Graphic novelists have long been interested in coal mining. Graphic novels exploit coal’s status as a fetish object; the long-standing relationship between coal mining and military efforts; apocalyptic representations of coal’s role in pollution and climate change; and the familiar image of masculine breadwinners dragging resources out of the ground. Coal mining often demands a sense of sacrifice both from the workers who put their bodies at risk and from communities who endure pollution, unsafe working conditions, and the boom-and-bust cycles of resource development. In the context of Appalachia, graphic novelists such as Robert Gipe and Daniel Boyd explore the exploitative actions of coal companies through radically different narrative strategies, with Gipe employing images sparsely in his books as interjections or quiet secrets between his main character and the audience, and with Boyd using familiar tropes from comic books to drive home the conflict between coal towns and resource barons. In Atlantic Canada, Kate Beaton uses the graphic novel form to explore the history of coal mining in Cape Breton and to explore the relationship between the Nova Scotian coalfield and the Alberta oil sands. In all cases, coal mining provides a rich set of images and themes for graphic novelists.

Authors:
Peter Thompson, University of New Brunswick, Canada

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Peter Thompson is a Professor in the Department of English at the University of New Brunswick. His research focuses on representations of deindustrialization and resource extraction in contemporary North American literature and popular culture.

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