Book review: J. Andrew Deman – The Claremont Run: Subverting Gender in the X-Men - a review by James Willetts

J. Andrew Deman, The Claremont Run: Subverting Gender in the X-Men, Austin: University of Texas Press, 2023. https://utpress.utexas.edu/9781477325452/

 reviewed by  James Willetts

                 It’s rare that a work of comics criticism emerges that boasts both academic bonafides and the promise of cross-over appeal for general audiences of comics readers. The Claremont Run has the potential to be that, thanks to author J. Andrew Deman’s popular Twitter (now X) account – @ClaremontRun – which spent the past few years analyzing X-Men comics and became a critical part of both comics fandom and public scholarship on the platform. Boasting an introduction from Jay Edidin, the co-host of podcast Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men, Deman’s book is positioned squarely as a potential crossover work combining criticism with wider comic book audience appeal. As such it treads a difficult line between being engaging for those who are approaching it as fans of the source material, and those looking for deeper scholarly analysis on Chris Claremont’s time as lead writer on the X-Men comics. Fortunately, Deman is more than up to the task, presenting a rich dive into Claremont’s legendary run on the X-Men that will prove valuable for casual fans and academic audiences alike.

                 At the heart of this is Deman’s engaging prose and clear love for the subject matter. These allow him to move effortlessly back and forth between explanatory close readings of X-Men storylines and deeper dives into the technical craftsmanship of Claremont’s work. Deman utilizes a mixed-methods research methodology in order to bring in quantitative data to guide his readings and research, examining the ways in which Claremont presents characters, and exploring questions of team dynamics, changing representation, and portrayals of gender within the X-Men. This methodology adds what Deman refers to as a “holistic, evidence-based perspective,” missing from most examinations of Claremont’s work. Covering almost 200 issues of Uncanny X-Men across sixteen years, Deman’s methodology analyzes a vast range of metrics. This includes everything from the percentage of times characters appear on covers of issues they appear in (showing that Storm, Wolverine and Cyclops were the characters most likely to appear) to the number of times characters interact with one another and in what contexts. Interesting enough alone, this data-led approach allows Deman to make claims about commercial and storytelling concerns that might otherwise be overlooked.

                Indeed, Deman explores some intriguing – and often surprising – avenues of research. The Claremont Run demonstrates that Cyclops, for instance, is a character who shows remarkable and consistent growth over the course of the Claremont run, developing into a character with both internal and external emotional depth. Under Claremont’s pen, Cyclops is thus one of the most physically expressive characters on the X-Men, despite a reputation for being stoic and closed-off. This is supported by evidence, thanks to the quantitative base of Deman’s research. A key benefit of this is that it allows Deman to push back against close readings which might otherwise approach characters based upon their broader histories. Deman is careful to note that because these characters operate in a shared universe, characterization is typically reverted to the most well-established archetype under other writers. By treating Claremont’s run as a singular piece of work, however, Deman demonstrates an impressively ambitious and cohesive set of story-arcs. He argues that Claremont’s work was defined by arcs like the Dark Phoenix Saga; “massive and ambitious storyline” (27) which formed a collective story told over dozens of issues.

While much academic scholarship on Claremont’s work has dwelled on the “Claremont women” – the strong, independent female characters that defined much of his run – less attention has been paid to Claremont’s male characters. Deman rectifies this, devoting the latter half of the book to an examination of the varied ways in which Claremont portrays masculinity, including the paradigmatic shift of Cyclops from patriarchal leader to supporting character in the stories of Storm and Jean Grey, to the hypermasculinity of Wolverine, and the emasculation of Alex Summers/Havok.

Deman’s work thus adds an important inflective to conventional narratives of gender and sexuality in X-Men comics. These typically dwell upon Jean’s journey, or the sapphic undertones present in Storm’s relationships with other women, or the importance of a teenage Jewish girl, Kitty Pryde, for expanding the readership. While these aspects are acknowledged in The Claremont Run, they are presented as both significant moments in their own right, but also as part of a broader examination of the ways in which Claremont undermined and subverted ideas of masculinity, femininity, sexuality, and gender roles.

The Claremont Run thus stands as an excellent extension of existing scholarship and a critical addition to the canon of Claremont studies. As a thin monograph it’s not comprehensive – there is still much to be said about how other X-Men characters are presented – but it’s an admirably thorough job in regard to the characters it does cover and is sure to be successful in expanding the field of comics criticism to a wider audience.

Editor's note: We'll be running two reviews of this book on the blog, as one of the editors (ok it was me) assigned it twice. However, I think there is enough room in the field for multiple reviews of the growing literature. 

IJOCA wants you! to help celebrate its 25th anniversary

 

 

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COMIC ART

John A. Lent

Founding Publisher/Editor-in-Chief

669 Ferne Blvd., Drexel Hill, PA 19026, U.S.A.

Tel:  (610) 622-3938    Email:  jlent@temple.edu

www.ijoca.net

 

PRESS RELEASE

 

November 14, 2023

 

The International Journal of Comic Art ("IJOCA") celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary with Volume 25, Number 2, now in preparation. At the time of its first number in 1999, it was the only academic journal on comic art, preceded by INKS, which had folded, though later revived. IJOCA continues to be the oldest, continuously-published comic art journal.

 

Remaining independent of established journal publishers and academic institutions for funding and the tainted, conglomerate-owned peer review system for evaluation, IJOCA takes pride in not having been hemmed in by a prescribed quota of pages per issue, a limited number of illustrations, or long publication delays caused by peer reviewing.

 

The journal already has published about 1,470 articles with a total of 30,600 pages, encompassing 35 symposia on varied topics, in addition to approximately 300 each of book and exhibition reviews, all the time, keeping to its mission of being encyclopedic and interdisciplinary.

 

Quality, innovativeness, and variety have marked IJOCA's history. Most of the world's leading comic art researchers have published in IJOCA; on many occasions, the journal was the first to introduce topics, never shied away from broaching topics perhaps off-limits in other periodicals, and varied content on all aspects of comic art.

 

As we celebrate our quarter century, we invite comments from those familiar with IJOCA, to be included in Vol. 25, No. 2. Thank you.

 

And, our gratitude for all your support.

 

John A. Lent

Founder/Publisher/Editor-in-Chief

International Journal of Comic Art

Georgia Higley, "America's comic book librarian," retires from Library of Congress

by Mike Rhode

I don't know if anyone actually ever called her "America's comic book librarian," but someone should have.

On October 31, 2023, Georgia Higley retired from the Library of Congress (LOC) where she had worked for 33 years upon joining the staff as a library intern in 1990. Georgia had been in charge of the Newspapers and Current Periodicals division and had overseen the rebuilding, strengthening, and spotlighting of one of the largest comic book collections in the world and possibly the largest in America. The website for the collection calls it, "The largest publicly available comic book collection in the world is comprised of over 165,000 original print issues and 12,000 different titles that span 1934-present."

The following bullet points about her career were initially pulled from the LOC's internal newsletter The Gazette (January 30, 2004) and updated by one of her colleagues:

• Began her career at the Library of Congress on September 4, 1990.
• Served in varying capacities: intern, reference librarian, automated reference service specialist, acting head of Reference Section, co-founder of the LOC Reference Forum, trustee for the LOC Professional Association Continuing Education Fund, section head of Newspaper and finally newly reorganized Physical Collections Services Section
• Headed the Newspaper Section from 2004 to 2020.
• In 2020 appointed head of the Physical Collections Services Section – a combined section of newspapers, government documents and current periodicals, responsible for acquiring, preserving and serving physical collections of the division.
• Significant force behind the expansion and preservation of the comic book collection in the early 2000s through today.

While Georgia was running the section that collected comics, in 2011 the Library and the Small Press Expo (SPX) began to work together to ensure the preservation of America's alternative and mini comics through a cooperative program that saw LOC librarians fanning out throughout the SPX exhibit floor and asking cartoonists to donate copies of their works. Those works were then added to a Small Press Expo collection (actually two - one of comic books, and one of original art, prints, and ephemera) at the Library. As of this writing 3,345 comics have been cataloged. The project is the work of scores of people, but Georgia has been one of the mainstays of it.

When asked about her plans at her recent retirement party, Georgia said that she might volunteer for SPX in the future, but in the meantime she would be working on cleaning out an old shed falling apart in her backyard. We wish her well in both of those endeavors. 

 

 

 

 

The comic book collection remains open for research and the division is currently being overseen by longtime comic book reference librarian Megan Halsband. 

This article has been posted simultaneously to the ComicsDC and International Journal of Comic Art blogs.

Book Review: Drawn to Satire: Sketches of Cartoonists in Singapore by CT Lim and Koh Hong Teng.

 Drawn to Satire: Sketches of Cartoonists in Singapore. CT Lim and Koh Hong Teng. Pause Narratives, 2023. 144 pages, $26.89.

 reviewed by Felix Cheong

If one uses a metaphor of satire as the art of stabbing an issue to draw humor instead of blood, so too does the biographical Drawn to Satire -- in ways that are as inventive as they are at times infuriating. Therein lies the double-edged sword of this lovingly produced book -- you wish it could have done so much more, but paradoxically, so much less.

 

Written by CT Lim and illustrated by Koh Hong Teng, Drawn to Satire sketches, both literally and figuratively, the lives of eight pioneering cartoonists, from well-known names like Morgan Chua, to the relatively obscure Dai Yin Lang. While the chosen cartoonists tend to be ethnically Chinese males, the book also includes one Malay, Shamsuddin H. Akib, and one woman, Kwan Shan Mei – which begs the question if they were added as token gestures. I will return to this question later.

 

Each chapter begins with a quick overview of the cartoonist’s backstory and before you know it, drives directly into his themes, motivations and, occasionally, hang-ups. Here, Lim, the go-to authority on comics in Singapore, has obviously used his extensive research, having published previously on the history of comics (in particular, political cartoons) in the Lion City, in addition to being an IJOCA editorial advisor for the city-state. For this book, he has also conducted interviews with the cartoonists who are still alive, such as Shamsuddin and Koeh Sia Yong, and with relatives of those who have passed away, such as Tchang Ju Chi and Lim Mu Hue.

 

In keeping with its subtitle that the book is nothing more than “sketches,” each chapter (14-15 pages) reads rather, well, sketchily. It is akin to the experience of speed-dating, but on the printed page; just as the reader gets into the story – whoosh! –  it is gone. 

 

A case in point: the opening chapter on Tchang Ju Chi, a political cartoonist who was abducted by the Japanese military and presumably executed during the Sook Ching massacre of 1942. He was only 38 years old at that time. While the narrative tries to know the man, instead he comes across as a type -- the Chinese émigré with apron strings still knotted tight to the motherland, rather than a person in his own right. The in-your-face thought bubbles do not help by merely telling, rather than showing why, that despite having found his calling in Nanyang, Tchang still harkened back to China and viewed Sino-Japanese tensions with growing unease.

 

Indeed, if Drawn to Satire has a failing, it is how it sacrifices depth for breadth. Instead of featuring eight cartoonists, it could have gone with just five. Pioneer artist Liu Kang, for instance, could have been dropped; after all, his life is already well-documented and his comics output was limited to just Chop Suey, published in 1946. Similarly, Kwan Shan Mei’s reputation rests on her children’s picture books, rather than satirical cartoons. Perhaps she was included to showcase a fair representation, but much of her chapter is devoted to conjecture and a summation of the authors’ intentions for the book. And while Din Yin Lang’s life certainly makes for an intriguing espionage tale, too little is known about him to be anything more than a sidebar.

 

So, while covering eight cartoonists might fulfill Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) required by funding bodies – the authors acknowledge support from four institutions, such as the National Heritage Board, the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre, and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts – the book does itself a disservice when more could have been done with less. 

 

Still, Drawn to Satire is a breezy read, helped, no doubt, by Koh’s unfussy art style, and at the same time, pays homage to the cartoonists by reproducing their works (and even two iconic Singapore paintings, Liu Kang’s “Artist and Model” and Chua Mia Tee’s “Epic Poem of Malaya”). 

 

What ultimately sells the book for me is Lim’s unconventional storytelling, which takes a leaf from the growing creative graphic biography field. Instead of writing a Wikipedia-like chronology, Lim dips into each cartoonist’s life and extracts specific incidents that define and shape him. More interestingly, he introduces an interloper (or provocateur), a fictional foil who flits in and out of the panels with time-travel ease and with whom the cartoonists interact. This unnamed character (who sometimes breaks the fourth wall) creates a Brechtian effect, a narrative device used either for Lim to set the context of what you are reading, or to slather asides and editorial comments.

 

In fact, Lim even cheekily inserts himself into the narrative; after all, he is as much part of the comics ecosystem in Singapore as the cartoonists he writes about, but he does it in a way that neither grates nor gloats. If anything, his self-referential character borders on self-deprecating, particularly in a funny sequence when he is depicted as a clueless emcee at the launch of Koeh Sia Yong’s art exhibition in 2023. Indeed, as befitting a book about satirical cartoons, humor is its chief calling card; sequences such as Morgan Chua fleeing to Hong Kong (to avoid the Singapore government’s crackdown on The Singapore Herald, a newspaper it had deemed subversive) have a Looney Tunes zaniness.

 

While it is not perfect, Drawn to Satire is what the comics scene in Singapore needs – it plugs a gap of scholarship and, in equal measure, is entertaining and enlightening.   

MSU hires Comics Studies Librarian Jason Larsen

Since August 14th, Jason Larsen has been the Comics Studies Librarian at the largest comic book collection in the world. While getting his library degree, he interned at MSU. The Library is currently working on a renovation which will see the collection moved out of the basement. Larsen was  at University of Illinois where he studied under Mara Thacker, (who is building a Southeast Asian collection at that library, although she just began a year-long sabbatical).

Randy Scott, the founding and guiding force behind the collection, retired in 2022 after 49 years in the position.  Scott made MSU a major force in comic studies, expanding on the foothold that Russell Nye had built with a popular culture collection. The collection focused on American and European works as well as South American and is by far the largest most publicly available collection in the United States. During that time he established the Reading Room Index, an attempt to describe material in more detail than the standard library catalog, so you could decide what to look at before getting to the library. The RRI has not been updated since his departure.

Book review: Marvel Comics in the 1970s: The World inside Your Head by Eliot Borenstein

 by CT Lim

Marvel Comics in the 1970s: The World inside Your Head. Eliot Borenstein. Cornell University Press, 2023. 267 pages, $23.95. https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501769368/marvel-comics-in-the-1970s/

Do we really need another book on Marvel Comics? Hot on the heels of Douglas Wolk's monumental All of the Marvels (2021) comes a book about lesser discussed Marvel comics of the 1970s - focusing on the literary efforts of Steve Englehart (Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, Captain America, the Avengers), Doug Moench (Deathlok, Werewolf by Night, Master of Kung Fu), Marv Wolfman (Tomb of Dracula), Don McGregor (Killraven, Luke Cage, Black Panther) and Steve Gerber (Man-Thing, Omega the Unknown, Howard the Duck). I am definitely more of a Marvel zombie than I thought, and I was intrigued enough to volunteer to review this book.

There are several questions to answer:

·         Why would Eliot Borenstein, a Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies at New York University, write a book about Marvel comics in the 1970s and what is the connection between that and his own discipline of Russian and Slavic studies?

·         How does this book compare to or complement Wolk's All of the Marvels?

·         Is Borenstein convincing in his arguments?

First, Borenstein has been teaching an annual general education course on graphic novels at New York University since 2007. As he explained in his preface about his 'secret origins.' the 1970s was the decade he discovered comics. But more importantly, in Marvel comics, he found a reflection of the concerns that occupied his teenage mind. As he explained, "Marvel was filled with characters who narrated their experience, second-guessing themselves. They got me out of my head by getting into theirs, which in turn helped me explore my own head better." In that sense, Borenstein pointed out Dostoyevsky was inevitable. While the fate of Rodion Raskolnikov now matters to him as much as the fate of Jean Grey, Borenstein never stopped being a comic fan nor forgot about the inner worlds and turmoil of Shang-Chi, T'Challa and Howard the Duck. (Borenstein also acknowledged the model provided by Jose Alaniz, another Slavist and fellow comics scholar, who also blurbed the book.)

It took some decades to reconcile the two worlds of Pushkin and the Punisher and to avoid incursions of having two parallel universes colliding and destroying one of them (apologies to Jonathan Hickman). Borenstein managed to construct a Battleworld (more apologies to Jim Shooter) where his two worlds coexist in his serialized blog on Marvel comics in the 1970s. This book is an extension and expansion of that - it is like the Ant-Man entering the body of the Vision to save him in Avengers #93 (drawn by Neal Adams, cover date Nov. 1971) but presented in the deluxe over-sized artist's edition format. But unlike superheroes, when we go deep into inner worlds, it is not just to save others. It is to save ourselves.

As for the comparisons with All of the Marvels, Borenstein acknowledges it as a book with "many points in common" especially Wolk's deep dive into The Master of Kung Fu, but the two approaches are very different. Borenstein made it very clear that his book is firmly planted in a crucial yet understudied decade that marks a turning point in the artistic development of the comics medium. To me, both complement each other. After reading Wolk's take on the Black Panther, you can easily pick up the Penguin classics Marvel collection with its valuable foreword and introduction by Nnedi Okorafor and Qiana J. Whittted respectively. And then move into Borenstein's chapter on Don McGregor's tortured romantic individualism and suffering black bodies.

For my third question, I must say Borenstein, makes a compelling case of the world inside your head created by the above-mentioned Marvel writers. This underscores the intentionality of these writers in focusing on creating an internal world of subjectivity for their readers. The action and violence in these Marvel comics mirror the inner (conflicted? confused?) state of the heroes and villains. I would like to linger on Borenstein's choice of phrase, "your head." It could be "our heads" but he chose yours. But this “yours” is not just the readers, but the fictional characters of Captain America, Captain Marvel and the Man-Thing as well. As Borenstein said, "I felt more like myself when I was able to sink into the minds of others." Is it a form of escapism? Or a way to figure out ourselves when we see some of our internal selves mirrored in the inner worlds of a Marvel comic?

As for the chapters, I enjoyed the Introduction the most - where Borenstein made the case for a 1990s Vertigo title, Enigma as the best Marvel comic of the 1970s. I won't go into the details as it is quite delightful to follow Borenstein's arguments when he made his case. I would just add that writer Peter Milligan's explorations into "your heads" began much earlier in his 2000 AD days when he wrote a wonderful strip, Hewligan's Haircut, drawn by the mercurial Jamie Hewlett.

You may ask what's new about these 1970s writers' approach. Didn't Stan Lee in the 1960s put forth the "drama of the visible self?" Spider-Man will talk through his problems (via internal and external monologue) while fighting Doctor Octopus. Borenstein explained: "If Lee's plots provided the opportunity to learn about his characters' inner lives, the 1970s writers often came close to prioritizing interiority over plot itself."

This goes back my own first encounters with Marvel comics in the 1970s. Having read The Beano and The Dandy British weeklies, some DC, and also Chinese comics, one of the first Marvel comic I laid my hands on was, of all things, Man-Thing #22 (cover date Oct 1975). I can't remember how I got it, but it was the most bizarre thing I had read when it landed in my hands. It starts with writer Steve Gerber writing to editor Len Wein about why he cannot continue to write the Man-Thing anymore and it just becomes more metafictional and internal from there. My curiosity about Borenstein's book probably stems from this primary reading experience.

If there is a weak chapter, it is the coda of Chris Claremont’s rise in the popular Uncanny X-Men comics of the late 1970s and 1980s. After making his argument of the complex inner worlds created by writers like Steve Gerber, Borenstein's concluding line leaves much hanging: "Claremont, his collaborators, and his heirs found that presenting their heroes as superficially complex open books was a recipe for success." He argued that Claremont's X-Men invites readers into the heroes' minds while making the process of identification effortless. I feel more elaboration and examples are needed. What led to the 'decline' of writers like Steve Englehart (who went on to write a memorable Batman run at DC as well as the Justice League of America - how does that compare to his Avengers?) and the rise of Claremont, whose interiority was not that of Gerber or Moench or Wolfman? What happen to these writers when they left Marvel and the 1970s receded into the past? Did they leave interiority behind? For example, did Wolfman follow the success of the superficiality of Claremont for his Teen Titans series in the 1980s? For that, one would have to look for answers in recent books like The Other 1980s: Reframing Comics' Crucial Decade which has chapters on Moench and Gerber, and also Steve Gerber: Conversations. It is unfortunate the Kickstarter of Moench's Aztec Ace has gone off rails with money collected and the backers not receiving their copies. Some of these comics can be reprinted and reevaluated - Gerber's Phantom Zone stories for DC, Gerber's return to Howard the Duck in She-Hulk, and McGregor's Sabre.

Borenstein states that Claremont's approach was a much more commercially appealing formula that combined the prolixity of McGregor with the declarative tradition of Stan Lee. This deserves fuller exploration. I, for one, would like to understand the rise of Claremont studies, as seen in The Claremont Run on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ClaremontRun and now also collected as a book, The Claremont Run: Subverting Gender in the X-Men by J. Andrew Deman (University of Texas Press, 2023).

Nonetheless, this book is an excellent read for the Marvel fan and a worthy contribution to comics studies of serialized American superhero comic books of the 1970s. Long may the 70s run. 

Table of Contents for Vol. 25, No. 1 Spring/Summer 2023

The e-version of this is now available; if you're a subscriber or want to purchase the single issue, email "John A. Lent" <john.lent@temple.edu> The print edition should be shipping in a few weeks.

IJOCA Vol. 25, No. 1 Spring/Summer 2023

Comics and Propaganda: World War II

Ester Hotová

1

The Modern Imaginaire in Cao Hanmei’s The Golden Lotus

Xiutang Li

53

Chatting with 1/6: A Graphic Novel Writer Alan Jenkins about Insurrections and Threats to Democracy

Mike Rhode

89

In Favor of Happy Endings: An Interview with Bane Kerac

Darko Macan

113

Japanese Jesus: The Humanity of Jesus in Hikaru Nakamura’s Saint Young Men

Daniel D. Clark

168

Cartooning the Inverse Zoo: The Forgotten Comic Art of Kurt Wiese

Aaron Humphrey

197

“Here Is a Man Who Would Not Take It”: The Contemporary Revival of the Newspaper Comic Strip

The Outbursts of Everett True 1905-1927

Richard A. Voeltz

218

“Do I Really Need Color in This Story?” An Interview with Reinhard Kleist

Mark David Nevins

246

Sabaibukei: Critiquing Capitalism in the Death Game Genre

Joseph Christopher Schaub

262

“What’s Funny about AIDS?”: How Howard Cruse’s “Wendel” Confronted a Crisis

Cassia Hayward-Fitch

280

War, Gender, and Diaspora in Clément Baloup’s Memoires de Viet Kieu

Mattia Arioli

300

The Boom of Female Comics in the 21st Century in Brazil

Daniela dos Santos Domingues Marino

Natania Aparecida da Silva Nogueira

319

Flash Gordon, Blake and Mortimer’s American Uncle Chapter #1: What Is a Superhero?

Éric Dubois

341

Cartoonist Ambassador of Hope: Nigar Nazar of Pakistan

John A. Lent

360

Texas Jack Kent: A Comic Storyteller in San Antonio

Paul V. Allen

371

Basohmics: Reviving Basohli Art Through Modern Indian Comics 

Aditi Magotra and Varsha Singh

384

Sanctioned Satire: Political Cartoons from China Daily

Linn A. Christiansen

407

A Chat with Chad Bilyeu of Amsterdam

Mike Rhode

433

The Duality of Manga in the Work of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Freya Terryn

461

“The Rebirth of Angus Og”

Laurence Grove

489

Karimata 1890: Silent Comic with Nusantara Concept

Iwan Zahar

494

Maurice Horn: a Memorial

Kim A. Munson

504

An Essay

From Material to Meaning: Implications of Challenges to Young Adult Graphic Novels

Jason DeHart

510

Not All Heroes Need Museums: Brussels’ Marc Sleen Museum Closes

Wim Lockefeer

521

Quadrinhopédia, a Brazilian Comics Biographical Dictionary Database

Lucio Luiz

527

Demystifying The U Ray, the Better to Rewrite the Origin Myth of “Blake and Mortimer”

Éric Dubois

530

Lianhe Zaobao’s 100th Anniversary Cartoon Exhibition and the Role of Comics in Asia in 2023

Lim Cheng Tju

538

Book Reviews

Michel Matly. El cómic sobre la guerra civil, by Héctor Fernández L’Hoeste, p. 542.

Chesya Burke. Hero Me Not: The Containment of the Most Powerful Black, Female Superhero, by Stephanie Burt, p. 561.

Miguel Ferguson and Anne Timmons. Brigadistas! Am American Anti-Fascist in the Spanish Civil War, by Héctor Fernández L’Hoeste, p. 566.

John. A. Lent. Asian Political Cartoons, by Matt Wuerker, p. 579.

Michelle Ann Abate. Blockheads, Beagles, and Sweet Babboos: New

Perspectives on Charles M. Schulz’s “Peanuts,” by Chris York, p. 581.

Edward Sorel. Profusely Illustrated, A Memoir, by John A. Lent, p. 584.

Simon Grennan, Roger Sabin, and Julian Waite. Marie Duval: Maverick Victorian Cartoonist, by Lizzy Walker, p. 588.

Simon Appleford. Drawing Liberalism: Herblock’s Political Cartoons in Postwar America, by Christina M. Knopf, p. 593.

Jimmy Kugler and Michael Kugler. Into the Jungle! A Boy’s Comic Strip History of World War II, by James Willetts, p. 597.

Heike Bauer, Andrea Greenbaum, and Sarah Lightman, eds. Jewish Women in Comics: Bodies and Borders, by John A. Lent, p. 600.

António Antunes. Angeli: 50 anos de humor, Bárbara Reis, José António Lima, and António Antunes. Cartoons do ano 2022, by John A. Lent, p. 602.

Michael Rhode and John A. Lent. Comics Research Bibliography 2022 E-book Edition, by Michael Rhode, p. 605.

Michael Rhode. The Wonder of Sound and Vision: Film, TV & Other Media Adaptations of Comics (2022 Edition), by Michael Rhode, p. 607.

Michael Rhode. Public Radio and Voice of America on Comics & Cartoons: A Bibliography (2023 Edition), by Michael Rhode, p. 608.

Compleating Cul de Sac 2nd Edition Available in Print by Michael Rhode, p. 609.

Exhibition Reviews

Laurie Anne Agnese

Michael Rhode

612

Letters to the Editor

626

Portfolio

Michael Hill

630