'Nemeses! Dragons! Symbolism!': queering the fantasy hero narrative in Nimona. Issue 5 (3rd September 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Barbour, Loren
• Is Part Of: Journal of graphic novels & comics. Volume 12:Issue 5(2021)
• Page Start: 811
• Page End: 823
• Publication Date: 2021-09-03
• Subjects: Monsters -- fantasy fiction -- representations of masculinity -- representations of queerness -- graphic novels; 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
• DOI: 10.1080/21504857.2020.1786418
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2150-4857

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Of the available narratives in fantasy fiction, the noble hero clashing with a maniacal villain – often over a helpless damsel – is easily recognisable and easily critiqued for its reliance on patriarchal, heteronormative logic and binary notions of good and evil. Noelle Stevenson's charmingly queer graphic novel Nimona takes the additional step of reorienting the familiar commitments, relations, and actions of the fantasy hero to invite its characters (and readers) to reimagine the human beyond the parameters of what the genre typically allows it to be. This article reads Nimona as a 'monster' figure whose presence instigates the reformulation of fantasy masculinity made available to both ostensible hero and ostensible villain. It analyzes the consequences of Nimona's marginalisation and the implications of Stevenson's representation of queer trauma. Ultimately, I suggest that through the comics medium, Stevenson reinvents the fantasy genre as a site of inquiry that encourages self-reflection and asks all who engage it what we have overlooked in its traditionally straight world.