ABSTRACT
The first chapter of the anthology Comic Art and Feminism in the Baltic Sea Region: Transnational Perspectives introduces the reader to the field of feminist comic art and graphic narrative in the Baltic Sea region. Acknowledging the contributions of Anglo-American feminist comics artists of the 1970s who laid the groundwork for continued production and progress transnationally, the authors highlight parallel developments in Sweden and Finland, which have resulted in the current era of comic art dominated by each country’s growing cadre of feminist comics artists. The success and momentum of Swedish and Finnish feminist comic art warrant an exploration of transnational reverberations, in order to highlight practices and characteristics which have mobilised to extend across national boundaries. Exploring a wide range of work by comics artists from the Baltic Sea region, the anthology’s 12 chapters both illuminate the defining features of aesthetics, materiality, and thematic content of feminist comic art, and analyse the recurring strategies of visualising and narrating female, non-binary, or queer experiences.
