Professors, scholars and speakers from across the country traveled to UF over the weekend to attend a workshop centered around the theme of trauma in comics and graphic novels.
The various speakers explained how traumatic events affect the writers and illustrators of comic books.
Guest speaker Donna Axel displayed how the comic book “Asterix and the Black Gold” was used to bring awareness to an environmentally traumatic oil spill.
Axel said Albert Uderzo, the writer and illustrator, uses comics to bring environmental awareness.
Chris Wilhelm, an assistant history professor at the College of Coastal Georgia, brought Marvel superhero comics to the table. He said Swamp Thing and Man-Thing are comics highlighting ecological trauma in the Everglades.
“In the 20th century, swamp was seen as negatively and reflected harsh realities of the world,” Wilhelm said.
Sol Canal was among several students attending the conference for extra class credit.
Canal, a 20-year-old UF English junior, said she enjoyed it.
“I liked it,” she said. “I didn’t know about it, but it was really interesting and different, and I liked how Swamp Thing was relative to Florida.”
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 4/7/2014 under the headline "UF hosts trauma comic conference"]
