Campaign Comics: The Use of Comic Books for Strategic Political Communication

Abstract

Political parties have long used comic books in their political campaigns. Whereas both ideological and political messages in comics as well as the social and political commentary in editorial cartoons have received vast scholarly attention, comic books and their use for strategic communication are rarely addressed. Thus, this article discusses the use of comic books in political campaigns and analyzes the mass media discourse on comic books used in the 2010 election campaign in Vienna, Austria. Results show the actors in the coverage put special focus on the violent and xenophobic content of the comics. Although these types of content gained much attention, the media failed to discuss the suitability of comics for political purposes.