Archive for 2019

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[Commlist] New book - Gothic for Girls: Misty and British Comics

Mon Dec 16 17:31:50 GMT 2019






Please excuse self-promotion, but my book /Gothic for Girls: /Misty/ and British Comics /was published last month by UP Mississippi. It’s a cultural history of British comics as well as a critical exploration of gothic and horror literature for young girls. As the first full-length critical study of any British girls’ comic it sheds light on an often-ignored era and genre of the comics industry. It explores the production and reception of the notorious girls’ supernatural mystery comic /Misty /(IPC, 1978-80), considering its influences, themes, visuals, plots, and use of Gothic symbols. Containing exclusive interview material with the comic’s creators and editorial team, rare scripts and photographs, and surveying the entire archive of /Misty /stories, it preserves and analyses /Misty /for fans and scholars. By exploring and defining the particular type of mystery and fear that this comic offered, the strange case of /Misty /also becomes a tool to develop existing Gothic scholarship and identify a new and under-theorised subgenre. Gothic for Girls challenges and instructs its readers in a number of ways: offering warnings and moral lessons, exposing societal expectations and limitations, and embracing the liminality and Otherness of childhood.


/Gothic for Girls/ is available in paperback ($30 USD) at all the usual places (there have been some issues with Amazon UK copies printed in black-and-white but I’m told this is sorted out now), as well as direct from publishers:

https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/G/Gothic-for-Girls ;(USA)

https://www.eurospanbookstore.com/gothic-for-girls.html ;(global distributor)


It’s also accompanied by various free open access pieces (interviews, annotations, articles, short comics) and a searchable database of all the /Misty/ artists, writers and stories, all at my website www.juliaround.com/misty.


I hope this is of interest to some, and thanks for reading!

Julia



‘An important and unique account of /Misty/ and the long-lost world of girls' comics.’ (Pat Mills, ‘Godfather of British Comics’ and cocreator of /Misty/)


‘As a writer and herstorian, and as a reader and fan, I’ve long been aware of the trivialization of American girls’ comics by male critics and fans, so I’m hardly surprised to find that the same situation existed in the UK. In the male-dominated world of comics, stories of a guy who dons a bat costume in order to skulk about in the dark and beat up a guy with a white face and red painted-on grin are considered to be of utmost importance while stories of the romances, angst, and anguish of young girls are trifling and inferior. It had always seemed to me that in America, girls’ comics of the late 1940s through the early 1960s were better written, more sophisticated, and better drawn than the boys’ superhero comics of the same time period. But the British girls’ comics were even better written, even more sophisticated than their American counterparts, and the art is absolutely smashing! So, I’m very happy to see that Julia Round has written /Gothic for Girls/, exploring every aspect of the best of the bunch, the goth/horror/romance series /Misty/.’ (Trina Robbins, author of /Pretty in Ink: North American Women Cartoonists 1896–2013/; /Last Girl Standing/; and /Gladys Parker: A Life in Comics, A Passion for Fashion/)


‘/Misty/ captivated readers week by week with its horror serials and short stories, more psychological than physical, yet compelling and chilling, nonetheless. Its innovative approach heralded what could have been a revolution in girls’ comics in the UK, and although /Misty/ ended too soon, its appreciation has only increased since through fandom, reprints, and a recent revival. In /Gothic for Girls: ‘Misty’ and British Comics/, Julia Round finally gives this landmark in British comics the in-depth analysis and insightful commentary it deserves.’ (Paul Gravett, coauthor of /Great British Comics: Celebrating a Century of Ripping Yarns and Wizard Wheezes /and /Comics Unmasked: Art and Anarchy in the UK/)​


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