{"id":444,"date":"2020-05-25T14:53:40","date_gmt":"2020-05-25T18:53:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/?p=444"},"modified":"2020-06-01T09:41:23","modified_gmt":"2020-06-01T13:41:23","slug":"comics-in-the-time-of-covid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/2020\/05\/25\/comics-in-the-time-of-covid\/","title":{"rendered":"Comics in the Time of COVID"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\r\n

At our recent Comics Studies Reading Group virtual meeting, we asked the question, \u201cWhat comics are getting you through the pandemic and why?\u201d. <\/strong>Some of the group\u2019s responses are shared below, and reflect a range of genres and tastes, but more interestingly, a range of different needs and reasons for looking to comics during this time.<\/p>\r\n

We\u2019d love to hear from some of you in the comments about what you\u2019re reading these days and why it\u2019s important to you, especially now. Whether its for escapism, contemplation, comfort, provocation, or intellectual gratification, tell us how comics or graphic novels might be meaningful or valuable for you in the time of COVID.<\/p>\r\n

Our next meeting will be\u00a0Saturday, June 20, 1-2:30 p.m.<\/strong>, via Zoom, and we’ll be discussing Gene Luen Yang’s, American Born Chinese<\/em><\/a>, along with an essay recommended by one of our members, to be shared on our email list. If you’d like to be added to that list, contact john.martin@unt.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

What some of our Reading Group members had to say:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

\u201cFor me, the very *idea* of comics is getting me through Covid-19. Comics are about creators pouring their heart and soul into art for whoever cares enough to appreciate it, knowing they will probably not make much money doing it, and knowing they will never see most of the people whose lives their work touches. To me that feels especially poignant and powerful right now.<\/p>\r\n

I’ve also been catching up on series I was very behind on–Deadly Class<\/em>, Descender<\/em>, Lazarus<\/em>, Ms. Marvel<\/a><\/em>, Paper Girls<\/a><\/em>, Saga<\/a><\/em>, and many more. Getting back into these older titles via the single issues I have stacked up (literally) reminds me that lively conversations about comics will continue, no matter what happens with Covid-19.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Dave Aftandilian, Associate Professor of Anthropology & Director of the Human-Animal Relationships (HARE) minor at TCU<\/p>\r\n

\u201cI always read Japanese shojo manga when in need of comfort. Even when things are difficult \u2013 whether that be a bad breakup or an evil monster attack \u2013 everything in those drawn worlds still looks beautiful. And the heroine always wins, despite her personal foibles and silly mistakes along the way. We need that kind of story right now.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Sarah A. Evans, Assistant. Professor of Youth Librarianships, UNT Dept. of Information Sciences<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt took me a while to get used to Love & Rockets<\/em>. What the hell is this, I would think, watching dinosaurs tromp across panels that were also filled with spaceships and half written in Spanish. Now\u00a0I totally love the women who make up the main cast of characters in Jaime Hernandez\u2019s fictional world of Huerta (unless, of course, they are off-world in some other weird place that also has beaches and dinos). Maggie, Hopey, Izzy, Penny, Daffy, Terry and others are literally drawn in all shapes and sizes; they are each unique in character one from the next; they cultivate different sets of desires; they are flawed but lovable; and most exciting of all, their relationships with each other, and with the men in their world, are complex, dynamic, and deliciously messy. Over the course of lockdown I have read\u00a0Locas in Love<\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0The Girl from HOPPERS<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>now my hunt begins for\u00a0Perla la Loca<\/em><\/a>!\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Samantha Langsdale, Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Philosophy & Religion, UNT<\/p>\r\n

\u201cI like to confront my fears and anxieties directly in my reading and viewing\u2014which is one reason I gravitate towards gothic fiction and horror movies.\u00a0 The same is true for comics. My standard reading right now is a pile of horror & dystopian science fiction titles: Monstress<\/a>, Outcast, Bitter Root, Family Tree, The Plot, Gideon Falls<\/a><\/em>, Trees<\/em>,\u00a0 and all of the new Hill House titles (my favorites are Plunge<\/em> and The Low, Low Woods<\/em>). I also enjoy some of the recent crime noir series like The Fade Out<\/a><\/em> and Ruby Falls<\/em>. Thinking through how we process fear, uncertainty, danger, and horror in artistic form is important to me, and maybe more relevant now than ever. I\u2019m also working on a paper on Ezra Clayton Daniels\u2019 Upgrade Soul<\/a>, <\/em>and recently read his Bttm Fdrs<\/a><\/em>, both of which deal with the potential and dangers of technology in the context of race, age, socioeconomics, and spirituality. They both offer great body horror and urban gothic! You know, if you’re into that sort of thing…\u201d<\/p>\r\n

John Edward Martin, Scholarly Communication Librarian, UNT Libraries<\/p>\r\n

\u201cI have been returning to old favorites and books that influenced me as a form of \u2018comic comfort food.\u2019 These include re-reading Evan Dorkin’s\u00a0Milk and Cheese: Dairy Products Gone Bad<\/em>, Jaime Hernandez’s original\u00a0Love and Rockets\u00a0<\/a><\/em>stories, Carl Barks’\u00a0Donald Duck<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Uncle Scrooge<\/em>\u00a0comics, Eisner’s\u00a0The Spirit<\/em>, and Keith Giffen’s Ambush Bug<\/em>…mostly all humorous stuff.\u00a0 I’ve been supplementing that with back issues of\u00a0The Nib<\/em>\u00a0and a huge backlog of digital comics I had not yet gotten around to reading.\u00a0 The latter include the first volume of\u00a0Elfquest<\/em>\u00a0by Wendy Pini and Richard Pini, Mike Carey’s new\u00a0Barbarella<\/em>\u00a0comics, and Pat Mills and Various Artists legendary\u00a02000 A.D.\u00a0<\/em>story\u00a0Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Josh Rose, Faculty of Art History, Brookhaven College<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At our recent Comics Studies Reading Group virtual meeting, we asked the question, \u201cWhat comics are getting you through the pandemic and why?\u201d. Some of the group\u2019s responses are shared below.","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,36],"tags":[30,37,19],"class_list":["post-444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-libraries","category-comics-reading-group","tag-comics-in-the-library","tag-comics-reading-group","tag-comics-studies"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2020\/05\/bttm-fdrs.jpg?fit=247%2C204&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9noXX-7a","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":298,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/2018\/08\/29\/comics-studies-reading-group\/","url_meta":{"origin":444,"position":0},"title":"Comics Studies Reading Group","author":"John","date":"August 29, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"On Friday, August 17, 2018, we had the first organizational meeting for our new Comics Studies Reading Group\u00a0at UNT. This is a group devoted to reading and discussing comics & graphic novels, as well as interesting scholarship, popular media, or films related to comics studies.\u00a0\u00a0 Nine people attended the meeting,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Comics in the library"","block_context":{"text":"Comics in the library","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/category\/libraries\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cover of Barrier #1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2018\/08\/barrier_ce_small.jpg?fit=370%2C224&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":381,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/2019\/11\/27\/comics-studies-reading-group-fall-2019\/","url_meta":{"origin":444,"position":1},"title":"Comics Studies Reading Group, Fall 2019","author":"John","date":"November 27, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"After an interval this summer and a couple of postponements due to scheduling conflicts, the Comics Studies Reading Group started back up in November with a discussion of\u00a0Diary of a Teenage Girl by Phoebe Gloeckner.Our conversation\u00a0was pretty wide-ranging, but touched on issues of teenage sexuality, sexual abuse, diaries & confessional\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Comics Reading Group"","block_context":{"text":"Comics Reading Group","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/category\/comics-reading-group\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cover image of Diary of a Teenage Girl by Phoebe Gloeckner","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2019\/11\/diary-211x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":630,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/2021\/09\/02\/comics-studies-reading-group-fall-2021\/","url_meta":{"origin":444,"position":2},"title":"Comics Studies Reading Group-Fall 2021","author":"John","date":"September 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"For our first Comics Studies Reading Group meeting this Fall, we'll be reading Mariko Tamaki & Steve Pugh's multiple Eisner Award-winning graphic novel, Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass (2019). For fans of Harley,\u00a0Birds of Prey, or the recent\u00a0Suicide Squad films, this book offers a unique take on the coming-of-age story and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Comics Reading Group"","block_context":{"text":"Comics Reading Group","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/category\/comics-reading-group\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cover of Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass by Mariko Tamaki & Steve Pugh. Show's Harley in skater-punk gear leaping in the air with a baseball bat.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2021\/09\/harley-e1630615447855.jpg?fit=1200%2C1085&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2021\/09\/harley-e1630615447855.jpg?fit=1200%2C1085&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2021\/09\/harley-e1630615447855.jpg?fit=1200%2C1085&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2021\/09\/harley-e1630615447855.jpg?fit=1200%2C1085&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2021\/09\/harley-e1630615447855.jpg?fit=1200%2C1085&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":413,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/2019\/12\/19\/comics-studies-happenings-fall-2019\/","url_meta":{"origin":444,"position":3},"title":"Comics Studies Happenings, Fall 2019","author":"John","date":"December 19, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"This Fall has been a busy one for many of our Comics Studies Reading Group members, who have been reading, teaching, reviewing, and writing about comics and graphic novels, among other things. So I thought this would be a great time to share some of the interesting work they\u2019re doing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Comics Reading Group"","block_context":{"text":"Comics Reading Group","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/category\/comics-reading-group\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cover of We3 Trade Paperback","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2019\/12\/We3_Trade_Paperback-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":827,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/2024\/08\/15\/whats-happening-with-comics-studies-at-unt\/","url_meta":{"origin":444,"position":4},"title":"What’s happening with Comics Studies at UNT?","author":"John","date":"August 15, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Welcome back, everyone, to the Fall 2024 semester and a new year of school, work, and Comics Studies at UNT! We've got lots of updates on our Comics Studies initiative and other comics-related events and activities happening at UNT. Over the last two years, our Comics Studies community has grown\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Comics Events"","block_context":{"text":"Comics Events","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/category\/comics-events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2024\/08\/Comic-Studies-Blog_F17_Event-Banner.png?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2024\/08\/Comic-Studies-Blog_F17_Event-Banner.png?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2024\/08\/Comic-Studies-Blog_F17_Event-Banner.png?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2024\/08\/Comic-Studies-Blog_F17_Event-Banner.png?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":309,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/2019\/01\/23\/309\/","url_meta":{"origin":444,"position":5},"title":"Comics Studies Reading Group Spring 2019 Update","author":"John","date":"January 23, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"We recently completed the first semester of our UNT Comics Studies Reading Group, and held our first meeting of 2019. The group has readers from UNT and TCU, including faculty, staff, librarians, and students. We\u2019ve had a regular attendance of 4-6 people, plus occasional others who have contributed to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Comics Reading Group"","block_context":{"text":"Comics Reading Group","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/category\/comics-reading-group\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cover of Emily Carroll's Through the Woods","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2019\/01\/through-the-woods-3.jpg?fit=1200%2C516&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2019\/01\/through-the-woods-3.jpg?fit=1200%2C516&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2019\/01\/through-the-woods-3.jpg?fit=1200%2C516&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2019\/01\/through-the-woods-3.jpg?fit=1200%2C516&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2019\/01\/through-the-woods-3.jpg?fit=1200%2C516&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":451,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444\/revisions\/451"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/comics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}