Graphic Sexualities

Abstract

Young adult (YA) comics and graphic novels have grown into a publishing phenomenon over the last fifteen years (Tarbox and Abate 2017). Concurrently, writers and illustrators have mobilised the visual and narrative conventions of the graphic narrative medium to ‘expand the range of narratives depicting young female characters and their same-sex relationships’ (Gillingham 2018, p. 1). The comics medium is particularly well-suited to a reading experience that can enable young people to scrutinise queerness – be it bodies, desires, experiences or ideologies. This chapter will examine representations of queer girl sexuality in three YA graphic narratives. Maggie Thrash’s memoir Honor Girl (2015), Carol Maurel’s time-travel romance Lusia, Now and Then (2018), and Tillie Walden’s space adventure On a Sunbeam (2018) model the queer potential of the graphic narrative form and showcase the medium’s capacity to present nuanced visions of queer adolescence. Each text employs different intersections of genre, form, narration and visual technique to offer young readers ways to witness and engage with queer desire and sexuality. These graphic narratives visualise and highlight the complexities of queer young love, intimacy and coming to terms with sexuality. In doing so, these texts render queer subjectivities identifiable and accessible to young audiences who, for many decades, have had to search for, infer, or piece together snapshots of queer desires and sexuality in graphic narrative.