ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the circumstances dictating minority representation throughout the comic medium by examining the practical and contextual dimensions of fandom and illustrating how fan works differ, ontologically, epistemologically, and functionally, from mainstream comic productions. It begins by posing and then answering the question: what is fandom? Within the comic world, scholars have already begun investigating borderlands as a metaphor for broader minority critique and fandom as culture, but have yet to formerly extend this paradigm as a means of critical interpretation. Spiller agrees that comic fan works have an advantage over the mass-produced publications from which they were born. There are no limitations placed upon them except the demands of accurate representation imposed by the very communities to which they belong. The author argues that comic fan works ought to enjoy the critical interest of literary scholarship and the same prestige afforded to prevalent publications.
