In recent decades, as graphic novels have exploded in popularity and have increasingly been engaged with by scholarship, there has been a marked increase in comics that deal with traumatic experiences. This edited volume builds on the emergent body of work on the representation of trauma in graphic narratives, but focuses exclusively on German-language graphic narratives, whose exploration of trauma has so far received little scholarly attention.

Graphic storyteller and UC Davis alumna Maureen Burdock returns to campus to discuss her latest project, “Sleepless Planet: A Graphic Guide to Coping with Insomnia.” The work in progress chronicles her quest for better sleep and tells the story of a planet yearning for rest.