Introduction

The presence of violence in comics form is so prevalent and accepted that it tends to go unremarked. Some representations of violence are unapologetic about the spectacle they offer up because, as Martin Barker’s seminal analysis argued, the violence is presented within a specific context and address. Henry Giroux is clear that blaming media only serves to obscure the systemic social and economic causes that underlie violence in society. In contrast to much media effects discourse he distinguishes between different kinds of mediated violence in popular entertainment. An individual and subjective act of violence may overlap with and be produced by social formations of violence, whereas the latter might not necessarily manifest in singular instances or acts readily recognisable as violent. Acts of violence can thus be understood as incorporating symbolic gestures, violations, abuses and abject atrocities. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.