Sequential Scholars

Our latest for @sequentialscholars.bsky.social spotlights Jim Coby and Joanna Davis-McElligatt's edited collection "BOOM SPLAT! Comics and Violence" published by @upmississippi.bsky.social. #ComicsStudies

BOOM! SPLAT! SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2025 COMICS STUDIES SOCIETY EDITED BOOK PRIZEContributions by Lawrence Abrams, Diana Álvarez Amell, Partha Bhattacharjee, Natalja Chestopalova, Jim Coby, Rita Costello, Sam Cowling, ...

For more information on “BOOM! SPLAT! Comics and Violence,” edited by Jim Coby and Joanna Davis-McElligatt and published by the University Press of Mississippi, at the publisher’s website:

An image of Wonder Woman wielding a sword to fight dragons.

This anthology’s rigorous, multifaceted examination of a critically underexplored area of comics scholarship should interest comics scholars of all stripes as well as anyone interested in what comics can offer broader discussions of the representation of violence in art & culture. 9/9

A scene from the graphic novel March featuring civil rights protestors being beaten by police.

Section IV, “Thunk! Political and Social Violence,” addresses the urgency of representations of violence within contemporary political contexts, with a particular focus on racialized violence within American culture and society. 8/9

The cover of Incognegro: A Graphic Mystery, by Mat Johnson and Warren Pleece, featuring a man looking back at the reader with a noose on a tree in the background amid a crowd.

Section III, “Aarrgh! Interpersonal and Collective Violence,” considers more diffuse effects of violence by focusing on the impacts of trauma in mainstream superhero comics, graphic novels, and comics autobiography, with chapters spotlighting work by Pheobe Gloeckner, Mariko Tamaki, and others. 7/9

A Calvin & Hobbes strip in which the characters become exaggeratedly violent over a sports disagreement.

Essays in Section II, “Zzap! Forms of Violence,” examine the formal properties of violence within the comics medium using examples from Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes (1985-95), Daniel Clowes’ Patience (2016), and Mat Johnson and Warren Pleece’s Incognegro: A Graphic Mystery (2008). 6/9

Cover of World War 1: A Graphic Novel, featuring an impaled body in a trench with soldier leaning over him.

The collection includes 15 essays. Section I, “Bang! Histories of Violence,” locates portrayals of violence within specific historical contexts, including Bronze Age superhero comics, comics about World War I, comics produced in the wake of the Cuban Revolution, and 21st century graphic novels. 5/9

A cover of the comic book Hawk and Dove, featuring one character shoving the other amid a protest.

This framing argues that comics, through their multimodality and through iconicity that participates in “externalizing the internal,” are ideally suited to staging critical dialogues about power and violence and the insidious reach of various cultural and institutional forms of violence. 4/9

The cover of March Book 1 by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell.

Coby & Davis-McElligatt emphasize the historical & formal complexity of violence in comics, examining “the forms & structures of violence embedded in the comics language itself" and discussing acts of physical violence alongside “systems of ephemeral, psychological, and ideological violence.” 3/9

A cover of the comic book Crime Does Not Pay, featuring a man firing a gun silhouetted by an electric chair.

In their introduction, Coby & Davis-McElligatt speculate on this scholarly neglect, suggesting that within comics studies’ seemingly never-ending quest for legitimacy, violence remains a taboo topic, conjuring spectacles of juvenile vulgarity from which scholars are eager to distance themselves.2/9

The cover of BOOM! 'SPLAT! Comics and Violence, featuring a fist and icons of force.

Jim Coby and Joanna Davis-McElligatt’s anthology "BOOM! 'SPLAT! Comics and Violence" was shortlisted for the Edited Book Prize from the Comics Studies Society. This collection applies an innovative, inclusive lens to a topic that’s received remarkably limited attention within #ComicsStudies. 1/9

Mitsuba as a Post-Gender Character [1 of 3]
Though not canonically trans, the character of Mitsuba from Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun can be read as trans-coded, a process that enables him to serve a broader interrogation of gender that presses the reader into a post-gender perspective. #mitsuba #hanako

Announcing our next unit: Book spotlights !

Queering the Batman Universe (starring Renee Montoya):

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7/7

Critiquing Super-Violence in “Gotham Central”:

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6/7

“Gotham Central” and Cultural Capital:

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5/7

Subverting Superhero Story Arcs in “Gotham Central”:

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4/7

Revisionism in “Gotham Central”:

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3/7

“Gotham Central” and the Age of Multiplicity:

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2/7

Our unit on "Gotham Central" is over but not forgotten! Here's a snapshot of what we covered, starting with An Introduction to “Gotham Central”:

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1/7 #Batman #GothamCentral #ReneeMontoya #ComicsStudies

Our latest for @sequentialscholars.bsky.social talks the award-winning story "Half a Life" from Gotham Central, starring Renee Montoya. #ComicsStudies #Batman #GothamCentral #QueerComics

Renee calls Daria her lover and kisses her.

But this conclusion is also hopeful. Before she cries in Daria's arms, Renee refers to her, for the first time, as her lover. Renee’s harrowing experiences don’t scare her straight, but make her more determined to live her truth. Which is why Renee, rather than Batman, is this story’s hero. 12/12

Renee cries in the arms of her girlfriend Daria after her parents disown her.

Renee finds strength not in superheroes, but in loyal coworkers such as her partner Crispus Allen and another young cop, both of whom are notably people of colour. She also finds support in Daria, who sticks with her throughout the ordeal; the story ends with Daria holding Renee as she cries. 11/12

Renee confronts Batman about the dynamics described above.

Importantly, Renee saves herself before Batman arrives, further asserting agency. Her angry reaction to Batman’s intervention also reveals the limits of his approach to justice. Renee is angry because she wanted to kill Two-Face & because Batman can't fix the bigotry she’ll continue to face. 10/12

Renee beats up Harvey while voicing an emphatic “No.”

This encounter with Two-Face also resonates with how villainy is often associated with homophobic stereotypes, which underscore (perceived) social deviancy. Here, Two-Face tries to convince Renee they should be together because she’s a freak, just like him. She forcefully rejects this premise. 9/12

Two-Face tells Renee that while she’s lost everything else, she still has him.

Renee also powerfully rejects the manipulations of Two-Face, who kidnaps her off a prison transport vehicle and brings her to an underground bunker, where he attempts to seduce her. This scene resonates with homophobic, misogynistic beliefs that a strong man can turn a lesbian straight. 8/12

A scene from Gotham Central showing the scene described above.

But amid all this social pressure and persecution, Renee never doubts herself. In this powerful scene, she tells her brother that being a lesbian isn’t a choice, and that despite everything, she’s glad she is who she is. Note how Lark frames Renee so that she’s also speaking to the reader. 7/12

A page from Gotham Central showing the scene described above.

Renee also faces hurtful prejudice from her mother, father, and brother. Eventually, her mother and father disown her. And while her brother offers some marginal support, he ultimately blames Renee for causing family strife by (from his perspective) selfishly “choosing” to be a lesbian. 6/12

Renee angrily protests after seeing Daria being walked through the Department to be interrogated.

Renee’s outing also coincides with Two-Face framing her for murder. While it’s not stated directly, it’s implied that Renee’s outing heightens suspicion around the content of her character and contributes to her colleagues making a spectacle of her arrest & the interrogation of her girlfriend. 5/12

Renee confronts Maggie Sawyer about her comparative privilege.

Even seeming sources of support within the Department–such as openly gay Captain Maggie Sawyer–are limited in ways that emphasize the intersectional stakes of Renee’s outing. As Renee observes, Sawyer is white and doesn’t have to face the wrath and rejection of her Catholic parents. 4/12