Armin Lippitz VIOLENCE IN GRAPHIC NOVELS: Boom, Zack, Pow – Comics and Graphic Novels defined, with special focus on the portrayal and mechanics of violence MASTERARBEIT Zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades Master of Arts Studium: Anglistik und Amerikanistik Alpen-Adria Universität Klagenfurt Fakultät für Kulturwissenschaften Begutachter: Postdoc-Assistant Mag. Dr. René Schallegger Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik 8. Jänner 2014 Declaration of honor I hereby confirm on my honor that I personally prepared the present academic work and carried out myself the activities directly involved with it. I also confirm that I have used no resources other than those declared. All formulations and concepts adopted literally or in their essential content from printed, unprinted or Internet sources have been cited according to the rules for academic work and identified by means of footnotes or other precise indications of source. The support provided during the work, including significant assistance from my supervisor has been indicated in full. The academic work has not been submitted to any other examination authority. The work is submitted in printed and electronic form. I confirm that the content of the digital version is completely identical to that of the printed version. I am aware that a false declaration will have legal consequences. signature place, date Table of Content Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................... 1 1. Comics and Graphic Novels – Definitions and History .......................................................................................... 4 1.1 Definitions ............................................................................................................................................................ 4 1.1.1 Comics ........................................................................................................................................................... 4 1.1.2 Graphic Novel .............................................................................................................................................. 14 1.2 History of Comics and Graphic Novels ............................................................................................................... 18 2. Components and Tools ........................................................................................................................................ 30 2.1 Images ................................................................................................................................................................ 30 2.2 Panels ................................................................................................................................................................. 32 2.3 Language ........................................................................................................................................................... 34 2.4 Word-balloons and captions .............................................................................................................................. 37 2.5 Color ................................................................................................................................................................... 39 2.6 The Gutter .......................................................................................................................................................... 40 2.7 Mise-en-page ..................................................................................................................................................... 42 3. Violence in Graphic Novels .................................................................................................................................. 43 3.1 Violent Images .................................................................................................................................................... 43 3.2 Violent Language ............................................................................................................................................... 46 3.3 Panel arrangement and borders ........................................................................................................................ 50 3.4 Colors ................................................................................................................................................................. 53 3.5 Reasons for Violence in Graphic Novels ............................................................................................................. 55 4. Analyses ............................................................................................................................................................... 57 4.1 Frank Miller’s 300 (2006) .................................................................................................................................... 57 4.2 Art Spiegelman’s Maus (1986/1992) .................................................................................................................. 63 4.3 Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.’s Kick-Ass (2010) ............................................................................................. 67 4.4 John Wagner and Vince Locke’s A History of Violence (1997) ............................................................................. 71 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................... 77 Glossary ....................................................................................................................................................................... 81 Bibliography................................................................................................................................................................. 88 Table of Figures ........................................................................................................................................................ 94 Introduction 1 Introduction In today’s society violence is omnipresent, especially in the media. There is no medium and genre in which there is no violence at all. We read about violence in newspapers, we see it on TV and in the movies, read violent novels of all genres – even non-fiction genres such as biographies or documentaries feature violent content. Comics and graphic novels are no exception. In this work, I will elaborate on the role of violence in graphic novels. I will discuss how violence is shown in the medium and which methods are used to communicate violent content to the reader-viewer. Comics and graphic novels, a distinction that will be made in the first part of this work, are still underrepresented in scientific research today, and have previously predominantly been used as proof for negative effects on children and adolescents in psychological and behavioral analyses (c.f. Wertham, 2004; Hänisch, 1982). The odd exception focused on how comics are read (by children and adolescents) or discussed the medium’s value as an art form (c.f. Grünewald, 1984 and 1982). More recent works attempt to define the medium, as well as explain how it can be incorporated in (mostly college) education (c.f. Saraceni, 2003; Tabachnick, 2009; Monnin, 2010). Contrary to most mainstream research in comics, I will make a conscious effort not to focus on the psychological impact or behavioral effects of violent content in the media on children and adolescents, comics’ artistic merit or its possible use in education. I will rather concentrate on the way violence is portrayed and conveyed by comics artists and writers, and how these portrayals differ. The first of four parts of this present thesis will give an overview of the historical and theoretical development of comics in the Western tradition and will elaborate on the differentiation between comics and graphic novels. To clarify that distinction, a definition for each will be established. The historical evolution of the medium will be based on these definitions. The second part of the thesis will develop an understanding of the tools used in comics and graphic novels to communicate with the reader-viewer. Here I will rely on my own, as well as Thierry Groensteen’s definition in The System of Comics (2007), and Scott McCloud’s from Introduction 2 Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art (1994), which itself builds on Will Eisner’s Comics and Sequential Art (2008a). This chapter will deal with concepts and tools such as mise-en-page, word balloons, panels, pictures, and an invisible aspect of comics and graphic novels, the gutter, the empty space between panels that our imagination has to fill and the reason why McCloud dubbed the medium “The Invisible Art” (c.f. McCloud, 1994). The gutter is responsible for the interesting phenomenon of the ‘reader-viewer as the perpetrator’ which is unique to the medium. The third chapter will focus on violence in comics and graphic novels. It will show that violence is an integral part in the majority of these texts and elaborate on the different ways of representing it within its framework. Violence can be expressed in various ways in this medium, such as violent images, language, panel arrangement and borders, the choice of colors etc. In addition, this chapter will deal with the value or importance of violence