As this chapter has shown, feminist comics can themselves be activist, which isdemonstrated by Sara Granér’s single-panel comic about the acute climate crisisand the use of a specific sort of masculinity. In addition, feminist comics can beintentionally connected to activist movements such as #metoo. The goal of AmaliaAlvarez’s sequential art is to provoke reactions and feelings of solidarity with theharassed woman in the narrative, but also with abused women in reality. The storywas part of Draw the Line – an anthology about sexual harassment and violence –drawn by female comics artists and disseminated through activities and exhibitions.Finally, comics can be related to the craftivist movement by expanding theirmaterial and aesthetic formal possibilities. Lotta Sjöberg’s ironic embroidery onInstagram is an example of radical comics craftivism, both in form and content.

Comics, Activism, Feminisms explores from both historical and contemporary perspectives how comic art, activism, and feminisms are intertwined, and how comic art itself can be a form of activism.

Feminist comic art emerged with the second-wave feminist movements. Today, there are comics connected to social activist movements working for change in a variety of areas. Comics artists often respond quickly to political events, making comics on topical issues that take a critical or satirical stance and highlighting the need for change. Comic art can point to problems, present alternatives, and give hope.

Comics artists from all parts of the world engage issues pertaining to feminisms and LGBTQIA+ issues, war and political conflict, climate crisis, the global migrant and refugee situation, and other societal problems. The chapters of this anthology illuminate the aesthetic and thematic aspects of comics, activism, and feminisms globally. Particular attention is given to the work of comics collectives, where Do-it-Ourselves is a strategy among activism-oriented artists, which use a great variety of media, such as fanzines, albums, webcomics, and exhibitions to communicate and disseminate activist comic art.

Comics, Activism, Feminisms is an essential anthology for scholars and students of comics studies, literary studies, art history, media studies, and gender studies.

In this article, examples of various forms of cubism practiced by Swedish artists are described and analyzed regarding form, content and reception in the field. A certain emphasis is placed on female artists, since there is a need for differencing the narrative of modernism regarding women’s contributions, often disregarded in their own contexts as well as in the writing of art history. Attention has also been paid to changing notions of cubism in the field of art. In the early years of cubism, from the 1910s, a considerable number of Swedish artists experimented enthusiastically with prismatic and other cubist effects in their paintings. Many of them went to Paris, Berlin and Copenhagen to see the new art, and brought new ideas to Sweden. For most of the artists who experimented with different kinds of cubism, it was a temporary activity, although many of them felt they had acquired new insights concerning artistic form. Some of them further developed their findings into new directions of modernist art, such as post-cubism, purism and concrete art. Women artists were active in all of these movements. The art market in Stockholm thrived in the 1910s and 1920s. Several of the art critics and large parts of the art audience had difficulties understanding cubism, and rejected the non-figurative art exhibited at the Stockholm exhibition in 1930. However, most Swedish cubism proved to be of a moderate sort, such as the works by Georg Pauli. On the other hand, Agnes Cleve, Siri Derkert, Gösta Adrian-Nilsson (GAN), and Otto G. Carlsund never ceased to generate bold forms and compositions. Regardless, it took a long time for Swedish art audiences to accept this form of visual art

Comics can be feminist and activist. Feminist comics artists, such as the Swedish comics artist Liv Strömquist, react to gendered, political, and social issues, and as artists often do, they explore these issues with innovative expressions and reconfigure the public space. Comics, Activism, Feminisms explores on the one hand, how comic art, activism, and feminisms are intertwined from both historical and contemporary perspectives, and, on the other hand, how comic art itself can be a form of activism. In the latter case, the comics are created in cooperation between members of a network or a more organised comics collective. This anthology distinguishes between activism in comics and activist comics that are connected to a broader activist context and comics collectives. This introductory chapter provides illustrative examples from the Swedish context. The global expansion of comics, activism, and feminisms is discussed, as is research about these topics and related phenomena, such as feminist activism, visual activism, comics activism, and comics collectives. Analyses address theme, kind of story, aesthetic expression, medium, and the publication context. Comics, Activism, Feminisms consists of fourteen chapters and is divided into three sections: Activism in Comics (Part I), Comics as Political Space (Part II) and Comics Collectives (Part III). The introduction gives short summaries of the chapters.

This article argues that, while the creation and publishing of comics can be seen as activism per se, comics can also be utilised in more direct activist contexts. It relates comics, feminisms and masculinities to climate activism by analysing two prominent examples from Sweden: the comics album Jag vill inte göra slut. Serier för klimatet, [I don’t want to break up. Comics for the climate] (2016), and the comics by Karolina Bång in Maskulinitet, genus och klimaträttvisa [Masculinity, gender and climate justice] (2021), produced by the organisation Jordens Vänner [Friends of the Earth Sweden]. The comics are analysed visually and verbally with regard to the specific masculinities they discuss – the industrial modernist who denies the crisis, the ecomodernist, who suggests unproductive, short-term solutions, and the ecological masculinity, including care for nature and for each other, working for equity, eradicating negative gender norms, reducing unfair consumption and taking action for climate justice. The comics frequently use humour, irony, and satire – and are linked to climate activism.

This article argues that Amalia Alvarez’s comics album The Stories of Five Undocumented Women (2013), based on a collection of stories told by migrant women, and Daria Bogdanska’s autobiographical comics album Wage Slaves (2016) can be regarded as feminist comics activism. They are examples of comics activism since the comics point to an essential topic in opposition to a controversial issue, namely, the treatment of migrant women. The comics’ emphasis on the situation of migrant women also makes it relevant to regard them as feminist activism, since they have a performative potential to create change regarding politics and legislation. The stories can influence how readers formulate and communicate thoughts about themselves and others, and they can contribute to changing societal structures. The comics also show how it is possible to mobilise resistance, generate support networks, and create hope. By making and publishing the comics, Alvarez and Bogdanska give migrant women an opportunity to come to voice and talk back against their situation, as well as against people who just express pity instead of taking action.

The aim of this article is to analyse contemporary feminist comics by the Swedish comics artists Åsa Grennvall/Schagerström, Lotta Sjöberg and Sara Granér in relation to the ongoing movement called craftivism, as defined by Betsy Greer and her fellow crafters. The article argues that embroidered feminist comics can be regarded as comics craftivism, since, although similar to drawings, they are all sewn by needle and thread, and often thematise topics connected to craftivism’s ideas concerning ‘raising consciousness, creating a better world stitch by stitch’. The comics artists use embroidered comics to create ‘wider conversations about uncomfortable issues’, e.g. feminist issues, such as being trapped in a violent relationship as in Schagerström’s cover image for Svinet [The Swine], or the unequal sharing of household work in Sjöberg’s sequential story in Det kan alltid bli värre. [It can always get worse]. The feminist, craftivist comics artists are engaged in the politics of the handmade – narrating through textiles. The content concerns political, environmental and gender issues. Comics craftivism contributes to the renewal of the comics medium, and while experimenting artistically with materials and techniques, practitioners thematise new ideas as well as new perspectives on lingering problems, often with irony and humour.