On being unique: gender subversion in two graphic novels for young adults

Abstract

A recent resurgence in the publication of comics and graphic narratives specifically aimed at young adults raises a range of issues about the nature of authority, and the role of the reader in negotiating the narrative and constructing meaning, and identity in and through the interplay of image and text. This paper explores the implications of this enhanced, active reader’s role for the construction of gender identity in two graphic narratives. Salem Brownstone is a hybrid noir/fantasy novel, while Skim is a high-school-set romance between a student and her teacher. I argue that each utilises key tropes from their respective genres only to subvert them, questioning the role of the gaze for both reader and character, as they raise new possibilities for the construction of both meaning and gender identity. Both were published by Walker Books Ltd in 2009.

Keywords:

• comics
• identity
• gender
• young adult
• authority

Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this article appeared as: ‘Reading between the Lines: The Subversion of Authority in Two Graphic Novels for Young Adults’, in Going Graphic: Comics and Graphic Novels for Young People, edited by Bridget Carrington and Jennifer Harding, pp. 87–101, Shenstone: Pied Piper, 2013.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ariel Kahn

Ariel Kahn is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Roehampton University, where he teaches a course on writing for comics and graphic novels. He is a contributor to The Jewish Graphic Novel (edited by S. Baskind and R. Omer Sherman; Rutgers University Press, 2008), has written regularly on comics and graphic novels for journals including the International Journal of Comic Art and Critical Engagements, and was a contributor to Paul Gravett’s 1001 Comics You Must Read before You Die (Cassell, 2011).