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  • 3 - From Justin Green and Art Spiegelman to Alison Bechdel

  • from Part I - History and Genre
  • Edited by Jan Baetens, KU Leuven, Belgium, Hugo Frey, University of Chichester, Fabrice Leroy, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Companion to the American Graphic Novel
    Published online:
    10 January 2024
    Print publication:
    28 September 2023, pp 57-71

  • Summary

    This chapter studies the developments of autobiography as a literary genre in the graphic novel production since the 1960s. It analyzes the formal connections between author, narrator, and character, paying attention to the pragmatic aspects of the contract between author and reader, whose commitment to authenticity distinguishes autobiography from autofiction or semi-autobiography. The chapter starts with a historical overview of the genre, absent in comics for a long time, then rapidly coming to prominence in the graphic novel. It emphasizes the role of underground comix and engages in a close reading of two works: Justin Green’s Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin (1972) and Craig Thompson’s Blankets (2001). Although both share a similar (critical) concern with the role of religion, their stylistic and narrative features and context are widely divergent. Green’s work is a clear example of countercultural transgression, whereas Blankets exemplifies the growing overlap between the graphic novel and young adult literature.