Villains, Heroes, Sacrificial Victims: The Evolution of Disability Representations in Bonelli Comics (1990-2020)

Abstract

Our paper is dedicated to the sociological analysis of certain representations of disability in Italian popular comics, aiming to demonstrate how, through the study of the graphic narratives in this medium, it is possible to track how the representation and conception of disability have changed and with what outcomes. As a 'deviation' from the norm, the representation of disability has been used as a comedic device and as a distinguishing feature of villains, but also as a metaphor for diversity and the weight of responsibilities of superheroes. In Italy, Bonelli comics have accompanied various generations, consistently managing to narrate sociocultural shifts and blend entertainment, quality, and acculturation in a delicate balance founded on the interplay between realism and fantasy, politics and ideology, adventure and history. These popular productions define the contours of the tumultuous relationship between readers, society, and comics (Frezza 1999, 2017). The detailed analysis of selected Bonelli comics – encompassing titles such as Ken Parker, Dylan Dog, and Gea – will enable the mapping, through the coalescence and conflicts of cultural processes, aesthetic forms, and media phenomena (Abruzzese 1979, Couldry 2016), of the transformation of social perceptions of disability, the persistent weight of stereotypes and typifications (Berger and Luckmann 1967), the gradual rejection of stigmatization of physical and psychological differences, the role of the imaginary in capturing new sensitivities, and the centrality of technocultural convergence processes (Jenkins 2006) in opening new spaces for audience participation in the production, distribution, and consumption of cultural products.