
Gothic for Girls
Misty and British Comics
Julia Round(Author)
University Press of Mississippi
Published on 29. October 2019
Book
Hardback
358 pages
978-1-4968-2445-5 (ISBN)
Description
Today fans still remember and love the British girls' comic Misty for its bold visuals and narrative complexities. Yet its unique history has drawn little critical attention. Bridging this scholarly gap, Julia Round presents a comprehensive cultural history and detailed discussion of the comic, preserving both the inception and development of this important publication as well as its stories.
Misty ran for 101 issues as a stand-alone publication between 1978 and 1980 and then four more years as part of Tammy. It was a hugely successful anthology comic containing one-shot and serialized stories of supernatural horror and fantasy aimed at girls and young women and featuring work by writers and artists who dominated British comics such as Pat Mills, Malcolm Shaw, and John Armstrong, as well as celebrated European artists. To this day, Misty remains notable for its daring and sophisticated stories, strong female characters, innovative page layouts, and big visuals.
In the first book on this topic, Round closely analyzes Misty's content, including its creation and production, its cultural and historical context, key influences, and the comic itself. Largely based on Round's own archival research, the study also draws on interviews with many of the key creators involved in this comic, including Pat Mills, Wilf Prigmore, and its art editorial team Jack Cunningham and Ted Andrews, who have never previously spoken about their work. Richly illustrated with previously unpublished photos, scripts, and letters, this book uses Misty as a lens to explore the use of Gothic themes and symbols in girls' comics and other media. It surveys existing work on childhood and Gothic and offers a working definition of Gothic for Girls, a subgenre which challenges and instructs readers in a number of ways.
Misty ran for 101 issues as a stand-alone publication between 1978 and 1980 and then four more years as part of Tammy. It was a hugely successful anthology comic containing one-shot and serialized stories of supernatural horror and fantasy aimed at girls and young women and featuring work by writers and artists who dominated British comics such as Pat Mills, Malcolm Shaw, and John Armstrong, as well as celebrated European artists. To this day, Misty remains notable for its daring and sophisticated stories, strong female characters, innovative page layouts, and big visuals.
In the first book on this topic, Round closely analyzes Misty's content, including its creation and production, its cultural and historical context, key influences, and the comic itself. Largely based on Round's own archival research, the study also draws on interviews with many of the key creators involved in this comic, including Pat Mills, Wilf Prigmore, and its art editorial team Jack Cunningham and Ted Andrews, who have never previously spoken about their work. Richly illustrated with previously unpublished photos, scripts, and letters, this book uses Misty as a lens to explore the use of Gothic themes and symbols in girls' comics and other media. It surveys existing work on childhood and Gothic and offers a working definition of Gothic for Girls, a subgenre which challenges and instructs readers in a number of ways.
Reviews / Votes
"Julia's Gothic for Girls is a wonderful book, highly recommended by all here at Sector 13. It sets a new standard for books on british comics." - Sector 13More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Jackson
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paper over boards
Illustrations
53 colour illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
705 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4968-2445-5 (9781496824455)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
10/2019
Penguin Random House South Africa
€29.49
Available for download
Persons
Julia Round is principal lecturer in the Faculty of Media and Communication at Bournemouth University, United Kingdom. She coedits the academic journal Studies in Comics and co-organizes the Annual International Conference of Graphic Novels and Comics. She is author of Gothic in Comics and Graphic Novels: A Critical Approach and coeditor of Real Lives, Celebrity Stories: Narratives of Ordinary and Extraordinary People Across Media. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and edited collections, including Language and Literature, International Journal of Comic Art, and Children's Literature in Education.