Abstract

Comics as a Cultural Record: between Humorous and Serious Representation – keynote by Professor Jane Chapman:
Comics themselves are a ‘democratic’ art form – both as popular culture and in their use by social movements. As a cultural record they should be included in the palette of primary sources that academics use for the study of the past – especially unknown or neglected contemporary strips. Using a range of examples, this keynote presentation demonstrates how both humourous and serious comics can be analysed according to four different categories of cultural record. Similarly, humour theory helps our understanding of light-hearted comics, which were sometimes created as a diversion from violence and death in war time. Between humorous and serious representation a liminal space exists that is sometimes populated by comics as an important form of collective identity.