Image TexT is an open access online journal for comic studies recognized in the MLA International Bibliography in 2005, and last updated in 2016. Image TexT’s scope is the scholarship of comic books, comic strips, and cartoons to better popularize analysis of the medium. The format of the journal’s contents are scholarly reviews and articles. Started in 2004 by the late Donald Ault and published by the University of Florida, specifically the English department. The editing board is headed by Editor Anatasia Ulanowicz and Associate Editor Terry Harpold, both in the University of Florida. Ulanowicz is an associate professor teaching children’s literature, trauma theory, and the Bible as literature and in 2015 was awarded the Children’s Literature Association Book Award. Terry Harpold is an Associate Professor of English, Film and Media Studies and is one of the co-editors of Collectionner l’Extraordinaire, sonder l’Ailleurs. Essais sur Jules Verne en l’honneur de Jean-Michel Margot and Science, Literature and Imagination—Jules Verne and the Adventure of Knowledge. He also publishes essays within other Journals too. Other editors come from a variety of Universities from UCLA, Singapore, Wales Aberystwyth, Central St. Martin’s college just to name a few.
The content’s topics range from historical or cultural significance across the world, to concepts showcased in American Super-Hero Comics, such as Watchmen, and Japanese Manga, along the lines of Akira, even any media that has a visual and literary overlap. They used to publish an issue of their journal twice a year, as the MLA Bibliography has said. One during the spring and another during the winter. However, in 2006 on their third volume they bumped up the number to 3, and some volumes include 4 issues without a statement to which season they are released.
The submissions must be in MLA format with a 10,000 word maximum, nothing listed for a minimum, and a 40 to 80 word bio. There are 25 article submissions a year, but they only publish 12 articles opposed to how the journal submits and publishes 13 reviews. Statistically, articles have a 48% chance of being published while reviews have a theoretical 100% chance of publication. Theoretical because more than likely they would turn down a review of low quality. Any images used in submissions are required to be clean and as high quality as possible. All submissions are peer reviewed and read by two editors with a blind submission policy and are returned to the author if rejected. The time between submission and possible publication are anywhere from 6 to 12 months.
Despite being around since 2004 there has already been a noticeable evolution of the journal. One evolution is the aforementioned increase in issues per volume. Another evolution is on the software side. Each article has images and with the first issues the images were tiny and off to the side. They would require the reader to click on them and the image would open in a separate window. However, they solved this by issue 2 and just placed the images within the article themselves to be viewed without clicking on them. Each issue also features a new background with their logo in the foreground. Originally it was just black and white comic panels n the background, but have since move to colored panels and other pieces of art as the background. Beyond that there is not much evolution. Comparing the oldest, middle, and newest issues (volume 1 Issue 1, volume 6 Issue 2, and volume 11 Issue 1) the journal follows the same Intro, Article, Review, then Colophon order. Sometimes they start with direct transcripts of the staff’s visit to conventions and panels.
Six articles are summarized to show the variety, the detail, and the benefit to comics scholarship. Each one was chosen from previously mentioned issues, and then an issue between each.
First is “Compromised Divisions: Thresholds in Comic Books and Video Games”by Laurie N. Taylor. This article is from Volume 1 Issue 1 and covers a comparison between comics and video games. Specifically, it goes over the reader/player’s pacing in relation to spacial awareness. Such as the sequences going from panel to panel on the page or going in different order of sequences in video games. Though for video games the article only focuses on survival horror. It should also be noted that the article was published before the release of Resident Evil 4, which transformed the structure of the survival horror genre in 2005. The effects of which are still felt today in video games.
From Volume 3, Issue 2 is “Panelling Parallax: The Fearful Symmetry of William Blake and Alan Moore” by Roger Whitson. This is from a special issue about William Blake, an English poet and painter during the 18th and 19th Century. This specific article connects William Blake and Alan Moore, who wrote the canonical comic book Watchmen. Both men seem to follow the same trend of how both were rebels and critics of the field, but because of that, grew popular and respected. The point is further illustrated in their similar stylistic choices between Blake’s “The Tyger” and Watchmen.
“Imagining a Multiplicity of Visual Rhetorical Traditions: Comics Lessons from Rhetoric Histories” by Franny Howes is from Volume 5, Issue 3. Here, the author seeks to illustrate how the rhetorical indigenous histories relate to the development of comics. To break that down, it is how stories were told visually and how they impacted comics now.
The article by Andrew J. Friedenthal “Monitoring the Past: DC Comics’ Crisis on Infinite Earths and the Narrativization of Comic Book History” from Volume 6, Issue 2 is about the continuity shift within DC Comics after the Crisis on Infinite Earths event. Specifically, how it impacted the way super hero comics after would be able to excite fans as well as straighten-out the decades of history and stories that came before.
“Don’t Pray for Paris: Drawing in Post-Charlie Hebdo Graphic Novels” by Bart Beaty is from Volume 9, Issue 2. This article discusses the Charlie Hebdo shooting that was part of the 2015 France attacks. Charlie Hebdo is a French satirical weekly magazine. This article discusses the aftermath of the event with the outcry of support, its increase in sales, as well as the irony of its censorship in some places.
“Graphic Narratives as Non-Fiction in the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Era”by Dirk Vanderbeke. This one comes from volume 11, issue 1.This one covers, as the title suggests, the history of comics placed into the context of historical visual medias. It was done to show a natural evolution into what we would consider comics. Vandereke expands the traditional history of comics into the inclusion of literary mediums converted into a visual format. Such examples listed were the Canticum canticorum Block book, Rodolphe Töpffer’s narratives in the 19th century, and Underground Comix in the 1960’s. All of which show their importance in creating the visual and literary combination.
In conclusion the range of content and the organization of the journal does well to highlight why this is such a useful journal in comics scholarships. Being 15 years old as of this profile, it is easy to see why this is such a respected journal. It even has an entry in the MLA Directory of Periodicals to further validate itself.
Works Cited
Beaty, Bart. “Don’t Pray for Paris: Drawing in Post-Charlie Hebdo Graphic Novels.” ImageTexT Interdisciplinary Comics Studies, University of Florida, 2017, http://imagetext.english.ufl.edu/archives/v9_2/beaty/.
Bird, Matthew. “How Resident Evil 4 Changed Horror Gaming.” Den of Geek, 16 Oct. 2017, https://www.denofgeek.com/us/games/resident-evil/259499/how-resident-evil-4-changed-horror-gaming.
Friedenthal, Andrew J. “Monitoring the Past: DC Comics’ Crisis on Infinite Earths and the Narrativization of Comic Book History.” ImageTexT Interdisciplinary Comics Studies, University of Florida, 2012, http://imagetext.english.ufl.edu/archives/v6_2/friedenthal/.
Howes, Franny. “Imagining a Multiplicity of Visual Rhetorical Traditions: Comics Lessons from Rhetoric Histories.” ImageTexT Interdisciplinary Comics Studies, University of Florida, 2010, http://imagetext.english.ufl.edu/archives/v5_3/howes/.
Taylor, Laurie. “Compromised Divisions: Thresholds in Comic Books and Video Games.” ImageTexT Interdisciplinary Comics Studies, University of Florida, 2004, http://imagetext.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v1_1/taylor/.
Vanderbeke, Dirk. “Graphic Narratives as Non-Fiction in the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Era.” ImageTexT Interdisciplinary Comics Studies, University of Florida, 2019, http://imagetext.english.ufl.edu/archives/v11_1/vanderbeke/.
Web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.tntech.edu. (2019). ImageTexT: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies. [online] Available at: http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.tntech.edu/ehost/flatdetail?vid=7&sid=34b63da1-115d-4936-836a-a844bb72023e%40sdc-v-sessmgr03 [Accessed 28 Oct. 2019].
Whitson, Roger. “Panelling Parallax: The Fearful Symmetry of William Blake and Alan Moore.” ImageTexT Interdisciplinary Comics Studies, University of Florida, 2007, http://imagetext.english.ufl.edu/archives/v3_2/whitson/.
English Research Sources 