Within the scope of graphic journalism, which encompasses any form of reportage that uses visual information (Schlichting, 2016, p. 2), is comics journalism. Although not conventionally referred to as literature, comics journalism hybridizes the traditional combination of image and text with reportage. Simultaneously, it revitalizes illustration as a form of visual journalism. Before the evolution of the printing press and cameras, narrative illustration was a regular part of newspapers. Modern photojournalism replaced the illustration as an objective, accurate, and immediate witness to events. (Barnhurst and Nerone, 2000, p.78).

Contemporary comics journalism embraces non-traditional objectivity by hybridizing hand-drawn illustrations with reportage and including the character of the comics journalist in their work (Weber and Rall 2017 pp. 385-389). When it conjuncts with history and memory, comics journalism transcends even greater disciplinary boundaries. An example of this form of comics journalism comes from Joe Sacco, the originator of the term “comics journalist” (Chute, 2016, p. 197). Sacco’s work situates itself in journalism and history (Kavaloski, 2018, p.135) by telling stories of war survivors, refugees, and Indigenous peoples. With the inclusion of his perspective and character, Sacco’s memories become a part of the reportage as well. As a result, comics journalism can become a conjuncture of not just history but oral history, the recollection of past events through word of mouth, and memoir, a non-fiction work of literature referring to the author’s memories.

Sacco’s process is an example of comics journalism that ties together the present and past, moving comics journalism beyond the limits of journalism. However, there is no map displaying where this form of literature transforms into oral history or memoir. Having such guidelines would allow journalists to understand their boundaries concerning objectivity and self-inclusion when creating comics journalism based on history and memory. As a result, this research-creation paper asks how these fields are distinct from and similar to one another by developing an illustrated feature that focuses on the history of a local park.

Established in 1908, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Park is a neighbourhood park in Montreal. Throughout its 117-year history, it has been the site of a visit from the King of England, sports games, concerts, intercommunity divisions, and two destructive storms. To produce a long-form article on why the park looks the way it does today, I employ comic journalism to illustrate its past and present. In the creation process, I bring historical research, interviews with park visitors, and my own memories together to develop a work of comics journalism, which is also an accurate depiction of the past. Using that for my research, I distinguish a preliminary set of guidelines for developing comics journalism that contains history, oral history and memoir.

The Asterix comics, created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo in 1959, have for over half a century played a vital role in contextualizing life under the Romans. It is in fact oftentimes the very first contact its younger readers might have with Antiquity.

The stories have transported fans of all ages to several of Rome’s provinces, offering a pointed critique of imperialism while also delineating the benefits of cross-cultural interaction. Asterix is a hero whose physical strength derives from his community: he is a regular Gaul who drinks the magic potion brewed by Panoramix, the druid, as an act of resistance against the Romans. In his travels, he meets many peoples who attempt to resist in their own ways.

By telling the stories of martial glory through a graphic narrative, it could be said that the Gauls would be reclaiming a very Roman narrative strategy, as Roman Emperors were famous for commissioning detailed retellings of their victories over one people or another (see the Arch of Titus or Trajan’s Column). Julius Caesar, himself the antagonist of Asterix, went as far as to write “The Conquest of Gaul”.

In this paper, I will argue that Uderzo and Goscinny caught on to the similarities between Gaul in the first century BC and France in the 20th century AD, effectively using the ancients to speak about their present. While some of the grand themes of the comics, such as national identity, are retroactively imposed on Antiquity (see Hobsbawm, 1990, “Nations and Nationalism since 1780”), other major topics, like Imperialism, have roots in Classical Civilisation (see, for instance, Loren J. Samons, 1999; E. Babian, 1968, for Greek and Roman Imperialism respectively).

Priya is India’s first female superhero. This article investigates the storyline of Priya, a rape victim and devoted disciple of Goddess Parvati, as presented in the comics. The analysis critically portrays the suffering, social disgrace, victim blaming, and alienation that female rape survivors experience around the globe, particularly in Indian culture. The narrative of the comics is interwoven with Indian mythology, in which the goddess Parvati is outraged by the sexual abuse of women in daily life and resolves to fix it. Priya's body is possessed by Parvati, who seeks revenge against the men who raped her. Priya is gifted a celestial tiger called "Sahas" (courage in English) by Goddess Parvati. The essay highlights the necessity for women's empowerment and protest against gender-based violence via the character Priya. The goal of this critical piece is to simultaneously concentrate on sexual assault against women, women's rights, and equality while confronting the deeply ingrained patriarchal customs of our society. We intend to discuss the three adventures of Priya to prove our point. Priya’s Shakti is a protest against rape-culture and discrimination towards women. The portrayal in Priya's mirror reveals the outcry of survivors of acid attacks and the psychological traumas of such assaults. Priya and the Lost Girls is a movement against women's trafficking and forced prostitution of women. In a nutshell, our research explores the psychology of a dark-skinned, salwar-kameez-clad girl who represents modern Indian women and her reformation against rape culture, racism, and the horrors of fundamentalism.

The rapid evolution of virtual production and AI technologies has significantly transformed traditional filmmaking processes, unlocking new creative potentials that were once constrained by the limitations of analog filmmaking. By introducing efficiencies across preproduction, production, and postproduction, these advancements enable filmmakers to explore a more fluid, dynamic approach to storytelling. In particular, virtual production blurs the boundaries between stages of filmmaking, often compressing or reordering workflows in ways that invite unconventional creative practices. AI-driven tools, such as real-time 3D background generation, further accelerate this process, offering filmmakers the ability to visualize and iterate concepts with unprecedented speed and ease.

This paper explores how these new creative workflows bear striking similarities to the development process of independently published comic books. Both mediums, through technological advancements, open up new forms of discovery and experimentation that were previously unattainable in traditional creative pipelines. The concept of "creative fungibility"—the ability to rapidly adapt and rework creative elements in response to new insights—emerges as a key theme in this comparison. Just as comic book creators often pivot between various stages of writing, drawing, and layout without rigid barriers, virtual production and AI allow filmmakers to engage in a similar cycle of continuous discovery. By analyzing the parallels between comic book creation and virtual production workflows, this paper will demonstrate how these emerging technologies offer an intelligent, adaptive framework that redefines the creative process across media.