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Spirou’s transnational travels: historical memory and comics memory in Flix’s Spirou in Berlin

2020; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 11; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/21504857.2019.1700144

2150-4865

Christina Kraenzle,

Digital Storytelling and Education

While Flix's Spirou in Berlin can be enjoyed simply for its entertainment value and the novelty of a German-created Spirou story, it is more than just a slapstick spin-off. Flix's latest Spirou adventure references the intertwined histories of Franco-Belgian and German comics while also reflecting on the mediated memories of divided Germany and the Peaceful Revolution of 1989. Spirou in Berlin thus offers a productive case study for thinking about the many different ways that memory can be conceptualised in comics studies. Referencing not only GDR history, but also comics history, as well as an array of medial representations of the Cold War and divided Berlin, Flix's comic encourages a medium-specific approach to memory that explores not only how comics act as a medium for the memory of historical events, but as a space to reflect on the memory of the comics medium itself.