Michelle Ann Abate
Biographic Data
| ID | 5870008 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michelle Ann Abate |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michelle Ann |
| FAMILY NAME | Abate |
| SIGNATURE | ABATE M A |
| AFFILIATIONS | The Ohio State University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 6 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 18 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
“Bed, bath, & bite me”
This essay serves a dual purpose. First and foremost, it gives much-needed attention to the important, but largely unexplored, role that comics asides play in Alison Bechdel’s Dykes To Watch Out For (DTWOF) comics series. These elements constitute a central part of the witty humour, sharp socio-political commentary, and visual-verbal complexity of the series. Forming a second but equally important implication, this discussion also gives much-need…
Putting the “Out” in Outer Space
This essay examines a recent acclaimed YA novel that explores the impact of the cosmos on terrestrial life: The Gravity of Us (2020) by Phil Stamper. In the opening chapter, seventeen-year-old white protagonist Cal Lewis, Jr. receives unexpected news: his father has been chosen as an astronaut for the first mission to land humans on Mars. The main plot of the narrative chronicles NASA’s preparations for this historic event, while the subplot foll…
Consulting the map
This essay gives much-needed attention to what are commonly known as ‘the dotted-line’ comics in Bil Keane’s popular newspaper series, The Family Circus. These beloved instalments traced the pathway of one of the child characters – usually Billy but occasionally Jeffy – as they travelled through the house, around the yard, or across the neighbourhood to complete some task. Together with being a delightful Sunday feature, Keane’s dotted-line compo…
“He Cuts Roses that Have Blooms as Big as My Palms”
This essay explores the numerous, but underexamined, references to nature and the environment in Angie Thomas’s acclaimed young adult novel The Hate U Give . Not only is the narrative set in a neighborhood called “Garden Heights,” but all its municipal features are named after flowers or trees: Magnolia Avenue, Carnation Street, Cedar Grove. Additionally, both major and minor characters in the novel—Big Mav, Mrs. Pearl, etc.—are avid and talented…
“Where All the People are Fantastical and Magical”—and Hurting
Ziggy was here
This essay offers a new perspective on the creative origins, aesthetic qualities, and socio-cultural significance of Tom Wilson’s newspaper comic, Ziggy. More specifically, I point out the ways in which Tom Wilson’s well-known character from the closing decades of twentieth century contains elements of visual, thematic, and cultural overlap with an equally well-known figure from the middle portion of the century: Kilroy. Placing Ziggy in dialogue…
From Mrs. G. to Marmee
This essay gives much-needed critical attention to the 1980s sitcom, The Facts of Life. While the show was a spinoff to the series Diff’rent Strokes, I make a case that its true creative and cultural debt is to a far different source: Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 novel, Little Women
NosferatUrsula
The New Millennium Minstrel Show”
This essay traces the presence of minstrelsy in three popular American comedy shows: Seinfeld, Parks and Recreation, and Miranda Sings. More specifically, I make a case that blackface elements form a key component to the characters of Cosmo Kramer, Tom Haverford, and Miranda
Do You Want to Build on a Racist Tradition?”
Introduction
Comics have been an important locus of queer female identity, community, and politics for generations. Whether taking the form of newspaper strips, comic books, or graphic novels and memoirs, the medium has a long history of featuring female same-sex attraction, relationships, and identity. This special issue explores the past place, current presence, and possible future status of lesbianism in comics. It features essays about cartoonists such as…
The Capitol Accent Is So Affected Almost Anything Sounds Funny in It”
Throughout the Hunger Games trilogy, the residents of the Capitol are associated with an array of physical, behavioral, and sartorial traits that have stereotypically been associated with homosexuality in general and gay men in particular. Although none of these characters is explicitly identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer/questioning (LGBTQ), they are routinely linked with queer forms of feyness, fussiness, and flamboyance…
Bloody Murder
Introduction
From Christian Conversion to Children’s Crusade
This essay builds on the author’s previous work on the Left Behind novels for kids, arguing that while current socio-political conditions have certainly contributed to the success of the series, an earlier phenomenon informs its literary structure: the many novels and stories produced by the American Sunday School Union (ASSU). The numerous literary, cultural, religious, and historical details that connect ASSU fiction and the Left Behind: The Ki…
Plastic Makes Perfect”
Perhaps more than any other genre of children’s literature, picture books have been in the spotlight of late. Intended for the youngest and thus seemingly most innocent of child readers, they have also historically been associated with the most innocent of subject matters. In stark contrast to narratives for young adults that have become famous for their engagement with mature issues like drugs, divorce, and sexuality; picture books have commonly…
Taking Silliness Seriously
Launching a Gender B(l)acklash
NosferatUrsula
Do You Want to Build on a Racist Tradition?”
Introduction
Comics have been an important locus of queer female identity, community, and politics for generations. Whether taking the form of newspaper strips, comic books, or graphic novels and memoirs, the medium has a long history of featuring female same-sex attraction, relationships, and identity. This special issue explores the past place, current presence, and possible future status of lesbianism in comics. It features essays about cartoonists such as…
Plastic Makes Perfect”
Perhaps more than any other genre of children’s literature, picture books have been in the spotlight of late. Intended for the youngest and thus seemingly most innocent of child readers, they have also historically been associated with the most innocent of subject matters. In stark contrast to narratives for young adults that have become famous for their engagement with mature issues like drugs, divorce, and sexuality; picture books have commonly…
Launching a Gender B(l)acklash
Taking Silliness Seriously
From Christian Conversion to Children’s Crusade
This essay builds on the author’s previous work on the Left Behind novels for kids, arguing that while current socio-political conditions have certainly contributed to the success of the series, an earlier phenomenon informs its literary structure: the many novels and stories produced by the American Sunday School Union (ASSU). The numerous literary, cultural, religious, and historical details that connect ASSU fiction and the Left Behind: The Ki…
Plastic Makes Perfect”
Perhaps more than any other genre of children’s literature, picture books have been in the spotlight of late. Intended for the youngest and thus seemingly most innocent of child readers, they have also historically been associated with the most innocent of subject matters. In stark contrast to narratives for young adults that have become famous for their engagement with mature issues like drugs, divorce, and sexuality; picture books have commonly…
Introduction
Bloody Murder
The Capitol Accent Is So Affected Almost Anything Sounds Funny in It”
Throughout the Hunger Games trilogy, the residents of the Capitol are associated with an array of physical, behavioral, and sartorial traits that have stereotypically been associated with homosexuality in general and gay men in particular. Although none of these characters is explicitly identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer/questioning (LGBTQ), they are routinely linked with queer forms of feyness, fussiness, and flamboyance…
Introduction
Comics have been an important locus of queer female identity, community, and politics for generations. Whether taking the form of newspaper strips, comic books, or graphic novels and memoirs, the medium has a long history of featuring female same-sex attraction, relationships, and identity. This special issue explores the past place, current presence, and possible future status of lesbianism in comics. It features essays about cartoonists such as…
The New Millennium Minstrel Show”
This essay traces the presence of minstrelsy in three popular American comedy shows: Seinfeld, Parks and Recreation, and Miranda Sings. More specifically, I make a case that blackface elements form a key component to the characters of Cosmo Kramer, Tom Haverford, and Miranda
Do You Want to Build on a Racist Tradition?”
From Mrs. G. to Marmee
This essay gives much-needed critical attention to the 1980s sitcom, The Facts of Life. While the show was a spinoff to the series Diff’rent Strokes, I make a case that its true creative and cultural debt is to a far different source: Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 novel, Little Women
NosferatUrsula
Ziggy was here
This essay offers a new perspective on the creative origins, aesthetic qualities, and socio-cultural significance of Tom Wilson’s newspaper comic, Ziggy. More specifically, I point out the ways in which Tom Wilson’s well-known character from the closing decades of twentieth century contains elements of visual, thematic, and cultural overlap with an equally well-known figure from the middle portion of the century: Kilroy. Placing Ziggy in dialogue…
“Where All the People are Fantastical and Magical”—and Hurting
Consulting the map
This essay gives much-needed attention to what are commonly known as ‘the dotted-line’ comics in Bil Keane’s popular newspaper series, The Family Circus. These beloved instalments traced the pathway of one of the child characters – usually Billy but occasionally Jeffy – as they travelled through the house, around the yard, or across the neighbourhood to complete some task. Together with being a delightful Sunday feature, Keane’s dotted-line compo…
“He Cuts Roses that Have Blooms as Big as My Palms”
This essay explores the numerous, but underexamined, references to nature and the environment in Angie Thomas’s acclaimed young adult novel The Hate U Give . Not only is the narrative set in a neighborhood called “Garden Heights,” but all its municipal features are named after flowers or trees: Magnolia Avenue, Carnation Street, Cedar Grove. Additionally, both major and minor characters in the novel—Big Mav, Mrs. Pearl, etc.—are avid and talented…
“Bed, bath, & bite me”
This essay serves a dual purpose. First and foremost, it gives much-needed attention to the important, but largely unexplored, role that comics asides play in Alison Bechdel’s Dykes To Watch Out For (DTWOF) comics series. These elements constitute a central part of the witty humour, sharp socio-political commentary, and visual-verbal complexity of the series. Forming a second but equally important implication, this discussion also gives much-need…
Putting the “Out” in Outer Space
This essay examines a recent acclaimed YA novel that explores the impact of the cosmos on terrestrial life: The Gravity of Us (2020) by Phil Stamper. In the opening chapter, seventeen-year-old white protagonist Cal Lewis, Jr. receives unexpected news: his father has been chosen as an astronaut for the first mission to land humans on Mars. The main plot of the narrative chronicles NASA’s preparations for this historic event, while the subplot foll…
Art (12 works) · History (10 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Literature (8 works) · Political science (7 works) · Psychology (7 works) · Aesthetics (6 works) · Law (6 works) · History (5 works) · Law (5 works)