While it has been argued in the past that organisational (re-)production of (foreign) media texts leads to a loss of creative value and that the translation robs the originals of their artistic status, this thesis argues that media are socially constructed entities that carry a multitude of voices encoded in their content and format. It thus does not focus on translation of a media text, in which a translator, re-writer and editors are involved, in terms of a textual comparison but as a practice carried out as integral part of the process of production. So are a multitude of other internal (marketing, public relations and sales) and external (laws, audiences, business environment) factors and voices. The thesis thus employes notions of polysemy to reflect on the different aspects encoded within the medium due the different approaches and interest the various areas of localisation are bound by. It thus breaks down the workflow into three different localisation stages: divided stages, during which specialists focus on singular aspects of production; the recreation of context, both in terms of the physical medium itself and the placement of it in a larger meta text; and finally the active framing and placing of the product in the local marketplace. At the end this internal focus is juxtaposed with those of external stakeholders. This approach will be framed by using organisational localisation of manga in Germany and the USA as an examplar. Following a print medium through production allows the steps to become visible since every step is accompanied by a tangible object reflecting said stage.

How can the structures of graphic narratives help us to interrogate, analyse, and ultimately ground stories of ourselves and our world? By not relying solely on verbal or visual language, but the complex interplay between multiple signification strategies, comics open up possibilities for transcending the limits of any single linguistic mode and more fully enunciating the complex layers of superimposed truths that make up our lived experiences. In this doctoral project, I utilize media-specific analysis of graphic narratives and interrogate the multi-modal communication strategies inherent in comics. The result is a multidisciplinary construction of the structural and semiotic modes of comics as an enactment of contemporary narrative ideals that privilege reader-centric, subjective constructions of meaning. My submission consists of four chapters of written research, to be submitted at the end of January, and a collection of autobiographical narrative works that will form an exhibition which will be shown at the time of the viva in April. The presentation of the textual material is an inseparable component of the content, and a piece of practical work in itself. The chapters can be read in any sequence; for the purposes of this abstract, I will discuss them in alphabetical order. My practice work challenges the traditional use of comics-specific affordances, such as panel borders, gutter, use of space as time, and other verbo-visual techniques by remediating them outwith book and digital book-like objects we associate with graphic narratives. Each chapter in the dissertation is its own book-object that enacts the content as well as relates to the larger body of practice work. Childhood Memoirs—Autobiographical Approaches The use of multiple signification strategies allows for communication that transcends the limits of textual or verbal language and can allow a creator to enunciate what may be unspeakable or incomprehensible, such as moments of trauma. I pay special attention to how subjectivity is presented in graphic memoirs within this context, as the drawn nature of comics allows for shifts in the status of the author/narrator that are unique to the medium. Comics as a Synthetic Medium—A Very Short Introduction The ‘introductory’ chapter contextualizes my research and comics studies more generally within non-binary, non-hierarchical concepts of rhizomatic knowledge structures that utilize the concept of text in the Barthesian sense as a mode of communication rather than solely lexicographic writing. In comics, text and imagery can actively oppose each other, creating a space where new meaning can be synthesized from this tension. This is Derrida’s deconstruction, Benjamin’s inclusion of cultural production in literature, or Barthes’ writerly text. Each utterance on a comics page may convey multiple levels of independent meaning, making it unique among narrative media. By examining the semiotic and structural theories presented by Barthes and Derrida, as well as Benjamin, Deleuze, Witgenstein and others, I develop the case for a comics-specific theory of trans-medial, subjective, deconstructed communication. Mapping the Journey—The Cartography of Autobiography In this chapter, I analyse the mythology of the supposed inductive system of representation in mapping and explore how including a secondary visual semiological system, that of the map, within the primary system of comics impacts reader perception of truth through verifiability. I also explore the intersection of non-representational theory within geography and authentication within autographics. Media Specificity of Non-traditional Graphic Narratives The focus of this chapter is on the impact of disseminatory (re)mediation on the medium of graphic narratives. I assert that neither digital nor print is superior to the other, but deliver different experiences to the reader. Through close analysis of the formal qualities inherent in digital and physical representation of comic content, I articulate the qualities unique to each distribution strategy and theorize ways that creators can take advantage of the media at their disposal. The practical element of my submission takes the form of a collection of objects that utilize a variety of graphic narrative structures outwith traditional comics forms in order to explore facets of my childhood memories. The exhibition will be constituted of several lanterns, dioramas and dolls’ houses, as well as some printed material. I attempt to ground my memories in architecture and place, while aware that the sense of solidity this lends my recollections is a false sense of objective security. To counteract any attempt to present a wholly unified and reliable narratorial self, I present the same places and memories through various angles and media. I make explicit some of the dissonant ‘truths’ myself and other members of my family were presented with, as an attempt to consciously confront the fragility of utilizing such collectively constructed memory to construct a stable self-image.

L'objectif de la thèse est de mettre au jour les différents modes de représentation du discours autre et de déterminer leur fonctionnement dans la construction du dessin de presse en tant que commentaire de l'événement médiatique. En tant que genre hybride et humoristique, le dessin de presse emprunte ses caractéristiques rhétoriques, thématiques, discursives et formelles à la caricature, au dessin d'humour, à la bande dessinée et au commentaire journalistique. Quant aux différentes formes d'humour dans le dessin, elles sont liées étroitement à la ligne éditoriale du périodique de publication et elles sont censées créer une connivence avec le lecteur. Le cadre théorique repose sur les recherches d'Authier-Revuz. Elle détermine le lien d'un acte d'énonciation avec les différents modes de représentation du discours autre en s'appuyant sur leurs caractéristiques sémiotiques, syntaxiques et sémantiques spécifiques. Également, la représentation du discours autre relève du dialogisme bakhtinien et le lecteur doit parfois faire appel à sa mémoire discursive, sémantique, historique et collective ainsi qu'à l'implicite pour reconnaître certains énoncés comme relevant de la représentation du discours autre. Le cadre théorique ainsi posé est appliqué à un corpus de 150 dessins de presse publiés dans le quotidien Le Monde, dans l'hebdomadaire Courrier international et exposés au Mémorial de Caen entre 2010 et 2014. Les conclusions des analyses sont les suivantes : premièrement, le discours direct, le discours indirect, la modalisation en assertion seconde et la modalisation autonymique d'emprunt sont les modes de représentation du discours autre présents dans le dessin de presse. Deuxièmement, il apparaît que, malgré le repérage systématique des caractéristiques spécifiques de chaque mode, il est parfois impossible de trancher définitivement sur une forme. Seules les connaissances du lecteur peuvent l'inciter à trancher en faveur d'un mode ou d'un autre. Troisièmement, les modes de représentation du discours autre ainsi déterminés participent de la construction d'un commentaire critique, parfois humoristique, de l'événement médiatique. / The aim of the dissertation is to identify different forms of reported speech and to highlight their importance in the construction of cartoons functioning as news comments in the press. The "cartoon" is a hybrid and humorous genre, which owes its rhetorical, thematic, discursive and formal characteristics to the caricature, the humorous drawing, the comic strip and the press comment. The different types of humor in the cartoon are closely connected to the editorial line of the periodical and are supposed to create a certain complicity between the cartoonist and his reader. The theoretical framework of the dissertation is based on Authier-Revuz's work. She identifies different types of reported speech by their specific semiotic, syntactic and semantic characteristics. Reported speech also falls within dialogism as Bakhtin defined it. Readers need their discursive, semantic, historic and collective memory as well as a certain proficiency in detecting implicit messages in order to understand some occurrences of reported speech. The theoretical framework is put into practice on a corpus of 150 cartoons published in the French daily newspaper Le Monde, in the French weekly review of international press Courrier international or exposed at the "Mémorial de Caen" from 2010 to 2014. One can conclude that firstly, indirect speech, direct speech, "modalisation en assertion seconde" and "modalisation autonymique d'emprunt" are found in the cartoons. Secondly, it can be difficult to attribute a type to an utterance of reported speech even when the analyst systematically checks all utterances for specific characteristics. Only the reader's former knowledge can help him choose one of the forms. Thirdly, the cartoonist uses reported speech to create a critical and sometimes humorous comment on events and their treatment in the media.

This thesis is focused on American gay male comics and queer alternative comics. I argue that the field of gay male comics production is dominated by two key genres: gay porno comics and gay ghetto comics. The conventions and characteristics of these genres help to construct and reinforce a dominant gay male habitus that is both sexual and social. Drawing on interviews as well as close readings of a number of case studies, I discuss the ways in which alternative queer cartoonists respond to the conventions of these genres, and create alternative representations of gay identity, community, and sex. I argue ultimately that the field of gay male comics production is not entirely homogenous, and that the queer male alternative comics that appear from roughly 1990 onwards are distinctive. The gay male comics of the First Wave (from the 1970s to 1990) are concerned with constructing and consolidating a sense of gay identity and community as relatively unified and stable. While sometimes critical of gay culture, as a whole they ultimately affirm the ideal of a unified gay community. In contrast, the queer male alternative comics that emerged as part of the Second Wave (starting around 1990) are far more concerned with questioning the normative, dominant values of mainstream gay culture, and challenging the identities, tastes and practices associated with the dominant gay habitus. Nevertheless because the gay ghetto and gay porno genres have been so dominant, queer alternative cartoonists position themselves in various different relationships to one or other genre. While some do abandon the genre conventions of gay porno and gay ghetto comics, more often queer alternative cartoonists take up some of these genre conventions and adapt, challenge, or subvert them in subtle ways.

Art Spiegelman is one of the most important figures in the history of American comics. His work Maus (1980 and 1991) is arguably the landmark text in the field of comic book studies. Given the relatively recent reissue of his first collection Breakdowns (2008) and the publication of his interview/essay collection/scrapbook Metamaus (2011), it is likely that his work will continue to be the subject of critical interest. This thesis concerns the collections Breakdowns (1977 and 2008), Maus (1980 and 1991) and In the Shadow of No Towers (2004). It represents the first book-length extended study of Spiegelman s three major works. The central argument put forth in this thesis is that the Spiegelman oeuvre articulates and manifests a madness which its author perceives to underlie supposedly rational society. In support of this thesis I will employ critical models from the following fields: Holocaust studies, trauma theory, the anti-psychiatry movement, theories concerning the representation of madness, formalist analyses of comics, and Genette s narratological taxonomy.

During the Second World War, American comic books were put to use for the war effort as carriers of propaganda. This thesis explores the propaganda in comics that were published with the cooperation of government and military institutions such as the Office of War Information and the United States Marine Corps. The propaganda contained within titles published in tandem with government institutions was primarily communicated through the interplay of the characters of the hero and the enemy or villain. Grouping these characters into recurrent types according to their characterisation allows for close reading of their particular propaganda function. This thesis establishes a connection between the Office of War Information, The Dell Publishing Company, Parents’ Magazine Press and Street and Smith Publications, carrying forward the work of Paul Hirsch (2014). Each of these publishers produced comics that included war related propaganda, as did the Office of War Information itself. Added to this sample are the war comics produced by Vincent Sullivan, the editor of Magazine Enterprises and its subsidiaries, that were published with the cooperation of the US Marine Corps and other military institutions. In addition, a sample of the comics of William Eisner are included in order to demonstrate that the same groupings of hero and enemy occur in fictional comic narratives as well as those that purport to be non-fictional. Similar to Joe Simon and Jack Kirby’s famous creation of Captain America, Eisner produced Uncle Sam in response to the rising patriotic fervour in 1941 as the country increasingly debated and prepared for war. Eisner was later enlisted to produce comics for the Pentagon on war related issues. There is also a discussion of Milton Caniff’s contribution to the US military publication Pocket Guide To China and the Office of War Information publication The Life of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States (1943). 6 As a counterpoint to the propaganda function of each type of hero and enemy contained within the commercially published sample, this thesis analyses a selection of unpublished, soldier-illustrated comics from the Second World War thanks to privileged access to the Veterans History Project (2013) at the Library of Congress. These unpublished artefacts demonstrate that the comics medium allowed space for alternative voices to express their reaction to the conflict, resisting the wider propaganda narrative exhibited by the commercial sample and reacting to the loss of individuality and authoritarian structure of the military, while stylistically demonstrating the soldiers’ affinity for comics such as George Baker’s Sad Sack and anti-heroes such as Bill Mauldin’s ‘Willie and Joe’. In this way these soldier-illustrated comics presented a democratic counter-point to the lack of democracy within the armed forces (Alpers, 2003, 158) and exhibit a form of patriotism focused on the ‘grassroots’ elements of American everyday life and culture as opposed to the jingoistic and ideological patriotism of the commercial comics. Methodologically, application of close reading to the content of comics’ narratives, on the level of a particular panel, story, advertisement, or other content, reveals comics to be significant historical sources that offer insight into the propaganda embedded in the popular culture of the period. Critical discourse analysis is applied to the rhetorical elements of the comics in order to explore how many of them served to marganilise particular groups, identifying them as the ‘enemy’ in contrast with the ‘hero’ (Brundage, 2008). Similarly, a semiotic approach informed by the work of Roland Barthes (1973; 1987) is undertaken in order to understand the significance of both visual and rhetorical elements of the texts. Alongside this approach is the methodological assumption of the ‘implied reader’ advocated by Wolfgang Iser’s (1978) that allows the analysis the virtual scope to discuss an idealised reader’s potential response to each text. This notion of the ‘implied reader’ is counterbalanced by a consideration of Stuart Hall’s (1980, 1997) three potential decoding positions in tandem with a consideration of the wider historical context. 7 Once the groups of hero and enemy are identified, subsets of both groups are developed according to their characterisation and the attributes they display. This is done in order to facilitate analysis of the ideology communicated by each of these character types. Identifying the function of each type of hero and enemy makes a new contribution to the wider field of propaganda studies. This contribution encourages a greater understanding of the role played by comics during the Second World War in encouraging ideological propaganda as well as allowing for resistance to it.

The present thesis investigates comics journalism, which is a subsection within the comics medium combining sequential images and journalism, and which has met with popular acclaim in the wake of Joe Sacco’s popularity in the 1990s. Since then, many examples of comics journalism have been published. However, the subject has not been comprehensively studied except for extensive research focusing on Sacco. This study aims to go some way towards filling this gap. This thesis focuses mainly on comics war journalism covering the turmoil in the Middle East and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by selecting graphic novels by two different authors from divergent backgrounds: Ayşegül Savaşta: Irak Şahini (Ayşegül at War: The Iraqi Falcon) by Kemal Gökhan Gürses from Turkey, and Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City by the Quebecois author Guy Delisle. There are four main chapters in this thesis. The first chapter, ‘Comics Journalism’, analyses this hybrid genre and tries to place it with a theoretical framework. The second chapter, ‘National Identities and Comics Journalism’, discusses how national identities are represented in comics journalism. The third chapter examines Ayşegül Savaşta: Irak Şahini and shows how comics journalism can function as a response to a war. The fourth chapter discusses Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City and explores comics journalism as cultural reportage. This thesis argues that the roots of comics journalism can be found in the Glasgow Looking Glass of 1825. While Joyce Brabner and Lou Ann Merkle together created today’s understanding of comics journalism, Joe Sacco popularized the genre via his coverage of the Palestinian issue and the Bosnian War. Another conclusion is that the September 11 attacks explain the rise of comics journalism, as output related to comics journalism has since blossomed. I will claim that comics journalism functions as an alternative to mainstream journalism and serves to show unreported news. Additionally this thesis will find that stereotypes play a very important role in picturing the relationship between comics and national identities, and will show how Muslim stereotypes have changed in comics, especially in superhero comics, produced after 9/11. This observation leads me to argue that comics journalists, regardless of their backgrounds, use essentially the same stereotypes when they draw Middle Easterners, Arabs especially, although negative Muslim stereotypes are very rare in comics journalism. Since religion and nationalism are undeniably intermingled in the Middle East, the comics journalists studied here employ Islam as a part of their narratives.

This paper explores the relation between the popular “Tintin” comics by the Belgian artist Hergé and Steven Spielberg’s successful film adaptation “The Adventures of Tintin” (2011) from a linguistic perspective. It explores how language use in the scriptovisual medium of the comic (which combines still images and printed text) is rendered in the audiovisual medium of film (which combines moving images and spoken language). After discussing general linguistic similarities between comics and films and the use of language in each of the two media, the paper compares the representation of voice, accent, thoughts, talking animals, sounds and written language in Spielberg’s screen adaptation to the original printed comic books. It analyses to what extent the language from comic books can be directly transferred to the filmic medium and investigates possible causes underlying any modifications in the above-mentioned domains.

Die Dissertation India Book House und die Comic-Serie Amar Chitra Katha (1970-2002) ist eine interdisziplinär angelegte Studie. Sie vermittelt Erkenntnisse über einen vernachlässigten Bereich der Mediengeschichte Indiens. Im ersten Teil wird das Modell "Kreislauf der Kultur" auf das Medienprodukt Amar Chitra Katha angewandt. Dabei werden fünf Prozesse berücksichtigt: Repräsentation, Produktion, Identität, Konsum und Regulierung. Im zweiten Teil werden ausgewählte ACK-Ausgaben aus den Kategorien Mythologie und Geschichte formal-inhaltlich analysiert und verglichen. Die jeweiligen Unterschiede in der Bearbeitungsform der ACK-Ausgaben werden auf die Erkenntnisse des ersten Teils bezogen. Dadurch konnten die arbeitsbedingten und verlagspolitischen Motive der Transformationen der ACK-Serie belegt werden.

Cette étude s’interroge sur les conditions de possibilités et les modalités d’entrance des auteurs africains dans le champ de la bande dessinée européenne de langue française. La thèse procède à une approche sociologique en effectuant, en premier lieu, une analyse institutionnelle des conditions de production, de circulation et de réception, ainsi que de la sociabilité dans les contextes locaux, notamment dans les pays de l’Afrique subsaharienne francophone. L’examen des modalités de publication dans l’édition ou dans la presse, des associations d’auteurs, des festivals et d’autres initiatives de promotion, des possibilités offertes par le monde associatif et celui des institutions montre que les auteurs locaux ont à réaliser leur vocation artistique et leurs projets professionnels dans des milieux mal organisés et peu propices. Cet état de choses, certes, oblige les agents à mettre en œuvre leur plus ou moins grande habileté à s’y adapter et à le faire jouer à l’avantage de leur parcours professionnel, mais il pousse aussi de nombreux auteurs à considérer la publication dans le champ européen comme le but vers lequel orienter leurs efforts et leurs stratégies. La problématique générale de l’entrance est l’angle d’attaque de la deuxième partie, qui analyse au moyen de la théorie du champ élaborée par Pierre Bourdieu les trajectoires des quelques auteurs africains de B.D. qui ont réussi à atteindre une certaine légitimation de la part des institutions de la B.D. européenne, à savoir les congolais Barly Baruti et Pat Masioni et l’ivoirienne Marguerite Abouet, ainsi que quelques autres parcours significatifs. Les notions d’habitus, de stratégie, de périphérie, d’autonomie et d’hétéronomie, mais aussi d’antinomie ont permis d’éclairer ces parcours. La théorie des champs, qui met l’accent sur les conditions sociales relatives à la création, à la circulation et à la consommation des biens symboliques et sur les institutions impliquées dans la « mise en acte » de l’objet artistique-culturel pour en comprendre la position dans la société de référence, a été l’instrument qui a permis de saisir l’importance de plusieurs facteurs : l’impact du secteur associatif et des institutions internationales ; l'autonomisation comme seconde étape ou éventuellement comme phase décisive, déterminant l’entrance dès le début ; les « instances de légitimation » / This research examines the conditions of possibilities within and the routes of entry of the African authors into the comic field of the French-speaking Europe. The dissertation employs a sociological approach by making, firstly, an institutional analysis of the conditions of production, circulation and reception, as well as the sociability in the local contexts, in particular in the French-speaking countries of sub-Saharan Africa. The examination of the modalities of publication in the edition or in the press, of the associations of authors, festivals and other promotional initiatives, and of the possibilities offered by associations and institutions, shows that local authors have to realize their artistic vocation and their professional projects in poorly organized and unfavourable environments. Of course, this state of things requires agents to exercise their greater or lesser skill in adapting to it and making it play to the advantage of their professional career, but it also prompts a number of authors to consider the publication in the European field as the goal towards which to focus their efforts and strategies. The general problem of entry is the angle of attack of the second part, which draws on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of fields to analyse the trajectories of the few African comics authors who managed to achieve a certain legitimation in European environments, namely Congolese Barly Baruti and Pat Masioni and the Ivorian Marguerite Abouet, as well as some other significant paths. The notions of habitus, strategy, periphery, autonomy and heteronomy, but also antinomy have helped to illuminate these paths. The theory of fields, which emphasizes the social conditions relating to the creation, circulation and consumption of symbolic goods and the institutions involved in the "mise en act" of the artistic-cultural object, in order to understand the position in the society of reference, was instrumental in understanding the importance of several factors: the impact of associations and of the international institutions; autonomy as a second step or eventually as a decisive phase, determining the entrance from the beginning; the “instances of legitimation”