Since my comic book shop is about an hour away, I usually go every few weeks to pick up my pull list. This past Friday, I made the trek down to get my pulls for the past couple of weeks. While there, I wanted to find some new books to check out, and I asked someone if they had any suggestions. They pointed me … Read More Aging, Womanhood, and Golden Rage
+ american history, comics, history, image comics, jason shawn alexander, killadelphia, rodney barnes
For my “Monsters, Race, and Comics” class I’m teaching the first two volumes of Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander’s Killadelphia. Recently, I spoke with Barnes about the series. We talked about the ways that the gothic works as both a “politically conservative” for and as a revolutionary form, the role that history plays within the series, the ways that the powerful weaponize fear to … Read More Conversation with Rodney Barnes about “Killadelphia”
+ abigail adams, comics, image comics, jason shawn alexander, jupiter evans, killadelphia, rodney barnes, sally hemings, thomas jefferson
Over the past few posts, I’ve examined Jupiter’s backstory in Rodney Barnes and Jason Shaw Alexander’s Killadelphia, specifically looking at the ways that Jupiter’s story illuminates the violence, trauma, and dehumanization of chattel slavery in the United States. Jupiter introduces us, as well, to Sally Hemings, the enslaved woman that Thomas Jefferson raped and sexually assaulted, notably after the death of his wife Martha … Read More The Narratives of History in “Killadelphia”: Part IV
+ comics, image comics, jason shawn alexander, jupiter evans, killadelphia, rodney barnes, sally hemings, thomas jefferson
Writing to John Wayles Eppes in 1820, Thomas Jefferson spoke about about the exploitation of those he enslaved, especially in relation to the profits that he acquired off of the backs of their labor. He told Eppes, “I know no error more consuming to an estate that that of stocking farms with men almost exclusively. I consider a woman who brings a child every two … Read More The Narratives of History in “Killadelphia”: Part III
+ american history, comics, history, image comics, jason shawn alexander, jupiter evans, killadelphia, rodney barnes, thomas jefferson
In my last post, I started looking at the differing perspectives we get of Jupiter’s history in Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander’s Killadelphia. Specifically, I began to examine Jupiter’s description of his past in juxtaposition to the perspectives of Abigail Adams and Thomas Jefferson. After killing Blake Scott on stage during a concert, Jupiter turns himself in to the police so he can infiltrate the … Read More The Narratives of History in “Killadelphia”: Part II
Interminable Rambling 