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

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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