Text - Rhodes University

1. INTRODUCTION
What I am attempting in this thesis is an analysis of South African underground comics
produced in the 1980s and early 1990s. Firstly, I should emphasize that my intention is
not to prove that these comics are fine art. This is the usual argument given, even by
their creators, to justify their existence. Instead, I will try to find from these comics their
own definition: a position that is necessary given their overwhelming purpose, which
would seem to be that of experimentation.
So I will first broadly sketch my opinion of the situation of South African underground
comics. Then I will define and discuss the various sources that these South African comics
draw from, the better to separate them from these sources. Finally, through both critical
and comparative analyses, with direct reference to these and other comics, I will examine
the work of individual artists. Discussion of methods of working will thus lead to an
assessment of intentions and purposes. Over time, the nature of these underground
comics has changed, and the quality improved. By comparing these comics to one
another, I will try to clarify the nature of these changes. In doing so, I hope to indicate
the potential of this medium, as intimated by the progress it has already made.
Since the early 1980s a change has occurred in the nature of comics worldwide, such that
comics are now accepted as a respectable, if minor, literary form. Critics claim that
"'graphic novels' reflect society as seriously as fiction, painting or cinema." (Hornblower,
1993, p.53). The artists have taken cognisance of these critical developments, and have
certainly been inspired by them, but the comics do not quite fit into this new and
narrowing definition. They are also not traditional comics, as comics produced before the
1980s are called, although elements from traditional comics are used. South African
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