Anthropomorphism in Graphic Novels

Definition

Anthropomorphic comic books and graphic novels feature animal characters that adopt such human traits and abilities as speaking, gesturing, wearing clothing, walking upright, and using technology. Characters express emotions, pursue professions and hobbies, seek social relationships, and react to provocations and responsibilities similarly to how humans behave. Different literary techniques used to portray anthropomorphism, both contrary and compatible with animals’ innate responses, convey themes to readers of varied ages.

Introduction

Writers have anthropomorphized animal characters in literature to express symbolism or propaganda or to voice opinions regarding contemporary issues since ancient times. Many anthropomorphic tales have been classified as children’s literature, including enduring stories written by Beatrix Potter, Kenneth Grahame, A. A. Milne, and Rudyard Kipling that have influenced generations of readers. Since the nineteenth century, animal characters have entertained readers of comic strips, comic books, and graphic novels.

Narratives featuring anthropomorphic characters incorporate elements of various genres, particularly fantasy, science fiction, and mystery. They often contain references to folktales, myths, legends, and historical events that inspired their creators. Anthropomorphic characters are frequently used to explore cultural perceptions of gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic class to achieve intended purposes such as satire or humor.

Animal characters frequently represent stereotypes based on readers’ expectations for the behavior of such animalsdogs are loyal, wolves vicious, weasels deceitful, and reptiles venomous. While some graphic novels present gentle, kind animal characters such as Andy Runton’s Owly, others focus on hedonists such as Dave Sim’s Cerebus, emphasizing intense violence and bleak imagery. Graphic novels occasionally subvert traditional interpretations of animal behavior, presenting anthropomorphism that defies both humans’ and animals’ instincts to maintain stability. Animals at times are depicted as opposites of their expected roles.

Roles and Relationships

Anthropomorphized animals in graphic novels play diverse roles representative of literary archetypes, serving as heroes, victims, tricksters, and villains. Forming unique identities, many animals are distinguished by human-derived names and demonstrate abilities implausible for their species’ natural physiology. Some anthropomorphic characters retain behaviors attributed to animalsJuan Díaz Canales’s John Blacksad, a cat, refers to his instincts when reacting to a rat he does not trust.

Anthropomorphic animals’ interactions with humans vary. Animals comfort immigrants in Shaun Tan’s The Arrival, and in Bryan Talbot’s The Tale of One Bad Rat, abuse survivor Helen Potter relies on nurturing her pet rat while she heals emotionally. Animals also serve as guides and companionsTintin’s friendship with devoted terrier Snowy in Hergé’s series exemplifies that canine’s protective instincts. Some animals instigate transitions and plot movement, as when swarming locusts cause the protagonist of Jeff Smith’s Bone to fall over a cliff into a hazardous valley.

Shape-shifting represents dual existences for anthropomorphic characters in Bill Willingham’s Fables series and Jean-Phillipe Stassen’s Deogratias: A Tale of Rwanda, in which a man traumatized by genocide is portrayed as a dog while coping with guilt and loss. Anthropomorphized animals portray historical figures such as a feline Adolf Hitler in Canales’s Red Soul, reminiscent of sinister cat guards in Art Spiegelman’s Maus. Humans sometimes manipulate animals’ instinctual responses, as when criminals train a gorilla to attack strangers in Hergé’s Tintin comic The Black Island. Nick Abadzis’s Laika addresses complex ethical issues associated with animal experimentation.

Plots and Imagery

Anthropomorphic protagonists in graphic novels typically undertake journeys to seek better situations, avenge injustices, respond to betrayals, or protect weaker characters. Characters’ movement is often provoked by stimuli challenging their instincts. These adventures sometimes appropriate plot elements from fairy talesBlues singer Barnabus B. Wolf battles three racist swine he blames for killing his family and seizing his farm in J. D. Arnold’s BB Wolf and the Three LPs, exposing the perils of revenge. Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm’s Babymouse series highlights daydreams in which the rodent protagonist interacts with notable animal characters from children’s literature.

Many graphic novels pit “good” animals against “evil” animals, with the righteous not always prevailing. Characters’ instinctual reactions frequently shape plot development, providing the basis for shifts in action and unexpected twists. Deceptions are plot catalysts when anthropomorphic characters are misled. Plots often feature heroes who protest social injustices and crimes against innocent victims, such as English badger Detective Inspector Archie LeBrock, who strives to defeat criminals and terrorists in Bryan Talbot’s Grandville books. Historical precedents have inspired the creation of warriors such as the rabbit samurai protagonist of Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo.

Anthropomorphic images are frequently drawn in black and white, sepia, or bold colors resembling illustrations from pulp magazines. Frames emphasize the juxtaposition of characters’ fur, fangs, whiskers, and claws with human garments and mannerisms. Illustrations exaggerating animals’ anatomy and contorting facial expressions and gestures call attention to absurd aspects of anthropomorphic characters.

Settings

Graphic novels populated with animals often take place in isolated wildernesses filled with forests and pollutant-free water resources that provide characters shelter and sustenance. Other rural sites, such as the wooded valley in Smith’s Bone series, have sinister aspects. The Great Depression of the 1930’s forms the backdrop for Matt Phelan’s The Storm in the Barn, with images stressing the despair associated with drought. People nail dead snakes to fences, hoping that the sacrificial gesture will summon rain. Images of a jackrabbit drive include red panels showing those animals’ terror as humans, enraged that the prairie setting has denied them prosperity, beat the hares to death.

While some animals remain in their indigenous settings, many function in places alien to their species’ natural habitats. Cities are usually depicted as crowded, gritty places filled with buildings, industrial equipment, and paved roads. Escaped lions in Brian K. Vaughan’s Pride of Baghdad wander through the war-damaged city, where their instinctual responses to acquire food and shelter fail. Some animal-driven graphic novels are implied to take place in postapocalyptic settings, such as the fantastical world through which the four lupine protagonists of Keiko Nobumoto’s Wolf’s Rain roam. In these settings, humans have vanished or been conquered, and animals control Earth and often must attempt to restore vitality to ecosystems damaged by humans. Alternate history landscapes frequently establish innovative premises such as a world in which Napoleon was victorious, as seen in Grandville.

Themes

Anthropomorphized animal characters in graphic novels represent themes compatible with traits and behaviors associated with animals as well as themes more relevant to human experiences and actions. The theme of desire is portrayed through characters’ relationships, suggesting that they experience romantic love rather than the animal instinct to mate solely for reproduction. The theme of survival is constant for anthropomorphic characters who struggle in their surroundings, whether natural or artificial, much as animals in the wild seek shelter and gather food while eluding predators. Some anthropomorphic animals respond to hunger by using human agricultural tactics to grow and preserve food. They adapt to challenges, relying on their instincts to survive.

Many stories chronicle anthropomorphic animals’ quests to attain power and status and confront threats posed by rivals. Themes of vengeance and justice coexist when anthropomorphized animals are motivated to attack characters who have wronged them by expressing derogatory comments or stealing property. Less antagonistic anthropomorphized characters, such as those in Susan Schade and Jon Buller’s Fog Mound trilogy, endeavor to recover lost territories and possessions honorably, resorting to violence only when necessary to survive and restore belongings and lifestyles that sustain them. Redemption is a common theme associated with anthropomorphized charactersExpressing remorse about his past delinquency, Blacksad confronts and contains evil, helping people instead of harming them.

Impact

Graphic novels featuring anthropomorphic characters attract readership worldwide. Publishers issue translations of many such novels, offering international audiences access to works with universal themes and archetypes they can apply to their cultures. Scholarly interest in anthropomorphic graphic novels has extended to related academic disciplines, incorporating expertise in literature, biology, history, anthropology, sociology, and animal sciences. Some educators assign anthropomorphic graphic novels for lessons or prepare literary guides analyzing specific books to teach students ranging from elementary grades to university levels.

Scholarly journals, including literary periodicals and publications focusing on animal issues, print analyses and reviews of anthropomorphic graphic novels and topics. Electronic magazines such as Anthro feature content and illustrations relevant to discussion of animal characters in graphic novels, reviewing new books and noting readers’ reactions to stories. Since 1997, proponents of anthropomorphism in graphic novels and other media have gathered at Anthrocon meetings.

The Ursa Major Awards, presented by the Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Association, honor graphic novels with animal characters. Eisner Award-winning graphic novels with anthropomorphic characters include Laika and Fables. Deogratias: A Tale of Rwanda won the Angoulême International Comics Festival’s René Goscinny Prize. Anthropomorphic graphic novels have also received mainstream literary recognition, with Maus winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1992. Media outlets and such book-related organizations as the American Library Association often recognize graphic novels featuring anthropomorphic characters with literary awards, inclusion on best graphic novels of the year lists, and designation as outstanding books in various genre categories.

Bibliography

Crist, Eileen. Images of Animals: Anthropomorphism and Animal Mind. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1999.

Keen, Suzanne. “Fast Tracks to Narrative Empathy: Anthropomorphism and Dehumanization in Graphic Narratives.” SubStance 40, no. 1, 2011, pp 135-55.

Mitchell, Robert W., Nicholas S. Thompson, and H. Lyn Miles, eds. Anthropomorphism, Anecdotes, and Animals. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1997.