Chris Gavaler

Chris Gavaler is an associate professor of English at Washington and Lee University. His books include On the Origin of Superheroes (Iowa 2015), Superhero Comics (Bloomsbury 2017), Superhero Thought Experiments co-authored with Nathaniel Goldberg (Iowa 2019), and Creating Comics co-authored with Leigh Ann Beavers (Bloomsbury forthcoming 2020). He is the comics editor at Shenandoah magazine, and he blogs weekly at thepatronsaintofsuperheroes.wordpress.com.
gg’s ‘I’m Not Here’ Is One of the Richest and Gently Disturbing Graphic Novels I’ve Read in Years

gg’s ‘I’m Not Here’ Is One of the Richest and Gently Disturbing Graphic Novels I’ve Read in Years

In gg's graphic memoir, I'm Not Here, we travel with the protagonist, suffering the same confusions that define her life.

A Bullied Nature Nerd Falls Victim to His Own Deep-rooted Revenge in ‘Outburst’

A Bullied Nature Nerd Falls Victim to His Own Deep-rooted Revenge in ‘Outburst’

Coudyzer's visual narration suggests that even though many children can be inhuman in their cruelty, even the worst eventually grow into human beings.
The Wordless Protagonist of ‘Leaf’ Doesn’t Save the World — Just Improves It

The Wordless Protagonist of ‘Leaf’ Doesn’t Save the World — Just Improves It

The absence of life-or-death consequences in Daishu Ma's debut graphic novel lowers the stakes while raising the novel’s quiet complexity.
On Lynda Barry’s Exercise in Autobiofictionalography, ‘One! Hundred! Demons!’

On Lynda Barry’s Exercise in Autobiofictionalography, ‘One! Hundred! Demons!’

Is it autobiography if parts of it are not true? Is it fiction if parts of it are?

‘Threads’ Is a Cartoon Sojourn in a Metaphorical Jungle of Real-world Refugees

The Premise of ‘Imagine Wanting Only This’ Is Artful In a Way More Typical of Fiction

The Premise of ‘Imagine Wanting Only This’ Is Artful In a Way More Typical of Fiction

A paradoxically impersonal memoir of not-quite coming-of-age in an age of isolation.
‘Condo Heartbreak Disco’: A Superhero Parody Set in an Absurdist World

‘Condo Heartbreak Disco’: A Superhero Parody Set in an Absurdist World

A gender-bending anti-superhero chooses not to save the day.
Does Mariko Tamaki Think in a Gothic Font?

Does Mariko Tamaki Think in a Gothic Font?

Mariko Tamaki’s words exist in an in-between state, neither entirely physical nor entirely a free-floating consciousness.
‘Was She Pretty?’ Depicts a Litany of Ex-lovers

‘Was She Pretty?’ Depicts a Litany of Ex-lovers

Was She Pretty? may suggest that anxieties over exes are universal, it also subtlety critiques its circle of privileged sufferers.
‘Boundless’ Captures the Alienating Effects of Media Consumption

‘Boundless’ Captures the Alienating Effects of Media Consumption

Explorations of consumer alienation by an emerging master of graphic storytelling.
A Spoked-wheel View of America by an Award-winning Comics Artist

A Spoked-wheel View of America by an Award-winning Comics Artist

Eleanor Davis documents her up-hill struggle with America and her weak-kneed self in You & a Bike & a Road.

‘Exit Wounds’: On the Haunting Presence of a Missing Lover

‘Exit Wounds’: On the Haunting Presence of a Missing Lover

An abandoned lover enlists the help of an abandoned son to identify the corpse of the terrorist victim who betrayed them both.