“Elward traces how comics became a contested space in the education of Italy’s youth during the Fascist period and early postwar years. The first of its kind in the anglophone market, Comic Fascism shows how Fascist cultural policies were influenced by different voices within conservative, Catholic, and nationalist circles and fills a distinct gap in the field.” —Guido Bonsaver, author of America in Italian Culture: The Rise of a New Model of Modernity, 1861–1943
“Comic Fascism contributes to the growing interest among historians of modern Italy in exploring ideological continuities and ruptures between Fascist and Republican Italy. The comics Elward considers exemplify the diverse (and contested) understandings of Fascist ideology and the society it was aiming to build.” —Eden K. McLean, author of Mussolini’s Children: Race and Elementary Education in Fascist Italy
Comics in Italy—produced by Fascists, conservatives, Catholics and, after World War II, youth groups on the political left—promoted competing yet sometimes convergent visions for Italian society to children in the first half of the twentieth century. In Comic Fascism, Zane Elward dives deep into the archives to reveal how Italian comics reflected transformations within Italian society during Fascist rule (1922–1945) and how conservative and Catholic circles were entangled with Mussolini’s agenda, normalizing and promoting it through their own periodicals. At the same time, he offers new interpretations of American comics, demonstrating that despite Italian suspicion of US culture, these comics often aligned with Fascism and were coopted by its proponents. Elward also identifies the persistence of Fascist political ideas after the fall of the Fascist state and highlights growing tensions between the right and the left in the lead up to the Cold War. Ultimately, Elward broadens previous temporal and cultural frames to offer fresh insights into the origins and long tail of Fascist indoctrination and how it remained at the heart of the ongoing quest to redefine Italian society.
Zane Elward is Assistant Professor of History at Marian University. A historian of Italy and the US, he researches popular culture, political movements, nationalism, and dictatorships.
Contents
Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
Chapter 1 Fascism Infiltrates Comics: Il Corriere dei Piccoli and Il Giornale dei Balilla
Chapter 2 The Comics Craze of the 1930s: How American Comics Became Anti-Fascist
Chapter 3 Il Vittorioso: The Church Responds
Chapter 4 Produced by Italians, for Italians: Autarky and Popular Culture
Chapter 5 Comics at War: Uncertainty and Support in Comics during World War II
Chapter 6 Sketching a New Society: Comics after Fascism
Conclusion Fascism, Italy, Culture, and Comics
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Index
