About Some Spanish graphic novels in times of COVID-19 pandemic: Cathartic panels for the end of the world

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this chapter is to attend to comics produced during COVID-19 pandemic, especially those referring to the hardest moments of confinement and which may allow to observe the use of comics as a tool to analyze reality, both from a psychological point of view and from a sociopolitical one. Being such a recent phenomenon, corpus selection is introduced as temporary since new items continue to emerge, and furthermore, it is still early to assess its significance. As a pragmatic criterion, two vectors will be used on the one hand, focus will be stressed on works belonging to the Spanish comics market in order to portray a particular cultural environment;on the other hand, four items will be selected to establish a coherent story which may adapt the stages of the hero's journey into a new paradigm (1. Fear, 2. Anger, 3. Humor, and 4. Healing). © 2023 by IGI Global. All rights reserved.