No Straight Lines: The History and Artistry of Queer Comics

press release: In this talk, cartoonist and scholar Justin Hall breaks down the largely hidden history of LGBTQ comics, from early erotic work, to underground feminist comix, to LGBTQ newspaper strips,to punk zines, to the new wave of queer webcomics. Queer comics represent the evolution of a truly underground artistic scene, from their initial illegal publications through their life within the self-contained queer media world to their eventual breakthrough into more mainstream acceptance. Comics have always been a scrappy, DIY sort of art form, and queer creators have taken full advantage of that for over four decades to tell their own stories about the hopes, fears, fantasies, and mundanities of their lives.

Presented by The Americanist Lecture Series, with support from the Center for the Humanities, the Anonymous Fund, and the Departments of English, Political Science, and Gender & Women's Studies.

There will be also be a morning roundtable session on Thursday, November 30, 10am, 6191 Helen C. White discussing some of Justin’s comics and academic writing. If you are interested in attending and would like copies of the readings, please RSVP to Andrew Thomas (thomas32@wisc.edu) by Tuesday, November 28. Additionally, Justin will be conducting a workshop for the Applied Comics Kitchen! Borghesi-Mellon Workshop on Thursday, November 30 from 2-4pm. The workshop will be focused on drawing and narrating erotic comics, and will be located in the Humanities Room 6131 (Lynda Barry's comics classroom) in the Mosse Humanities Building. Those interested in attending can register for the workshop here: https://justinhallcomics.event...