The Visual Language of Disabilities In Comics: Villains, Victims and Victories
Izzy Singer
Illustration (School of Graduate Studies)
About this Item
- Title
- The Visual Language of Disabilities In Comics: Villains, Victims and Victories
- Contributor Names
-
Singer, Izzy (Author)
-
Reitschel, Barbara (Thesis advisor)
-
Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York. Illustration (Degree granting institution)
- Date
- 2024
- Degree Information
- M.A. Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York 2024
- Department: Illustration (School of Graduate Studies)
- Advisor: Barbara Reitschel
- Committee member: Brendan Leach
- Abstract
- Disabled characters have been present in comics since the beginning of the Golden Age of Comics (1938- 1956) in America. Comic illustrators are tasked with quickly visualizing characters and utilize human traits such as gender, race and body type to express the humanity of the character; disabled characters have been utilized by comic illustrators in ways that mainly build on negative stereotypes. Comic book characters are drawn with disabilities to express the character’s otherness, wrongs or pitiable nature. Exceptions exist within the realm of American superhero comics, modern graphic memoirs, and fantasy. In order to explore the full spectrum of ways in which disabilities are characterized in comics, this paper seeks to review the few disabled characters that appear in comics between the Golden and Modern Ages (1985-present). This paper will trace Golden Age tropes with Modern Age representations to prove that the use of disability in the visual language of comic book illustration has not changed drastically and highlights artists who have broken out of stereotypes. Through analysis of these characters this paper will ask if disabled characters will continue to change, or else, remain stagnant.
- Rights
- In Copyright
- The copyright for this work is held by its author/creator(s). Usage of this material beyond what is permitted by copyright law must first be cleared with the rights-holder(s). This work has been made available online by the Fashion Institute of Technology Gladys Marcus Library strictly for research and educational purposes. If you are the copyright holder for this work and have any objections to this work being made available online, please notify us immediately at [email protected].
- This item must not be sold to any third party vendors.
- Identifier
- FIT Repository ID: etd_000967
- Language
- English
Citation
Singer, I. (2024). The Visual Language of Disabilities In Comics: Villains, Victims and Victories [Master's thesis, Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York]. FIT Institutional Repository. https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/155991
Singer, Izzy. The Visual Language of Disabilities In Comics: Villains, Victims and Victories. 2024. Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York, Master's thesis. FIT Digital Repository, https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/155991
Singer, Izzy. "The Visual Language of Disabilities In Comics: Villains, Victims and Victories." Master's thesis, Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York, 2024. https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/155991