'little gothics': Misty and the 'Strange Stories' of British Girls' Comics. Issue 2 (July 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Round, Julia
• Is Part Of: Gothic studies. Volume 23:Issue 2(2021)
• Page Start: 163
• Page End: 180
• Publication Date: 2021-07
• Subjects: girls' comics -- carnival -- joke -- children's literature -- play; Gothic revival (Literature) -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Gothic fiction (Literary genre) -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Goth culture (Subculture) -- Periodicals; 809.38729
• DOI: 10.3366/gothic.2021.0092
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1362-7937

Abstract

Abstract : This article uses a critical framework that draws on the Gothic carnival, children's Gothic, and Female Gothic to analyse the understudied spooky stories of British comics. It begins by surveying the emergence of short-form horror in American and British comics from the 1950s onwards, which evolved into a particular type of girls' weekly tale: the 'Strange Story.' It then examines the way that the British mystery title Misty (IPC, 1978–80) developed this template in its single stories. This focuses on four key attributes: the directive role of a host character, an oral tone, content that includes two-dimensional characters and an ironic or unexpected plot reversal, and a narrative structure that drives exclusively towards this final point. The article argues that the repetition of this formula and the tales' short format draw attention to their combination of subversion/conservatism and horror/humour: foregrounding a central paradox of Gothic.