LITERATURE ASSESSMENT COVER SHEET 2019–20

Student Number 17016265

Module Title and Code UQ310817 Dissertation
Assessment No. and Assessment 1: A Dissertation Proposal of 600
Description words (excluding footnotes and bibliography)
Essay Question/Title/No. Of Hockey Bros, Queers and Aliens – Queer
Characters in Webcomics
Date submitted 11.10.2019
Days late 0

Checklist
Answer explicitly addresses Yes
the question?
Structure: introduction, Yes
middle section, conclusion?
Citations in the text using
the Literature referencing Yes
system?
All cited sources are listed
alphabetically in full in the Yes
bibliography?
Word count is within 10% of Yes
the target length?
Document has been spell- Yes
checked and proof-read?
File saved as a Word
document (i.e.: .doc or Yes
.docx)?

Declaration
In submitting this work for Yes
assessment, I agree to be bound
by the conditions laid out in the
latest version of the UHI
academic regulations
https://www.uhi.ac.uk/en/about-
uhi/governance/policies-and-
regulations/regulations
I confirm that I received Yes
information about the use of
Turnitin and was directed to
Turnitin training.
I understand that this assignment Yes
will be submitted to Turnitin for
originality checking.
 M
ar
k:
G
ra
d
e:

General Comments on this assessment:

Strengths of this assessment:

Areas for Improvement for future assessments:

 Of Hockey Bros, Queers and Aliens1
–
Queer Characters in Webcomics

This dissertation will analyse the representation of queer characters in three webcomics. The specific

medium of Web-Comics was chosen as, due to the lack of traditional publishing involved, the author

has the opportunity to relay their story to the audience unmediated. This freedom can in some cases

be disadvantageous, however as there is no need to go through a process of finding and appealing to

a publishing house authors are granted greater creative autonomy and can, for example, implement

more non-normative elements. The efforts of independent authors to bring non-normative characters

into the mainstream should be brought to the attention of the broader public in academics as well.

Due to their specific characteristics comics have great artistic potential, and should thus not be

disregarded when studying literature.

1
Kaplan, A.L., Full Spectrum Therapy (Nevada: selfpublished independent comic, 2016); Ukazu, Ngozi, Check,
Please!, (United States of America: selfpublished independent comic, 2016).
Through an active queering of the comic canon by both the authors and readers, queer characters

could be transported into the literary mainstream. Additionally, by increasing the demand for this

kind of content, traditional publishers might be willing to invest in it as well; this, in turn, could lead

to a broader spectrum of representations and storylines throughout literature.2

In order to study the comics an analysis of literary techniques used by the authors to represent

queerness will be undertaken. Additionally, relations, similarities and differences to techniques used

in prose literature will be investigated.

To support the analysis, queer theory, as well as parts of gender studies, will be implemented. The

latter in particular to assess the influence of queerness on the expression of masculinity. Also, comic

studies will be used as a theoretical basis in order to comprehensively analyse the specifics of this

medium. Additionally, parts of intersectional theory will be used to investigate the overlapping

influences each character is faced with. Potentially, also certain parts of art history will be

implemented in order to comprehend the visual aspect of the narratives fully.3

Throughout Literature studies, academics often focus solely, potentially except for plays, on the

written word as a medium. When thinking of the medium of comics, many think it merely includes

the likes of Marvel and DC, focusing on superheroes and villains. And while, granted the superhero

universe has been showing signs of a liberal change in representation with several characters coming

out as part of the LGTBQ community, truly comics have a much more abundant and diverse history.

From Bechdel’s dykes to Ngozi’s hockey bros comics have long been and will most likely always be

a place for the Avant-garde, merely lying in wait before taking over the mainstream.4

2
Hall, Justin, ‘Editor’s Notes – A New Millennium’, in No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics, ed. by
Justin Hall (Seattle: Fantagraphics, 2015), 1-311; Andersen, Brian, Why Queer Characters in Comic Books Matter’,
Advocate, <https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2016/9/22/why-queer-characters-comic-books-matter> (date
accessed: 05.10.2019); Petrovic, Paul, ‘Queer resistance, gender performance, and ‘coming out’ of the panel borders in
Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams III's Batwoman: Elegy’, in Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, 2 (1) (2011) 67-76.
3
Duberman, Martin, A Queer World: The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader (New York: University of New
York, 1997); Hall, E. D., The Routledge Queer Studies Reader (London: Routledge, 2013).
4
Hall, Justin, ‘Editor’s Notes – A New Millennium’, in No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics, ed. by
Justin Hall (Seattle: Fantagraphics, 2015), 1-311.
The first step in the preparation of this dissertation will be extensive research of secondary literature

relating to the topic. During this stage, the scope of the secondary literature consulted might be

widened, due to the relatively niche-ness of the source material and the lack of comprehensive and

specific secondary literature on the topic.

Afterwards, the instances of queerness in the comics will be analysed, labelling them and

potentially finding certain groups of representation forms. Furthermore, these instances of queerness

will be critically analysed using the secondary literature chosen. During this step, narrative tools used

by the authors and the influence of the visualisation on the representation will be discussed.

Ultimately, the finished dissertation will be structured as follows. It will begin with an

introduction, which outlines the topic and the theory used to analyse it. Following this will be a

subsection on a rough outline of the historical background and controversy of queer comics and

queers in comics.

The next section will focus on the primary literature. Potentially this section will be split into three

subsections, each dealing with one piece of material. Alternatively, all three materials will be analysed

together with the themes of analysed aspects and scenes acting as a structure.

Closing the dissertation will be a conclusion which comprehensively presents the findings of the

analysis. Additionally, potential difficulties encountered in the research and writing progress will be

discussed.
Bibliography
Brian Andersen, Why Queer Characters in Comic Books Matter’, Advocate,
<https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2016/9/22/why-queer-characters-comic-books-matter>
(date accessed: 05.10.2019)

Martin Duberman, A Queer World: The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader (New York:
University of New York, 1997)

E.D. Hall, The Routledge Queer Studies Reader (London: Routledge, 2013)

Justin Hall, ‘Editor’s Notes – A New Millennium’, in No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer
Comics, ed. by Justin Hall (Seattle: Fantagraphics, 2015).

A.L. Kaplan, Full Spectrum Therapy (Nevada: selfpublished independent comic, 2016)

Paul Petrovic, ‘Queer resistance, gender performance, and ‘coming out’ of the panel borders in
Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams III's Batwoman: Elegy’, in Journal of Graphic Novels and
Comics, 2 (1) (2011) 67-76.

Ngozi Ukazu, Check, Please!, (United States of America: selfpublished independent comic, 2016)