Latinx Comics Studies

FERNANDA DÍAZ-BASTERIS is an assistant professor of Latinx new media and ethnic studies at The Ohio State University. Her research and teaching seek to understand US Caribbean/Latinx cultural forms of resistance to displacement, coloniality, and racial capitalism through literature, popular art, and graphic narratives from the mid-twentieth to twenty-first centuries.  MAITE URCAREGUI is an assistant professor of Latinx literatures in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at San JosÉ State University. Her research and teaching examine twentieth- and twenty-first-century Latinx and multiethnic US literatures, visual cultures, and comics through feminist, queer, and critical race theories and histories.

"Latinx Comics Studies is an indispensable volume that dives into the crosscurrents of Latinx identity and how it is shaped by and shapes the comics medium. A vital resource, this interdisciplinary collection firmly establishes that Latinx comics is a dynamic field at the forefront of today's critical study of graphic narratives." - Nhora Lucía Serrano (editor of Immigrants and Comics: Graphic Spaces of Remembrance, Transaction, and Mimesis) "Shattering mainstream understandings of comics, these essays reveal how comic art by Latinx creators has played important roles in forging communities, mobilizing archives, and enriching our understandings of space, place, and identity." - William Orchard (editor of Latinx Literature and Critical Futurities, 1992–2020)

• IntroductionPreface: A Comic Overview of Latinx Comics Studies by Francisca CÁrcamo Rojas (Panchulei)Latinx Comics Beyond Representation: Interdisciplinary and Intersectional Approaches by Fernanda DÍaz-Basteris and Maite UrcareguiPart I: Complicating National Histories and Cultural IdentitiesChapter 1: Reimagining Indigenous Women’s History in Pre-Contact Mesoamerica via Daniel Parada’s Zotz: Serpent and Shield by Jessica RutherfordChapter 2: Filling the Holes of Cuban Memory: Remembering the Revolution and Exile in the Comics Classroom by Stephanie ContrerasChapter 3: Pedagogical Strategies for Teaching the Comic Anthology Puerto Rico Strong in the Latinx Literature Classroom by Jennifer Caroccio MaldonadoComic: Nationalism in the Puerto Rican Context by Nicky RodriguezPart II: Latinx Migrations: Borders and BorderlandsChapter 4: The Fence and the Grid: Reading the US-Mexico Border Fence as an Infrastructure for Latinx Comics by Marcel Brousseau and Katherine Kelp-StebbinsChapter 5: El Peso Hero: Comic Book Protagonists of the (Un)Documented Latinx Experience by Kaitlin E. Thomas and HÉctor Rodriguez IIIChapter 6: The Missing Latinx: Updated Scenes of California Noir in the Unveiling of an American Nightmare by HÉctor FernÁndez L’HoesteComic: I’m American, and I’m Multilingual. Why Does it Feel So Scary to Speak in Another Language in Public? by Terry BlasPart III: Feminist and Queer InterventionsChapter 7: From Conditional Belonging to Self-Definition: The Hija Loquita Breaks Free in Blackbird by Katlin Marisol Sweeney-RomeroChapter 8: "It’s on every single page": Character Development in Latinx Comics for Youth by Nicole Ann AmatoChapter 9: Translating Queer Afro-Latinx Experiences through Comics Aesthetics in Breena NuÑez’s Autobiographical Comics by Maite UrcareguiComic: Short Comic. “This Body Is Actually Unsettled” by Breena NuÑezPart IV: Practices of PlacemakingChapter 10: Caribbean Urban Belonging: Teaching Paradoxes of Citizenship with Independent Puerto Rican Comics by Fernanda DÍaz-BasterisChapter 11: United States of Bananas: A Graphic Novel as Decluttering and Decolonizing Doubled Journey of the Self by Frederick Luis AldamaChapter 12: Through the GoogleGland: Virtual Reality and Hijacked Futures in InÉs Estrada’s Alienation by Lars AllenShort Comic: “Prelude” by Conrado ParraguirreCodaDrawing Inferences and Reading the Frames of Latinx Media by Jennifer GÓmez MenjÍvarNotes on ContributorsIndexPreface: A Comic Overview of Latinx Comics Studies xiFRANCISCA CÁRCAMO ROJASIntroduction: Latinx Comics beyond Representation:Interdisciplinary and Intersectional Approaches 1FERNANDA DÍ A Z-BASTERISAND MAITE URCAREGUIPart I Complicating National Historiesand Cultural Identities1 Reimagining Indigenous Women’sHistory in PrecontactMesoamerica via Daniel Parada’s Zotz: Serpent and Shield 21JESSICA RUTHERFORD2 Filling the Holes of Cuban Memory: Remembering theRevolution and Exile in the Comics Classroom 41STEPHANIE CONTRERAS3 Pedagogical Strategies for Teaching the Comic AnthologyPuerto Rico Strong in the Latinx LiteratureClassroom 63JENNIFER CAROCCIO MALDONADOComic: Nationalism in the Puerto Rican Context 81NICKY RODRIGUE ZPart II Latinx Migrations: Borders and Borderlands4 The Fence and the Grid: Reading the U.S.-MexicoMulti-Borderas an Infrastructure for Comics 89MARCEL BROUSSE AU AND K ATHERINE KELP-STEBBINS5 El Peso Hero: Comic Book Protagonists of the(Un)Documented Latinx Experience 111K AI TLIN E. THOMAS AND HÉCTOR RODRIGUE Z III6 The Missing Latinx: Updated Scenes of California Noirin the Unveiling of an American Nightmare 129HÉCTOR FERNÁNDE Z L’HOESTEComic: I’m American, and I’m Multilingual. Why DoesIt Feel So Scary to Speak in Another Language in Public? 151TERRY BL ASPart III Feminist and Queer Interventions7 From Conditional Belonging to Self-Definition:The HijaLoquita Breaks Freein Blackbird 163K ATLIN MARISOL SWEENE Y- ROMERO8 “It’s on EverySingle Page”: Reading Character Developmentin Queer Latinx Comics for Youth 185NICOLE ANN AMATO9 Translating Queer Afro-LatinxExperiences through ComicsAesthetics in Breena NuÑez’s Autobiographical Comics 205MAITE URCAREGUIComic: This Body Is Actually Unsettled 229BREENA NUÑE ZPart IV Practices of Placemaking10 CaribbeanUrban Belonging: Thinking Paradoxes ofCitizenship with IndependentPuerto Rican Comics 235FERNANDA DÍA Z-BASTERIS11 United States of Banana: A Graphic Novel as Declutteringand Decolonizing Doubled Journey of the Self 259FREDERICK LUIS ALDAMA12 Through the GoogleGland: Virtual Realityand HijackedFuturesin InÉs Estrada’s Alienation 271L ARS ALLENComic: Prelude 291CONRADO PARRAGUIRRECoda: Drawing Inferences and Reading the Frames ofLatinx Media 295JENNIFER GÓMEZ MENJÍVARAcknowledgments307Notes on Contributors 313Index 000