From myth to comic: Rayco Pulido’s graphic novel Lamia

Abstract

ABSTRACT In classical mythology, the figure of Lamia stands for the mother who never was. Condemned by Hera to lose all the children she gave birth to, Lamia was consumed by pain and rage to the point where she became a monster. Her rage gives way to a fatal envy of all those fertile women and to their children, whom she steals and kills, thus avenging herself for having been deprived of the experience of being a mother. This article examines a very particular case of reworking of this myth: the Spanish graphic novel Lamia, by Rayco Pulido, published in 2016 and awarded the National Comic Prize in 2017. This analysis will show how the classical myth adapts itself to the visual requirements of the comic books, which have their own codes and communicative strategies. Eventually, Pulido’s comic will be examined in relation to another piece of Spanish fiction: the short story “Lamia”, by Cristina Jurado, published in 2019. This comparison will show how Pulido’s reshaping of the myth fits in with a broader process of reception in which the monstrous nature of Lamia represents the starkest and most bloodthirsty expression of her desire for motherhood.