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An alternative by any other name: genre-splicing and mainstream genres in alternative comics

2014; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 5; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/21504857.2013.871306

2150-4865

Doug Singsen,

Digital Storytelling and Education

Alternative comics are typically defined by the supposed absence of superheroes and other mainstream genres, yet these genres have appeared repeatedly in key examples of alternative comics, including works by Chris Ware, Daniel Clowes, Charles Burns, Art Spiegelman, and Jaime Hernandez. These cartoonists’ use of mainstream genres takes the form of what I call ‘genre-splicing,’ the combination of two or more genres in a way that fragments the fictional reality of the work or violates the norms of the genres employed. Genre-splicing provides a vehicle for many effects and aims, including thematic development, narrative pleasure, self-reflexivity, and disjunctive disruption. Alternative cartoonists’ use of genre-splicing not only punctures the myth that alternative comics are defined by mainstream genres’ absence, it also challenges the description of alternative comics as adult, literary, and artistic, in contrast to the juvenile and commercial nature of most mainstream comics. Despite their contradictions, however, alternative and mainstream are nevertheless useful terms whose ambiguities and contradictions mirror those of the cultural practices they describe.