Magda Mengual Morata and Jordi Giner Monfort

Julie Doucet: from the underground to disenchantment and graphic experimentation

Abstract

The work of Canadian cartoonist Julie Doucet, the author of Dirty Plotte and My New York Diary, is known for its somber tone and the density of space. After a few years in which she collaborated with publications such as Wimmen’s Comix, Twisted Sisters and Weirdo, Doucet gradually abandoned the hegemonic postulates of comics and her recognisable personal style and adopted new forms of graphic experimentation. There seem to have been several reasons behind this decision, among them her wanting out of a market largely made by and for the male readers. While transgression was already an established feature of Doucet’s work, both in language and image, her latest albums, especially 365 Days, Elle Humour, My New New York Diary and Carpet Sweeper Tales, represent a further step in visual and narrative experimentation, through both the use of collage and the loss of importance of the written word.