The identity politics of Elfquest at 40: moving beyond race, class and gender?. Issue 1 (2nd January 2019)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- The identity politics of Elfquest at 40: moving beyond race, class and gender?. Issue 1 (2nd January 2019)
- Main Title:
- The identity politics of Elfquest at 40: moving beyond race, class and gender?
- Authors:
- Saunders, Robert A.
- Abstract:
- ABSTRACT: This article provides a critical analysis of the political content of Wendy and Richard Pinis' independent comic series Elfquest (1978–present), focusing on the identity triad of race, class and gender. In my analysis of Elfquest (EQ) as a popular culture-based political intervention, I make a threefold contribution to the literature of popular geopolitics. First, in a normative contribution challenging the norms of male-dominated 1970s-era comics, I situate EQ as subversive medium that imagined a new world ordered by the progressive values of the '1968 generation'. Second, via a theoretical contribution, I present EQ fandom as a form of transformative political engagement, wherein the reader/seer maps their own situatedness in the US's changing socio-political milieu. And, third, in an empirical contribution, I provide a critical analysis of the original series, interrogating Elfquest 's engagement with identity politics through a close reading of the visuals and text of the 'Original Quest' (Issues #1–21, 1978–1984), fan feedback (letters to the editor), and interviews with the creators (including my own, conducted in 2017). In the conclusion, I reflect on EQ's transition to the post-identity politics of the contemporary era as the series concludes its fourth decade in publication.
- Is Part Of:
- Journal of graphic novels & comics. Volume 10:Issue 1(2019)
- Journal:
- Journal of graphic novels & comics
- Issue:
- Volume 10:Issue 1(2019)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 10, Issue 1 (2019)
- Year:
- 2019
- Volume:
- 10
- Issue:
- 1
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2019-0010-0001-0000
- Page Start:
- 3
- Page End:
- 27
- Publication Date:
- 2019-01-02
- Subjects:
- Elfquest -- race -- gender -- class -- politics
Graphic novels -- Periodicals
Comic books, strips, etc -- Periodicals
Popular culture -- Periodicals
Art, Modern -- 21st century -- Periodicals
Art, Modern
Comic books, strips, etc
Graphic novels
Popular culture
Comicroman
Comic
Periodicals
741.5 - Journal URLs:
- http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rcom20/current ↗
http://www.tandfonline.com/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1080/21504857.2017.1406864 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 2150-4857
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 11528.xml