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In this article titled "Acting Funny on the Catalan Stage. El teatre còmic en català (1900-2016)", professors John London and Gabriel Sansano present a collection of contributions about humor in Catalan theater. The book examines the influence and reception of humor, the humorous strategies used in writing, and the interpretation techniques used in Catalan theater. The inheritance of the codes of Commedia dell'Arte and the militant and contestatory projection of humor in Catalan theater are highlighted. The editors argue for the relevance of this publication in the context of the pandemic and war, where humor becomes a balm to face uncertain times. The article discusses the law of comedy that explains how the more opposed the elements in conflict are and the more dislocated the situation is, the more comedic the result will be. The laughability of Commedia dell'Arte is mentioned, and how the masks in this form of theater arise from the comic opposition of the characters. The historical journey of comic theater in Catalonia is also discussed, from jesters and fools to political theater. Some notable actors and companies are mentioned, such as Joaquim Moreno i Delgado, Els Joglars, and Xavi Castillo. [Extracted from the article]

The Comic Style Markers (CSM) is a questionnaire that allows a fine-grained description of how people differ in the way they display humor in their daily lives. It includes 48 statements capturing eight interrelated, yet distinct comic styles: fun, irony, wit, sarcasm, benevolent humor, satire, nonsense humor, and cynicism. Despite the independent conceptual roots of these humorous domains, the analysis of the CSM scales' latent structure shows that their empirical distinction needs to be improved. Using the information derived from a competitive latent approach, including confirmatory factor analysis, bifactor analysis, and exploratory structural equation modeling, we proposed and validated a shorter 24-item version of the CSM in a large sample of 925 Spanish individuals (SP-CSM-24). This scale-refinement improved the psychometric differentiation of the eight comic styles without undermining the good internal consistency and the temporal stability of the CSM scores. Strong invariance was held for gender and age groups, and partial scalar invariance for countries also emerged using a sample of 318 U.S. American adults. Structural equation modeling also corroborated a convincing test-criterion validity for the SP-CSM-24, with dispositional expressions of benevolent humor (positively) and cynicism (negatively) outperforming other comic styles in accounting for individuals' well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the discussion on exploring the educational practices and knowledge within Latinx Preservice Teachers' (LPSTs) homes and how they utilize comic strips to depict these pedagogies. Topics include impact of borderland education marked by resistance and survival and the documentation of home-based teaching and learning practices by LPSTs.

Copyright of Etnolingual is the property of Universitas Airlangga and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article investigates single-panel cartoons portraying official corruption in China's longest- running state-owned cartoon newspaper Cartoon Weekly (Fengci yu youmo). A total of 433 cartoons are identified as relating to corrupt officialdom between 2012 and 2019 in the wake of Xi Jinping's anti-corruption signature policy. In contrast with the individualizing critique of political cartooning in liberal democracies, the corpus of corruption cartoons investigated in this article is argued as a didactic form of visual schematization in a pseudo-self-critical discourse typically buttressed by verbal reading instructions. To support this claim, the article addresses its politics of visual discourse by employing Peircean hypoiconicity, consisting of direct resemblance, diagrammatic schematization and metaphoric displacement. Accordingly, the article identifies three major features of corruption cartoons as anonymization of direct resemblance, visual schematization of policy and metaphoric displacement of conventional symbols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing further from a slightly Marxist perspective of the conflict-fuelled era of competing ideologies between the ruling and working classes during the Counterculture era of the 1960s and 70s in the United States, this article positions establishment institutions such as the government, media, and family units under Louis Althusser's idea of the State Apparatus with the Underground Comix movement and R. Crumb's early work squarely against it. This article argues the presence of Dissensus, as put forth by Ranciere, in the form of social, racial, and political anti-ideological motifs within Robert Crumb's Zap Comics. These motifs entered the cultural infrastructure through the medium of comics, stirring up passions and encouraging a necessary discord among classes and groups. Moreover, it discusses the assimilation of many of these anti-ideological motifs into modern mass culture, through a case study of the 2019 TV show The Boys and its opposition to today's State Apparatus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is often argued that 1954 was a very important year for comics in the United States because of the consequences of Fredric Wertham's major work appearance. However, long before that, there was already a multitude of academic publications about comics, children and education. Apart from sensationalist and apocalyptic publications, there are several academic references previous to 1954 focusing on topics related to education, language and comics as an object of learning. Most of these references develop very important empirical work in terms of the size of the samples studied, while others incorporate innovative methodologies for the time, such as factor analysis or qualitative interviews. In part, these advances can be explained by the conjunction of two factors: firstly, the dynamics of the social sciences in the United States, where quantitative fieldwork became commonplace from the 1930s onwards. Secondly, the popularisation of comics with the arrival of comic books, first, and the appearance of Superman, later. This article attempts to develop a systematic review of academic publications published before 1954 in the United States. 35 empirical publications are identified and analysed attending to the author's gender, sample size and number of citations, among other variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this interview, Teresa Wong discusses her artistic practice and creative process with particular reference to her graphic narrative Dear Scarlet: The Story of My Postpartum Depression. This interview aims to create a dialogue by exploring the facets of creation and consumption of Dear Scarlet: The Story of My Postpartum Depression. She talks about the process of turning her life experience into a story, her choice of the medium, the art of visual storytelling, visual strategies employed, artistic influences, the magic of combining words and images, the significance of graphic works by women of colour and her ongoing projects among others. The interview is divided into three sections: in the first section, entitled Before the text: Genesis, the author responds to questions related to the author's artistic vision and the creation of Dear Scarlet: The Story of My Postpartum Depression; in the second section entitled The text: form and theme, the author responds to questions pertaining to the formal aspects and themes of the graphic novel and in the concluding section of the interview titled After the text: reception and pedagogy the author responds to inquiries about the social and pedagogical impacts of her work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aim: Childhood dental trauma poses a prevalent concern, and the limited knowledge of lay caregivers toward the needed immediate actions can adversely affect a child's well‐being. This study aimed to create and validate an educational comic book for lay individuals, designed to guide immediate actions in dental trauma cases, and assess its effects toward enhancing reader knowledge. Methodology: The four‐stage study involved: (1) Literature review and script development; (2) Version 1 of the comic book creation (including illustrations, layout, and design) and Flesch Readability Index (FI) calculation; (3) Version 1 validation by expert judges, assessed by the Content Validity Index (CVI); (4) Version 1 refinement based on the judges' feedback, recalculation of FI, and a pilot test (CVI) involving lay individuals who validated the final material (Version 2). The validation process involved 67 participants, including 13 specialist judges and 54 elementary school teachers. Results: The CVI for Version 1 was calculated at 0.89 (89%), indicating a favorable level of agreement on the evaluated criteria. The FI was determined as 91.1%, indicating a high level of readability. The FI for Version 2 was 92.1% (indicating a very easy level of comprehension). The CVI calculated for the target audience after the pilot test was 0.99 (99%), denoting a substantial agreement among the participants. In assessing the level of knowledge, a significant increase was observed in the rate of correct answers after the comic book was read by lay individuals (p < 0.05), inasmuch as the percentage rose from 50.5% before to 81.2% after reading it. Conclusion: The educational comic book proved valid in terms of readability, appearance, and content. Furthermore, it had a positive impact on gaining the knowledge needed to take the appropriate actions, thus making it a valuable tool for guiding the lay population in cases of dental trauma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of IBEROAMERICANA. América Latina - España - Portugal is the property of Vervuert Verlag and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of IBEROAMERICANA. América Latina - España - Portugal is the property of Vervuert Verlag and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of IBEROAMERICANA. América Latina - España - Portugal is the property of Vervuert Verlag and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of IBEROAMERICANA. América Latina - España - Portugal is the property of Vervuert Verlag and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article focuses on Latin American comics and graphic humor. It examines the evolution of comic studies in Latin America, tracing its origins back to the mid twentieth century when it emerged under the influence of American and European counterparts. It highlights how Latin American comics have addressed themes such as postcolonial subjugation, political and social violence, and the struggle to develop a competitive cultural industry.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore teacher candidates' response to young adult literature (prose and comics) featuring fat identified protagonists. The paper considers the textual and embodied resources readers use and reject when imagining and interpreting a character's body. This paper explores how readers' meaning making was influenced when reading prose versus comics. This paper adds to a corpus of scholarship about the relationships between young adult literature, comics, bodies and reader response theory. Design/methodology/approach: At the time of the study, participants were enrolled in a teacher education program at a Midwestern University, meeting monthly for a voluntary book club dedicated to reading and discussing young adult literature. To examine readers' responses to comics and prose featuring fat-identified protagonists, the author used descriptive qualitative methodologies to conduct a thematic analysis of meeting transcripts, written participant reflections and researcher memos. Analysis was grounded in theories of reader response, critical fat studies and multimodality. Findings: Analyses indicated many readers reject textual clues indicating a character's body size and weight were different from their own. Readers read their bodies into the stories, regarding them as self-help narratives instead of radical counternarratives. Some readers were not able to read against their assumptions of thinness (and whiteness) until prompted by the researcher and other participants. Originality/value: Although many reader response scholars have demonstrated readers' tendencies toward personal identification in the face of racial and class differences, there is less research regarding classroom practices around the entanglement of physical bodies, body image and texts. Analyzing reader's responses to the constructions of fat bodies in prose versus comics may help English Language Arts (ELA) educators and students identify and deconstruct ideologies of thin-thinking and fatphobia. This study, which demonstrates thin readers' tendencies to overidentify with protagonists, suggests ELA classrooms might encourage readers to engage in critical literacies that support them in reading both with and against their identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of renewable energy as a substitute for fossil energy must continue to be promoted to achieve sustainability. This study aimed to reveal the development of digital comics on the topic of biogas energy as a learning medium. The method used is research and development with the DDDE model (Decide, Design, Develop, and Evaluate). The results showed that biogas digital comics were very good to be used as learning media. This study recommends the use of comics as a medium of learning on other topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Diversitas Journal is the property of Diversitas Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Lusofona de Educacao is the property of Universidade Lusofona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, CEIEF and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article focuses on Jakob Hinrichs, a comic artist, highlighting his unconventional studio space and his approach to comic art as a legitimate and evolving form of contemporary literature and visual expression. Topics include his innovative adaptations of literary classics into graphic novels, his rejection of conventional artistic norms in favor of populism, and his use of traditional printing techniques to enhance the visual and tactile experience of his books.

Reading is an important element of independent work on the language, but offering students additional reading to improve their linguistic and cultural competences is an extremely difficult task, due to the evolving tastes of young people and the variability of the media they use. Given the popularity of manga and digital comics in France, Romance philology students were asked to read a series selected from the webtoons.com/fr platform in French. A survey was then carried out to find out their views on how this tool could be used in French language learning. The results of the survey clearly indicate that the webtoons.com/fr platform can be used as an effective tool for learning French. According to the respondents, reading the selected series allowed them, above all, to develop lexical resources and was also an enjoyable pastime that increased motivation to learn the language. Students also paid attention to the combination of word and image, appreciating both the aesthetic and practical side of reading digital comics. Finally, the practicality of using the platform, its ease of use and accessibility was emphasised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios de Diseño y Comunicación is the property of Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios de Diseno y Comunicacion and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article "Valor y al toro!: a cultural contrastive study of Spanish-German comics" analyzes the translation of comics and its importance in the dissemination and internationalization of this cultural genre. It focuses on the German translation of the comic Aius. El destino de Numancia and on a contrastive analysis of Spanish-German comics, using a Mortadelo y Filemón comic strip as an example. It highlights that both comics, aimed at young people, have different characteristics that influence translation. The translation of Spanish comics into German is mentioned, as well as changes in character names and plot, and the adaptation of idioms and onomatopoeias. The importance of images in comics and the relationship between Spain and Germany in the comic market are also emphasized. [Extracted from the article]

The arts have had a historical relationship with holding technology accountable through artists' speculation on its harmful and redemptive characteristics. As young futurists born into an age where Artificial Intelligence (AI) and related processes have become increasingly integrated into society, we wished to utilise this tradition to engage with contemporary anxieties concerning AI's role in the potential automation of the creative industries. Using the comic book medium, we speculate on how this automation may prove to be an extension of capitalist exploitation through the story of Eve. Simultaneously, we embrace the more redemptive aspects of this technology's use. We celebrate non-exploitative 'machine' art and the potential modes of expression that it may herald. This is as we do not wish to entirely foreclose the involvement of AI in art but simply question the effects such art may have under capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the winner of the 2022 Speculative Fictions and Cultures of Science Book Award, Nicole Starosielski's "Media Hot and Cold," which offers a groundbreaking examination of the intersections between popular culture, technology, and postwar U.S. society. Topics discussed include the exploration of motherhood in science fiction, the need for critical analysis of science fiction and fantasy comics, and the upcoming conference on graphic/visual science fiction.

"Jewish Women in Comics" is a comprehensive volume that explores the representation of Jewish women in graphic narratives. The book is divided into three sections: "Comics," "Interviews," and "Essays." The first section features short essays that analyze different comics, accompanied by full-page spreads of the illustrations. The second section presents curated transcripts of interviews between scholars and artists, providing insights into the creative processes and intentions behind the graphic narratives. The third section consists of long-form essays that offer literary analyses of specific texts and techniques used by the artists. The book emphasizes the themes of agency and the ways in which women strive to secure agency over their bodies and lives. While there are some outdated references in the interviews, overall, the volume offers a valuable and diverse exploration of representations of women in graphic narratives. [Extracted from the article]

As a tropical country, Indonesia continues to grapple with the prevalence of tuberculosis. This study conducted by the Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia, presented a novel approach to prevent tuberculosis through measures tailored to the socio-cultural context of the population. Specifically, this study assessed how effective the use of tuberculosis comics is as an educational tool to inform junior high school students about tuberculosis. This research was quasi-experimental, with a one-group pre-test-post-test design. Seventy junior high school students in Dukun District, Gresik, Indonesia participated in this study. Each participant received a questionnaire consisting of ten questions about tuberculosis. Afterward, tuberculosis education was shared through comics. The post-test was carried out using the same questions as the pre-test. The data were analyzed using the R Program for Windows, version 4.1.3 (Auckland University, New Zealand). The analysis revealed a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test results (p < 0.0001). As indicated by the data, comics proved to be an effective method of educating people about infectious diseases, specifically tuberculosis. Here, we introduce an educational tool designed to revitalize the educational method for disseminating knowledge about infectious diseases. Ultimately, comics can increase students' interest in learning about tuberculosis, including its etiology, prevention, and treatment strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite many philosophical and scientific appeals, physical inactivity, especially in children and young people, remains one of the most serious problems of contemporary civilisation. In our sub‐study of wider research, we focus on the use of Czech fiction and comics by Jaroslav Foglar as a motivational factor to increase readers' physical activity. The respondents (n = 1174) were mostly adults who had spent their childhood or adolescence reading the works of Jaroslav Foglar. These people valued exercise (70%) in this reading, with a high correlation (0.73) to a healthy lifestyle (abstinence from alcohol and smoking). For 57% of the respondents, these values from reading also become an inspiration for application in life (there is a causal link between the degree of awareness of being influenced by the work and the actual application of the physical activity), with even higher values recorded for camping and being in a natural environment, as well as moral behaviour, ethical principles, and helping others. Thus, we can confirm that the inspiration of the fictional world of literature can become a motivational impulse to increase physical activity in the real world, moreover in the context of a very strong awareness of ethical values and moral behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development of digital era encourages creative industry to continue grow by raising many issues, nowadays many are found in various visual media using anti-hero characters as main character. Anti-hero is hero character who has traits and characters that deviate from depiction of a hero in general (Bagaskara, 2021). They have the same goal of doing good but in a way that may sometimes be wrong or unjustified (Wahyudi, 2020). This character is very appropriate to express human imperfection which in life always has advantages and disadvantages. In contrast to superhero characters who are too perfect to be used as exemplary figures in real life. The media that will be used is comic with theme entitled "The Second Shot" where main character who is half human and alien will be faced with many choices that can determine the future of the world, besides being disappointed or having hidden hatred as well. From past events from both human side who had deceived him and aliens who only took advantage of him. The use of comics media as visual media is based on fact that target audience is younger generation between ages 18-25 years who are more interested in reading picture books than those that contain too many words. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to investigate whether preschoolers can recognise the emotions conveyed in panels of the Asterix comic series. The sample consisted of 40 pre-school children (22 boys and 18 girls), aged 52–72 months. They were presented with 8 panels, which in pairs conveyed the emotions of happiness, sadness, fear and anger. Adult raters (N = 109) have previously evaluated these panels as representatively conveying the emotions under investigation. Participants were asked to label the emotion felt by the heroes of each panel and to justify their responses by telling or pointing to the picture which parts of the image conveyed the emotion. Results revealed preschoolers' ability to recognise the conveyed emotions, with older participants presenting greater efficiency than younger ones. Moreover, happiness and sadness were recognised earlier than anger and fear. Finally, content analysis of children's responses revealed that they used for the justification of happiness and sadness mainly the facial expressions of the heroes, while for the justification of anger and fear they relied on the formal properties and the context of the panel respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article shows how Jonson devises a racialized comedy form to navigate the increasingly complex social terrain of early modern London. Reading the avant-garde "comical satire" Every Man Out of His Humour through the lens of Galenic humoralism, I argue that Jonson leverages the physiological discourse within his work to reimagine comedy's definitive purpose as the knowledge-production of social discernment — that is, a cultural system or logic of "reading" the humoral body as a social sign of one's status and interiority. Pretenders of wit, tobacco-fiends, and perfumed courtiers — these humor-ridden figures are racialized through Jonson's comic poetics as immutably inferior readers, inherently lacking in understanding that the rules of social discernment are always fluid, and open to others' manipulation. And conversely, Jonson begins to explore within the play a conception of the ideal, discerning reader as defined by his white, and ultimately undiscernible, corporeality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this interview, award-winning translator and author Edward Gauvin reflects on his practice as a translator of over four hundred graphic novels, including works by major French comics artists, illustrators, and scriptwriters, such as Gébé, Marjane Satrapi, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Emmanuel Guibert, Joann Sfar, Lewis Trondheim, Zeina Abirached, Christophe Blain, Philippe Druillet, Enki Bilal, Blutch, and so on. He discusses how he approaches the theoretical and practical problems he has encountered as a translator—from well-trodden topics like speech balloon fit to his dynamic understanding of genre fiction. He also offers an insider's perspective on translators' (often precarious) position within the larger the comics industry and talks about his favourite translations, as well as his current and future projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predicated upon a corpus of 4,200 films, this article documents, analyses, and interprets the international film industry's rhetorical disavowal of the comic book medium as a source for adaptation within advertising and promotional rhetoric for the cinematic adaptation of comic book texts. By analysing the statistical trends and patterns for comic book adaptations between 2000 and 2020, examining the language used within promotional trailers to conceptualise or promote the feature adaptation in relation to their comic book source material, and by comparing the type and scope of this rhetoric with other adapted texts of the same period, this article evidences and interrogates the overwhelming disavowal of the comic book medium despite the persistent and widely perceived ubiquity of comic book adaptation franchises. Above all, this article utilises statistical evidence and analysis to evidence clear patterns and trends within the perceived hierarchies of cultural taste or artistic value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Foco (Interdisciplinary Studies Journal) is the property of Revista Foco and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Individuals' interests, motivations, and knowledge about the environment can affect their behavior toward the environment. This mixed-methods sequential explanatory research study examined the effect of argumentation-supported educational comics used in science lessons on the environmental interest, motivation, and academic achievement of 5th-grade students (N = 290) and explored their experiences. Quantitative data collected in a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design using validated survey scales indicated that from pretest to posttest, the scores of three variables of experimental groups 1 and 2 were higher than those of the control group. Qualitative findings from semi-structured interviews (N = 36) indicated that students stated that argumentation-supported educational comics attracted their attention and increased their motivation. Also, according to them, comics are very useful in expanding their environmental knowledge. Taken together, this research suggests that designing argumentation via educational comics can boost positive learning processes and outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Upon her introduction as the new Ms. Marvel in 2013, the Pakistani-American superhero Kamala Khan was celebrated, by audiences and critics alike, as a welcome addition to the world of superhero comics. Familiar superhero tropes and ethical dilemmas were given an added twist for Marvel's first Muslim protagonist as the teenage girl strives to reconcile her newfound powers with the moral authorities of her family and her faith. Many comics scholars reserved special praise for the nuanced and unobtrusive way in which the new Ms. Marvel introduces American readers to Muslim culture by following its eminently 'relatable' heroine on her search for moral guidance, whereas others were more sceptical of the extent to which the comic's representation of Muslims can be considered progress. This article probes this ambivalence by analysing the cultural authorities invoked in the first eleven issues of the series. Instead of resolving the critical disagreement, a close reading of Kamala Khan's implicit and explicit appeals to authority allows for a more complicated and richer understanding of the comic's, as well as its eponymous intersectional superheroine's, ambiguity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]