing their testimonies of suffering and discovery.
