When you think of comics, you probably think of New York, too. And that’s no accident. The city has often been the setting for writers and stories in this genre, in part because it was for so many decades a central node for segments of the industry.

In this Insiders event, you’ll learn more about this history, in conversation with Martin Lund, an historian at Malmö University in Sweden, whose research explores the representation of New York City in comics and the ‘special relationship’ between NYC and comics, so often suggested in fandom, pop culture, and scholarship.

 Beyond the depictions of New York City in classic comics, Lund will discuss more recent graphic novels such as Unterzakhn by Leela Corman, which tells the story of two immigrant sisters growing up in the Lower East Side in the early 1900s, 7 Miles a Second by artist David Wojnarowicz, James Romberger, and Marguerite Van Cooke, which depicts the artist’s childhood living on the streets of Manhattan and adulthood living with AIDS, and I Am Alfonso Jones, which deals with the theme of police brutality and justice.

In this talk:

• Sample some of the many different ways New York City has been represented in comics.
• Explore how complex the deceptively simple-looking comics medium can be in its uses of the city.
• Learn what different representations of NYC in comics can say about how the city is perceived in different contexts.