The Comics Grid: Journal of Comics Scholarship

Huzzah! First time we've published two reviews of the same book- there's been scholarly interest and the journal has been happy to support that. I strongly believe academic book reviews are an important but often underappreciated and poorly rewarded contribution to scholarship.

cc @drdomdavies.bsky.social @crifkind.bsky.social

On Reading as Political Practice: A Review of Graphic Refuge: Visuality and Mobility in Refugee Comics This review of the book Graphic Refuge: Visuality and Mobility in Refugee Comics (2025), co-authored by Dominic Davies and Candida Rifkind, provides an overview of the key conceptual framing and inter...

Cfr. Mickwitz, N., (2026) “On Reading as Political Practice: A Review of Graphic Refuge: Visuality and Mobility in Refugee Comics”, The Comics Grid: Journal of Comics Scholarship 16(1). doi: doi.org/10.16995/cg..... #OpenAccess #ComicsStudies

Reading for Refugeetude: A Review of <em>Graphic Refuge: Visuality and Mobility in Refugee Comics</em> This review of Graphic Refuge: Visuality and Mobility in Refugee Comics, co-written by Dominic Davies and Candida Rifkind, with a preface by Vinh Nguyen (2025), places the book in the wider political ...

New in the journal! Precup, M., (2026) “Reading for Refugeetude: A Review of Graphic Refuge: Visuality and Mobility in Refugee Comics”, The Comics Grid: Journal of Comics Scholarship 16(1). doi: doi.org/10.16995/cg.... @openlibhums.org #OpenAccess #ComicsStudies cc @wlupress.bsky.social

Have you clicked on the link? doi.org/10.16995/cg....

<em>Baddawi </em>and the Visual Politics of Memory: A Conversation with Leila Abdelrazaq This interview with Palestinian American comics artist Leila Abdelrazaq explores her acclaimed graphic novel Baddawi (2015) and her broader creative practice as a visual storyteller of diasporic and i...

New interview @comicsgrid.com! Scott, B. L., (2026) “Baddawi and the Visual Politics of Memory: A Conversation with Leila Abdelrazaq”, The Comics Grid: Journal of Comics Scholarship 16(1). doi: doi.org/10.16995/cg.... - powered by @openlibhums.org @janewayolh.bsky.social! #ComicsStudies #openaccess

Rich and detailed review of Graphic Refuge by Nina Mickwitz in @comicsgrid.com open access

On Reading as Political Practice: A Review of Graphic Refuge: Visuality and Mobility in Refugee Comics This review of the book Graphic Refuge: Visuality and Mobility in Refugee Comics (2025), co-authored by Dominic Davies and Candida Rifkind, provides an overview of the key conceptual framing and inter...

New in @comicsgrid.com: Nina Mickwitz reviews Graphic Refuge: Visuality and Mobility in Refugee Comics (2025), co-authored by Dominic Davies and @crifkind.bsky.social. doi.org/10.16995/cg....

This launch last week was fantastic news for the future of scholarly publishing, with hundreds of #diamondopenaccess journals listed - check them out at www.openjournalscollective.org/catalogue/

@cphjournal.bsky.social is proud to be included.

cc @drdomdavies.bsky.social @crifkind.bsky.social @wlupress.bsky.social

On Reading as Political Practice: A Review of Graphic Refuge: Visuality and Mobility in Refugee Comics This review of the book Graphic Refuge: Visuality and Mobility in Refugee Comics (2025), co-authored by Dominic Davies and Candida Rifkind, provides an overview of the key conceptual framing and inter...

New in the journal! Mickwitz, N., (2026) “On Reading as Political Practice: A Review of Graphic Refuge: Visuality and Mobility in Refugee Comics”, The Comics Grid: Journal of Comics Scholarship 16(1). doi: doi.org/10.16995/cg.... #ComicsStudies powered by @openlibhums.org; @janewayolh.bsky.social

Strange Fruit. La chanson d’Abel (2025). An Interview with Vincent Hazard This interview with Vincent Hazard explores the creative genesis and collaborative process behind Strange Fruit. La chanson d’Abel (Dupuis, Aire Libre, 2025), a French language graphic novel illustrat...

It's Sunday. Maybe you play some #BillieHoliday, and read my interview with @vhazard.bsky.social: doi.org/10.16995/cg.... @comicsgrid.com

OLH Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy. - Open Library of Humanities The Open Library of Humanities is an award-winning open-access publisher of internationally leading academic scholarship. Our mission is to support and extend open access to scholarship in the humanit...

Our publisher, @openlibhums.org, has just published its Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy, following more than a year-long consultation process with OLH journals' editorial teams (including us). You can read it here: www.openlibhums.org/site/ai-poli.... #OpenAccess #ComicsStudies

2026 is Here Editorial processes have been resumed at our editorial HQ and Volume 16 (2026) will be published on a rolling basis as soon as articles become ready. Volume 16 can be …

2026 is Here www.comicsgrid.com/news/886/ #OpenAccess #ComicsStudies - powered by @openlibhums.org

In the Eye of the Blind: A Biofictional Account of Nathan Leopold in <em>The Hunting Accident</em> (2017) This article examines how graphic biographical fiction dramatizes historical personalities as characters, whose life story is framed as a narrative with moral closure. I suggest that this mechanism is...

Another new article today, part of the Graphic Biographical Fiction Special Collection: In the Eye of the Blind: A Biofictional Account of Nathan Leopold in The Hunting Accident (2017) doi.org/10.16995/cg.... - thanks @janewayolh.bsky.social @siliconchips.bsky.social @openlibhums.org #ComicsStudies

Mediating Sovereignty in Necropolitics: <em>Vanni</em> in the Framework of Intimacy Geopolitics Vanni: A Family’s Struggle through the Sri Lankan Conflict (2019), by Benjamin Dix and Lindsay Pollock, is an ethnographic work in the medium of comics and set in conflict-ridden Sri Lanka. It narrate...

We kickstart our 16th Volume (2026) with Mediating Sovereignty in Necropolitics: Vanni in the Framework of Intimacy Geopolitics doi.org/10.16995/cg.... -thanks @janewayolh.bsky.social @siliconchips.bsky.social @openlibhums.org! #OpenAccess #ComicsStudies

Found us! ;-)

Aaaaand this was 2025... #OpenAccess. Thank you @openlibhums.org @janewayolh.bsky.social @siliconchips.bsky.social and all the incredible editors, copyeditors, peer reviewers, authors and friends. Patience and kindness will get us there. Happies and merries! 🎄🙏

The Global Impact of South Korean Women's Narratives: Amplifying Female Voices through Webtoons and Drama Adaptations The current international influence of female creators in the webtoon industry of South Korea challenges gender barriers within the traditionally male-dominated comic and film sector. Through mixed methodology, this case study combines qualitative content analysis of webtoons created by South Korean women and their K-drama adaptations with quantitative data from media organizations, government, and statistical reports. The study explores the gendered narratives of these webtoon stories, their global reach, and how webtoon applications and streaming platforms have facilitated their access and success in the comic and film industries, reaching a vast international audience. When adapted into K-dramas for popular services, the commercial success of these webtoons not only dispels the myth of niche female stories but also underscores the vast market potential for diverse storytelling. These women narratives from South Korea, a country that low-ranked 105th out of 146 countries in the 2023 Global Gender Gap Report, transcend cultural barriers by embracing their unique experiences, offering innovative perspectives addressing social and gender issues of the intimate and public sphere and profound reflections of human connection and expression, resonating deeply with audiences worldwide.

Published last week in @comicsgrid.com > "The Global Impact of South Korean Women's Narratives: Amplifying Female Voices through Webtoons and Drama Adaptations" by Dácil Roca Vera and Alfonso Ruiz Rallo: doi.org/10.16995/cg.... #ComicsStudies

Everywoman’s Story: Reading <em>Abortion Eve</em> and <em>Not Funny Ha Ha</em> as Graphic Biofiction and Zóéfiction This article discusses two American pro-choice comics in the wider context of graphic biofiction. One is the now legendary Joyce Farmer and Lyn Chevli’s Abortion Eve (1973) and the other is Leah Hayes’s Not Funny Ha Ha: A Handbook for Something Hard (2015). While both texts were published 40 years apart, they are united in their interweaving of the real and the dramatized to tell a story of choice. The article argues that both comics invent/create an ‘everywoman,’ a character whose struggles are empathetic, and in that sense ‘generic,’ enough to make her relatable. Respectively, behind every ‘everywoman’ there lie real stories of individuals whose identity remains hidden, often for fear of public shaming. The methodological framework which comprises biofiction, comics, and feminist studies is further rooted in the bios and zóé distinction, where (every)woman’s story as a reproductive body (zóéfiction) clashes with her selfhood (biofiction). The article argues that how the character and their bodily autonomy are represented in both comics inspires reflection on the role and agency of women in general in the (post) Roe v. Wade United States.

More from @comicsgrid.com > "Everywoman’s Story: Reading Abortion Eve and Not Funny Ha Ha as Graphic Biofiction and Zóéfiction" by Malgorzata Wiktoria Olsza: doi.org/10.16995/cg.... #ComicsStudies

2025 Wrapped Dear colleagues, Season's greetings! It's that time of the year again. We have wrapped up The Comics Grid's 15th volume, corresponding to 2025.This past year was, once again, an exceptionally …

Season's Greetings! 2025 Wrapped! www.comicsgrid.com/news/880/ #ComicsStudies @openlibhums.org

Sad news- The Comics Grid as a project is greatly indebted to many of his early ideas and initiatives on open access- our condolences.

The Graphic Autobiographical Fiction Special Collection (edited by @mariajuko.bsky.social and Nancy Pedri) will have new additions early next year. Closing down editorial processes now for the holidays to allow some respite from what's been a really busy year! Season's greetings! 🎄🥂🎅🤶

Everywoman’s Story: Reading <em>Abortion Eve</em> and <em>Not Funny Ha Ha</em> as Graphic Biofiction and Zóéfiction This article discusses two American pro-choice comics in the wider context of graphic biofiction. One is the now legendary Joyce Farmer and Lyn Chevli’s Abortion Eve (1973) and the other is Leah Hayes...

New in the journal! To close this year's volume (volume 15!): Everywoman’s Story: Reading Abortion Eve and Not Funny Ha Ha as Graphic Biofiction and Zóéfiction doi.org/10.16995/cg.... #ComicsStudies @openlibhums.org #OpenAccess

This Is Not a Biography: Artists’ Lives in Graphic Biofictions  This article explores the potential of comics as a medium for artist biofiction, focusing on how visual depictions of renowned artists’ lives and works illustrate varying conceptions of biofiction. Through analysis of six artist biofictions – Pablo (Birmant and Oubrerie 2015), Vincent (Stok 2014), Munch (Kverneland 2016), Gauguin (Dori 2017), Andy (Typex 2018), and Magritte (Campi and Zabus 2017) – the study examines how comics create artistic experiences that challenge conventional life writing by blending factual and fictional elements. Distinguishing between comics that reveal an awareness of their narrative construction and those maintaining the integrity of the fourth wall, the paper introduces the concepts of a “biofictional pact” and “metabiofiction” as frameworks to differentiate between self-reflective and traditional approaches to artist biofiction in comics. 

New in the @comicsgrid.com > “This Is Not a Biography: Artists’ Lives in Graphic Biofictions ” by Marie Schröer:

Graphic Resilience: Illness, Identity, and Empowerment in Neelam Kumar’s To Cancer, with Love: A Graphic Novel The depiction of illness in comics has garnered increasing scholarly attention since the formalization of graphic medicine. This interdisciplinary field reimagines the affective and sociocultural dime...

Graphic Resilience: Illness, Identity, and Empowerment in Neelam Kumar’s To Cancer, with Love: A Graphic Novel doi.org/10.16995/cg.... #ComicsStudies

Strange Fruit. La chanson d’Abel (2025). An Interview with Vincent Hazard This interview with Vincent Hazard explores the creative genesis and collaborative process behind Strange Fruit. La chanson d’Abel (Dupuis, Aire Libre, 2025), a French language graphic novel illustrat...

Strange Fruit. La chanson d’Abel (2025). An Interview with Vincent Hazard doi.org/10.16995/cg.... #ComicsStudies

The Global Impact of South Korean Women's Narratives: Amplifying Female Voices through Webtoons and Drama Adaptations The current international influence of female creators in the webtoon industry of South Korea challenges gender barriers within the traditionally male-dominated comic and film sector. Through mixed me...

The Global Impact of South Korean Women's Narratives: Amplifying Female Voices through Webtoons and Drama Adaptations doi.org/10.16995/cg.... #ComicsStudies

This Is Not a Biography: Artists’ Lives in Graphic Biofictions This article explores the potential of comics as a medium for artist biofiction, focusing on how visual depictions of renowned artists’ lives and works illustrate varying conceptions of biofiction. Th...

This Is Not a Biography: Artists’ Lives in Graphic Biofictions doi.org/10.16995/cg.... #ComicsStudies

A Woolf of Her Own: Distributed Biographical Cognition in Alison Bechdel’s Are You My Mother? doi.org/10.16995/cg.... #ComicsStudies